I watched the movie The Island on DVD this past weekend. The story, set in the future, is about two human clones that live in a sterile, closed, Utopian environment among thousands of other such clones. They have no knowledge of the outside world. They are brainwashed into believing that the outside world was contaminated and that they are the only survivors. Daily, someone will win a lottery that enables them to leave the facility and go to the Island. In fact, you learn later that the “Island” is actually death for the individual, as they are each merely an insurance policy for wealthy people living in real society. Their bodies are used for replacement parts and transplants if the real person falls sick. However, the policy holder’s themselves do not realize that their agreement involves a live adult clone.

Two clones grow to question their surroundings and decide to escape the facility, ultimately to track down their live human counterparts. From there, the movie becomes somewhat of a typical Hollywood car-chasing, cops-and-robbers sort of movie. There are some absolutely amazing scenes shot on the highway involving the clone’s escape from their captors. I loved the special effects, but looking back, I felt as though the movie became yet another typical Hollywood production after the two escaped the compound.

Overall, I’d recommend someone to see it. I enjoyed this movie, although the second half becomes somewhat typical and therefore, somewhat forgettable.

I can’t remember the last movie I saw in an actual movie theater. I think it may have been The Ring, part one. I have lost interest in going out to watch movies these days. It isn’t worth the price, and you don’t get what you pay for most of the time.

I used to work at a movie theater back in the mid-90s. Indeed, at that time, I saw nearly every movie that came out. We had employee screenings often and we’d see the new films at midnight on the Thursday night before the big opening. Boy, did I see a lot of movies. Plenty of them were complete crap, but it was free and something to do. Looking back, I probably burned myself out on the whole experience. Over that period of time, my attention span got shorter and shorter.

Since my first DVD player, many years ago, I didn’t see a reason to go out to the movies any more. I don’t like to watch movies on a set schedule. And with my short attention span, I am able to start and stop it whenever I feel like it. Not to mention not having to drive yourself to the theater, only to wait for the movie to start after a dozen or more previews. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind previews. I actually like them. But a lot of movies today are so stupid that the previews aren’t that intriguing to begin with. It is usually some sequel to a movie that doesn’t deserve one. And the sheer number of previews has gotten absurd. What is even more absurd are the damn commercials that they have that start even before the previews. Now, that is ridiculous. I didn’t pay $8 to come sit and watch television commercials on a giant screen. Besides, I already sat through a slide-show of ads while I was waiting for the commercials to start!

The emergence of cell phones have really turned me away from public screenings of movies. A bunch of idiots always seem to come in after the lights have gone down, and plant themselves right in front of you. Since they are late, they have to catch up on lost conversation and talk until the movie starts. I think everyone has their own horror stories to tell on this subject, so I’ll move on.

With DVDs of films being released so much closer to their ending time at the theaters, it makes sense to wait for a movie and rent it (please don’t go to Blockbuster…but that’s a whole other story). If that’s not easy enough, I can watch movies on demand on Pay-Per-View for a fraction of the cost of two adults going out to the movies at night.

Having worked at the movie theater, I know that they are not kept up at all. A shiny new theater is usually on half its legs after a year or two in operation. The companies and owners are simply too cheap to put up the money to keep it fixed up and staffed correctly. They ask for more and more money from the customers and as customers, we continue to get less and less in return. I believe the theater industry is in decline.

I don’t know what the solution is for theater owners, but I’m sure that increasing prices is not helpful. Have fun at the movies, everyone. I’ll be at home on the couch, where my dog can watch, too.