Midway - the 2019 movie
My son invited me to go with him and my grandson to see the movie "Midway", released recently. Of course I accepted! 
The movie was, in effect, a docudrama. The digital graphics were so realistic that what we saw when the dive bombers bore down on the Japanese carriers was indistinguishable from reality. One really felt like they were setting in the cockpit as the Dauntless dive bombers bore down. At the conclusion they showed each of the actors, both American and Japanese, and then faded to a picture of the person whom the actor was portraying, along with a brief paragraph telling how that person fared following the war. This movie made the one staring Charlton Heston look like cheap Hollywood theatrics.
We went to the 12:30 showing. There were probably a total of a dozen people watching.
We enjoyed the "Dream Lounger" seats.
Another thing that amazed me was the 25 minutes of ads that preceded the movie. Obviously, I rarely go to movies, because I am not interested in what Hollywood seems intent on delivering. My son was assistant manager of the Conestoga Theater in Grand Island, NE from 1983 to 1986. I asked him if they showed ads when he worked there. He said no. Ads came after that. Up until that time, when one went to the movies what you paid for was usually a double header. The first movie started at the advertised time. Following it were usually one or two trailers advertising the coming attractions, one or two cartoons, and a Pathe' News reel featuring Lowell Thomas as the narrator, describing in detail, with movie clips, the news of the day. Then the second movie started. As a teenage boy I'd pay the 25 cents to get in, then stay through the whole billing twice. The Pioneer theater had an exterior of pine bark. Inside were two columns of folding chairs, each about ten seats wide, in 10-15 rows. The screen was a huge white cotton sheet, about king size, tacked on the wall in front. There were two speakers up front, on each side of the screen, but the sound was not stereo.
The third thing that amazed me was the price of the concessions. My son purchased three medium drinks, one bucket of popcorn, and a small box of gummies for my grandson. Total price: $32.
When my son worked at the Conestoga they began raising the price of concessions because the Hollywood distributors began demanding ALL of the box office receipts for movies like Star Wars, etc. To pay the employees, rent, electricity, etc, and make a profit, the theater owners had to start charging more for concessions. It didn't take long for Hollywood to begin demanding a percentage of the concessions as well. Greed has no bounds.
Anyway, Midway is worth it all, IMO.
The movie was, in effect, a docudrama. The digital graphics were so realistic that what we saw when the dive bombers bore down on the Japanese carriers was indistinguishable from reality. One really felt like they were setting in the cockpit as the Dauntless dive bombers bore down. At the conclusion they showed each of the actors, both American and Japanese, and then faded to a picture of the person whom the actor was portraying, along with a brief paragraph telling how that person fared following the war. This movie made the one staring Charlton Heston look like cheap Hollywood theatrics.
We went to the 12:30 showing. There were probably a total of a dozen people watching.
We enjoyed the "Dream Lounger" seats.Another thing that amazed me was the 25 minutes of ads that preceded the movie. Obviously, I rarely go to movies, because I am not interested in what Hollywood seems intent on delivering. My son was assistant manager of the Conestoga Theater in Grand Island, NE from 1983 to 1986. I asked him if they showed ads when he worked there. He said no. Ads came after that. Up until that time, when one went to the movies what you paid for was usually a double header. The first movie started at the advertised time. Following it were usually one or two trailers advertising the coming attractions, one or two cartoons, and a Pathe' News reel featuring Lowell Thomas as the narrator, describing in detail, with movie clips, the news of the day. Then the second movie started. As a teenage boy I'd pay the 25 cents to get in, then stay through the whole billing twice. The Pioneer theater had an exterior of pine bark. Inside were two columns of folding chairs, each about ten seats wide, in 10-15 rows. The screen was a huge white cotton sheet, about king size, tacked on the wall in front. There were two speakers up front, on each side of the screen, but the sound was not stereo.
The third thing that amazed me was the price of the concessions. My son purchased three medium drinks, one bucket of popcorn, and a small box of gummies for my grandson. Total price: $32.
When my son worked at the Conestoga they began raising the price of concessions because the Hollywood distributors began demanding ALL of the box office receipts for movies like Star Wars, etc. To pay the employees, rent, electricity, etc, and make a profit, the theater owners had to start charging more for concessions. It didn't take long for Hollywood to begin demanding a percentage of the concessions as well. Greed has no bounds.Anyway, Midway is worth it all, IMO.
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