So I found out early yesterday afternoon that my theatrical pick this week, Fears of the Dark, was dropped from the release schedule. According to our buyer the film might still be released in December, but for now it is totally off the booking sheet, which is an ominous sign.

Evidently the film simply didn’t do very well in other markets (ie New York and Los Angeles) so the decision was made to ax the film instead of releasing it. This in spite of the heavy promotion it has received at all three Landmark Theatres (The Uptown, Lagoon and The Edina) over the past few months. It is pretty rare that a film that has been this heavily invested in by our company will be so unceremoniously dropped. It has happened before, but Fears of the Dark is the first one that I can recall that was dropped after being promoted at all three theatres.

But what really got my goat was when I discovered what Fears of the Dark was being replaced with at The Lagoon, that being Quantum of Solace. Now the decision to play Quantum of Solace at The Lagoon had been made several months ago, and one that has plenty of regulars irked ever since Landmark decided to have both The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia play on two screens this past summer.

Now The Dark Knight is at least defensible, as it made massive amounts of money all across the land and The Lagoon was relatively slow at the time, but Mamma Mia? But bunlike the rest of the world, both ended up doing rather mediocre business at The Lagoon, even the vaunted Dark Knight, and early signs are that Quantum of Solace won’t meet expectations either.

But what is most frustrating, is that Quantum of Solace is on two screens. That means the largest theatre chain in the US that is dedicated to Independent film simply dropped a foreign Independent film for a second screen of the massively mainstream James Bond. It was strictly financial decision, and one that had already backfired at this location in the past, to ax a film that had been garnering decent buzz from their regular clientel just so they could possibly draw in crowds for a film that is decidedly different from the rest of their yearly fare.

Do the expect those customers who come to see Quantum of Solace to return for other films?

Do they expect their regulars to be excited about losing an impressive looking Independent film just so Quantum of Solace can be shown every hour?

I know what my decision is. I won’t be watching Quantum of Solace. Not at The Lagoon, or anywhere else for that matter.

And if anyone else is as bothered by this as I am, feel free to visit landmarktheatres.com and let them know what you think.

I dare you.

Well my little sister’s wedding went off with nary a hitch resulting in a pretty positive family get together for all involved. My father somehow managed to stay controlled throughout the proceedings, which considering his was giving away his baby girl is quite the feat. Sure he lied during his toast about not crying during the wedding ceremony, this was in an effort to squash the rather large pool circulating about taking bets on just how quickly he would cry, but other then that small misstep he was shockingly composed the entire weekend.

During the reception Meghan and Jake (the newlyweds) had a nice change of pace by eliminating the tired cliché of clinking glasses to have them kiss. Instead, they asked for the guests to tell a story about either or both of them, and while I chose not to tell a story at that time, I thought it might be fitting to tell a story about Meghan during this review. Trust me, it somehow ties together with The Mirror Crack’d. (more…)

As spring approaches yet another of my major, and possibly unhealthy, obsessions begins to rear its ugly head. This obsession is America’s pastime, baseball; specifically the Milwaukee Brewers. The smell of the grass, the crack of the bat and I am off to a perfect blending of sports and statistics that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

While I grew up in the Midwest I didn’t have really any close major sports teams that I could follow as a kid. But I soon discovered that I could rather easily pick up the radio broadcasts for Milwaukee and either of the Chicago teams. And on especially clear evenings I could even pickup Kansas City, Minneapolis, or even Cincinnati. During a childhood that had a mere three network television stations it was unbelievable to me that I could have contact with these towns hundreds of miles away.

But while I had my pick of professional teams to listen too, their were few options in terms of games I could attend. The only game in town was the Cedar Rapids Reds, a minor league franchise of the Cincinnati Reds. And while this was a dream come true for my father who grew up a Reds fan, I didn’t exactly love the idea of watching players for a year only to leave me at the end of the season for another team.

But a few years later my chance of finally watching a Major League game was fulfilled when we moved to a suburb of Milwaukee, WI. With Wisconsin my new home the Brewers became my official team, and with that years of miserable failures and untapped potential would be witnessed by my eyes and ears. But while the Brewers struggled to find altogether new ways of not reaching the postseason I still continued to listen on the radio, content that one day they would finally be worth my years of heartache.

As I grew older I eventually left for college in Minnesota, quite happy to find another team I was able to attend regular games of, and still get to occasionally watch my Brewers when they came to town. And as the years passed by a new invention by Al Gore called the Internet began to redefine what it meant to be a Milwaukee Brewers fan. I soon discovered their were dozens of us out there who loved Milwaukee Brewer baseball. And not just the Major League roster, but the prospects, and the draft and some of us drooled over on base percentage while others coveted “tools”. And as we continued to talk we began wistfully thinking about what it would be like to have our very own place to meet and discuss the nuances, beauty and inherent nerdiness needed to be a Milwaukee Brewers fan. And soon after, Brewerfan.net was born.

But while we finally had a place to sit online and talk Brewers baseball, we began to notice something else. Interest in the Brewers was building. New stadium was erected in Milwaukee, prospects started to pan out, they even started to actually win. And as this happened people began coming out to watch baseball, but rather then the play on the field what to this day still garners the most interest among fans and visitors alike? The Sausage Race.

What is the Sausage Race? It is an event held during the 6^th inning of every game at Miller Park, in which 5 sausages (bratwurst, polish, Italian, hot dog, and chorizo) race around the bases to see who wins. Fans get to “bet” on who wins, but in reality it doesn’t mean anything other then being one giant ad for Klement sausages. Well, and that people are obsessed with watching enormous phalices race around for seemingly no reason what so ever, which surreptitiously brings us to Zardoz.

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