Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for April 14, 2014

wow just wow

Theaters are dying. Why go to a place with ill-mannered people, screaming brats, incredibly overpriced refreshments, uncomfortable seats and sticky floors when you can stay home with your Bose stereo system, a BarcaLounger and a 60" HDTV, pay almost nothing for refreshments, pause the movie if you have to pee and don’t have to put up with boorish people and their unspanked brats? Seeing the movie at home is worth the 3 month (or less) wait. I predict a time in the near future where you’ll pay ten bucks and the movie will be downloaded into your DVR the day it opens.

Time to cash in your ticket.

And hawgower,When you consider who wrote those words it makes sense why a theater was chosen for this visualization.

I know this is a little off topic, but I still enjoy going to movie theaters. We have a great second run theater in Wichita, so the cost isn’t that great and I do enjoy watching things on the big screen.

I can’t go to movies anymore. The entrance to the individual theater is always at the front, and I am disabled and cannot climb the stairs to the middle of the seating, so I get stuck at the bottom row, looking up at the screen and cannot see the movie well. 2nd run theater is fine, but in a very bad neighborhood.

I can’t go to movies anymore. The entrance to the individual theater is always at the front, and I am disabled and cannot climb the stairs to the middle of the seating, so I get stuck at the bottom row, looking up at the screen and cannot see the movie well. 2nd run theater is fine, but in a very bad neighborhood.

The first movie review by Roger Ebert that I read was for “2001: A Space Odyssey.” I read every one of his reviews I could after that. There was always SOMETHING in each review – philosophical, comic, an interesting turn of phrase – that made them worthwhile to me. All of my classmates who wrote creatively wanted to write like Roger Ebert..In the early 1970s Roger also hosted a series of programs dedicated to the films of Ingmar Bergman, and I thus began to think of films as a true art form. I never really enjoyed his television reviews, however – he came across as sarcastic and adversarial , and I disliked Gene Siskel..Fortunately, he continued his written work. I was always amazed that almost every week the Chicago Sun-Times movie section contained page after page after page of original Roger Ebert movie reviews – like a feast for me every Sunday or Saturday. .I wished he would write forever and I could read him forever. With each passing year I lose more of the writers and illustrators I admired and attempted to emulate when I was young. I can’t even remember at this moment who is left, other than Patrick Oliphant.

This isn’t about movie theatres, it’s the message that’s important. Thanks Gavin – wonderfully done, as always.

Roger Ebert was one of the few critics I always read, because he had a knack for expressing the essence of a film in a thoughtful and interesting way. If he liked one, I was fairly certain I would, too.

Gavin, you made me cry. I hope that the scenario you pictured here came true somewhere.

Can’t afford movie theater these days only what I can get on the computer. I do miss sitting in a theater with all the other people. There is a certain difference experiencing a film with a crowd. Can’t imagine getting the same experience watching Gone With the Wind, Titanic, Sound of Music or Alien for the first time on a tiny screen with only a couple of friends.

Great!!

well said Roger RIP!

This strip always blows me away… :) I love the artwork and the interpretations!

Nicer to watch at home, I agree. Especially with someone special (and my new BF is great at setting up his system for maximum enjoyment. He has also downloaded even more than I have to DVD. The privacy makes it better too – I have mine set up to watch from my pool and he’s working on his from the hot tub.

The strip made me wonder if Ebert left a legacy to some theater. Those of us on Social Security find DVDs a better choice. (after loosing out on Betas and VHS collections). But BF can still play VHS.

Don’t know about the rest of you, but the combination of the quote and the art left me in tears.

If you seek out quality movies with excellent acting, screenplay, plot-line, etc, you’ll be less likely to experience unpleasant situations because those movies (without a chase scene) attract a more attentive and polite audience.

This kind of reminded me of the film “Cinema Paradisio”. It had the greatest ending scene of any film ever.

This is beautiful!

Roger was a class act, certainly.There’s still something about seeing a movie in a theater, with other people, the way the director intended, that can’t be beat.

Incidentally, I notice the first ticket, in panel 5, is “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” – screenplay by Roger Ebert…