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I got there at about 9:20 without tickets yet, and there was a
small line down the street of roughly 100 - 200 people; small
being as though the Village theater holds 1300 people. The
line grew and grew as time went by, eventually ending up being
a fairly decent-sized blockbuster status. When the lights
dimmed, the theater was somewhere slightly over three-fourths
filled and some light cheers and a few claps went into the
air. And I had forgotten that this was going to be a digital
projection show, as that meant no Pepsi Blue commercial before
the flick; just the trailers and the feature presentation.
Yahoo.
The first preview up was The Core, which was getting boo's
about five seconds into the trailer. Fairly silent throughout
this one, but as it concluded with its so-called exciting
finale, the theater lit up in nasty remarks with one
controlling scream, "Armageddon 2!" Which set off a decent
applause.
Next up was X-Men 2, which was getting cheers and claps at
the beginning. The crowd was enthusiastic most of the way
through, leading to a big applause and lots of howling as it
finished off.
Anger Management followed, which produced a little bit of
laughs at Sandler's first appearance followed by more fun
reactions from Nicholson's presence. Laughter in
decent-to-good sizes erupted in general, but nothing too
extraordinary. I had seen this newer preview before at Old
School, but it surely makes me wonder if the comedy is as good
and hilarious as the original teaser suggested. This newer
trailer gives me a vibe that it could be the usual goofball
Sandler despite the Nicholson appearance. While I don't mind
the typical Sandler personality, I had a strong feeling this
would be a nice diversion from his other flicks. Maybe, maybe
not.
The concluding ad was Cradle 2 the Grave, which had me
worried toward the state of intelligence in the room, as DMX's
presence was getting some cheers and claps. Mostly positive
reaction, with a bit of enthusiasm afterward but nothing
outrageous. It felt like many were into it.
While I do mention Daredevil's audience reception in my
review of the film, the situation was not pretty. For a
theater like this on opening night, especially for a later
show, there is usually cheering and applauding throughout the
ride during the great action sequences. Here, there was
nothing and I thought I was detecting some giggles here and
there that weren't in favor of the flick. The opening credits
received vocal responses from the crowd, with Affleck getting
some slight yells from young women in the room. Jennifer
Garner pretty much tore the room apart, with everyone going
nuts as her name touched the screen. The only other decent
mention is Colin Ferrell, who's cast credit also retrieved a
good-sized clapping round. Joe Pantoliano withdrew a short
response.
Once Daredevil got into gear, enthusiasm was never very
evident. More often than not, it looked as though people were
bored and not excited. Sitting on the balcony, I was sometimes
overhearing criticism whispers from friends to others, and
from time to time sarcastic laughs. Michael Clarke Duncan was
the only actor to get a vocal reaction with his first
on-screen presence, but it wasn't overly special.
As the flick finished off, most were departing the theater
disappointed and spewing comments such as "That sucked!" and
"That was horrible!" I didn't see Batman & Robin here (it did
play there), but I can imagine that comic book flick retrieved
relevant audience receptions. |
