It is to note that where I saw Road to Perdition (theater wise) is not known for rowdy or loud audiences, but the crowd present for the show was surprisingly more younger than older. I attended a 10:15 pm show of Perdition Friday night, July 12, in what must be an auditorium carrying 350 - 450 seats. Being as though the last several flicks I had seen in that theater (that were big box office success) had dull attendance opening weekend, tonight I figured was going to put the theater to the test and it proved to be swell, as it sold out.

I happened to be at the front of the line at 9:15, which eventually stretched down the block, and they didn't even allow us in until around 10:05. The next part is even trickier (why oh why?), because at 10:15 the line was still coming in and they just started the pre-show entertainment (annoying and creative-less ads). At least most folks were in by the time trailers kicked off, as there must have been a total of four or five ads before the actual previews.

In no particular order, we had the Analyze That teaser trailer, which for the most part drew in giggles across the room and the humorous "oh no..." reaction from many in attendance, but one could tell the crowd thought it looked fun despite the less than rowdy response. I don't know what others think, but to me this looks to capture the box office debut of Ocean's 11 / the opening per-screen average of Meet the Parents.

The One Hour Photo longer trailer version (compared to a shorter one I saw in Unfaithful) withdrew a creepy reception from the audience, but I was picking up a slight scent of a negative or mixed vibe from some in attendance. Overall, it was nicely reacted to, but nothing you could really pick out.

We had Simone, which I've seen the trailer for at least three or four times now, which had a positive reaction but nothing that great. Again, no real detailed reactions to pick out.

Then we have the film I'm looking very forward to; the Dustin Hoffman drama, Moonlight Mile. The silence in the room for the preview suggested interest in the preview, but like many of the trailer receptions, it was sort of hard to tell what moviegoers were pondering.

The Truth About Charlie received a decent response, with a few young women in the crowd letting out a cheer at the entrance of Marky Mark. Besides from that, no real solid, evident reaction.

After witnessing the trailer for Punch-Drunk Love, the question I ended up spurting out loud to my friend next to me was, "what the hell was that?" While a confusing trailer that doesn't exactly say much, writer/director P.T. Anderson has yet to fail on me and the always-promising presence of Philip Seymour Hoffman gets my anticipation up there. Only thing is, Adam Sandler? It'll certainly be interesting (it apparently won Best Director at Cannes {or some festival}; go Anderson!)

And that was it. Perhaps next time reactions will be a little more fun or evident, as tonight was a multiplex...(I prefer larger theaters, but no chain in town was offering one)

Until next time...