Teens Love the Silver Screen

Has the recession dampened America's passion for going to the movies? Definitely not for teenagers. A new report from The Nielsen Company details media usage by teens, who remain the #1 moviegoing demographic group. Here are a few notable findings:

• About a third of teens prefer seeing movies in the theater over at-home options. It's good to know that young people aren't being turned off by gabby seat neighbors, crying babies, and the cost of popcorn...the way I often am. There are more ways to watch movies at home than ever before, yet many people still prefer the authentic cineplex experience.
  
  
• The typical teen saw almost 11 movies in the theater last year (a higher average than any other age group). With all the buzz and box-office receipts concentrated in the first month of a film's release, it's definitely a zero-sum game when it comes to movie advertising. If you can't get people to choose your movie as their "movie of the month," you may be out of luck by the time they return to the theater in 4-5 weeks.
  
  
• Comedy ranks as the most popular movie genre among teens (85%), while only half of teens consider themselves fans of horror flicks. Guess that's why The Grudge 3 went straight to DVD. While horror is clearly an acquired taste, I was surprised to find that comedy was more popular than action-adventure (80%). I can't think of any good PG-13 comedy from recent months off the top of my head, whereas I can definitely remember a slew of popular action blockbusters.

Are teens sneaking into R-rated comedies? Is the popularity of comedies bolstered by young teens (age 12-14), whereas older teens gravitate toward action movies like Terminator Salvation? Could be part of the trend that's seen comedies increasingly push the boundaries of "decency" (Superbad, The Hangover) -- thus ending up squarely in the R category -- while action-adventure movies (Live Free or Die Hard, Terminator Salvation) have moved in the opposite direction.

Both seem like positive developments for these genres, at least from a business standpoint. R-rated comedies are free to offend their way to box-office glory, while action flicks moderate their sex/violence/language just enough to snag a PG-13 label and a hefty sum of allowance money from those heavy-moviegoing teens.

My vote is for less watering down of action flicks, but who am I to stand in the way of Hollywood capitalism?

MOVIE POLITICS IN A NUTSHELL: Global Warning

By Peanut

Helen (Jennifer Connelly): You said you came to save us.

Klaatu (Keanu Reeves): I said I came to save the Earth.

Helen: You came to save the Earth... from us.

You came to save the Earth from us.

I'm going to dispense with the formalities right at the top: Last night I watched a craptacular movie called The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008). Not only was it unoriginal (based on the 1951 "classic" -- though to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the original either), it was also preachy and one-note. Humans are violent; their nature is destructive; they won't change their ways. If I'm gonna listen to a robotic actor saying "It's in your nature to

destroy yourselves," I want him to be playing an actual robot.

So basically Klaatu (Keanu) and his alien crew are an extreme extraterrestrial version of Green Peace. Klaatu brings a couple of giant glowing spheres with him to earth, which he uses to collect samples of animal species before initiating the extermination of humanity. (Thank you, screenwriters, for the unnecessary line about this being a real-life "Noah's Ark.") Not sure what happens to all the plant life, though. I hope they're immune to swarms of nano-bots that apparently can eat glass and steel (see: the destruction of Giants Stadium, which was featured in the trailer and is pictured below.)

The message here is clear: Stop polluting the world; stop ignoring global warming; stop destroying each other and the only planet we have...before it's too late. It's a message that's been conveyed by much more intriguing and entertaining vehicles in the past -- even schlocky sci-fi flicks like The Day After Tomorrow. I don't disagree the with the legitimacy or urgency of this story's moral. I just wasn't moved in any way by The Day the Earth Stood Still. And for a movie that seems like a call-to-action, that's about as bad a criticism as you can get. 0.5 PB Jar (out of 3)

Destruction of Giants Stadium by a cloud of nano-bots: 3.0 PB Jars (out of 3)

Academy Supersizes Best Picture Field

From five nominees to ten...as if they needed an excuse to make the Oscar telecast even longer.

Next February's Academy Awards will pit ten movies against each other in the final category, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Is it an attempt to make the Oscars more inclusive of viewers at home? An effort to honor a wider array of films? Or maybe it's simply a marketing ploy ("10 Best Picture Nominees in 2010")?

The Academy will surely claim that this is a return to Oscar's roots. After all, Casablanca faced off against nine competitors in 1943, the last year that ten movies were nominated in the"Best Picture category. But my money's on the "inclusivity" rationale. How many times have you seen more than two of the five Best Picture nominees prior to the Oscars? Two years ago I saw all five for the first time ever...but only because of an Atonement/There Will Be Blood double feature the day before the Oscars. Last year, in contrast, I saw only one -- Slumdog Millionaire -- prior to the big night. Much more typical for me -- and probably for the general TV viewing public who ABC and the Academy hope to attract.

Whatever the reason for the switch, I do think this move will increase John Q. Public's investment in the Oscars. Whether he'll tune in for the entire 4-plus-hour marathon of movie montages and musical numbers is another story.

Trailer of the Month: The Road

If the post-apocalyptic Fallout 3 was

2008's Video Game of the Year, the movie adaptation of the post-apocalyptic The Road (starring Viggo Mortensen, pictured) just might be 2009's Film of the Year...Okay, maybe 2009's "Sci-Fi/Survival-Horror Movie of the Year" might be a safer bet.

The trailer for The Road makes me want to go rent some of its atmospheric predecessors like

12 Monkeys and the Mad Max films (I've only seen the original, but I've heard Road Warrior rocks). In

fact, I may even pick up the novel "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy, who also penned No Country for Old Men.

Oh hell, forget reading -- time to play some more Fallout 3...