The Big Picture and The Last Picture Show?

I was listening to 'The Big Picture' podcast episode about the upcoming movies to hit the big screen (fingers crossed) for 2022, when it dropped onto my Apple Podcast list and was surprised when the hosts interrupted their show to tell of the passing of Peter Bogdanovich, who to my mind is famous for making 'The Last Picture Show'.

The only reason I had added 'The Big Picture' to my podcast list was I was searching in Apple Podcasts for podcast episode reviews on the movie 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' which was a movie I was thinking of seeing with my son at the cinema.

I remember when that movie was meant to be coming out and I went and saw the first 'Ghostbusters' movie on the big screen in preparation for the new movie that was meant to hit the big screen that year -

Spirit Materialization with Leslie Kean ... WHO Ya Gonna Call?

But after listening to 'The Big Picture' episode review on GA I decided not to see it.

Turned out my son wasn't keen on seeing it either, anyway, and he suggested 'West Side Story' and after listening to the review on WSS I said OK.

The Big Picture podcast:
West Side Story

The last movie we had seen at the cinema was 'Matrix Ressurections' in a fairly full cinema, as I wrote about here -

The Matrix 4?

Having watched the 'Matrix Ressurections' only once I was in two minds as to whether it was a good movie, and even necessary to add to the others.

I only heard 'The Big Picture' podcast review of M4 after seeing the movie, but I would agree with the podcast guys take of its strengths and weaknesses.

Although, I will have to see it again soon ... somewhere ... maybe at home on a streaming service.

The first time we planned to go see 'West Side Story' on the big screen my son had to cancel, as he was called into work on his day off because his co-workers were ringing in sick with Covid, or from being contacts to people who had Covid, so we went on a Monday night and had the whole cinema to ourselves, which means that we could take off our masks for the whole movie and talk between ourselves loudly, since there were no other movie goers to disturb.

We both enjoyed it, although I must admit that I have never seen the stage show or watched the old version from start to finish before. 

My son even told me that he and his ex-girlfriend had visited the place where the scene below was filmed at.

I asked him if you guys do what they did there in the movie and he just laughed.

The whole cinema complex seemed empty on that Monday night and rather spooky.

My son asked if I wanted to see the new 'Scream' movie when it comes out and I said I haven't seen any of them after the original came out on VHS, so maybe I'll have to watch those 15 minute You Tube "ending explained" clips and get up to speed (because I sure as Covid ain't watching all of those crappy movies beforehand:-) and then maybe we can catch it at the drive-in, so we can talk among ourselves about the film, like we had just done in the empty cinema:-)

The Big Picture: Scream

The irony in 2022 movie going is that the next movie you go to see on the big screen always seems to be that it could be your last picture-show:-)

Tickets please?

Bogdanovich began his
career as a film journalist

The Last Picture Show Author Fades Out of This Earthly Picture?