Catching Movies

I don't blame recent fatherhood on this (although it certainly does not help either) but increasingly I don't find myself being able to catch the movies I would like to see in the theatre.

In general, I would distinguish movies I am interested in into 3 categories (the ones I am not interested in do not qualify)

1. The ones I definitely need to see in the theatre,
2. Movies I can happily watch on DVD or on an airplane and
3. Movies where I am remotely interested in what they are about, but I wouldn't necessarily have to watch.

The first category is the most difficult one, since it leaves little room to manoeuvre. As mentioned above, the presence of a newborn does not lend itself easily to movie nights (although at some stage the added presence of a sitter certainly will). Parent and baby screenings are only on during the week, so they should really be called "Stay-At-Home parent and baby screening" because my commitment to the cause is not that great that I would take time off to take my infant to the local multiplex.

The second is generally easier, although I did find myself recently on a number of inter-continental flights where movies were shown on a big screen for the entire cabin. Needless to say, this would never happen in Business Class, and this particular example was unfortunately a 13-hour flight to Thailand. The fact that women got handed a flower when leaving the airplane did not make me forget the poor in-flight entertainment.

For the "stay in to watch a movie" variety, LoveFilm does the trick well, although we do find ourselves regularly receiving movies wondering who on earth would have put those on our "queue".

And, to speak with our friends at MasterCard, everything else, there is MovieSpoiler. Sometime the write-ups of movies are not that great, but at least they usually cover all the latest movie releases (latest US releases that is, which means that you can get the Cliff notes for movies that haven't even come out over here).

Which is a great way to be knowledgeable at the watercooler without having to bother watching all those movies - at least the Category 3 ones.