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EDITORIALS

The Movie That Doesn't Deserve to Waste Theater Space

by Alex Billington
April 12, 2007

You've probably heard of it by now - Redline. And I'll be damned if I'm mentioning it and now introducing a whole bunch of people to it who will probably see it. It's not even a real movie, but it's not like the Metropolitan Opera that gets a live broadcast in theaters around the US, this is wasting precious theater space that should be given to Grindhouse or more deserving films opening this weekend. How and why does this crap even get shown anywhere in a theater?

In this day and age where incredible movie experiences can't even make the money they deserve, it's a shame to see something like this even making a presence. Smokin' Aces director Joe Carnahan was right - we ALL pay the price when good movies do bad and bad movies do good. So what is this Redline? It's some movie directed by a stunt coordinator with flashy cars, all wasting the money of patrons for the thrills and chills of terrible filmmaking. Honestly, I haven't even seen it nor will even set foot near the auditorium it's showing in.

The argument has been coming from moviegoers everywhere, that they should be focusing on higher quality films as one aspect of improving the theatrical experience to drive a return to attending movies at the theater. In our podcast yesterday we had some listener mail from a guy who was amazed that the people making Are We Done Yet? or Firehouse Dog were even sane when they were doing it. This time, it's not Hollywood's fault and it's the theaters (we've seen this before). No real Hollywood studio has touched this movie, its being put out by some never-heard-of company. It's the theaters that have agreed to play it. Do they really think it's going to make them money or better serve their customers?!

It would really get the theaters on the right track if they'd honestly dedicate themselves much more to the art of fine film than the art of making money. Yes they need to make money, but that can be done when they've helped embrace the promotional process for great films like Grindhouse and are a visible part in providing that experience, including putting it in multiple auditoriums. Movie theaters should be helping get people to the theaters to see good movies themselves, by playing better movies, not the other way around. And Redline is the first fake film that is really wasting theater space.

First things first, DON'T go see Redline. Don't fuel the fire that is destroying the theater industry as we know it!

Explore tags: Editorials, Opinions

Charlie

This movie is getting my grinding my gears. I was excited to see what my local theater was playing this weekend, hoping they might get something getting real buzz like The Lookout or The Hoax, but it's getting Redline and Pathfinder. Bleh! Seeing as our the other screens are playing Wild Hogs, The Reaping, Firehouse Dog, and Are We Done Yet?, we officially have more than half the screens showing pure crap. I think what kills me about this movie is it's essentially a Fast and the Furious ripoff. Is Hollywood so lazy they can't even seek inspiration from great car movies but a mediocre-at-best (no offense Fast and the Furious fans) car film? For a bonus, check out IMDb's plot summary for the film, which is merely a list of the cars used and the guy who supplied them.
http://entertainmentmusings.wordpress.com Flutie

Agreed...How many rip-offs of Fast and the Furious can we have already? Wasn't there one with motorcycles at some point? Yeesh...
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com Neil

What, you don't like Eddie Griffin? Geez... If you are going to see a throw away flick this weekend, at least hedge your bets on Aqua Teen Hunger Force. (No offense to Aqua Teen fanboys and fangirls out there, I just don't dig...)
http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/ Chris Thilk

THANK YOU! Everytime I see an ad or any other bit of new on this movie I have to pinch myself. I keep thinking this is such a non-movie. How does it get an ad budget that's on the same scale as, like, Disturbia? This might be a sign of the end of the world.
John

I'm really surprised at the venom in this article directed towards Redline, a movie that -- to be honest -- I'm not planning on seeing until it comes out on video... maybe. But to complain that it's a movie put out by some 'never heard of company' and directed by some stunt coordinator while at the same time complaining about the lack of box office success that Grindhouse (which I dug) has received so far... I find it surprisingly because Grindhouse itself was supposed to be an homage to those films in the 70s & 80s put out by 'never heard of' companies, and one of those films that I grew up on -- 1974's Gone In 60 Seconds -- was directed by H.B. Halicki, who also was the film's stunt coordinator. So it may not end up being equal the film that Grindhouse is, or maybe not even equal the film Roadhouse is, but that doesn't mean it's the worst film ever!
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

John, good point, but this is NOT that kind of film as you're mentioning that Grindhouse pays homage to. This is a glitzy flick made with money to make even more money. It was produced by a real estate conglomerate with all cars from his personal collection for no real reasons besides to creating a film to show off just how much money he has and how much more he can make. It's not what you're talking about and if anything is a disgrace to that old school grindhouse world of movies.
John

True Alex, but even though Redline will probably suck (as most movies today do for me) I'll still make a little bit of a comparison to H.B. Halicki, as by 1982 with The Junkman his junkyard/mercantile business, along with real estate holdings, allowed him the luxury to have a building the size of a football field to house his collection of 100,000 toys and automobiles. He used his own collection of over 200 cars in that film. He financed it himself with the intention, I'm sure, to make more money. Is Redline a true 'old school' grindhouse movie? Hell no. But though I love the film(s), neither is Grindhouse itself, a $50+ million dollar movie with an all-star cast that, according to one website, wasn't even allowed to be shown at Portland, Oregon's The Clinton, one of the true grindhouse theaters that's still out there. Instead it was shown at the local megaplex.