Once Upon A Time At The Bengies
Usually, I write a "top ten" movie post about the films shown at the Bengies Drive-In after the season ends. This year, of course, it is different.
First off, the COVID-19 pandemic hit in late winter, when the Bengies would normally be gearing up for their season opening. No films in March, nor April. Not even May, when I took this shot:
I thought, at the time, that we could contain this outbreak by following simple public health rules. It was not to be. By the time rules were formulated to allow people to go out to the movies it was June. I'll skip the controversy among the federal, state, and local governments about rules for masks, food preparation and mourn for what we lost.
Then, when the first features were posted on the marquee, it was a relief that we could actually attend. The Bengies was open every night, for weeks, the first time in many many years I can remember them having that many shows per week. I'm glad they were able to hire their full crews, and despite being at half-capacity by restricting parking to every other spot (their choice) they could bring some entertainment to us.
The Bengies, from their 2020 opening date through the end of the season (December 18-19) was a way for many of us to enjoy a little in the midst of chaos.
Sonic/Jumanji
Sonic The Hedgehog was released in February 2020. It would prove to be one of the few movies the Bengies (or any theater in the country) could show as first-run. Jumanji (the next level) was released in 2019, and, honestly, it was so much like the last Jumanji (2017) as to make no difference. Heather kept saying we saw this before. I'll have to re-watch the 1995 Robin Williams version to know how different the special features are.
Did we enjoy Sonic? Sure. Despite the video-game origins, the kid-oriented PG rating, and king of hams Jim Carrey being the "bad guy" it was awesome to watch the action on the big screen.
For this show, and many others in 2020, we took advantage of the Bengies outside food permit to enjoy meals and leave the snack bar line to others.
| 4*/2* |
ET-TE/BTTF-1
E.T. was more enjoyable than Back To The Future. Both good.
We had seen E.T (The Extraterrestrial) on the big screen not too many years ago, and it still has merit after all this time. Dated in terms of effects and society in general, and Spielberg's story-telling and love of the cliffhanger never changes.
Back To The Future can be hard to watch over and over again only because we know Michael J. Fox is suffering in the real world.
| 2x5* |
FIELD OF DREAMS/A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
Great Double Feature. Not quite the best of 2020, though a better pairing than the best (see below). I have probably seen both of these at least once, but such a while ago not to matter. Field Of Dreams was not as corny as I remember. And Kevin Costner's sillier roles since then didn't ruin the takes for me. I definitely did not recall how the film ended, and was properly entertained on this viewing.
A League Of The Own was even better than I remember, with the immortal Tom Hanks doing his hard-drinking loser persona that is still Hanks, and the sound-bite clips that also live on ("there's no crying in baseball"). Geena Davis is a wonder. Period. I wasn't irritated by either Madonna or Rosie O'Donnell as much as I feared. And I think Jon Lovitz's cigar-chomping agent character stole the show, at least when he was on-screen. Not as over-the-top as it might have been, still edgy enough to amuse.
The real Women's League players being on-screen at the end was icing on the cake.
More like Fall now...
| 2x5* |
Scout Night!
THE MOVIES
The Goonies [PG] [ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089218
]
Men In Black [PG-13] [ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1391655
]
and a late show of 759: Boy Scouts of Harlem [ Unrated ] [ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1391655 ]
This was the ninth year of camping at the Bengies. The pandemic put a major hurdle in staging this event, as we needed to get a mitigation plan approved by the BSA, which took weeks once the opportunity came up. As a result, the camping crowd was smaller and much more subdued than prior camp-ins. But we did it, even showing the wonderful story of black Scouts on the big screen. Thanks, Bengies!
I hadn't seen The Goonies, and liked it a lot; I'd see Men In Black a few times and it still holds up.
| 3 x 5* |
| *-* |
David Copperfield / Unhinged
The Personal History of David Copperfield is a new release for 2020 (though IMDB shows it as 2019). A great story line, and how can Dev Patel get any better? The cinematic effects of flash forward and back were so-so; beautiful cinematography overrides this weird roller-coaster edit timing. We're looking forward to seeing this feature again, even on a small format screen.
Awful movie.
I make it a point not to read reviews of movies that the Bengies books so that I have few preconceived notions, or notions someone else decided on. Wasn't able to do that for the majority of films screened at the drive-in in 2020 as they were restricted to prior releases when studios slowed their output to zilch. So other than the title, didn't know what to expect.
It's a revenge movie is the short version. Action sequences, starting with a firebombing (and worse havoc implied), just don't make up for the random violence portrayed here. If there was one silver lining of an unprecedented quarantine lockdown, it was a dearth of school violence this year. To have that thrust in our faces was to bring that horror back.
And it isn't a horror movie in the "classic" sense. More like domestic violence portrayed on screen. And there's too much of that in the news anyway. Nothing to see here. The ending, without giving it away, was hollow.
The Addams Family / Hocus Pocus
| 4*/5* |
On to October, and Halloween. The Addams Family release we had seen last year. Nothing can ever top the Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston versions (not to mention Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams).
Had not seen before. Loved Bette Midler since the 70s, so it was a treat to see this adventure in large format. Special effects good enough given the vintage, and while the plot was practically non-existent, the witchy hijinks were just right.
Honest Thief / Guardians of the Galaxy (1)
| 1*/5* |
Honest Thief was released in October. It stank.
Firstly, the premise of the perfect crime spree with no evidence at all is absurd, only viable with a cast like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly and their perfect clothes, perfect appearance and perfect dwellings.
Secondly, the "dishonest cops rob honest criminal" is less of a stretch at first but having FBI managers completely ignore obvious clues became completely ridiculous by the second act. Oh wait, I'm from Baltimore where we had the crooked Gun Trace Task Force (even had one of those crooks-the cops I mean--living on my block.
Lastly, the ending was so anticlimactic as to be a total let-down after two hours of mayhem.
Part of our disappointment in the film experience must be chalked up to the general malaise caused by the pandemic. Like the movie palaces during the Great Depression, you want to go to a show to escape your problems, not have more sadness thrust upon you.
It was better than Unhinged in that regard.
Pivot to Guardians. A fun movie when I saw it the first time (also at the Bengies), and the sequel was better than most second-attempts. So it was a great pleasure to experience the first episode in full. I think by this point (December...) the snack-bar line was shorter than earlier in the season so I may have missed a few minutes. Bengies has the concession line snake along the front of the building and you can see/hear the action until you get to the entrance.
Wonder Woman / Die Hard
| 2x5* |
Wonder Woman with Die Hard takes the prize as the best double feature of the year (or decade, starting in 2011) at the Bengies. I've seen the former twice, and the latter a few more times. I appreciate the Bengies being able to screen this and hopefully no customers thought this was the new WW, to be released on December 25.
Die Hard is the Christmas movie we need. "Come out to the Coast; have a few laughs." Indeed.
Amazon Screenings
As indoor screenings and the necessary new releases ground to a halt in late Spring 2020, the Bengies being open attracted both new customers and new private showings. The deep, deep pockets of Amazon contracted drive-in theaters across the country for free, lottery-based, double features. We were lucky enough to attend four out of five nights, and sat through 5 flicks. I'll let you guess which we skipped out on, with one hint being we missed out on Black Panther & Creed (tried though).
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July 1st - Movies To Make You Fall In love: Love & Basketball & Crazy Rich Asians
July 15th - Movies To Make You Proud: Black Panther & Creed
July 29th - Movies To Inspire Your Inner Child: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse & Hook
August 12th - Movies To Make You Open Your Eyes: Do The Right Thing & Get Out
August 26th - Movies To Make You Laugh: Coming To America & Girls Trip
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Because this series was not curated by the Bengies, I'm not going to rate them in the same fashion as the ones above that were. But, the most fun on the giant outdoor screen had to be Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Small screens don't do it justice.
No pictures as these bookings were advertised through other means. Images are online I suppose.
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