The only movie theater within 45 minutes of my mom's house
Thursday, January 22, 2015 at 2:15PM Nathaniel's annual adventure in Utah begins. We hit Sundance tomorrow.
Sundance (which begins tonight) gives me a good excuse to visit my mom each year. She lives in the middle of nowhere about two hours from the festival. Her town is so small that there's not even a convenience store so I have to drive 15 miles to a the only nearby "town" to get my coffee each morning. I zoom down tremendously flat freeways with cows grazing on either side. When I get my coffee I always glance at what's playing at the local movie theater, the only one in something like a 45 mile radius.
Currently they're showing Meryl Streep ACTING and Liam Neeson killing people. That's a surprisingly apt description of contemporary mainstream cinema out here in the middle of nowhere.
Liam Neeson, Meryl Streep, Utah, moviegoing
Reader Comments (24)
Welcome to my world.
Enjoy the Sundance, Nathaniel and Utah too.
Loved the descriptions for Into the Woods and Taken 3
Why don't you just brew some coffee at home? Ha!
Ha! See, Nathaniel, why I bitch so much about "qualifying" runs? And I live in freakin' Boston! Do you think your mom's theater would EVER show Selma or Two Days One Night? At least I hope Mi Rancherito is decent...
Looking forward to your reports from Sundance.
Does Mi Rancherito serve margaritas and/or food to your seat in the theater?
I would love to have seen Glenn Close in Into the Woods. Her talent for BIG, character-based musical theater is really special (find her Tony performance of Sunset Boulevard), even if she's not the greatest singer.
Doesn't anyone in the industry feel a responsibility to these actresses? It makes me so angry.
For a minute, back in 2006, it felt like turning Meryl Streep into a mainstream draw was this subversive, noble thing. ("Who'd've thunk Meryl Streep would be bankable in her 60's?!?!") After almost 10 years, she's now just part of the firm. She and Liam Neeson have a lot in common, in terms of diminishing returns that come from becoming movie stars.
Please tell me you send her screeners like every mother deserves.
There's something to be said for the convenience of having margaritas right after the show.
Carlos -- my mom is Mormon and has no coffee or coffee maker.
OMG I'm so excited for you to go to Sundance this year (some really fascinating projects lined up that I can't wait to hear about) but if I lived in a town that was only showing two (bad) movies at a time and NOTHING ELSE for miles... well, let's just say I'd probably be a shut-in with my Netflix and Hulu plus accounts.
How depressing for Utah residents to only have those two shitty movies to choose from.
streep diminishing returns. Please! Streep films are earning more at the box office
than ever in her long career. She also continues to seek innovative and fresh
projects unlike pay-check Neeson. It appears Hayden is full of shit and
and s Streep basher....
I'm surprised it only took 15 miles to find coffee. I remember the stretch from Cedar City to Provo being particularly forlorn and I'm sure west Utah is even worse.
I'm just dying to know if there is a single Mexican-ish person working at Mi Rancherito, or is it more like Taco Bell? :-)
And at least these two movies are actually playing in movie theaters elsewhere in America, they're not that far behind. Does the movie theater have any patrons?
looking forward to read about "strangerland"!
KT, that only applies to rural Utah. In the medium to large cities we have access to pretty much everything that everyone else does, though obviously not like LA or New York.
Nathaniel.....drive south.....close your eyes ...then open them and pretend you are in a John Ford western.
this is really great theater..
What's with the Streep "ACTING" in caps and all the Streep bashing here?
Ethan, don't mind it. It is silly group-thinking, and it comes and goes. There's always an actress that is cute to hate. Currently, it is fashionable to make snide comments about Amy Adams and Meryl Streep. Hilary Swank is a perennial target too. It has been Zellweger before. And Winslet also, after her Oscar win. It has nothing to with the actual talents or abilities or performances of the people involved.
Ethan & Carmen - come on. Even if u worship Streep surely you get that she's an ALL CAPS kind of actress. She goes very big sometimes. I bet Streep, who has a great sense of humor, laughed her ass off at that French & Saunders spoof of her ACTING in Mamma Mia!
lol thank you, nathaniel, I just discovered that spoof video! (but to defend meryl, it's not like "mamma mia!" 'needed' restraint in the performances. there's not much to the 'story', so the whole point I suppose is silly-sweet OTT entertainment)
Meryl: This is MY Woods!
IGNORE THE HATERS!
Yes, Nate has steered his site to the "bash Meryl" site which no longer has
much ammunition to bash Zellwegger since she has disappeared from the
planet. I myself love me some Meryl and give her props for her amazing
Song filled turn in ITW. Meryl will soon be taking a long break from acting
And I will miss her whereas maybe this site will have less Meryl to bash
while hoping she stays "gone girl".