The “Wait for HBO” Movie and Other Classifications

Nowadays, video stores are obsolete. This is kind of a sad fact for me. My high school job was working at Blockbuster Video. I grew up in video stores, too and used to thoroughly enjoy browsing through the aisles and finding a couple movies I’d forgotten about and picking it up.

Those days are gone. Netflix has essentially replaced the browsing through the aisles and now you can do it from the comfort of your couch. I basically classify movies in the following ways now:

1) Must-See in the theater. Examples – Skyfall, Lincoln, Django Unchained.

2) Wait for DVD/Blu-Ray Release. If I happen to miss a certain film in the theater, there are some that I know I’ll probably purchase for the DVD collection. I missed the Sherlock Holmes sequel at the multiplex, but knew I’d purchase it when it came out, which I did. Still haven’t watched it yet but will soon. If I hadn’t seen Argo in the theater, I probably would’ve gotten it for the collection immediately based on reviews alone.

3) The “Wait for HBO or Showtime Movie”. Then, there’s a number of features that I’m not interested enough in to buy or see in the theater. Essentially, a movie I don’t want to pay for. Fairly often, I’ll see a trailer for something and remark to a friend, “That’s a wait for HBO.” 

Here’s a perfect example of a “Wait for HBO” movie from this week: Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo, starring Matt Damon. Here’s my well-thought out plot description: it’s about a family that buys a zoo. When it was released last December, it received mixed reviews and performed just OK at the box office. Frankly, there was nothing about it that would’ve caused me to rush out to AMC Lennox or Arena Grand (my theaters of choice) or drop 18 bucks for the DVD. That said, I’ve loved some Crowe movies (particularly Almost Famous). And I was happy to see that it had made its cable debut. I watched it Wednesday night. Result? Well, it’s a “Wait for HBO movie”. It had its moments and was a pleasant enough diversion. If I’m giving out rating, it’s probably a **1/2 flick. Worth seeing, but nothing special. It won’t be joining the Crowe-directed Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky on the DVD collection shelf. 

J. Edgar is another recent example. That movie went from “must-see in the theater” to “wait for HBO” based on mixed reviews. A side note: dramas are more likely to have that happen. Big spectacle action or sci-fi movies are usually ones I want to see on a big screen. J. Edgar actually exceeded my middling expectations. DiCaprio was fantastic and I really liked it. 

I have Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg, sitting in the DVR list. It also got mixed reviews and there was absolutely nothing about it that shouted “theater movie”. I’ll watch it some night when nothing else is on and I suspect it’ll be a pleasant enough diversion too.

Skyfall on the other hand shouts “theater movie” on every level and I’m off to see that this weekend! Stay tuned.