Captions at the Movies

Hey all! Seen any good movies lately??

As I was working on my last review, I realized that my ASL reviews are useless without Deaf access to new movies. I’m sure a lot of you know the ins and outs of finding captioned movies, especially if you enjoy going to the theater now and then, but I thought I’d gather some information on captioned movies and how to find them.

What I’ve learned is that there are generally two kinds of captioning: open and closed. Open captioning is where the captions are displayed across the screen. They make this possible by using a laser to burn the words out of every frame of film. This generally costs them around $4,000, or $40 per minute of movie! Closed captioning happens when someone chooses to view the captions; they’re not visible to everyone else (like the captions on your television). When you go to the movies, they have special systems in place to offer this in select theaters.

The closed captioning system usually used in movie theaters is Rear Window Captioning. It’s a little device, kind of like a small window, that sits in your cup holder or stands on the floor. A screen at the back of the theater projects the captions, which reflect off of your device so you can read them. It costs a theater between $8,000 and $12,000 to install this in just ONE of their screening rooms. That’s probably the reason they’re not available everywhere.

So how do you find captioned movies in your area?? Well, I have found that AMC Theatres is really good about accessibility. They have a section of their website dedicated to finding movie times in their theaters where some type of captioning is available. You just enter the theater you want to go to, and it gives you a list of showtimes. Click HERE to go to that website.

The other cool website I found is called CaptionFish! Just enter your city in the top right corner of their website and it will give you a list of theaters and the showtimes where captioning is available. Click HERE to go to CaptionFish.

If there are no captioned movies available near you, or you have to drive an obscene distance to find captioning, let your local theater know you want captions! Contact them and direct them to MoPix, a company helps movie theaters provide captions. (Click HERE for that information.) While you’re at it, get some friends to contact your theater too! The higher the demand, the higher the chances are of them paying attention. Make sure they know how much business they could get if only they provided captions!

If you are still having trouble finding captions, contact the theaters in your area. Ask them about their accessibility options and showtimes. They may have options you aren’t aware of. Don’t be afraid to ask!

That’s it for me. Hopefully I’ll be back in the next week or two with another movie for you guys! I’m including all of the websites I talked about at the bottom here also, so spread the word!

AMC Theatres

CaptionFish

MoPix

"A Good Day to Die Hard" - 2013

(Here's a heads up: I know the editing on this video is a little strange, but I'm getting the hang of it. The only thing I cut was my bloopers.)

Hello again!

     So, for Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend and I went to see A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest in the Die Hard franchise. I grew up watching Die Hard and I’m a huge fan of Officer John McClane. This movie is the fifth installment, and since they revived the series 12 years after the original three, I’ve been skeptical. Oftentimes, when Hollywood attempts to reinvent an old franchise, they just end up taking it behind the shed and shooting it to death (I’m looking at you, Indiana Jones). When the fourth movie came out a few years ago, it wasn’t the Die Hard we all knew and loved, but it wasn’t too bad. This fifth installment takes Officer McClane to Russia for a reunion with his son. There is plenty of action, but if you’re a Die Hard fan like myself, don’t get too excited. This movie insults not only your intelligence, but the characters as well.

     I give this movie a generous 6 out of 10 stars. In general, it was entertaining, but in a simple kind of way – like fireworks. It’s fun to watch things explode, but you don’t have to think too hard. In the original films, McClane uses his skill and knowledge to outwit his enemies –now he just seems hell-bent on causing as much property damage as possible. As a cop, he always cared about citizens and their welfare, but this movie displays his blatant disregard for anyone’s safety. He seems almost uncaring, tagging along with his kid and helping him blow things up and kill people. The story was feeble at best – they throw some Russian names at you and spend no time explaining what is going on. All you really need to know is that some of the people on the screen are bad guys and explosions look cool. The absolute worst part is the writing. Horrible one-liners turn a classic hero into a drooling idiot. During any type of turmoil, McClane yells “I’m supposed to be on vacation!” or some variance of that line. After the fourth time, the joke was more than forced – it was downright annoying. I grew up watching the underdog cop who would do anything to save people, but this generation’s John McClane is cocky and not very smart. Overall, it’s kind of a bummer. 

     That’s all I’ve got. Here’s my question for you: Are you an original Die Hard fan? What do you think of studios remaking perfectly good movies or trying to revive the classics? If you have ideas of what movie I should do next, vote in the poll box on the upper right side of the screen, or leave it in the comments. Remember to share this blog with you friends if you like it. There are now sharing buttons for social media at the bottom!

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars
Would I see it again?: I suppose, but only if I'm having some sort of marathon
Would I buy it?: Eh, got to have the full set I guess

"Mama" -2012

 
     Hey all! My name is Jessica. I started this blog because my dad suggested I review movies in ASL. I thought it would be good practice and combine two things that I love, movies and sign language! My signing is not perfect, but it’s good practice for me and, hopefully, helpful to some of you.
     Today, I’m going to review the recently released Mama. It’s about two small girls that are found by their uncle after living alone in a cabin in the woods for five years. They survived with the help of a motherly spirit with a jealousy problem. I wanted to see it because it was produced by Guillermo Del Toro, whose work I enjoy. He’s a producer, director, and a writer, and has done all three for some movies. One example is his movie Pan’s Labyrinth, a Spanish film with beautifully dark characters and extremely creative creatures. I was hoping that his signature style would be present in this film as well, but sadly, I left the theatre disappointed. It seems he only funded the project; his input was nowhere to be found.
     The movie itself gets 5 out of 10 stars from me. There were a few scary moments, but overall, I wasn’t scared by the movie the way I wanted to be. There were a few times when the movie uses the pop-out-and-scare-you tactics, but the viewer can always see it coming. It does label itself as a ‘psychological thriller’ and not ‘horror’, but the director seems confused and bounces back and forth between the two. The plot definitely had some holes and left me thinking ‘Huh?’ more than once. The shining star of this movie was actor Jessica Chastain. She’s been acting for some time, but in the past two or three years, she’s landed some really good roles. She has most recently starred in blockbusters like The Help, Lawless, and the new picture Zero Dark Thirty. In Mama, she played the role of Annabel, a grunge rocker with no tolerance for children. Her boyfriend is the girls’ uncle, and she decides to stay with him, even though kids aren’t really her thing. Chastain shows us her journey from uncaring caretaker to the loving mother figure the children need. The radical change in Annabel’s character happens a little too quickly for my taste, but Chastain takes the opportunity and runs with it.
     That’s it for Mama. What did you think? Was this review helpful? Is there something I could have done better or something else you would have liked to know? Is there an upcoming movie that you’d like to see reviewed? Let me know in the comments, and if you enjoyed this, please pass it along to your friends!
-Jess

 Rating: 5 out of 10 stars
Would I see it again?: Maybe, if it was on TV or something
Would I buy it?: No