The Way-Delayed Critic: King Kong & Kapote

The argument of the Experience Of The Big Screen has existed at least since the invention of the VCR, and probably before that, back to when The Wizard of Oz first aired on network TV and only the kids with color TVs even came close to experiencing it.

The Big Screen argument says that there are some films (or maybe even all films) that you HAVE to see in a theater, that you just can't get the same experience on a small screen. You can't feel the brush of the slightest whisper or get your brain knocking around in your head at every explosion. You don't get the same level of visual detail, don't get the same big-room-big-screen experience, and can't feel the rush of a lake-sized diet Sprite spilled down your back (unless you're into those sorts of things, pervert).

I usually touch on this argument as I put a Netflixed movie into the DVD player. Maybe I should be better about going to movie theaters, I think. This movie that I'm about to watch would probably be much better if I didn't have to put the subtitles on or pause it every half hour to move the laundry from washer to dryer.

In this last week (laundry needs+no social engagements=catching up on Netflix) I saw two movies that tossed the Big Screen Argument around my head even more.

King Kong
Like, say, Gladiator, I couldn't help but wonder if I would have enjoyed this movie if I had seen it on a big screen and all at once, instead of broken up over two nights. But as it was, I spent a good chunk of the movie (as I did with Gladiator) talking to the screen ("Good Lord, this is TERRIBLE!"), and playing a game where I would guess what was about to happen ("That crazy guy with the accent is totally gonna die. And there he goes"). I was really hating it.

It was the fact that I was outright bored during action-packed scenes that made me wonder if I could have felt more excitement in the theater. But just when I was starting to wonder if maybe it was because I was watching on my mono small screen, the movie moved to New York, and in spite of the stupid ice-skating bit, it was really beautiful. The detail didn't escape me at all, and I actually enjoyed that last hour; feeling the excitement and emotion that was meant to be there, all on my (relatively) small screen.

ADVANTAGE: Draw. I'm sure it would have been more enjoyable in some big movie screen with unbearably loud speakers, but the fact that I was able to (relatively) enjoy the last bit of the movie on my TV means that the big stuff can still fit on the small screen. I tend to think it was the lousy quality of the first part that made it so unenjoyble.

Capote
Sometimes, I think that the tons-of-talk movies translate even worse to the small screen than the big sound-and-vision blockbusters. Nothing takes the enjoyment out of a movie faster than putting the bright yellow subtitles on or having to do the "what'd he say?" rewind. So I didn't have a whole lot of hope of enjoying this movie, especially because I heard that it was kind of slow and quiet.

But I LOVED it. What an amazing movie. And even if the sound didn't come through so well, the cinematography and framing still looked fantastic, even with those yellow subtitles stepping all over it. I'm sure I would have liked it more in the theater, but it's hard to imagine loving it much more than I did.

ADVANTAGE: The small screen. Quality still translates.