You can choose to read it on a page…
Finally! A day off from work, and a Saturday at that! Yippie! (Sorry, Yahoo! was taken!)
“I haven’t caught a flick in ages,” I thought. So it was decided-a movie! I started hunting for a newspaper. Whoops, I realised I get too many papers at home! Anyway, eeny meeny miney moe…
Time taken: 2 minutes
Looking up the movie was not difficult. I just picked up one of the papers that are dropped off at my doorstep-the tabloids have a hell of a lot of movie buzz! Let’s be honest, I’m lazy! I’m not about to travel for miles to catch a movie on a day off. The papers help me decide on a movie that I’d like, and that’s also playing at a theatre close to home.
Time taken: 40 minutes
Saturday morning! I woke early to read some of the reviews in the papers. National papers wait for their Sunday editions to have their say-a day too late for me. Newspapers, I found, contain very opinionated reviews, which are more entertaining than informative. Anyway, I made up my mind and called the advance booking counter.
Time taken: 20 minutes
All right! The tickets were booked, the popcorn was bought, but my friends were late! While I waited, I realised that with newspapers, you form your opinion based on stuff you’ve read throughout the week, rather than any one review in any one newspaper.
Time taken: 3 hours to watch the movie; for this insight into my thinking: nothing
Total Time Taken: 1 hour 2 minutes
… or get more extensive information online
Just when you stop believing in miracles, I got another Saturday off-OK, I’m lying. I would have to get to office after the movie to do this write-up. Still, I was getting to watch a movie at company expense… how many times can you claim to have done that?
Time taken: Nothing
To be honest, surfing online for reviews seems sort of strange. I had to search for some sites and soon settled on www.mrqe.com and www.nowrunning. com to read and make my choice. Though theatres and timings were available here too, they’re only useful if you live in a metro. People living in small towns are better off with local papers.
Time taken: 1 hour
The Net may not be very helpful for timings of theatres in smaller towns, but it beats the newspapers hollow with other features: I found movie trailers, which went a long way in helping me decide on a movie. Also, the reviews are more informative and exhaustive. Plus there’s thousands of critics, and publishing space is cheap online!
Time taken: 30 minutes
Saturday came again, and all I had to do was make sure my friends were on time. I’d even e-mailed them the links to the trailers to entice them to not want to miss the beginning.
Time taken: My friends were on time, so, nothing
Total Time Taken: 1 hour, 30 minutes
And The Winner Is…