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This past Wednesday, Open Air Cinema and Swank Motion Pictures hosted a free screening of Transformers 2 at the National Parks and Recreation Association (NRPA) national congress in Salt Lake City, Utah. The screening was a blast, and everyone really enjoyed watching the movie on the huge 30′ screen. It was really great because everyone was able to see the screening on a brand-new system. The sound was amazing, and the projection was stunning. National Parks and Recreation administrators from all over the place came to see the screening: Alabama, Texas, Utah, California, New York, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and many other places. Here is an excerpt of a review from io9:
“Critical consensus on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is overwhelmingly negative. But the critics are wrong. Micheal Bay used a squillion dollars and a hundred supercomputers’ worth of CG for a brilliant art movie about the illusory nature of plot.
Oh, and I would warn you that there’ll be spoilers in this review — except that, really, since I still have no idea what actually happened in this movie, I’m not sure how much I can spoil it.
Since the days of Un Chien Andalou and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari filmmakers have reached beyond meaning. But with this summer’s biggest, loudest movie, Michael Bay takes us all the way inside Caligari’s cabinet. And once you enter, you can never emerge again. I saw this movie two days ago, and I’m still living inside it. Things are exploding wherever I look, household appliances are trying to kill me, and bizarre racial stereotypes are shouting at me.
Transformers: ROTF has mostly gotten pretty hideous reviews, but that’s because people don’t understand that this isn’t a movie, in the conventional sense. It’s an assault on the senses, a barrage of crazy imagery. Imagine that you went back in time to the late 1960s and found Terry Gilliam, fresh from doing his weird low-fi collage/animations for Monty Python. You proceeded to inject Gilliam with so many steroids his penis shrank to the size of a hair follicle, and you smushed a dozen tabs of LSD under his tongue. And then you gave him the GDP of a few sub-Saharan countries. Gilliam might have made a movie not unlike this one.”
Read more at http://io9.com/5301898/michael-bay-finally-made-an-art-movie
Fairfax County is offering an opportunity to watch family-friendly outdoor movies like you used to: *gasp!* from inside your car. “Starlight Cinema” may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for some of you younger folks so don’t miss out. Each Saturday night this month the parking lot of the Trinity Office Building in Centreville is transformed into a drive-in movie theater, screening films such as Kung Fu Panda and Hotel for Dogs. This Saturday (Aug. 22) you can see The Tale of Despereaux, about a young mouse (voice of Matthew Broderick) with comically oversize ears on a quest to earn the affections of a beautiful princess. Drive-in early to get a good parking spot. Gates open at 6pm and the movie will begin at dark. Oh, and did we mention this outdoor cinema event is FREE? There’s no good reason not to go. Pack up the family for a fun night out and unique opportunity to see a movie under the stars.
Last Thursday, the Fond du Lac Parks and Recreation department had a “Back to School” welcoming celebration. In the parking lot of the Fond du Lac high school, they hosted an old-fashioned drive-in, this time with a portable inflatable movie screen. Event organizers really wanted to create a unique and nostalgic outdoor cinema experience that the whole family could enjoy to bring in the new school year. They even set up a concessions stand with hot dogs, popcorn, nachos, candy, slushies and sodas. The movie shown was the blockbuster hit Hotel for Dogs. The turnout was very good for this family-friendly event, and event organizers hope that students are excited for the new school year. We know the parents are.
Think the drive-in is dead? Not in Hollywood! Though it may not be a permanent fixture, 
