18 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • DECEMBER 12, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com HOLI-DAZE NUMBER OF SEASONAL MOVIES DROPS IN RECENT YEARS Photo by KC Bailey/Lionsgate Publicity ONSITE DOCTORS • EYE EXAMS • CONTACTS • 1 HOUR SERVICE • VISION PLANS ACCEPTED • SUNGLASSES • LOWEST PRICES 2 PAIR OF EYEGLASSES QC QC QC $59 Includes: EYE EXAM, Frames & Lenses Select frames with clear plastic, single vision lenses+/- 4 sph., 2 cyl. Not valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer valid at this location only. Offer ends: 12/31/13 NO-LINE BIFOCAL EYEGLASSES $59 Includes: EYE EXAM, No-Line Bifocal Lenses & Frame Select frame with select clear plastic no-line bifocal lenses +/- 4 sph., 2 cyl up to 2.50 add. Not valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer valid at this location only. Offer ends: 12/31/13 BAY TERRACE SHOPPING CENTER 211-51 26 AVENUE • BAYSIDE, NY 11360 718.631.3699 *FREE with the purchase of glasses. Contact Lens Exam and EYE EXAM tting add’l. *See store for details. QC FLEX SPENDING Use it or lose it! AMAZING holiday SAVINGS DISPOSABLE CONTACTS $59 Includes: •EYE EXAM •2 Boxes of Lenses Contact Lens Fitting additional. Clear Soft contacts brand clear spherical lenses.Not Valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer ends: 12/31/13 DESIGNER SUNGLASSES QC STARTING AT $49.OO Some Restrictions Apply. See Store For Details. In Stock Items Only. Not Valid with any other offers, sales, vision plans or packages. Must present prior to purchase. Offer expires: 12/31/13 buzz BY DIANA DELLACAVA Many people welcome the winter months with open arms and ready knit hats and scarves. A traditional activity during this time is movie-going, for you may relax and immerse yourself in a world of candy canes and mistletoe. Now a days, however, options are much more limited than expected. The presence of Christmas fi lms has declined dramatically, due to the demand for realism in fi lm by the older movie viewers and the demand for horror fi lms by the younger demographic. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, for instance, opens to the public on December 25. In this fi lm, far from a Santa Claus fi gure, Ben Stiller is a dreamer who delves so deep into his fantasies he spends half of his time daydreaming. Teens, in turn will be watching other teens fi ght to the death well into January when may watch Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. The Hunger Games: Catching fi re has reached $186 million domestically and nearly $350 in the worldwide fi lm market by the end of November, according to The Wrap Hollywood News Inc. The teenage driving force behind the success of fi rst the book trilogy written by Suzanne Collins, and now the Lionsgate fi lms has helped the crude dystopia that serves as the fi lm’s nucleus achieve success in only days after its November 22 opening. It seems the fi lm industry is trying hard to fulfi ll the demands of as many viewers as possible in order to increase revenue and attempt to fi ll theaters in the winter months. There were 28 fi lms scheduled to release starting on Friday, December 6, according to movieinsider.com. From these titles, 17 are dramas without a holiday theme, thus leaving 11 fi lms in a cluster of thrillers, adventures, documentaries and family fi lms. Amy Herzog, a Queens College professor and media expert, points out that in the past years some holiday movies have had a darker tone. “There have been movies like Bad Santa and more recently Almost Christmas,” she said. “Which have a very cynical and kind of poignant take on the different experiences people go through during Christmas time.” In Almost Christmas, released in April 2013, Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd, having moved away from a criminal past, fi nd the Christmas holiday to be the perfect money making machine. This trend, Herzog said, favored by an older generation, pulls the viewer away from traditional holiday fi lms, disposing of the Santa Claus fi gure and in addition fostering a fatalistic view of life. Another way to twist the Christmas story to fi t tastes that are more varied is to incorporate horror. The 1974 fi lm Black Christmas for instance, is also available today as a 2006 remake of the same title. In both fi lms, a disgruntled young boy paints Christmas black by murdering his family, and 15 years later comes home for the holidays as a full grown maniac to fi nd his home occupied by sorority girls. The modern version features hot young actors in a fi lm industry effort to follow modern trends in fi lm viewership -- thus providing an alternative for horror fans out there. There are two comedies available: the Ben Stiller fi lm and the only Christmas fi lm: Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas. Aside from the meager number of holiday fi lms available, this fi lm is group specifi c which defi es the scope of a universal holiday fi lms. Ideally, Hollywood productions for Christmas feature a varied cast as to help the public identify with characters of different backgrounds. This is not to say that someone of a different ethnicity would not enjoy such a fi lm. Herzog said light-hearted fi lms such as Best Man Holiday, released in November and the upcoming Madea Christmas, are highly appropriate for the holiday season, generally good time to release fi lms. “From a stark marketing point,” she said. “People try to release fi lms around the holiday.” The college crowd, in particular does not often plan-ahead when it comes to movie theater trips, often watching what is available, when there is time and if there is anytime. When choosing a holiday fi lm to watch this winter, students will have the choice already made for them. Not everyone shares the holiday spirit with the same degree of intensity. However, a point of mutual agreement across the generations is the unrequited love for classic holiday fi lms. In speaking to media professors and students, while some would rather skip the Christmas fi lm altogether, most will fi nd it most enjoyable in the comfort of their own homes and the warmth of their pajamas. These fi lms are widely available and easily accessible through all kinds of online services such as Netfl ix streaming, and Amazon or iTunes downloads without having to leave the house. General audiences and fi lm professionals alike have been turning to the classic holiday fi lms. Titles such as Miracle on 34th Street and It’s a Wonderful Life fi ll living rooms with joy higher than a cupful of eggnog. While others like Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and White Christmas extend the offer of a happier life, which we can accomplish by making better choices. “Our ideas of Christmas are so steeped in nostalgia,” Herzog said. “It makes sense that we revert to the classics when it comes to Christmas.” Moreover, childhood favorites such as A Charlie Brown Christmas and Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas can take us back to a time of childlike dependency, regardless of how mature our beloved Peanuts characters can be and how cynical Dr. Seuss’s script is. These fi lms have become unchallenged classics because less of the genre are produced as time goes by, where in 2011 and 2012 there were only three holiday fi lms released but plenty of drama and horror fi lled the box offi ce . The type of comfort, whether it be spiritual, or physical found at home is something the movie industry has virtually stopped trying to recreate inside the theater. While there are few options for holiday fi lms this year, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas, released in December, offers a Christmas fi lm with plenty of laughs.
QC12122013
To see the actual publication please follow the link above