Christopher Street

A new thing I've been doing

Lately, I've been going to the movies.

A lot.

See, I tend to think of myself as someone who loves going to the movies. In fact, in this very blog, I once said, "I love movies. I love the expanse of them, the scope, the vision. I love going to the movies. I like paying for my ticket, I love theater seats, I love the smell, the popcorn, the overpriced drinks. I love the anticipation, that moment as the lights dim and the movie still has the potential to be brilliant. I love funny movies and serious movies. I like American flicks and foreign flicks. I like big blockbusters and small indies. I like big stars and nobodies. I just love the movies."

In addition to tending to think of myself as someone who loves going to the movies, I also tend to think of myself as someone who actually *goes* to the movies. A fine distinction, but an important one. Because last year, I suddenly became someone who may love going, but who never goes. I think that I saw *5* movies in the theater in 2004. Five.

Seems impossible. But here they are: Bubba Ho-Tep. Ghost in the Shell 2. Greendale. Pirates of the Caribbean. Mystic River.

Now, I only even liked three of the five. So, really, it was a crazy-bad year for me, for movies. I had a moment of clarity in February of this year, when the Academy Award nominations were announced and I realized that I had seen exactly none of the movies.

... I am critical of the movie going experience. It is usually bad, and bad on so many levels. Movie theaters are crowded, and people are loud, and they talk on their cell phones and they bring children to movies that aren't for children, and the lines are long, and theater personnel are indifferent, and auto-ticketing machines work sporadically, at best, and sound systems are frequently calibrated to the 'bleeding eardrum' level and just forget all about parking and seats are too small and...well, that's a pretty good list.

Now, see...I wrote that. Seems odd to me, as I have already discussed my love of the movie-going experience. But I did say it, and I meant every word. And I began to wonder if that was at the root of my problem. Maybe going to the movies just wasn't fun anymore.

During "Academy Award Season", as I like to call the mad rush between the nominations and the awards, I managed to see six films in the theater: Sideways, Finding Neverland, The Aviator, Ray, Million Dollar Baby, and Hotel Rwanda. And I had a blast in so doing. I started to wonder, what was different about these movies?

Well, I went either during the week, or to matinees on Sunday. I went, in all cases, to a new theater with plentiful parking. I came early, so that I wouldn't be all stressed in line for the popcorn. I saw none of these on opening weekend.

Hmmm. Maybe that's the key. Off-peak times, good parking...

So, I started a movie club. We go twice a month, on Sunday afternoons. So far this year, we've seen Closer, Gunner Palace, Millions, Sin City, Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Crash, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Mr and Mrs Smith, War of the Worlds and March of the Penguins. I have personally seen all except for the Parrot movie. I was out of town for that one.

By my count, that's 16 movies that I have seen already this year. We have 10 more movie Sundays scheduled, plus I imagine that I will see a couple flix outside of the club schedule. It's looking like I may see close to 30 movies this year, likely a personal high for me.

Most importantly, I am once again a movie-goer. It's pretty exciting.