Recently, me and my From Screen to Theme friends have been enjoying these really fun and engaging conversations about movies. From Harry Potter's latest and greatest film adventure to the classics of yesteryear, we can easily stay up all night just talking about our favorite films.
Which leads me to today's story: I have too much fun going to the movies.
I'll just come out and say it: I love going to the movies. I enjoy the home experience, don't get me wrong, and high ticket prices alongside unnecessary 3D movies are draining some of the fun away, but there is something almost magical about spending an evening with your friends and many other people watching a great movie.
To this day I still remember my first movie ever: Dennis the Menace, released in 1993. It may not be the ideal first film, but I still cherish it if only for the nostalgia along. I remember it vividly...
The theater was full. I was with my parents and older sister. The minute the theater got dark I got a little scared, but watching Bugs Bunny bring out the Warner Bros. logo brought a big smile to my face. By the end of it all, everyone was laughing, very happy and re-invigorated.
I finally understood why so many people love movies. For a couple of hours you are shut away from society and entranced by a magnificent story featuring characters we love and admire and technical effects that take our breath away.
Since then, I've always looked forward to watching a movie in theaters. My first blockbuster movie was Jurassic Park, a film my parents and I would terrify me, but instead made me a big dinosaur fan. We loved the movie so much that we had to own it on VHS.
To this day, I can still most of my first theater experiences...
First movie ever: Dennis the Menace (Which also counts as my first comedy)
First blockbuster: Jurassic Park
First sequel: Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow
First live action adaptation of a classic cartoon: The Flintstones
First Jim Carrey movie: The Mask
First Disney animated film: The Lion King (Also my first musical)
First Pixar movie: Toy Story
First Star Wars film: The Phantom Menace
First Dreamworks movie: Shrek
First movie I saw while in North America: The Day After Tomorrow
First Super Hero movie: Spider-Man II
First "disappointing" movie: Jurassic Park II
First Kevin Smith movie: Clerks II
First live action Disney movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
First Michael Bay "masterpiece": Transformers
First "bromantic" movie: Wedding Crashers
First IMAX movie: A shark documentary (which is also my first 3D movie)
That's a lot of firsts!
The funny thing is that even if the movies listed here range from utterly fantastic to terrible AT BEST, I've always come out of them happy and with a lot of memories. Even something like Transformers, a movie many describe as one of the worst ever made, I always have wonderful memories of.
The key element here is the social experience. A friend of mine always says that comedies are best seen in theaters with an audience, because if the movie is really funny the experience can be really energetic. I agree to that, but I think that also applies to most movies genres as well. To give a recent example, I went to see Cars 2 for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. It may not have been the best movie ever, but the experience itself was worth a million dollars. Seeing the kids react to their favorite characters on-screen was worth it.
I think I've only had one negative theater experience, and even then the movie managed to be incredible. That was for Batman Begins in the summer of 2005. When we went to see it, it was a very wet and cold June day in New Hampshire. I had decided to go in shorts, sandals and a t-shirt. A bad decision as it was extremely cold. It was so bad that I had to sit in my seat in a fetal position and take constant bathroom breaks. It also didn't help that the theater sound equipment was shoddy, making Michael Caine's thick accent and Christian Bale's mumbling very hard to understand.
But in the end, I end up having way too much fun when I go to the movies. Sometimes it's because the movie is so good it inspires a healthy debate about it's virtues. Other times it was because it's so laughably bad you can't help but make fun of it. But a lot of times it is because it is combined with a great day.
That's why I love going to the movies so much. Good or bad, the experience ends up something we all cherish and remember fondly as the years go by.
That's my story and I am sticking to it!
-Pedro
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