My Return to the Movies

Last week, I went to a movie for the first time in two months. The colder weather and paucity of high quality films combined to keep me away from the movie show over Thanksgiving and Christmas. There were a couple of movies I wanted to see ("Paranormal Activity 2", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Bowels"), but I just couldn't quite get the gumption to drive out there, think of a clever faux-name to declare to the cashier, take a whiz before the show starts, get a seat, sit through a dozen commercials (movie theatres used to be a refuge from ads) before finally getting to see the feature presentation while hoping my feet don't get cold.

My wife had been pestering me of late that she wanted to see the new "Focker" movie. A friend that she usually goes to the movies with has been busy, so it was up to me to take her to a movie she'd been eagerly anticipating for months. There was no way that I was going to see the film, though. Feeling burned by the last movie, released during the Christmas season of 2004, I wasn't about to be let down again. My love would witness Ben Stiller shenanigans while I went to "True Grit" which costars Matt Damon.



Interestingly enough, the last film I went to also starred Damon; "Hereafter", my favorite movie of 2010.

One plus of going to the theatre that we did is that they've recently reduced their pricing in order to be more family-friendly; it costs a lot of money to take a couple kids to a movie and get them pop and popcorn. Their evening shows are now $6 while matinees are just $4. We headed there in the mid-afternoon after eating at Subway; my cholesterol is a tad high, so I'm reducing my ingestion of saturated fats, not to mention trying to get more exercise. The movie theatre, in my eyes, was getting close to going out of business, so it was nice to see that the nicer prices had brought a lot of families out that day.

After getting tickets, as I'm wont to do, I strolled around the lobby and looked at the posters for upcoming movies. One thing that always brings a smile to my face is the huge paintings they have displayed high up. One is of the original poster for "Raiders of the Lost Ark", another for "E.T.". Looking up there takes me back thirty years to when I was a child and they were initially released.

After a time, she went to the "Focker" screening room where she opted to go all the way to the top and sit in the back. That's also where I chose to sit in my screening room. I noted that Jeff Bridges was starring in not only "True Grit", but in the film playing right next door, "Tron Legacy". I did see the original "Tron" when it was released in 1982, but can't say it was anything too special, though $4 might be a good incentive to check the sequel out later this week.

Once I got my seat, I laid down to my side and put my ear plugs in so as not to be adversely affected by the pre-show which consists of movie trivia and adverts. If anyone ever asks why I'm lying down, I'm going to say, "My doctor says that I can't be exposed to advertisements". Once the movie started, I took the plugs out and continued laying down though I propped my head up a bit with my right arm in order to see over the chairs in front of me. So comfortable and my feet didn't even really get cold. It could've been because of the several dozen people seated down below.

As for the movie itself, directed by the Coen brothers, it is an exemplary Western with a great cast. Terrific word-of-mouth is allowing the movie to do much better financially than was expected. I laughed out loud numerous times at some of the things that Bridges did. In his first scene, he was taking a shit in an outhouse and told the lady outside that he was gonna be in there for a while. I know the filmmakers have done their job when I leave the theatre with a smile on my face.