The magic of the movies

When I lived in Sarasota, I had a favorite movie theater.  It was actually a megaplex with about 8 theaters – which are not always the best theaters.  Truthfully, there are different types of movie theaters in which I prefer to see different types of movies.  I prefer little, single, old movie houses for foreign and independent films.  But for all the regular, major, first-run movies, I like nice, big, clean, new theaters with big, comfy, stadium seats and all the best snacks.

And I have to have snacks.  I’ll sneak in what I can, but I always have to go to the concession stand for something because it is part of the magic of the movies [ridiculously exorbitant pricing notwithstanding].

The thing that made this particular movie theater my favorite was that between the movies, they showed the usual local advertisements and running movie trivia and the like, and when the previews were about to start (another thing I can’t miss – but I’ll get to that in just a moment), the lights would dim a bit and the coming attractions were played.  Then, when the coming attractions were over and the movie was next, everything would go silent, the curtains (yes, they actually still had big, beautiful, dark red/purple velvet curtains) would close from the left and the right until they met in the center.  Here’s where the real magic would start.  The lights would dim a bit more and – wait for it – wait – wait – the curtains would raise, gathered uniformly across the breadth of the screen like a Roman shade!

Movie theaters don’t do this anymore.  And there is something magical that happens in those moments when you are sitting in a darkened theater with fifty to two hundred and fifty strangers, holding your breath, awaiting the beginning of the movie.  There is something sacred, some sense of reverence for the ritual of the curtain going up, that I cherish.

In those moments, I don’t care about who sat where near me.  I’m not thinking about the smells and sounds of my fellow movie patrons.  I’m in the moment and I’m in it with everyone around me.  No matter the type of movie we’re all about to see.  No matter the weather outside.  No matter what bills are waiting to be paid or dinner to be made or appointments to keep.  In those moments before a movie begins, I am there and I am waiting to take a journey with strangers, together.

I took a second job at that movie theater when I was a single mother and they were nice enough to allow me to be scheduled every other week, on the weeks when my son was with his dad.  I sold tickets and I loved it.  I sold a ticket to Jerry Springer once – but I didn’t know it was him.  In fact, I thought he was looking at me strangely because he recognized me from the office building I worked in (day job) and thought I knew him.  What an ego [mine], eh?   Anyway, this job allowed me to see every movie for free and I loved it.  I used to see every movie that came out except Kung Fu movies and horror movies.  I saw them all.

I prefer to see movies alone, but I’ll take company if it’s available.  I’m always amazed to meet people who say they could never go to a movie alone.  What?!?!  It’s the best way to see a movie!

I mentioned that I also love the coming attractions and I won’t dream of missing them.  I know people who purposely time their arrival to scoot in just as the opening credits are rolling for the movie they’re seeing.  Appalling!  Movie trailers and coming attractions are like watching Oprah’s Favorite Things episode each year!

Not every movie measures up to expectations and not every movie is memorable, but they sort of all have their place in my life.  They are like bookmarks or footnotes to punctuate the times of my life.  There have been movies which have changed me forever – probably too many to really mention or remember – but some which etched a message on the slate of who I am.

My favorite movie of all time – no kidding – is “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  I always watch it at Christmas and I try to watch it once in the summer, just to remember the message.  Clarence:  “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”  Puts a lump in my throat just thinking of it.  I love that movie most of all.

The movie “Gandhi” was life-changing.  I was in college when I saw it and was confronting some childhood anger/rage issues for the first time and I was so inspired by Gandhi’s wisdom and the peaceful perspective from which he viewed everything.  Ben Kingsley became Gandhi and I have never been able to see him in another role (almost – see the following paragraph) without imagining him as Gandhi.  What a wonderful movie.

There was also  “Schindler’s List”.  That little red coat!  Filmed in black and white . . . but that little red coat!  Profoundly impactful and remarkable.  Anyone who has seen the movie knows – and I need to say little to expand on the experience.

Then there were silly movies which I loved as well.  I saw the movie “Parenthood” with Steve Martin and have always remembered that experience.  I saw it as a premiere the week before it opened in a sold-out theater.  I don’t really know if the movie was THAT funny and THAT good or if it was just the absolute best way to see a comedy – but it was one of the times when I was intensely aware that I was sitting in a packed theater with 275 strangers and each and every one of us was laughing until our sides hurt and we were all going on the same ride.  It was the same feeling I have when I ride roller coasters.  Really.  Ups and downs and loops and crazy spins and we’re all in it together!  We all walk out of the theater/ride and go back to our lives – but we just spent the last experience together having the same experience.  We might never see each other again – we probably won’t – but we shared this snippet of our lives.  That’s just really cool to me.

There have been a million wonderful movie experiences, and whether they’re all good or all bad, whether they’re all “worth the money” or not, whether they’re life-changing or just a momentary diversion – they are all magic.

And if you can find a movie theater that still raises the curtain before the opening credits – take it in and revel in the moments of anticipation of what is to come.  Whatever movie it is, it is bigger than just you, bigger than just your life, bigger than wherever you are – for the time that you are in it.  That’s magic.

Thank you Jeff Bezos

This post is masquerading as a post about reading and the merits of great books and stories.  What it’s really about is the magishical wonderment of the Kindle.

I used to sit in the living room of the house where I grew up when no one was home and read.  No one ever used the living room because there was no TV there.  After dinner, I would go up and read in my bedroom long into the night if the book really had me.  The first books I really cut my teeth on were Stephen King novels.   I hated – and still hate – horror movies.  And Stephen King writes some truly horrific stories.  I love movies (a topic for another blog – stay tuned), so it has always been curious to me that I could so completely love being pulled into the terrifying stories that Stephen King could spin but you couldn’t drag me kicking and screaming to a horror film.

I went from Stephen King novels to Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice.  Probably one of my favorite books.  There were also old greats like A Woman of Substance.  And there was the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (of which there were four books).  Variety in subject matter, for certain.  Anyway, once I begin to turn those first pages of a new book, I’m always very skeptical.  That’s the truth.  I always think, “Well, this is probably not going to be that good, but it will do until I find my next really good book.”  It’s always been that way for me.  Thing is, in very short order – with most books – I stop even knowing I’ve turned pages after the first 10 or so.  And the next thing I know I’m a third of the way into the book and I’m living in some other city or some other time and my friends and family are those about whom I am reading.

Somewhere in my late twenties and throughout my thirties, I stopped reading.  I never picked up a book.  And I felt guilty about that.  I had my son when I was 30 and I read to him every single night of his life until he was about 8 years old.  And I have to tell you, boy did we find some great children’s books to read!  That was kind of fun.  But no more grown-up escape books.  It seems like during that time, I turned to movies to escape.  How I love the movies!

Fast forward to last year.  I am a technology geek.  A gadget queen.  I thirst for the next electronic goody.  Give me buttons and bells and whistles and my eyes roll back in my head.   Oprah introduced the world to the Amazon [Amazing] Kindle.  (Oprah is secretly running the entire world.  She decides everything.  I’m convinced of it.  And sometimes I’m sort of okay with that.  Hey, she brought the Kindle into my life.)  Hadn’t really picked up a book on any regular basis in 15-20 years, but I had to have it.

It was compact and white and new and it had buttons.  And it put a whole big-ass book in your hands in less than 60 seconds.  No wires.  No computer.  No internet.  From anywhere.  It even recommends books you  might like.  You just think “I think I’d like to have a book” and one magically appears.  Okay, there a few more steps – but not many!

I didn’t get the first Kindle (which is unusual as I often jump in first), which was good because the second edition Kindle is so much prettier and sleeker and spiffier than the first edition.  (Sorry first edition Kindle owners!)  I ordered my Kindle and I waited.  The second edition Kindles were due to come out in a matter of weeks.  Finally, I received my email notification that my Amazing Kindle was on its way to me.  The day it arrived I was at work but I was tracking its progress and I think Marty was home to sign for it.  BOOYA!  I came home from work and I held pure, unadulterated, no-trick, straight-up, crazy, futuristic magic in my hands.

Guess what the first book I read on my Kindle was?  UR by Stephen King.  It’s a book he wrote for the Kindle about a Kindle and it wasn’t published for other media besides a Kindle.  Oh.  Yeah.

So, I’m reading again.  My dad has gotten me into James Patterson and various other mystery writers.  Right now I’m reading Under The Dome by Stephen King and – dare I say it – I think it’s going to be another fantastic epic novel like The Stand, The Talisman or It.  Very, very good stuff.

Thank you Kindle (and Oprah).