You know, I've never talked about the funnest times I've had in a movie theater. Oddly enough, two of them are Star Wars movies. Another is X2. And the last one might be The Passion of The Christ.
I'll explain when I get to it. But let's go backwards in time to this past May, first.
It was 1 PM, my tires squealing across pavement as I shanked the curb on the edge of my theater's parking lot at about 35 miles per hour, racing to a parking spot, as Zombiesdontrun swung open the door and screamed "C'MON!" I grabbed the soundtrack, jumped from my car, and raced inside.
And there, we stared at two off-blue, not-quite gray boxes. Inside were 14 reels of space-odyssey adventure, soaked in nostalgia and smelling of burnt ozone.
And they were heavy as fuck. We brought the boxes up one by one, together. Prepared the makeup tables.
And put on the soundtrack. We let it boom throughout the building, blasting it as high as possible, feeling the arc of a John Williams tragedy score in our bones.
It took 4 hours, but when they were finished, we were just as eagerly excited. Both copies were sitting upstairs, ready to be watched. We had pulled out the projectionist sheet, read it: it said that George Lucas and his Skywalker Sound people had mixed the movie to be played at Level 7 on a surround decoder specifically.
We waited around. I ate Goldfish, most likely; this area is a blur.
Finally, my friends from my other job showed up. Mike was a co-worker of mine back then; he and his wife, Dina, are just plain-out-loud geeks. We talked for a while about different things -- their kid, the fact they had watched the prequel movies before heading over to the theater -- and then, slowly but surely, as the theater closed, more and more people showed up. My co-host of Wag The Movie showed up at 6ish or so, well before most people.
Which leads into an interesting tidbit. As I was walking around, saying hi to everyone, I noticed one guy I knew wearing a Jedi robe. I walked up to him; he turned to me and said, "I was under the impression that people were dressing up!"
As I told him, "Sorry. 'Fraid not," down came the guy who would become my co-host, in full Jedi garb, with the toy lightsaber.
And yet they weren't made fun of. Not tonight. The people in the seats were those people who were just as crazed about the movie as those two silly dressed-up boys were. It was a community of freaks, one that I, yes, was a part of.
(Which didn't stop me or Jedi boy #2 from Wagging it two nights ago.)
Finally, everything was ready. Everything was set. I settled into what was probably the 10th row of the theater with Mike and Dina, and we watched as trailer after trailer went by -- Narnia, The Island, War of The Worlds... and, ugh, Fantastic Four.
And then, that was it. The drumroll. The horns.
And the silence. When you're watching Star Wars in DTS on the big screen from the 10th row from that very screen, silence tends to rubberize, stretch into a near-infinity. Those blue words lingered forever.
And then there was the horns, back in full. Yellow text.
And then, the theater shook. Because of one large fucking spaceship being on screen. The theater would not stop shaking for most of those two hours. The thing had become a vibrator that had been twisted too far.
(Let's be honest; you know they put an extra-crazy option on those things, for pranks and nymphomaniacs.)
The words I said as I walked out were, "Well, now what?!" This was the end of original Star Wars movies (some may argue that it came back with Episode I, but they're also cynical).
I found other movies to look forward to very quickly, but I doubt they'll stand out to me as much as Star Wars did.
X2 is harder to explain. But easier to see. The geek-out moments like Colossus, the grenade scene, and jokes throughout. But it's more memorable for watching a geeky movie with my girlfriend at the time and then spending another two hours at a park steaming up my car.
Yeah, that stands out a bit.
Episode II's premiere was maybe more geeky, and far less restrained than Episode III's. Hearing a sold-out theater full of Star Wars geeks cry out in joy as Yoda pulled a lightsaber from under his robe was an experience that is unforgettable.
Why is the Passion one of the most memorable movie experiences I've had? Because it's so moving? So powerful? Well, no. Because it really isn't either of those things at all. It's a snuff film with religious ties and a really nice cinematographer.
No, it's because of how much we made fun of the movie.
Particularly the moment when Jesus was nailed to the crucifix, and they were raising it, spiking it into the ground, when one of my friends began to sing out, "Always look on the briiiiiiight side of life!"
Within another couple of lines, everyone watching the movie was singing along.
So we're going to Hell. But damn, it was fun!
~~
Okemah And The Melody of Riot is a hell of an album.
But, instead, I've got myself listening to Annie's Anniemal.
Blonde Norwegian pop geniuses are cute, I must say.
I'll explain when I get to it. But let's go backwards in time to this past May, first.
It was 1 PM, my tires squealing across pavement as I shanked the curb on the edge of my theater's parking lot at about 35 miles per hour, racing to a parking spot, as Zombiesdontrun swung open the door and screamed "C'MON!" I grabbed the soundtrack, jumped from my car, and raced inside.
And there, we stared at two off-blue, not-quite gray boxes. Inside were 14 reels of space-odyssey adventure, soaked in nostalgia and smelling of burnt ozone.
And they were heavy as fuck. We brought the boxes up one by one, together. Prepared the makeup tables.
And put on the soundtrack. We let it boom throughout the building, blasting it as high as possible, feeling the arc of a John Williams tragedy score in our bones.
It took 4 hours, but when they were finished, we were just as eagerly excited. Both copies were sitting upstairs, ready to be watched. We had pulled out the projectionist sheet, read it: it said that George Lucas and his Skywalker Sound people had mixed the movie to be played at Level 7 on a surround decoder specifically.
We waited around. I ate Goldfish, most likely; this area is a blur.
Finally, my friends from my other job showed up. Mike was a co-worker of mine back then; he and his wife, Dina, are just plain-out-loud geeks. We talked for a while about different things -- their kid, the fact they had watched the prequel movies before heading over to the theater -- and then, slowly but surely, as the theater closed, more and more people showed up. My co-host of Wag The Movie showed up at 6ish or so, well before most people.
Which leads into an interesting tidbit. As I was walking around, saying hi to everyone, I noticed one guy I knew wearing a Jedi robe. I walked up to him; he turned to me and said, "I was under the impression that people were dressing up!"
As I told him, "Sorry. 'Fraid not," down came the guy who would become my co-host, in full Jedi garb, with the toy lightsaber.
And yet they weren't made fun of. Not tonight. The people in the seats were those people who were just as crazed about the movie as those two silly dressed-up boys were. It was a community of freaks, one that I, yes, was a part of.
(Which didn't stop me or Jedi boy #2 from Wagging it two nights ago.)
Finally, everything was ready. Everything was set. I settled into what was probably the 10th row of the theater with Mike and Dina, and we watched as trailer after trailer went by -- Narnia, The Island, War of The Worlds... and, ugh, Fantastic Four.
And then, that was it. The drumroll. The horns.
And the silence. When you're watching Star Wars in DTS on the big screen from the 10th row from that very screen, silence tends to rubberize, stretch into a near-infinity. Those blue words lingered forever.
And then there was the horns, back in full. Yellow text.
And then, the theater shook. Because of one large fucking spaceship being on screen. The theater would not stop shaking for most of those two hours. The thing had become a vibrator that had been twisted too far.
(Let's be honest; you know they put an extra-crazy option on those things, for pranks and nymphomaniacs.)
The words I said as I walked out were, "Well, now what?!" This was the end of original Star Wars movies (some may argue that it came back with Episode I, but they're also cynical).
I found other movies to look forward to very quickly, but I doubt they'll stand out to me as much as Star Wars did.
X2 is harder to explain. But easier to see. The geek-out moments like Colossus, the grenade scene, and jokes throughout. But it's more memorable for watching a geeky movie with my girlfriend at the time and then spending another two hours at a park steaming up my car.
Yeah, that stands out a bit.
Episode II's premiere was maybe more geeky, and far less restrained than Episode III's. Hearing a sold-out theater full of Star Wars geeks cry out in joy as Yoda pulled a lightsaber from under his robe was an experience that is unforgettable.
Why is the Passion one of the most memorable movie experiences I've had? Because it's so moving? So powerful? Well, no. Because it really isn't either of those things at all. It's a snuff film with religious ties and a really nice cinematographer.
No, it's because of how much we made fun of the movie.
Particularly the moment when Jesus was nailed to the crucifix, and they were raising it, spiking it into the ground, when one of my friends began to sing out, "Always look on the briiiiiiight side of life!"
Within another couple of lines, everyone watching the movie was singing along.
So we're going to Hell. But damn, it was fun!
~~
Okemah And The Melody of Riot is a hell of an album.
But, instead, I've got myself listening to Annie's Anniemal.
Blonde Norwegian pop geniuses are cute, I must say.