Movie Theaters!

            Something that makes me happy is going to the cinema. I love movies – indie movies, action flicks, period pieces, sci-fi films, and (almost) everything in between – so, naturally, it follows that I also love going to the movie theater. My dad really likes action movies, so I’ve been going to the cinema regularly since I was a little kid. The local theater was always something that was constant in all of the many college towns we moved to, every single one of them adorned with cheap movie posters, glowing popcorn machines, and slightly sticky floors. As loud and public (and sometimes disgusting) as it can be, the local cinema has always felt like home.

            I don’t go to the cinema very often. Well, scratch that – I probably go more often than the average person, but compared to how some other cinephiles go see every film during opening weekend, my moviegoing habits feel reasonably limited. I go to the local IMAX around once or twice a month (maybe more if there’s a really good movie in theatres), and usually only if it’s opening week. If I wasn’t motivated enough to watch it within its first week in theatres, I won’t be motivated enough to go watch it later on, and it’s probably not worth paying seven bucks for anyway. Besides, as weird as it might sound, I like watching movies in a crowded theater (as long as there are no crying children). If I wanted to watch a movie with just a couple of other people around, I’d just watch it at home!

There’s something really special about reacting to a film with other people who want to watch that film, particularly if its opening week (which means they really want to watch that film), and if you’re in IMAX (which means they really, really want to watch that film). My favorite moviegoing experience to date is when I watched Avengers: Endgame in IMAX, the Friday after Endgame’s first showing the evening before. Endgame isn’t some art-house, revelation-inducing film, but it is a film that people love and enjoy, and were very excited about in the weeks leading up to its release. Friday night was just late enough so that the hype had built up to its early-opening peak, but early enough that all the spoilers hadn’t leaked yet. The particular showing I went to had sold out the day before, which meant that every single seat in that theater was occupied by a Marvel t-shirt-wearing superfan that was willing to pay fifteen-ish bucks to sit in that seat for three hours. And the experience represented that anticipation to the most candid level: we were all screaming, clapping, or crying in unison the entire time, connected through emotion even though we were all complete strangers. That sense of spontaneous unity is what I love most about watching in a crowded cinema – it feels like you’ve found your people.

As I’m faced with the fast-looming reality of leaving home for college, I’ve found that I really love going to the local Savoy 16. Out of all the theaters I’ve circled through, this theater is the one I’ve gone to the longest. From an outsider’s point of view, Savoy 16’s kind of run-down – the floors are always slightly sticky, the theaters are pretty small, and the little arcade near the entrance is lit like some rip-off vampire lair. But I love it anyway. Savoy 16 feels intimate, like it’s my cinema, or my community’s cinema. I know that place and that place knows me. I’ll miss it a lot if I end up leaving.