My Real Life

I have a long-running love affair with the cinema.

I’ve inherited this love from my Dad, who continues his love affair as well.

Since I can remember, my Dad would take me to the movies.

Bambi at the drive-through.

The original Star Wars at the theater.

We were among the first to get a VCR, a subscription to HBO and a membership to Blockbuster.

When Real Man and I were dating, we would often go to one movie, watch it, get back in line and buy tickets for another one.

Scary movies are my favorite.

Our first date was Pet Cemetery.

We were young.  We had no responsibility.  Why not?

Once the kids came along, we seriously curtailed our cinema trips and didn’t have cable, but we did make the most of our Blockbuster card.

If there was something we were dying to see, like the Lord of the Rings movies, we would have my parents or my father-in-law sit, and we’d head out.

But, for the most part, it was rentals for us.

As the kids grew up and were old enough to go to the movies and behave, (I have NEVER understood people who take little, little kids to the movies…you can’t enjoy the show because you are constantly shushing your child, they don’t understand the show, and the people around you certainly don’t appreciate it), we would take them to kids movies that they would want to see, as a treat.

Not all, but some.

And so, the love affair continues.

This summer, we’ve taken the monkeys to see “Brave,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” and “Ice Age.”  Tomorrow, I’ll be taking them to see “Paranorman.”

Real Man and I have seen “The Campaign,” and I’m waiting with baited breath for “The Possession” and “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.”

We’re financially smart movie-goers.  We have the AMC Stubs card, which gives you money back, and we try to hit the movies before 11 am, so we get a reduced rate.  We don’t see the 3D versions.

Unfortunately, my student ID no longer works.  Had to happen someday.

Why do I love the movies?

Probably for much the same reason that I love books.

I love a good story.  I want to be entertained and let my imagination run free.

A great plot, great actors, great sets, great costumes…not much like it.

Favorites?

Shawshank Redemption.  A Few Good Men.  E.T. Labyrinth.  Stealing Home.  Field of Dreams.  Three Men and a Little Lady.  Fear.  All of the Lord of the Rings Movies.  Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Do the Right Thing.  To Sir With Love.  Mr. Holland’s Opus.  Air Force One.  The Ring.  10 Things I Hate About You.  Pump Up The Volume.  Sleeping with the Enemy.  Always.  Timecop.  Dangerous Minds.  An American President.  Wedding Crashers.  A Time to Kill.  Stepmom.  It’s a Wonderful Life.  White Christmas.  Amadeus.  Die Hard with a Vengeance.  The Prophecy.  Signs.  The Harry Potter movies.

I’m sure there are more.  If you mentioned one, I would say “Oh my God!  I loved that movie!”

Movies I hate?

I don’t like a lot of movies, but actually hate?

I fell asleep in Clockers.

I turned off Swingers (although Real Man and I are thinking we might give that another chance.)

I just couldn’t get into Star Wars Episodes 1, 2 or 3.  Better graphics?  Sure.  But the characters and storyline just didn’t grab me like the classics.  While I’ll stop while channel surfing to watch the originals, I can’t switch the channel fast enough to escape the new ones.

I don’t get the hype of Pulp Fiction.  “Cheeseburger Royale.”  Yeah, I don’t get it.

I’m sure there are more of these, as well, but why dwell in the negative?

So, there you have it.  Documentation of my love affair with the movies.

I don’t go around quoting the movies I love, and my love of movies is part of a balanced lifestyle.

But I love ’em, all the same.