JBB's DRP for 3/14/23: What Do Movies Mean to You?

Vacations and movies always seem to go together for me. If I have more than a couple days off, I know I’m going to try to spend at least one days seeing as many movies as I can fit in (hopefully on a discount day, like today). What do movies mean to you? And do you prefer the in-theater experience or at-home experience?

Today my friend, Deb, and I saw the movie “65” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” I would have opted for a third but there wasn’t anything else that I was dying to see. I definitely appreciate the release from the day-to-day responsibilities and look forward to enjoying the adventures and journeys of the characters in these movies. High energy spectacles, like the Marvel movies, are best seen in a theater with a huge screen and a roomful of fans. “Ant-Man and the Wasp” has been out for several weeks so we saw it in a pretty small theater, but there were several fans and families, way more than in any movie I’ve seen since coming back to seeing movies in theaters. So that was a plus. I understand how some folks hate running the risk of someone ruining the experience by talking or just being rude. I get that, but it’s worth the risk to have the communal experience of watching the movie’s heroes succeed to the end.

Quiet, conversation, interior movies, which they don’t make that often might be better experienced at home. But even a movie like the Banshees of Inisherin, while mostly of a conversational-type, the vistas were so beautiful and part of the story that it was worth seeing in the theater. Having moved from Orlando to Las Vegas, I miss having a community art house movie theater nearby that specializes in the independent “non-blockbuster” movies like “Marcel the Shell with Shoes on.” I was lucky enough to catch that one on a Sunday morning at one of the Casino Theaters, I think on the last day it was in theaters. I got spoiled in Orlando with the Enzian Theater/Eden Bar that showed great independent movies and classics, served food and drinks to your in theater seats and was just a great place to hang-out with friends. My last day in Orlando I spent with friends at the Enzian/Eden Bar before beginning my trip to Las Vegas the next day. It was such a great place to be swept away by small stories and old stories and whimsical stories. That’s what going to the movies (especially while on vacation) means to me.