A Long Time Ago, in a Lifetime Far, Far Away...
Ellie and I used to go to movies, probably at least two a month. Dinner and a movie made a nice date; a matinee followed by dinner made a nice cheap date. Back in college, I saw so many movies that I qualified to critique new movies for the school newspaper in reviews that were slightly less poorly written than posts on this blog. We stood in line for over an hour to watch a midnight showing of the theatrical re-release of “Star Wars.” We once went to the theater in midweek on a whim when we heard that the greatest theater in Des Moines* was closing forever, and we sat through “The Crew” just so we could say we attended a showing on its final night. By my senior year of college, my goal was to watch every Best Picture nominee before the Academy Awards, and I usually met it.
That was of course before Abbie. I still remember cramming in one final movie before her birth; that gave us the advantage of enjoying one final movie in peace, but it also means we have to go through life with the knowledge that the last movie we saw as non-parents was “Mean Girls.” With Abbie in the house, our movie going dropped alarmingly, down to maybe a half-dozen per year, which meant that if we planned things really well we could still see all the best picture nominees. This was easy enough to plan as long as they kept churning out “Lord of the Rings” movies, but sadly Tolkien only wrote a trilogy.
The first Best Picture winner I missed in a few years was “Chicago.” Fortunately I despise musicals, so it felt like I chose to miss it. This was the type of movie Ellie would have drug me to a couple years ago, but needing to watch Abbie gave me an easy out while she went without me. Our pattern of only one of us getting to see the year’s Best Picture continued last year when I went to “Million Dollar Baby” by myself while Ellie and Abbie were out of town. This was before the nominations were released, so I got lucky in picking a winner.
This year came the twins and a nominee list that was uncertain, and when I say “uncertain” I mean “bad.” The only nominee we saw was “Good Night, and Good Luck” long before the nominees were announced, at a time my then-pregnant wife threatened to go on bedrest a little early if we didn’t go to a movie. We still watched the Oscars last night though. I may not have seen many nominees, but I have seen enough internet parodies to feel like I’ve seen the nominees.
This year’s Best Picture was “Crash,” which isn’t to be confused with any of the other eleven movies in existence also named “Crash.” It’s available on DVD right now; I could watch it tomorrow. Sadly I don’t watch movies at home anymore either. I like watching movies in one sitting, and the only chance I get to do that is when the kids are asleep, and if the kids are asleep I should be asleep. I hope that someday my children will enjoy watching movies with us, and we’ll return to watching all of the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars, but this time as a family. That day will come a little sooner if the Academy would nominate a Winnie the Pooh movie.
* River Hills in case you care. It was a huge downtown relic from the Cinemascope days.
That was of course before Abbie. I still remember cramming in one final movie before her birth; that gave us the advantage of enjoying one final movie in peace, but it also means we have to go through life with the knowledge that the last movie we saw as non-parents was “Mean Girls.” With Abbie in the house, our movie going dropped alarmingly, down to maybe a half-dozen per year, which meant that if we planned things really well we could still see all the best picture nominees. This was easy enough to plan as long as they kept churning out “Lord of the Rings” movies, but sadly Tolkien only wrote a trilogy.
The first Best Picture winner I missed in a few years was “Chicago.” Fortunately I despise musicals, so it felt like I chose to miss it. This was the type of movie Ellie would have drug me to a couple years ago, but needing to watch Abbie gave me an easy out while she went without me. Our pattern of only one of us getting to see the year’s Best Picture continued last year when I went to “Million Dollar Baby” by myself while Ellie and Abbie were out of town. This was before the nominations were released, so I got lucky in picking a winner.
This year came the twins and a nominee list that was uncertain, and when I say “uncertain” I mean “bad.” The only nominee we saw was “Good Night, and Good Luck” long before the nominees were announced, at a time my then-pregnant wife threatened to go on bedrest a little early if we didn’t go to a movie. We still watched the Oscars last night though. I may not have seen many nominees, but I have seen enough internet parodies to feel like I’ve seen the nominees.
This year’s Best Picture was “Crash,” which isn’t to be confused with any of the other eleven movies in existence also named “Crash.” It’s available on DVD right now; I could watch it tomorrow. Sadly I don’t watch movies at home anymore either. I like watching movies in one sitting, and the only chance I get to do that is when the kids are asleep, and if the kids are asleep I should be asleep. I hope that someday my children will enjoy watching movies with us, and we’ll return to watching all of the Best Picture nominees before the Oscars, but this time as a family. That day will come a little sooner if the Academy would nominate a Winnie the Pooh movie.
* River Hills in case you care. It was a huge downtown relic from the Cinemascope days.
posted by Matt at
11:00 PM
1 Comments:
Crash? Don't bother. It's the ONLY one I saw. (And not in a theater. I haven't been in a theater in a good year.) Maybe it's the parent in me, but when a little girl got shot? I yelled at the screen, "OK. I officially HATE this movie!" Besides that, it tried to hard. Devious (and obvious) manipulation.
Your movie habits (or lack of them) sound a lot like mine. I'm waiting for Clifford's Really Big Movie (as in the Big Red Dog) to get the Oscar nod. Then we'll all be happy.
By
Becky, at 12:39 PM
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