Top Five Moviegoing Experiences

Wow, it's been a while since I posted here. Ever since our stay-at-home orders, I've been thinking about trying to blog a bit more. But unsurprisingly, I wasn't actually motivated to do it until I was inspired to write about movies.

So, a little background first. My favorite podcast is Filmspotting, and every week the two hosts do a top five, inspired by the film High Fidelity. This week, they discussed their top five moviegoing experiences, as a nostalgic look back on the days when we could actually go to movie theaters. Their list inspired me to create my own list. Once I'd started it, it became clear I needed a U.S. list and an "international" movie list (I love going to movies in other countries!!). Without further ado, here is the U.S. list, in chronological order.  (I'll post the international list tomorrow; this post got too long for two lists.)

U.S. Top Five
1. Titanic (1998) at the Mann Theater in Monrovia with Cammy. LEO! I distinctly remember not being able to stop crying after the movie ended. We went shopping at Mervyn's after (in the same strip mall as the theater) and I broke down in tears at least once amongst the t-shirts. So began my years-long obsession with Leonardo DiCaprio. (1998, I think -- I remember I didn't see it right when it came out at the end of 1997, because it was a debate with my parents about whether I was even allowed to see it or not.)

2. Fast and the Furious (2001) at the Krikorian in Monrovia with Cammy and her boyfriend Ed and his friend Mike. I think this is the closest I've ever come to a double date at the movies? My sophomore year of high school had just ended, and it was so fun to start off the summer by going see a movie with BOYS. The movie was perfect for a sort-of double date; I actually think I enjoyed it quite a bit. (I have zero interest in revisiting that film because...let's just keep the happy memory, right?)

3. Chicago (2002/2003) at the Pasadena Paseo. This was the year I camped out for the Rose Parade with a bunch of high school friends during our senior year. Billy McLellan and I were sick of the cold (and likely very bored), so we decided to go see the last showing of Chicago (I think it started at about 10:30pm) at the theater that was closest to where we were camped out. We had both already seen it at least twice already. Maybe one or two other people were in the theater with us?  We put the arm rests up, so we could lie down across multiple seats. Midnight struck while the film was playing, so we didn't even celebrate it, which was just fine with both of us.

4. Requiem for a Dream (2004? I think it was freshman year.) in Wellman Hall (?) on campus at UC Davis. This one is a bit of a cheat, because it wasn't in an actual movie theater. My friend Scott figured out that many of the buildings on campus at UC Davis were not locked at night, and you could just go into some of the lecture halls and project a movie onto the screen. So a group of us snuck in at least twice to watch both Reservoir Dogs and Requiem for a Dream. After that, I think the staff caught on and started locking the doors so we couldn't do it again. I am putting Requiem for a Dream as my main memory here, because I had a strong feeling of "...whoa" after watching it. Reservoir Dogs I disliked because it was too nasty and violent. Which--I mean, Requiem is pretty much equally violent and nasty. To be honest, I am not interested in revisiting either film. But sneaking in to watch these films with a bunch of my new college friends was thrilling.

5. Ran (2009) at Film Forum with Ari. So began my love affair with Film Forum (and with Ari!). This was my first time visiting Ari in New York City, and it was basically a perfect trip. It was also my first time spending time with Ari off the cruise ship, and my first time visiting NYC outside of a 4-day trip one other time in senior year of college. Ari played tour guide and took me to the repertory theater Film Forum, since he knew I was a budding cinephile. He picked Ran (a rather challenging pick, honestly), but it was perfect. When I moved to NYC a year later to start grad school, I became a member of Film Forum and basically caught a film there whenever I had free time. Film Forum remains the only theater I think of as "mine." 

6. Adding another one because I want to! Wonder Woman (June 2, 2017) at the Vista Theater in Los Feliz. I've never been a person who felt she had to see movies on opening day. But in summer 2017, Ari and I were doing a thing where we tried to explore a new area of Los Angeles (actually new to Ari, somewhat new to me) every Friday. We happened to be exploring Los Feliz on the day Wonder Woman opened, and we walked by the Vista Theater (a cool, old-fashioned one-screen theater) at the end of our exploration. We were planning to head home when we saw the line forming for the first screening of the day, probably around 1pm. I managed to talk Ari into buying a ticket and getting in line. This meant we had to wait in line (Ari hates waiting in line) for a good 45 minutes or so, but once we got in--and got really good seats!--I knew it was worth it. Everyone was SO into the movie and I had the experience so many women had of crying uncontrollably during some of the most bad-ass fight scenes with Wonder Woman. I am NOT a fan of superhero films in general, but this movie totally won me over.