I write tonight's post as I often do, around midnight. Right now, many people are waiting in line to see the new Indiana Jones movie. In time zones farther east, some are already getting out of midnight shows.
I'm trying very hard not to get my hopes up for the film. I'm trying not to even start thinking things like "please don't suck pleasedontsuck," as I've heard a friend or two say, because to me, that's just a particular form of getting hopes up. Of course, it would seem to run counter to that notion that I'm talking about the movie tonight when I'm not even reviewing it now.
But really, my subject is not the Indy movie itself. It's the fact that people are waiting in line to see it at midnight. Even if I was majorly eager to see the film, I just wouldn't be there at midnight for it.
Oh, there was a time that was different. I've attended many midnight premieres in my life. It wasn't George Lucas completely screwing up the Star Wars prequels that changed that, either. It was age. And actually, The Fellowship of the Ring.
I did like The Fellowship of the Ring. Not as much as many. (Certainly not as much as a former co-worker of mine, whose review of the film the day after seeing it was, "I never want to not be watching that movie.") But I did like it. Yet I saw it at a midnight premiere. Remember, this was a three-hour movie. Plus 15-20 minutes of previews and ads and crap. Plus, I saw it at a movie theater that was 45 minutes from the place I was living at the time.
I got home from that movie past 4:00 in the morning.
And I had to be at work a few hours later.
I was miserable that whole following day. I wasn't that old in a grander scheme of things, but I was old enough that my days of all-nighters like that were behind me. I was exhausted, bleary-eyed, frayed, frazzled, pick your adjective. It didn't matter that I'd liked the movie, I just could barely make it through that day. And that was pretty much the day I vowed "never again."
I've gone to a couple movies at midnight since then. But they were always on weekend nights. Always at various "flashback movie" presentations, where midnight was the one and only opportunity to see the film.
Tonight's premiere of Indiana Jones fails on both those counts. And I don't think there's a movie that could get me to change the "policy."
Serenity 2?
4 comments:
The Hobbit!
I'm with ya. There are a damn few movies which would make me grant an exemption to the "not on a weekend" and "one showing only" rules of midnight movies.
Bearing in mind that my job usually forces me through most movies at some point opening weekend anyway, but anyway...
When I was younger it was all about "hey, we're out late! This is so cool with all these geeks like us!" and all about the experience. Then you'd go see it again later so that you could actually hear the movie.
I just don't have the time anymore to go sit through things twice and I'm really just not up for paying to deal with an obnoxious audience on an opening night. The cell phones and talking assholes during a normal show are enough without the added layer of that.
Now get off my lawn. ;P
you mean you won't go see the new Star Wars: Clone Wars "movie" at midnight? :-P
I don't think I've ever gone to a midnight movie and worked normal hours the next day. either called in "sick" or just scheduled some vacation time or something. so I guess I can still feel young but it requires planning and a bit of exaggeration to not mention I slept until noon the following day...
but here's a new "Old Fogie" tip - we went to see Pirates 'o the C' 3 (and some others but that was the first) at the first showing the next day following the midnight shows. it was like 10am and there were only a handful of people in the theatre! nobody thinks about waking up early, just catching those midnight shows!
the mole
When I lived in Texas, I was willing to wait forever in line every Friday night to see that weekend's big flick. I was able to stretch my student ID discount after graduation. I could never do that again.
The last film I viewed at midnight was The Phantom Menace. It is was in Peoria of all places, because my wife was working there in her brief stint as a consultant.
The most memorable midnight movie experience for me will always be the Special Edition of A New Hope. My friends and I waited for around two hours outside. We were all excited and nervous. The last time I had seen A New Hope in a theatre was either in 1977 or 1978. The only scene I could remember from that viewing was Han Solo screaming while charging down the hallway.
Before the film started, the theatre was full of noise and nervous energy. Lightsabers were swung everywhere. Costumed filmgoers were showing themselves off. But the moment the 20th Century Fox logo hit the screen, the whole theatre went silent.
When the words "Star Wars" hit the screen, I can't recall if the theatre was still silent or erupted in applause. All I can remember is that I sat there in amazement with tears in my eyes. I had watched the trilogy hundreds of times on a meek television. I had never seen those words so large.
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