Melissa Kaercher is an archetypal geek about town. She is a regular co-host of The Geek Life podcast. She is also a comic colorist and inker; you can check out some of her work here. I've gotten to know her over the last few years as a regular at Butt-Numb-A-Thon, and owing to that acquaintance I knew she would be a great addition to the Favorite Movie Series. Here’s Melissa, not discussing one single favorite movie, but more generally what makes movie going experiences great…
When tasked with the assignment of discussing favorite movies, I seldom know what to say. I hold a vast number of films near and dear to my heart, in numbers far too large to discuss with any semblance of brevity. As a cinema glutton, I find new films to love on almost a weekly basis. I don't think that's because I'm indiscriminate; it's just that I have learned where to dig to find all manner of interesting, wonderful movies.
What I'm finding more and more these days, however, is how much I enjoy the *experience* of watching movies. In these days of the elaborate home theater (of which I am completely guilty of owning), I often hear and see evidence that the days of the movie palace are fading. People are opting not to venture out and spend extravagant prices to see a film that they could later see in the comfort of their home, which comes complete with pause button and a license to talk freely. With streaming video, folks can have the very best of a hundred years of filmmaking dropped inside their TV, while even the fanciest movie theater can only show a few films at a time.
I'm not begrudging this. I recently caved and got a Netflix Streaming account, and I've recently said that it's like giving an entire poppy field to an opium junkie. But for as many films as I've devoured from my ever-expanding queue, I've noticed that I don't love them nearly as much as the films I experience with other people.
I've noticed that very few of my favorite films are ones I've watched alone.
My fellow audience doesn't need to be big. When I think of The Empire Strikes Back, I think of the day I went to see it for the first time. My mom took me to a matinee at The Terrace, one of the now-defunct movie palace relics from the 1950s. Outside, there was a terrible thunderstorm, so mom and I were the only people in a giant 1,000-seat theater. Seeing that final light-saber battle on what was then the largest screen in Minnesota marked my 6-year-old brain for life.
The experience doesn't necessarily have to be in a theater, either. When I think of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, I remember seeing it first in my friend's living room. The two of us devoured an entire box of Froot Loops while we sat on the floor, joyously pointing out character actors to each other.
Heck, sometimes the movie doesn't even need to be very good if you're in the right time and place. Anyone who has seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the theater knows what I mean by this.
I've been lucky to have a wealth of great cinematic experiences. I saw the Alloy Orchestra perform a positively amazing live musical score to Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera. I heard an entire theater full of patrons spontaneously erupt into cheers during Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, after the line, "And Rohan will answer!" Or there was that time when I saw The Dark Half with my friend Sherrill, and I poked her during the scary bits so she would scream.
I sometimes hear people lament that they don't make movies as well as they used to. I don't think this is true, for many reasons. However, I wonder if they feel this way because, before the spread of home video, watching a movie was an *event*. You either had to wait for it to come on TV, or you had to go out to the theater. The movies really haven't changed much, but the experience certainly has.
So, here's my wish for you all for the next year: may you experience many great movies.
PREVIOUS ENTRIES IN THE FAVORITE MOVIE SERIES:
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME by Andrew Kemp
RUSHMORE by Luke Hunter James-Erickson
GREMLINS by Ryan Thompson
THE MUPPET MOVIE by Ben Martin
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD by Harry Knowles
BRINGING UP BABY by Beth Link
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA by Justin Couch
FAVORITE MOVIE SERIES INTRO