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The Watching Hour Preview: Adventures in Babysitting

I have the distinct impression that I've seen Adventures in Babysitting – this week's Watching Hour pick – in bits and pieces over the years on cable. As a matter of fact, I'm just about the right age that my actual babysitter probably showed it to me at some point. Regardless, I haven't seen it since, and the title has never exactly jumped out at me at the video store. But that's why the Watching Hour is so great. In out postmodern, hyper-active cultural wasteland, where Netflix and Amazon tell me exactly what to watch and when, it great having some seriously solid and consistent programing put together by a person and not an algorithm.

As Justin Couch pointed out in his awesome article about the movie theater experience last week, the audience you see a movie with definitively effects your reaction to it. Would I have loved last week's La Bamba as much as I did if I had caught it channel surfing on cable? Perhaps, but then again perhaps not. The reverence the Watching Hour imbues these oft forgotten movies with is infectious. Movies that you might otherwise see on TBS on a Sunday afternoon are given the star treatment. For example, at 9pm on Friday, the Starz Film Center has invited everyone to a Slumber Party in honor of Adventures in Babysitting before the movie plays.

There'll be a little of this:

And a little of this:

And maybe even some of this:

(Side note: I Google Image-searched 'slumber party' and 'pillow fight,' but the results were exactly 'respectable blog appropriate.' Although the picture of all the girls dressed like Slave Leia from Return of the Jedi pillow fighting is hi-larous!)

It's a pajama party, so dress accordingly. Oh did I mention all the food and refreshments were free?

IN OTHER NEWS, much thanks to Justin and Ed for stepping up to the plate and providing the majority of content on The Movie Advocate over the last week or two. I've been incredibly busy preparing a tangentially related project, and those two really did a great job keeping things fresh around here. I have a backlog of about 10 reviews I'm working on, so look forward to an increase in you-on-Ben action here at The Movie Advocate here in the next few days. Er, you know what I mean.

-Ben


The Watching Hour is a weekly film series at the Starz Film Center, highlighting new and old cult, genre, or otherwise bizarro movies. Quite simply, The Watching Hour is usually the best thing to do in Denver on a Friday or Saturday night. From Giallo to schlock, Blaxploitation to Aussiesploitation, zombies to martial arts to who-knows-what, and everywhere in between. This is good ol’ rock and roll cinema spectacle. Not to be missed. (See the schedule, buy tickets, get directions, etc. here.)