| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Beanmimo |
Posted - 03/16/2007 : 16:27:06
I remember as a child the magic associated with going to the cinema and the thrill that began to rise in my stomach when one of my parents suggested it and it would build and build as we got closer to the cinema, sometimes the bubble would burst as the particular screening was sold out, but when it wasn't I could hardly contain myself as i sat in the seat.
But I remember the first time it seemed to mean something more to me than the others around me, the one that made the movies a hobby over a welcome distraction.
Mine was Watership Down
What was yours ? ? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| redPen |
Posted - 04/04/2007 : 10:16:13
quote:
Originally posted by redPen
I do know of one year-round drive-in (it's Atlanta, we can do that!) not too far from me, which sports 6 screens and shows double features of current releases. I am currently plotting to get my new ladyfriend to accompany me to a bit of Memory Lane . . . to create some new memories, no doubt! 
Success, my friends! Hit the drive-in this past Sunday night, complete with date. The sound is much better than when I was a child, since the drive-ins now use FM radio waves, rather that the 20-lb. metal speakers. Saw a double feature of current releases for $10 for the two of us! Yes, there was popcorn, and yes, the windows fogged (unfortunately, due to discussion and not for the traditional reason!  ). A fine time indeed! |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 03/31/2007 : 00:38:25
The ones I can remember from my childhood are E.T., The Fox and the Hound, Peter Pan and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. I am pretty sure that I saw the latter two at the cinema - since they came out long before I was born, they must have been re-released or something, and I think this would have been when I was slightly older. I remember coming home and being told that we were going to see Peter Pan. It felt like such an exciting treat. This is such an old fogey thing to say, but I really think it's a shame that children today have such high (in the sense of expensive) expectations. Most children have stacks of DVDs and the thrill is surely not the same. I remember the buzz when one of our parents would randomly bring us a chocolate bar each - I cannot imagine this generation being too impressed by that! I also remember when my pocket money went from 20p to 50p - the anticipation about how many packs of Panini stickers I could buy.
Anyway, back to my earliest experiences, I cannot remember actually being in the cinema, but I think I must have been, because I definitely remember the sense of those films being current. Videos might have been invented by then, but we had certainly never seen one, so I don't think I can have seen them otherwise, which I'm sure I did. I would have been 4-5 when The Fox and the Hound came out and the main thing I remember about that is the sticker album, although I loved the whole thing. I would have been 5-6 for E.T. I remember being in a seemingly deserted shopping centre in the early evening and I feel that that was after seeing the film. I had a tie-in stationery set which I don't think I got from the shopping centre, so perhaps it was sold at the cinema. My most striking memory of that film is the scene where the government agents are examining E.T. and Elliott in the isolation unit. That was a completely bewildering, and thus frightening, scene for me. When one sees it now, it just seems like a typical scenario of government forces taking over and being secretive, but for the target audience it was very well done - I had no idea what was going on, which would be how the two main characters would feel.
We also had a thing called Saturday Cinema in a village church hall. I guess this was a year or two later as these films must have been on video. Our parents would drop us off and pay 20p or something. This would have been illegal, but never mind. From that, I most clearly remember The Cat from Outer Space and also a film (not a cartoon) about gnomes that I don't know the name of.
Around then would have been Return of the Jedi, which is why I am still fond of it and am not troubled by the ewoks. I loved Wicket. When the toy company went bust, we bought bags of ten models for a pound each from Woolworth's. I had to hunt around for one with Wicket in.
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| Joe Blevins |
Posted - 03/24/2007 : 00:20:23
My earliest movie-going memory is seeing Sleeping Beauty and being absolutely terrified of it. Like several others in this thread, I can still recall Star Wars and Clash of the Titans being pivotal early filmgoing experiences, along with all the Disney films both famous and obscure.
I was born in the mid-1970s, and it's amazing to me how much home entertainment -- i.e. television specifically -- has changed, somewhat for the better and somewhat not. We had one TV, and it was a big wooden piece of furniture in the family room. This was slightly before cable TV and VCRs became the norm, so we basically got the major networks, a couple of independent stations, and (if you wanted to go looking for them) some UHF channels. Video games were something you played at arcades and roller rinks. Only one kid in the neighborhood had an Atari. I can specifically remember my father *renting* a VCR for my birthday so that my friends and I could watch Jason & The Argonauts on VHS.
The sum total of this? Movies were a big deal, a huge deal -- more so than they might be to kids growing up now. It was even a big deal when movies were shown on The Wonderful World of Disney. (I distinctly remember watching the entire Herbie series that way.) Also, there was so little in the way of children's enterainment or animation on TV that it was a particular thrill to see a full-length animated movie or anything that had lots of action or special effects.
Now, of course, everybody has a gazillion cable channels and a TV in practically every room of the house. It's easy to assemble a vast library of movies on DVD, ready to watch whenever you want -- with picture and sound quality much superior to the VHS tapes of old and minus the commercial interruptions of TV. There are cartoons and kids shows on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In some ways this is a vast improvement. (I'm addicted to my DVD player.) But in some ways, it's starting to fragment the audience too much. Everything is marketed to specific age groups and demographics. There are very few truly all-ages, something-for-everyone movies anymore, and we're losing that sense of the movies as communal experience. (Who went to see Star Wars or ET? Practically everybody.) Animation is no longer special since there's so much of it, and prime time television is similarly losing its purpose of uniting people since it's getting rarer and rarer for an entire family to gather around the set to watch a hit TV show.
I will admit to being a fan of American Idol, surely one of the most reviled and criticized programs on TV today. (Don't bother listing your complaints about the show. I've heard them before, and I agree with most of them.) Part of what I like about it is that it's the #1 show on television, watched by millions, with a very active viewer-participation angle, so I can at least feel that sense of community through shared experience which television USED TO provide on a regular basis. (Who watched All in the Family or MASH? Practically everybody.) Idol has only a paper-thin veneer of modernity. It could have been -- and likely would have been -- a hit 50 years ago. I like its corniness, its sentimentality, its old-fashionedness. Where else in prime time TV are you going to hear the romantic songs of decades past? Many of the songs on "AI" could have been performed on the Sullivan show!
I realize I have strayed a bit from the original question. Sorry about that. But one topic got me thinking about another.
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| lemmycaution |
Posted - 03/23/2007 : 22:54:25
I was born in 1945 and consequently had seen many movies before I ever saw television. I have memories of Bambi, Fantasia, Snow White and Dumbo which I would have seen in reissue. I'm pretty sure that I saw So Dear To my Heart (1948) as a new release.
It was In the Spring of 1957 when I saw Giant at the magnificent Eglinton theatre in Toronto that I realized I was into movies for the long haul. I saw Apocalypse Now Redux many years later at the same theatre shortly before it was closed and converted to an "event venue". |
| lemmycaution |
Posted - 03/23/2007 : 22:33:13
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
DADDY LONG LEGS with Fred Astaire. That's my first memory. I think I must have been taken here to avoid a sitter [I'm the firstborn]. Remember, lemmy: this was a frickin revival house!
I'm skeptical, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt. |
| GHcool |
Posted - 03/23/2007 : 21:42:54
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
I remember taking my boys to see Fantasia and my younger one got scared at the Night on Bald Mountain and I had to take him out in the middle - but I seem to recall that my older boy stayed on some, but he didn't care for Ave Maria and came outside.
My sister was scared of it, but I liked that part. I thought Ave Maria was boring when I was a kid too. I still think it goes on for a little too long, but the music and imagery are beautiful. |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 03/23/2007 : 08:16:33
I remember taking my boys to see Fantasia and my younger one got scared at the Night on Bald Mountain and I had to take him out in the middle - but I seem to recall that my older boy stayed on some, but he didn't care for Ave Maria and came outside.
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| GHcool |
Posted - 03/22/2007 : 19:48:49
quote:
Originally posted by MguyX
For some reason, it was presented in two parts, so we had to come back the next day for part 2.
"50.5 Dalmations"
I hope your folks didn't have to pay for a second ticket for the second half of the film. |
| MguyX |
Posted - 03/22/2007 : 06:09:52
101 Dalmations. I was about six years old (though the movie was eight-years old at the time).
For some reason, it was presented in two parts, so we had to come back the next day for part 2. God: if only I could return that time of innocence. |
| silly |
Posted - 03/22/2007 : 00:10:42
Not a movie memory, but a theater memory.
One day we tried to see a movie and our cinema was closed, they were shooting a scene for the tv show "Dallas." I was THIS close to seeing Sue Ellen!
(JR wasn't there, apparently)
The last couple posts describe how my wife probably felt watching Nacho Libre with me. It was like my fifth time to see it (on video, finally) and her first. And she kept moving away from me on the couch, as if to say "you find this funny?" |
| Shiv |
Posted - 03/21/2007 : 22:02:10
quote:
Originally posted by damalc
quote:
I do miss seeing films like this - or horrors - in full theatres because when its a good film everyone is getting into, the audience reacts together. That heightens the memories for me too. I saw Silence of the Lambs in a full theatre in London. It never seemed as creepy and unnerving on repeated viewings.
i think it's the same for comedies too. i was one of four people in the theater when i saw "Borat." i think the sparse crowd lessened the comedy effect -- no big collective laughs. it was also a little embarrassing to laugh at some of the really offensive stuff when the other viewers knew exactly who the insensitive bastard laughing was. i still laughed plenty though.
Yes, very true. I must be losing my sense of humour as well |
| damalc |
Posted - 03/21/2007 : 19:00:46
quote:
I do miss seeing films like this - or horrors - in full theatres because when its a good film everyone is getting into, the audience reacts together. That heightens the memories for me too. I saw Silence of the Lambs in a full theatre in London. It never seemed as creepy and unnerving on repeated viewings.
i think it's the same for comedies too. i was one of four people in the theater when i saw "Borat." i think the sparse crowd lessened the comedy effect -- no big collective laughs. it was also a little embarrassing to laugh at some of the really offensive stuff when the other viewers knew exactly who the insensitive bastard laughing was. i still laughed plenty though. |
| Shiv |
Posted - 03/20/2007 : 10:33:13
quote:
Originally posted by redPen
I'm with ya on this one, Shiv! I was 10, and my 4th grade class all went to see Star Wars! It was the perfect age to be absolutely dazzled by this magical piece of history!
I do miss seeing films like this - or horrors - in full theatres because when its a good film everyone is getting into, the audience reacts together. That heightens the memories for me too. I saw Silence of the Lambs in a full theatre in London. It never seemed as creepy and unnerving on repeated viewings. |
| redPen |
Posted - 03/20/2007 : 10:06:56
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
The first film I distinctly remember is Star Wars (I was 9) but it was Clash of the Titans (at age 13) that made the biggest impression on me. My mum fell asleep, but I was entranced by the magic that brought those myths to the screen. I still rate the Harryhausen movies very highly.
My first feeling of the cinema being an escape from reality was when I was about 14. A friend of the family ran the cinema in the nearest town, and me and my brother got to watch an Elvis movie (have no idea which one, the film itself didn't make an impression on me) in the afternoon. First time without adults - in a showing put on just for us! When I lived in London as a student and then unemployed I used to go to the cheaper cinemas and watch 2 sometimes 3 films in a row.
I wouldn't call myself by any means a film buff or a film hobbyist. I still see cinema as escapism, but it's just now I'm interested in what brings the films to the screen - history, emotion, politics and so on. I tend to research the truth behind films, and learn a lot about the world that way.
I'm with ya on this one, Shiv! I was 10, and my 4th grade class all went to see Star Wars! It was the perfect age to be absolutely dazzled by this magical piece of history! |
| redPen |
Posted - 03/20/2007 : 10:01:54
For me, the romance of early cinema always draws me back to the drive-in theatres. My parents used to pop a sackful of popcorn and bring along blankets and pillows, and my sisters and I would lay on top of the car . . . and fall asleep, of course!
The one film that really stands out going this far back was a re-release of 1963's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." This had to have been around '72 or '73. In particular, I remember the three of us laughing hysterically at the climactic scene, where basically the entire cast was being swung back and forth on a fire engine's fully extended ladder.
Along with the demise of many of yesteryear's more nostalgic "early" venues in favor of hi-tech at-home gadgets, the drive-in theatre will always have a place in my heart. I do know of one year-round drive-in (it's Atlanta, we can do that!) not too far from me, which sports 6 screens and shows double features of current releases. I am currently plotting to get my new ladyfriend to accompany me to a bit of Memory Lane . . . to create some new memories, no doubt! |
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