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Beanmimo 
"August review site"
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 Posted - 03/16/2007 : 16:27:06
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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 ? ? |
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demonic 
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 03/16/2007 : 17:20:46
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First thing that comes to mind - those were the days when screenings regularly sold out. It's almost impossible these days unless you're going to a massively hyped film (a la Star Wars, Harry Potter etc) at 7pm on the first weekend. Of course the cinemas are bigger. I remember going to see "Clash of the Titans" with my parents and not being able to get in - we saw "Condorman" instead (as I think many of my generation did) - a very poor substitute.
I think those early films defined my tastes pretty clearly - my earliest cinema memories are of "Titans", "The Secret of NIMH", "Flash Gordon", "Time Bandits" and "The Return of the Jedi" - I still hanker for great fantasies, science fiction and darker themes.
I have no idea when movies went from just being a special thing to do once a month or so, or a way to pass a dull weekend with some friends at school to a primary interest. I know that there came a time when I started going to see films on my own because I couldn't be bothered trying to organise people to go, and then not long after that seeing two or three films in a row. I think it was always special to me though, from the first. |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 03/16/2007 : 17:28:03
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The first film I truly remember was Charles Laughton's Henry VIII. It was showing at the cinema of MOMA [the Museum of Modern Art] in NYC. I must have been about 4 or 5, and my dad took me. I remember it because there was a scene which has stayed with me to this day ... but if I'm remembering it wrongly, I'd be really glad if someone would set me right. It was a scene between the king and I can't remember who, but Laughton suddenly just sits on the other person. Ker-plunk! I remember thinking it was scary and funny at the same time.
I also remember Dumbo's mom, imprisoned in that wagon, putting out her trunk through the bars to cuddle her little baby. Tears? Don't ask!
And, for months afterward, I had nightmares featuring the Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland ... yikes!
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GHcool 
"Forever a curious character."
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Posted - 03/16/2007 : 20:53:34
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My dad took me to see Disney's Cinderella when it was re-released in the United States in November 1987. I was almost 4 years old and my sister was 7 months old. It was probably a way to keep me distracted and out of the house as mom took care of the baby. I remember that because the seats at the theater were design for adults, when I sat in the back of the chair, the end of the seat (where one is meant to bend the knees) only reached slightly above my ancles.
I also remember not caring as much about the injustice of the dynamics in Cinderella's family or about the suspense concerning the royal ball as much as I enjoyed the comic relief elements concerning the mouse characters and the musical numbers. I also remembered getting to tired to watch the whole film and asking my dad if we could leave after the mice's musical number. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 03/16/2007 : 21:50:53
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I think my first was Alice in Wonderland. Either that or Snow White. I suspect I was about 4 years old. I enjoyed kids movies for the next few years and saw them as good fun entertainment.
Then at the age of 10 my Dad took me to 2001: A Space Odyssey (not sure why my siblings didn't come too, although I know why Mum didn't come, she doesn't like sci-fi or fantasy), and I then realised that with movies you could do anything. That movie opened my mind up to the possibilities of cinema, and since then I've never been too worried about untangling every last detail of symbolism in surreal movies or art. I just enjoy them as the thought-provoking spectacles they are. |
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Shiv 
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 00:11:44
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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.
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Edited by - Shiv on 03/17/2007 00:13:38 |
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Beanmimo
"August review site"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 00:21:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
- in a showing put on just for us!
That's got to be special no matter what the movie!!
quote:
I tend to research the truth behind films, and learn a lot about the world that way.
Before or after watching it. |
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 00:25:27
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quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
[quote]
I tend to research the truth behind films, and learn a lot about the world that way.
Before or after watching it.
A bit of both. If it's about a real person or historical incident that interests me I like to know as much as possible beforehand. It doesn't spoil the experience if facts or characters are changed because I understand better what has been done for film-making reasons. I get more disappointed when I find these things out afterwards! |
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Beanmimo
"August review site"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 00:35:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
A bit of both. If it's about a real person or historical incident that interests me I like to know as much as possible beforehand. It doesn't spoil the experience if facts or characters are changed because I understand better what has been done for film-making reasons. I get more disappointed when I find these things out afterwards!
I like to be suspended in disbelief for the movie and then have the bubble burst afterwards. I think it harks back to the childhood magic of being whisked away into a world and losing myself in it for a couple of hours, even though now some of it is shocking or horrifying or plainly untrue.
Pan's Labyrinth and Walk the line being two prime examples. |
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 00:50:51
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quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
A bit of both. If it's about a real person or historical incident that interests me I like to know as much as possible beforehand. It doesn't spoil the experience if facts or characters are changed because I understand better what has been done for film-making reasons. I get more disappointed when I find these things out afterwards!
I like to be suspended in disbelief for the movie and then have the bubble burst afterwards. I think it harks back to the childhood magic of being whisked away into a world and losing myself in it for a couple of hours, even though now some of it is shocking or horrifying or plainly untrue.
Pan's Labyrinth and Walk the line being two prime examples.
Yes, I know what you mean. I am obviously sounding contradictory when I state I see film as escapism, but also research beforehand I think that not having access to a cinema (I haven't watched a film in a cinema for at least 5 years) has changed my viewing experience. I 'escape' at home with DVDs. There are definitely some films I want to see 'raw' though, and that's usually a conscious choice. Sometimes it's just by accident. I posted somewhere else about seeing Transamerica not having the least clue what it was about, and enjoying it all the more for that |
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Beanmimo
"August review site"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 01:02:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
Sometimes it's just by accident.
They can be the best (I saw Midnight Run this way) and the worst (walking in on Boy Eats Girl was like walking in on your parents having sex, I got the immediate feeling that this was something I shouldn't witness) |
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Beanmimo
"August review site"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 01:05:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
(I haven't watched a film in a cinema for at least 5 years)
How come? do you have children? |
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Tori
"I don't get it...."
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 01:05:43
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| In the cinema? I believe it was The Little Mermaid. I grew up in Beverly Hills and in Hollywood (I think) there was this fabulous theatre where all of the Disney movies premiered and we always went there the first night. |
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Shiv
"What a Wonderful World"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 01:14:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Beanmimo
quote:
Originally posted by Shiv
(I haven't watched a film in a cinema for at least 5 years)
How come? do you have children?
I live in remote Australia and the nearest cinema is 700kms away (Broome)! I usually only go there on business and have never managed to fit in a cinema visit in all this time! There's an open air cinema there too - the oldest in the world apparently! I used to go there regularly when I lived in Broome 15 years ago.
I have no children - but if I did I'd surely make the effort for them |
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Beanmimo
"August review site"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 01:15:57
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quote:
Originally posted by Tori
In the cinema? I believe it was The Little Mermaid. I grew up in Beverly Hills and in Hollywood (I think) there was this fabulous theatre where all of the Disney movies premiered and we always went there the first night.
Nice!!
Despite all of Disneys negative press they still awake my inner child.
Thanks for bringing the thread back Tori, I was meandering!! |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 03/17/2007 : 01:25:15
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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.
Shiv, you're my new favourite fwiffer! That means votes... 
Check out the accolade I made yesterday... here
quote:
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 consider it a mark of a good piece of film-making if I get home (or get off the sofa) and research something to do with it online, whether it's the subject matter or just the filmography of the director, or actor, or scriptwriter. I think great cinema should open your eyes to the world around you - "Munich" springs to mind as a film that sparked a concerted effort to understand more about an almost impossible situation. Recently "Bobby" and "Thirteen Days" as well. Last night I found out all about the career of Candace Hilligoss. Those of you with slightly more abstract tastes will know straight away what film it was I watched. |
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Your First Time
