yes, you may

I received a bit of bad news yesterday: Mako has decided that we should wait until February 1st to see the new James Bond movie in theaters. I know waiting one more week won't make much of a difference at this point, seeing as how long I've already waited, but I can't help but feel disappointed. Over the next two or three months, Japan will finally catch up with the exciting fall/holiday/Oscar-bait films that everyone has been chattering about online while I sit here on the sidelines. I am anticipating a number of films that I will be very eager to rush out and see, so I hope Mako will share my enthusiasm and accompany me. Otherwise we are going to have weeks and weeks of unpleasant conversations.

When you get right down to it, going to the movies has got to be my favorite thing to do in the whole world. Sure, I've been playing video games for three decades, TV has always been there for me, and I find myself growing increasingly involved in the intricacies of the Internet, but nothing gets me excited like sitting in a theater and having the lights go down. Even when the movie sucks, I feel pretty good about having experienced it. Hell, some of my best memories involve some spectacularly shitty films, a few friends, and a modest amount of alcohol.

I should stress that as much fun as DVD and Blu-Ray are, they still cannot compare to the theatrical outing in my mind. I appreciate the ability to catch up with movies I didn't get to see the first time around, there's certainly a comfort level that watching movies at home, and as TVs get bigger and wider the inadequacies of home viewing vs a movie screen get narrower by the day. However, the convenience of watching a movie at home is part of the problem. Going out to the theater is a trip, a deliberate decision to isolate yourself and commit two or three hours to watching a film. There are constant distractions at home, so much so that I rarely manage to watch an entire movie without hitting pause at least once.

Of course, there's also no chance of a shared experience with a crowd at home. I consider the explosive reactions of the audience as an integral part of the fabulous evening my friends and I had when we saw Grindhouse in a packed White Plains multiplex to be one of the highlights of that year. Even if my fellow audience members are quiet or scarce (or both), there is a vicarious feeling to being in public that adds to the humor/tension/drama of whatever is flashing across the screen. When a friend and I saw The Big Lebowski in a tiny arthouse cinema outside Danbury, we were the only two people who seemed to "get" the movie. We laughed and laughed at the top of our lungs while the other dozen or so patrons sat quietly. Two other friends and I had a similar evening watching Napoleon Dynamite surrounded by teenagers who must have been drawn in by the MTV ads but were clearly not interested in the tweaked sense of humor at work.

Obviously things are different here in Japan. No one ever seems to laugh in movie theaters in this country and all my friends are thousands of miles away. The tickets cost extra and by the time I get to see a movie around here, the rest of the world has already made up its mind about it which stings. Despite all of this, the "high" of the cinema is no less fulfilling here than at home. Here's hoping I don't have to spend the next two months in withdrawal.

Labels: friends, fuzzy memories, Japan, movies