Thursday, June 17, 2010

Front Row Joe? More like Go No Mo'.

We're off to the movies tonight, which has become a rarer and rarer event for our family of film buffs. There aren't that many films these days that warrant the expense or hassle of going to a theater. All the talking and the texting make it hard to enjoy the film. (So THIS is what midlife is like!) Add to that our new Netflix subscription, and we just don't have the time. Even now that it's summer, it's still not that easy to carve out two hours to just sit and watch something in our own living room, much less in a theater

But before we morphed into old fuddy-duddies, we spent lots of nights at the local cineplex. In fact, when I moved here almost 20 years ago, our church singles group managed to see plenty of movies together. Many a night you'd find us at the dollar movie, singing along with Front Row Joe.

Remember this?

Or what about this one? (Embedding is disabled. Bummer)

A few years past our dollar movie days, Brett and I found ourselves at art houses whenever a new Woody Allen film was released. Then on one particularly memorable date, we got to see a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) screening at the Kimbell. The museum was sponsoring a symposium on Karl Struss, so we were fortunate to hear about that cinematographer's work. We also made it a habit to catch the theatrical releases of any superhero movies that came along.

But lately, we'd rather enjoy an episode of The Big Bang Theory on our gameroom TV or watch a Netflix selection on the XBOX 360. While that may be a commentary on entertainment trends or just a fact of life in our 40s, it means our rare outing to the cinema can be a treat.

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