Saturday, August 11, 2012

Why The Dark Knight Rises Will (Probably) Be My Last Midnight Movie


Now that I have experienced The Dark Knight trilogy at AMC, I’m not sure if I there will be another movie I would want to go out of my way to see at midnight.
Now I must start by saying I do not make this decision because of the tragedy that unfolded out in Colorado. My sympathies go out to all those effected and hope that this does not cause people to question the safety and sanctity of a movie theater going forward from here.
I honestly can’t tell you what my first midnight movie screening was, there have been quite a few since I’ve had the ability to go to them. The one that sticks out in my mind the most as what could have been my first time was an attempt I made to get to the midnight screening of the first Transformers the summer after high school. Sadly, car trouble led to myself and two of my friends missing it and made sure to make up for it by seeing the sequel at midnight. Now, that was the time and place I decided I was done with The Transformers franchise, but that’s a different story all together.
Now, my most memorable midnight experience, wasn’t even at midnight. A year after the Transformers fiasco, a group of friends and I went off to the IMAX theater near us for the midnight screen of The Dark Knight. Sadly, by the time we decided to do this the 12:01am screening had already sold out, but the 3:33am screening did not. Being a crazy bunch of college freshmen/sophomores (I’m not sure how you categorize it when it’s the summer) it was easy to get the next day off and commit to being out until 7am or so. Not only was it an amazing experience to see the film in IMAX, but it was just a great time with great friends.
Sadly, it’s four years after that amazing experience, and I have come to find myself becoming an old grumpy man when it comes to going to the movies these days. I went and saw The Amazing Spider-Man in a theater by myself in the middle of the day. Not because it worked best with my schedule or because people backed out of seeing it, but because I knew most of my friends had seen it and I didn’t want to share the theater with a bunch of jackass 13-year-olds. I am 23 years old, and I prefer seeing movies with old people more than I do with people my own age.
Sitting in the theater for The Dark Knight trilogy, I went through this same feeling. Having teenagers that felt it necessary to shout, talk about their own stupid nonsense, and even but into my conversations with my friends really cemented the idea that I was out of my element now. Thankfully, none of this occurred during he movie, but I honestly feel that it shouldn’t happen at any point during the theater. I found it funny to have all this happen, and yet the one time I swear while talking to a friend of mine, the oldest person there feels he should reprimand me.
My life, huh?

1 comment:

  1. I know the struggle. In LA, Arclight cinemas have 21+ screenings where you can bring in alcohol. You'd think that there would be drunk hecklers during the movie, but no, it's pretty subdued. I bet a lot of theaters could benefit from this technique. Either that or blowdarts to the neck for anyone ruining the experience.

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