The Cinema

In one of my more packrat-esque behaviors, I will admit that save all of the movie stubs from every movie I go to. I started this back in the 1980s with Ghostbusters and have been saving ever since. The older tickets are in a cardboard box hidden in my desk while the newer tickets are in a small wooden bowl from Bhutan that rests on the mantle over my fireplace.

Every now and again, I like to go through the tickets and track my movie attendance for the past few months. I did this over this past weekend when it was just too cold to leave the house. Last year, I went to the movies 24 times and saw 21 movies (I saw Phantom of the Opera, Sin City and Pride and Prejudice twice.) Seven of the movies were seen in January 2005; two were seen between June and August.

This got me thinking about the experience of seeing movies in the theater and how it really has fallen off quite a bit. Not just overall box office attendance, but my personal feelings about seeing films on the big screen. I can't decide if I am enjoying the films less or the theater experience less, but I don't really feel drawn to see movies in the theater anymore, especially with Netflix sending me new dvds all of the time. And I am really glad that I didn't spend $10 to see some of the movies that I end up renting. I think that it is worth it to see movies like Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia on the big screen, but the films with more intimate stories that I end up preferring, those are just fine to see at home on the television at your own pace without the talking, the cell phones ringing or the kids kicking the back of the chair.

I still love movies, don't get me wrong, I think that I will always love movies, but I really am hoping that 2006 has more to offer than 2005 did. If for no other reason than I need to get out of the house more!