Get through my ramblings and eventually you’ll get to my review of the film, “The Darkest Hour.”
As 2011 drew to a close, I sat back and reminisced about the 81 films I saw in the theatre over the year (81 is about my yearly average over the past seven years or so). I can reflect on the movies that made me laugh, made me cry, made me think, made me sigh, and one movie that almost made me die… (New Years Eve).
I also thought about the four times that I got caught sneaking into the movies. That’s actually not too bad for a 41-year-old man! But just think to yourself how funny it must look seeing a 17-year-old usher walking me out because I jumped from one movie to another! Hell, I was even laughing as I got escorted out!
I started doing the math. I paid for 77 movies this year. We’ll say the average movie costs about ten bucks, so 77 x 10 = 770 dollars I gave to the theatre! I mean, COME ON! Throw me a bone, will ya?! And that’s not even including all the food and candy I buy! (Don’t tell anyone, but I do sneak in food once in a while).
But I kid. My home theatre is very good to me. They know me well over at Showcase Dedham Legacy Place, and they take good care of me. I often talk to the ticket sales people about the films that are out, and every so often they give away books (I think for publicity) and they always let me take two… I then turn around, wrap ’em up in Christmas wrapping paper, and give ’em out as gifts. HAHAHA! Hey, don’t judge me! Anything to save a buck… And let us remember, I DON’T READ BOOKS!
There is one usher over there in particular that is extremely kind to me. I think his name may be Jean or Jacques, but I’m not sure. He is so nice to me. He always shakes my hand and we talk about the films that we’ve both seen over the past few weeks. He has an accent, but I don’t know where he’s from, but let me tell you, wherever it is, the people are very nice. What a gentleman.
Another thing I do is, if I’m driving around doing nothing on some random day, I’ll just pull into a theatre and see a movie. I like doing this because I want to see how other theatres stack up to my “home-base.” There are some good ones out there.
I really like Patriot Place. It’s nice and new and still shiny. It opened on August 9th, 2008. How do I know this, you ask? Well, I was invited to the sneak preview opening two days earlier, where only the hoity-toity were invited. They had a delicious dinner spread laid out, and a martini ice luge where you could indulge in a delicious drink if you so desired. They had top notch waiters and waitresses shuffling around, catering to your every need… I felt like I was in heaven.
The guest of honor that night was Sumner Redstone’s wife… Or maybe it was his daughter, I’m not sure (you know what, now that I think about it, I think it was his daughter). Whoever it was, she was very, very nice and very well spoken. Mr. Redstone is the chairman of Viacom and owns National Amusements, which means Showcase Cinemas is National Amusement’s son… (I don’t know, but it’s something like that).
You know who else was there? Curt Schilling! He is a mad dog! I will always love that guy because he brought us our first championship in 86 years! One we were in dire need for too!
I also love the guy because I THINK he loves movies. He doesn’t know this but, I’ve seen two movies with him in the same theatre. The night of the Grand Gala at Patriot Place, we saw “Tropic Thunder.” I loved it, and I hope he did too. And then one random day, April 8, 2010, we saw “Clash of the Titans” in the same theatre (I know the date because I keep a movie diary… and yes, I am odd). He had taken his family with him and I was with my brother, “The X-Man,” (part-time movie reviewer). Someday he wants to be like his big brother Matty.
Back to the topic. Shonda Schilling, (Curt’s wife) likes movies too. She started the “Shade Foundation.” The “Shade Foundation” allows children to go to the movies during the day, to keep them out of the sun and prevent skin cancer. It seems like a wonderful idea and a great foundation. I learned about all this by listening to the radio the day before. She was being interviewed on WEEI about it.
Now, I’m not a lunatic following famous people around. I just happened to be in the same place at the same time, and I have an uncanny knack for remembering meaningless things. Ask me what year the War of 1812 was, and I wouldn’t have an answer for you.
By the way, I’m not sure the Schillings love movies. That’s just my take, and believe you me, I’ve been wrong before… But who doesn’t love movies?
Ok, back to whatever it was I was talking about before.
I’ve been to Randolph Showcase Cinemas too, and I find their seats the most comfortable of any theatre’s seats my rump-shaker has ever been lucky enough to sit on. They also have arm rests (called “nookie bars”) in between the seats that you can raise up or leave down, depending on whether or not you and your date want to snuggle during the film… Guess what? Mine’s always down because I never have a date. But I plan to change that in 2012!!!
And I’ll just tell you about one more theatre: AMC Braintree. Now, this theatre is a little old for my tastes, but I love the service there. Unfortunately, they are not stadium seated and that brings it down a notch in my book… It’s old, but I have no problems seeing a movie there.
You know what? Play me a movie on a white wall and I’ll enjoy it. I LOVE MOVIES!
So, there’s a quick trip around the local theatres for you. I hope you enjoy one of them very soon.
OH YEAH! I almost forgot to review a movie!
I saw “The Darkest Hour” a couple days ago… It’s a sci-fi film. It was good.
Back to you Mario Lopez and Maria Menounos!
Fun Fact: Sumner Redstone graduated at the top of his class from Boston Latin…. He’s a Boston boy!
Another Fun Fact: I had an onion bagel with cream cheese and a Coolata for breakfast this morning… Interesting, eh?