Your best movie viewing experiences?

[MinionZombie]

I'll be doing a series of posts on my blog talking about my most memorable movie viewing experiences (the first post is now up, concerning Best Silver Screen Experiences - http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2010/11...e-viewing.html) Here's a little sample from my aforementioned post: The Pit and the Pendulum (Roger Corman, 1961): When – November 2006 Where – The Cube Microplex, Bristol Why – in 2006 I went to the Bristol Bloodbath Film Festival (my short film VHS was being shown as part of a series of indie shorts), and the first film on the schedule was this Roger Corman flick. I’d never seen it, nor many Vincent Price roles, before and I really quite enjoyed it. However, what made this a memorable screening was the print itself – here we are sat in a half-remodelled independent theatre somewhere in the depths of Bristol, and the print is rough, gritty and raw. It broke down entirely two or three times, the reel got jammed, and even when running just fine it was full of damage. It was still certainly watchable, but this particular viewing just had so much character and charm, and it reminded me of some of the screenings we’d have at Univeristy of restored prints. It felt like a real grindhouse experience. ... So anyway, I was wondering what you guys' most memorable movie viewing experiences were (be they at the cinema, or at home, or where-ever).

[bassman]

Pretty much anything my dad took me to see when I was younger. The most memorable and long lasting would be the first Toy Story. The first few Batman films, too. There was always something special about going to see a movie with the old man. Fight Club. Never saw it coming. Had to go back and see it again. Immediately. You could feel the collective gasp run through the audience. Grindhouse. Just fun wrapped up into three and a half hours. No other way to explain it than just pure FUN. Ghostbusters. Believe it or not this was just about a month ago. My favorite local independent theater played it for about a week straight. I went on a Saturday night with my brother(also a huge GB fan) and expected there to only be a few seats filled. Nothing major - there usually weren't many people at this place. We walked through the door of the theater just in time to hear the eerie "weeeooohhhh" sound during the "Columbia Pictures" logo followed by the gigantic roar of a PACKED theater. They cheered with the music, they laughed at all the jokes, and stayed to clap through most of the credits for no real reason at all. It was just one big Ghostbusters love fest. My older brother got me into Ghostbusters when I was very young. I honestly don't remember when it started. It's ALWAYS been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. The two hour theater experience that night was one of the best, if not THE best I'll ever have.

[BillyRay]

Here's mine - a surreal experience before the audience started chiming in... Eraserhead (Dir David Lynch -1976) When - sometime in the late '90's Where - The Times Cinema 'Friday Night Freak Show' Midnight Movie Why - A dark, drunken, rowdy capacity crowd (as usual), watching Lynch's B&W early masterpiece in complete, respectful silence. That is, until the Lady in the Radiator began singing "In Heaven, everything is fine/ You've got your good things, and I've got mine". During the first verse the audience swayed back and forth, as one, with the tune. By the second verse, everyone was softly singing along. A moment of surreal, beautiful gestalt.

[MinionZombie]

Bassman - sounds like that GB screening was a great one. Wish I could have been there to see it for myself. BillyRay - interesting you should mention Eraserhead, that'll be one of the films in one of the following entries in this series of blog posts I'll be doing. But in short, I got it on video and it took me two months to get through the whole movie. I'd watch anything between 5 and 20 minutes and just get too weirded out and I'd have to stop it and leave it for a while.

[wayzim]

I'll be doing a series of posts on my blog talking about my most memorable movie viewing experiences (the first post is now up, concerning Best Silver Screen Experiences - http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2010/11...e-viewing.html) Here's a little sample from my aforementioned post: ... So anyway, I was wondering what you guys' most memorable movie viewing experiences were (be they at the cinema, or at home, or where-ever). 2001 at a Drive-In in Texas (70 ) Even under the worst conditions it simply blew me away. You can't explain to a younger film fan exactly what this means, but Kubrick's vision worked on multiple levels and for this kid, it brought the wonder and terror of the cosmos out in a credible functional way. Seeing Star Wars (76)when it was shiny and new. Already a veteran film watcher by my teens, Unlike the best of SciFi/Fantasy cinema up to this point, this was something we hadn't really encountered before. The FXs were great, sure, but even before Joseph Campbell helped turned it into the modern mythology it is today, the pure excitement and adventure created a new paradigm before our very eyes. The Original showing of Dawn of The Dead in, of all places, a mall movie house at midnight. Imagine coming out of this mind blowing film with just the glow of the safety lights to guide you. Seriously freaky, like you were suddenly thrust into the movie itself. Wayne Z "This ain't no Creature Double Feature or Midnight Fright Flick, babe. " Dead Fall; Foreshadow.

[rongravy]

Total Recall. I dropped acid right before and started tripping when he found out his life was fucked. Best trip I ever had.

[Danny]

Watched a marathon of the blues brothers followed by caddyshack followed by animal house. the whole audience was in tears with laughter at multiples points. yelling quotes out, singing the songs, totally fucking rad. Especially for my friends who had seen none of the films before. now every so often when were in a traffic jam whoevers behind the wheel now usually goes "man, i hate Illinois nazis!" not an exact quote i dont think, but its a thing for us now. -that and prince riding a segway with a massively long cape lurking in multi basement carparks, but thats another story for another time.

[Mitchified]

It was definitely seeing The Dark Knight for the first time in an IMAX theater. Very, very rarely is a movie with a strong plot, amazing actors, and mindblowing visuals shown in that format and it all combined into this incredible experience. This idiot studios that are making 3-D movies in an attempt to create an "experience" for the viewers need to realize that the visuals are only half the equation.

[bassman]

ohhh...yeah that's a good one. TDK in IMAX was a friggin thrill. Probably more so than Avatar's 3D. And the DP of TDK, Wally Pfiester, recently stated in an interview that they'll be filming even more of The Dark Knight Rises in the Imax format. Good news.

[Mitchified]

I know this isn't going to happen, but I would have loved to see Christopher Nolan's take on Bane. Realistically it could happen, too, if you tweak his origin. The mob has been driven to extremely desperate measures by the actions of Batman, the killings perpetrated by Two Face, and the mistake of hiring the Joker. They could resort to bringing in Bane from South America to try to end the "Batman problem" once and for all. Tell me that an epic fight between Batman and Bane in the cave wouldn't blow your mind in IMAX format. It looks like one of the villains is going to be Catwoman or Poison Ivy (with an extremely outside chance of Harley Quinn) since Christopher Nolan was interviewing actresses for both a love interest and villain role. The Riddler has already been shot down as a villain so we won't be seeing him. Since we've already had Ra's Al Ghul, the Scarecrow, the Joker, and Two Face, maybe Bane DOES have a shot at being in the movie.

[bassman]

It looks like one of the villains is going to be Catwoman or Poison Ivy (with an extremely outside chance of Harley Quinn) since Christopher Nolan was interviewing actresses for both a love interest and villain role. The Riddler has already been shot down as a villain so we won't be seeing him. Since we've already had Ra's Al Ghul, the Scarecrow, the Joker, and Two Face, maybe Bane DOES have a shot at being in the movie. I could see Talia Al Ghul(Rha's daughter) being one of those ladies. It would be a nice way to bring the trilogy full circle. Or course she would only be one of the villains, not the main one.

[Danny]

I wouldn't add harley in this movie, id add dr quinzel. Have the joker spend the movie in gotham, in his dark cell, face in shadow, whilst the batmans out fighting however, bringing them in and such harley is trying to "fix" the joker in the meantime. Of course we all know how that goes down don't we? end the movie after batmans beaten the main villain with a 'breakout from arkham' and metion 'some chick in a jeste routfit', add some insane joker laughter and bale doing his constipation face and well'a

[Mitchified]

I could definitely see Talia being involved as Batman's love interest IF they resurrected Ra's with the Lazarus Pit (or some super ninja escape dive from the monorail). Her character always worked so well in the comics because she was constantly being forced to choose between the man she loved and her father. It was great tension. ...My inner fanboy seems to be showing.

[Danny]

I could definitely see Talia being involved as Batman's love interest IF they resurrected Ra's with the Lazarus Pit (or some super ninja escape dive from the monorail). Her character always worked so well in the comics because she was constantly being forced to choose between the man she loved and her father. It was great tension. ...My inner fanboy seems to be showing. Yeah, but that leads to damian wayne and i cannot see bale playing a father figure yknow?

[Mitchified]

Nolan has stated in the past that he's only interested in making a trilogy, so Damian wouldn't have time to come into the picture. After all, this is still very early in Batman's career, and Damian didn't put in an appearance for a long time in the comics. And I hate to say this as a fan of the Talia character, but I've always thought that she should be killed off in the comics in such a way that Ra's blames Batman for her death. Then we have a situation where it becomes two of the best strategists in the world in conflict with one another, something that is somewhat rare in the comics with the notable exception of Hush.