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My greatest movie-going experience was getting a chance to see John Woo's masterpiece "Hard-Boiled" on the big screen -- this was during the mid-90s, when Hong Kong action movies first started getting mainstream coverage in the U.S.
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Standing on-line in 1977 to see Star Wars on opening day and getting a bright yellow frisbee with an x-wing fighter on it. Wish I still had that. After that it would have to be my marathon viewing of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Three (maybe it was four) times in one day. Love that movie.
And right up there it would be my first Midnight showing of the original Dawn of the Dead. And the theater sat right next to a cemetary which the doors to get out of the theater led into. Quite creepy after seeing that.
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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Halloween 666: the Curse of Michael Myers - I was in eighth grade (age 13) and pretty much considered myself the toughest, most street-level kid you could ever know. I snuck in with a couple of buddies to see this movie and was completely and utterly terrified. I mean terrified! After that, I fell in love with the horror genre and still love this movie to this day, despite being a B grade horror sequel (and yes, I most certainly love B grade horror sequels these days b/c of this).
The Fellowship of the Ring - the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, like Spider-Man comic books, are an important part of my childhood. Its hard to explain, but I feel most comic book fans can relate. Its something that helped guide you, but was ultimately your thing, something your friends might not have understood or even knew about. Frodo and Sam's loyalty to one another taught me a lot about friendship. When that movie came out, I was blown away. When I saw even just the preview of it in the theater, I had goosebumps. I saw a woman with a tear going down her cheek at 'Return of the King', and I had heard her say earlier to her husband that she had waited 25 years for this. I could kinda relate. It was a nice experience.
Sin City and Kill Bill vol. 1 - I walked out of that theater so blown away, so impressed with the world, and so confident in the power of art that it was unlike very few things I've ever experienced. There were people on a whole other level just creating...it was great.
The Notebook - I've never seen so many people cry at one time before outside of a funeral. My g/f was literally in complete tears. It was the cutest and most heart-warming thing you've ever seen
GREAT idea for a thread Stealth!
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Brainiac 5
Cobalt Kid's Spell-Checker and Pain in the Rear
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I saw Star Wars ten times in 1977, and every time it was better than before. Still love the Star Wars stories today and I just started reading the books that take place after Jedi.
Funniest movie I ever saw in a theater was Rat Race. I was still laughing on the way home and almost crashed the car. "I'm prairie-doggin'"
Lord of the Rings is by far most rewarding movie I've seen lately in the theater. I'd pay good coin to see a marathon in the theater. All 3 with the extended scenes, 12 hours of middle-earth, that would be awesome!
-------------------- There's room for all God's creatures...right next to the mashed potatoes!
From: the Detroit multi-lab | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Brainiac 5: Lord of the Rings is by far most rewarding movie I've seen lately in the theater. I'd pay good coin to see a marathon in the theater. All 3 with the extended scenes, 12 hours of middle-earth, that would be awesome!
As long as there were comfortable seats and appropriate intermissions, I'd pay top dollar for that.
From: Utah | Registered: Jul 2003
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greatest movie-going experience? hmm,that's a tough one....i guess it would be when i went to see the X-Files theatrical movie in 1998(i think that was the year) how much of a geek does that make me? xD
From: Earth-247 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I agree with the Star Wars and LotR fans. Those movies left and impact. But the two that drum up even more intense memories for me are Moulin Rouge and Jaws.
I saw MR when it first came out, with my wife on our anniversary. It starts off so funky and moves so fast and is so kooky that it kinda makes your head spin...then there's the close up on Nicole Kidman "The Sparkling Diamond" seductively singing "Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend." I actually felt guilty that on my anniversary I'm sitting there next to my beautiful wife, oogling over this Hollywood screen goddess. Then the movie went on to be an over-the-top romp and I loved it. Immediately went to Tower Records (around the corner) and bought the soundtrack cd. The art direction on that movie *still* inspires me.
Back in 1975(is that right?) JAWS was the huge mega hit movie. I was 9 and my brother was 5 and my dad took us to go see it (Mom didn't want to go). We had to wait in a LONG line outside, and we could hear the screaming from the people inside already watching. My little brother got scared and didn't want to go in, so we had to take him back home!!!!! My dad and I came right back, and we got in, but we missed the very beginning (yes, I missed the naked lady swimming scene!). That movie scared the CR@P out of me! Like the rest of the nation, I believed that there were sharks out there waiting to eat me if I went in the water. I even worried about them being in pools!!! Naturally, since then, we've learned a lot more about sharks, but I'll never forget that movie-going experience.
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Again, Star Wars. I was 9 years old when the original was released. I had not heard of it at all. As far as I was concerned, there was no good sci-fi/space opera in movies (I was a discerning consumer, even at 9).
My father had heard about the movie from co-workers. My mom was out of town, so the Saturday night after it opened, he took me to see it. I was really tired from an end-of-school pool party that day at a classmate's house.
We had to stand in a crowded theater lobby for a whole hour (I was 9!). I kept telling my dad "This better be good, Dad!"
Then, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." appears in total silence. Then, John Williams's magnificent fanfare shatters the silence, and I jump out of my seat. Then the Flash Gordon scroll, then, a giant m@$#*(U@#$!g space ship flies onto the screen from the upper foreground! The entire audience in this huge, pre-googleplex theater went "OOOHHHH" simultaneously.
I still get goosebumps thinking about it. Afterwards, I told my dad "Yeah, that was pretty good."
-------------------- ...but you don't have a moment where you're sitting there staring at a table full of twenty-five characters with little name signs that say, "Hi, my superpower is confusing you!"
From: Chicago, IL | Registered: Jul 2004
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Indoors Double Bill Three junior high Beatles fans. Yellow Submarine Alice's Restaurant (Boobies!!!)
Outdoors Double Bill The college gang in a 70's Old's; three guys, three girls, and smuggled a bottle of Jack. Airplane Blues Brothers
From: East Toledo | Registered: Jul 2003
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December 17, 1983: I'd been to one of the office Christmas parties, and followed it up with four beers amidst work colleagues at Chicago's famous Billy Goat's Tavern. (The model for John Belushi's "chizborger chizborger chizborger, no Pepsi, Coke" sketch on "Saturday Night Live.")
Being half in the bag, I slunk toward the Lincoln Avenue bus to take me to the subway, as I didn't trust myself on my feet. But I got off prematurely when I remembered that the new Barbra Streisand movie was playing. I thought that seeing that would at least let me dry out before I got on the crowded CTA train, and that'd be safer.
Two and a half hours later, I walked out of the theater as sober as a judge, and exhilarated beyond words. Streisand's passion for her story had gotten under my skin and given me gooseflesh. I walked six blocks east, barely noticing traffic, to the 100-story John Hancock Center, paid to go to the top-floor observatory, and looked out over a bejeweled and glistening Chicago for the next hour, truly glad to be alive.
I've never had quite that same thrill before or since from a movie, though "Star Wars" in 1977, "Casablanca" in college, and, like Sketchy, Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" came quite close.
I went on to see "Yentl" 23 times in the theater, and I couldn't get enough of it. (I still can't, with at least a dozen video viewings since. And it'll finally be out this year on DVD.)
It's still, to me, one of the most personal expressions of a filmmaker's soul ever created, and that passion is infectious. Steven Spielberg likened Streisand's directorial debut to what Welles brought to "Citizen Kane," and to me, that's hardly an exaggeration.
From: Starhaven Consulate, City of Angels | Registered: Jul 2003
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I have to add Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to my list. I saw it at one of those gigantic theaters, which was the perfect way to see such a visually stunning film. I also want to add the XMen movies and the Spiderman movies to my list. As a comic book fan, it's great to see these movies done so well. Too bad some of them don't work out (Hulk, Daredevil).
I never saw Batman Begins! I'm going to start another thread about things people have missed....
I saw it opening night. There was buzz about this movie rivaling a Star Wars film. I had read the book and liked it. Reviews were positive, word of mouth was good. My friends and I made plans to see it, getting tickets for the first show and geeking out over the trailers til showtime.
Then I saw the dinosaurs. Incredible beasts, awesome for me as they were for the characters in the film. Speilberg set out to tell a tale of a romp through a dinosaur world. And boy, did he!
What really sticks out the most tho', seeing the 'raptors chase our heroes through the computer center. To escape them, the people climb into the ceiling ductwork and crawl to safety. At one point, the young girl falls through the ducts, dangling before the raptors. Dr Grant yanks her back up to safety just as the 'raptors snap at her legs. Everyone in the audience, myself included, jerked their legs to avoid a phantom raptor.
That is movie magic.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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Only movie theater experiences? Interestingly enough, I also was blown away by Moulin Rouge. I had a really great time watching Attack of the Clones at the theater with my son.
Historically, seeing Star Wars at the theater in 1977 at the tender age of six was a seminal moment.
Most of my really memorable movie moments have come at home--watching the original Star Wars trilogy with my kids for the first time, Wallace and Grommit movie with my kids (the most clever script in years), the Battle of Helm's Deep in the Two Towers (as exhilirating and unbelievable a movie moment as any I've ever seen), the final steps of Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader (I know, Revenge of the Sith is not necessarily a film achievement for the ages, but those scenes made the entire prequel trilogy worth it).
-------------------- The only consistent feature of all of your dissatisfying relationships is you.
Don't judge me!
Registered: Aug 2003
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As a child of the 70's & 80's, the first for me would be Star Wars in 77. I was five years old and to this still I still remember it vividly.
As an adult it would be taking my oldest son Adam to see RotJ when he was two. He is still a huge fan and watched the originals non-stop during this time. When they were rereleased, it was given they would be there. It was the first movie he ever sat completely still for.
Other great movie moments for me would be taking the family to see Episode I. Say what you will, I like the movie (with it's faults) and the anticipation of seeing another SW film almost 20 years later was almost more than I could bear. To be seeing it with my children as my father had taken my brother and I back in 77 give a real feeling of a tradition, so much so that I took my father to see episode I a week later.
Other movies that I have enjoyed taking my kids to that were memorable would include Spider-Man, Harry Potter, LotR and now Narnia.
Jamie
From: Wood River, IL | Registered: Aug 2005
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