Let's Go to the Movies!

Santa gave me a movie gift card this year.  I thought this was a very good present, one that I've given to my nieces before because I knew they couldn't afford to go the movies..  It makes people go to the movies, instead of putting it off because it's too expensive or whatever.

This the part where I say that I hate going to the movies.  Hate it.  Obviously, Santa didn't know this.  The way I am wired, it's just too difficult to concentrate.  People bug me.  It's too loud.  Don't sit so close to me, jeez.

I wrote about this a few years ago, the last time I went to the movies.  We sat next to a teenager who was trying to impress his date with his not witty and not clever comments THROUGHOUT the whole movie.  I told him to be quiet, Kevin told him to be quiet. The person behind him told him. Unfortunately for the rest of us, he was the funniest guy in the room.  When we left after the movie finished, I stood up and leaned toward him, and said "You owe your mother an apology."  Kevin just walked away, laughing.

Anyway.  The point being is that it's been years since Kevin and I went to the movies together. I had to go look it up, it was 2009.

The city where I work just built a brand new multiplex.  It's really, really nice.  Well, look:

Isn't that something?  It's a nice mix of old and new.  It's huge, you can't quite tell that from the photo. 16 theaters are behind that facade.

It was nice adventure from the beginning to end.  I actually felt excited to experience it. It felt like being a kid at the movies for the first time, so much had changed. I could remember going to the movies the first time (Snow White, with my eldest brother, I think I was six or so) and marveling at the whole place.

While Kevin was just happy to have me at the movies with him.

This is the lobby/concession area.  This is where I started to get overwhelmed. The reader board above the counters are television screens that scroll the menu, advertisements, and movie times. It felt like something out of a movie (haha, get it?)  I leaned into Kevin and said "I feel really old standing here.  All this newfangled technology surrounding me.

One of the things that I don't like, along with every single other American, is the cost of the food.  We had two dollars left over from the gift card and we still paid $18 for two sodas and one bucket of popcorn. $18!!  

There was also a sign at the ticket-taker booth stating that large bags, etc. aren't allowed.  I, of course, was a little eye-rolly because we just paid $18 dollars for food.  Then it also occurred to me that now they're worried about guns as well.  Sigh...

This is the theater that we actually sat in.  See that railing? We sat right there, next to the stairs.  We chose exactly the right movie because the theater was nearly empty.  It was a Christmas miracle!

We watched The Gambler with Mark Wahlberg.  I think he could stand in an empty room and read the phone book and it would come out in the accent of "Eff you."  I do enjoy him.
Oh, the movie was good too.

I might consider going again.  The theater is so nice and if we go to the matinee, it's less busy and I'll not hate so many people.