025 - #blogjune - Going to the movies

"Cinema is entertainment, and people go to the movies 

because they want to feel good and forget about everything." - Vincent Cassel

Song of the day:
"You say shark, I say hey man
Jaws was never my scene
And I don't like Star Wars"

- Queen 

From early on in life I really enjoyed going to the movies. At the start I would mostly go with my dad. He would even take me to films that were rated above my younger age, like "Fantastic Planet" - a 1973 animated science fiction film that made a huge impresion on me.  I found an old cinema list from 1979, with some of the main movies from that time. I clearly remember going to "Watership down" (Waterschapsheuvel) with my dad. I know HE went to see ALIEN (I was only 11). I did see it not long after - on TV (all alone in an empty house) and have been a fan of that franchise ever since. Some years going to the movies was special treat for a primary school birthday party. I remember going to see JAWS 2 (1978) and we all got a huge fright when a head popped out from the boat early on in the movie. Later I would see many films with cousins, friends or even sometimes by myself. With one of my cousins it would be a tradition to see any new Stephen King adaptation or other cool horror film (Poltergeist, Psycho II etc) . The more romantic movies would be the ones to see with girlfriends (Terms of Endearment, Officer and a Gentleman etc).




I also remember the awesome Science Fiction and Horror movie marathons, where you would spend the whole night at the cinema. In 1982  I went to a FIVE movie marathon at the Odeon cinema in The Hague. It was the first time I saw TRON. In the 90s I started reviewing movies for the Whakatane newspaper plus I designed the actual film list for the paper as well. "Air Force One" incidentally was the last movie I ever saw with my dad, visiting him in Holland after my son was born in 1997. My father died two years later. When watching movies these days, I catch my self saying: “My dad would have loved that movie!” I stayed back in Holland for a while in 1999 (when my dad passed away) and went to my last marathon together with a good friend of mine. I am not sure if I could sit through that many movies in one night again. All though, these days it isn't much different from people binge watching whole series on Netflix, Neon, Lightbox or any other On Demand service.

"Air force One" was the last movie I ever  saw with my dad.

I will always remember how it used to be a fun experience, to get together and see the latest blockbuster. In the 80’s I entered many competitions to win free tickets to see even more movies. Later in life, I was privileged to write more movie reviews again for the local Tauranga paper, seeing at least one movie a week. The frequency went down fast in the years to come. The size of TVs increasing combined with the quality of DVDs and later Blu-rays made staying at home more and more attractive. No more looking for parking spaces, having to face cold dark nights or noisy coughing, eating, people on mobile phones. These days if I see more than one movie at the cinema a year it is a rarity. The last movie I saw at the cinema, was Avengers:ENDGAME...

Cinema tickets have changed over the years. The newest print-outs are the worst!