Movies. I love them. I love going to the movie theatre and sitting in the dark in front of an enormous screen and allowing myself to be wholly absorbed. I love sitting in the comfort of my own living room/bedroom and watching movies (usually the same ones I always watch) while half-paying attention and scrolling on my phone or ipad. I love buying dvds (to the point that I still have a handful of dvds in their shrink-wrap a year or two later!). I love talking about movies. So much so that I sometimes wonder if I should have gone into film studies, or at least taken a few courses on the subject (if such an elective had existed during my undergrad, I probably would have!).

I enjoy going to the movies with friends or family. My most common movie-going buddy is my mother, actually. We go to the movies together quite a lot – probably a couple times a month. It helps that we have pretty similar taste in movies most of the time. And my mother doesn’t really like going to the movies by herself, so if I can’t go with her she just skips it altogether. 

I, on the other hand, really enjoy going to the movies by myself. There is something so therapeutic and calming about buying a small (or in my case, not-so-small) popcorn and settling into a dark theatre by yourself, and being completely invested in what you are watching and your own enjoyment in the experience without worrying if your companion is liking it as much as you are, or whatnot.

There was a recent article on the Stylist website about going to the movies alone, in fact. You can find it here: “Scared of going to the cinema alone? Don’t be: it’s a brilliant form of self-care” by Kayleigh Dray

While I would not call myself a “cine-nazi” as the writer does in the article, I do agree with pretty much everything she says. If you’ve never gone to the movie theatre by yourself, I highly recommend it!

When I was working on my undergrad there was a tiny movie theatre on campus. It was mainly used for special events and presentations, but every Wednesday at noon and again at 7pm, they would show popular movies. Not current releases, of course – they didn’t have the kind of funds to get current movies. Instead they would show semi-recent movies (things released in the last couple years). I think it was kind of whatever they could get their hands on, but that was fine by me. I usually had classes or something during the noon viewings, but I caught several movies that way: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Sahara, Hitch, etc. (I’m aging myself, aren’t I?) These were always movies that I would probably never have bothered seeing in theatres when they were released, but the movies on campus were like a $1 or $2, so… why not? 

More recently, I have gone to the movies by myself just a couple times in the last few months. I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood by myself (and cried). I saw Frozen 2 TWICE by myself (and cried). But I have seen quite a few movies with my mother. And most recently I saw 1917 with my brother.

I go to the movies often enough that I have even considered buying AMC’s Stubs A-List membership (which is $20 per month!). My budget remains very tight right now, so I can’t really justify such an expense, but maybe if I can get my finances in more order in the next few months, I might actually do it. If you aren’t familiar with the A-List subscription: it’s a new-ish feature that AMC is doing. For $20/month you can see up to 3 movies per week! So, if your full-price ticket is ~$11 (this depends on where you live, of course), if you see at least TWO movies per month, the subscription has paid for itself. If you see just ONE movie per WEEK, you’ve doubled your value, etc. If you are a constant movie-goer, it is worth it, I think. Like I said, I’m seriously considering it…

Anyway, to wrap this up I thought it would be fun to list a few of my favorite movies from 2019 (these are not in any particular order):

• Captain Marvel (this movie kicked serious ass! Girl Power ftw!)
• Frozen 2 (I am a huge Disney nerd and I love Elsa, so…)
• Knives Out (smart, darkly-hilarious, great Agatha Christie-esque mystery)
• The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (a little-seen, very strange and amazing indie film by terry Gilliam)
• Be Natural: the untold story of Alice Guy-Blache (an indie film documentary about the first woman director – I was a Kickstarter contributor for this movie and it was ASTONISHINGLY GOOD)

I’d love to hear what your favorite movies were for 2019! Or for that matter, what movies you are looking forward to for 2020!