Fa la la la la

I am hoping to be back home later this week so I can write a full fledged review, but I wanted to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas, and to do another of my infrequent reminiscences from those days of yesteryear in my movie experience.

Christmas Eve of 1978.  My sister and I went to see the new Superman: The Movie.  (Why did Hollywood have to add "The Movie"?  Did they think we would go to the theater and expect to see a couple of old George reeves TV shows up on the big screen?  They did the same with the first Star Trek movie:   Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  And several others down through the years...)

My sister and I rarely had the same tastes,  and we still don't.  I doubt she's seen a movie in the theater since I practically had to drag her to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and, even then, the last movie she probably saw in a theater before that was the aforementioned Superman.   The Superman experience was rather phenomenal, for me.  Much like the experience of seeing Tron, and other movies that had cutting edge (at the time) special effects, I was wowed by the feeling, as the tagline so eloquently put it, "you'll believe a man can fly".

In those early years I went to just about any movie that captured my interest, but, as then, today my biggest draw to a movie is how they use special effects.  The stuff that was done to create the illusion in Superman was primitive by today's standards, but that doesn't diminish how great it looks.  And since it was Christmas Eve, I went to bed, not with visions of sugarplums and Santa Claus, but with visions of another hero that flew through the air.

It's not nearly as awe-inspiring these days, since I am limited to a comparatively smaller screen (but at least I don't have to rely on over-priced popcorn and soda pop as treats).  I keep watching the papers however.  Occasionally the Alamo Drafthouse (a damn good theater experience even if it is indoors) will have showings of older movies in celebration of one thing or another.  There are a whole list of movies that I was unable to experience on the big screen as well as many I DID see that I'd like to experience again.


Happy New to you, and hope to see you folks again next year.

Quiggy