5 Things About Movies I’m Thankful For

It’s fun to go to the movies. 

Okay, I know it’s the day after Thanksgiving, but it’s not like you’re only thankful on that one day, right? I mean, we can give it two days, can’t we?

Anyway, what I mean here is just things about movies that I’m thankful for–not specific stars, or individual movies, or best ofs, or anything like that. Just sort of random related movie things. So in no particular order….

1. Talkies - Look, silent movies were a very specific, often very gratifying art form that served a few generations well. There were quite a few important, good movies made during that era–though I think in general the comedies have held up better than the dramas. But you know what? We live in a world where people communicate with spoken words as much as they do through visual cues, and I’m glad movies were able to catch onto that, too.
2. Trailers - How many times have you talked to a friend who’s just seen a movie and asked, “Hey, what were the trailers?” I know, everything is out there online, but it’s always more fun to find out what groups of trailers were put together to go with what movie. Plus they’re their own little art form–I mean, we’ve all seen great trailers that leave us wondering, “Is the movie great, or was that just all the great parts condensed into two minutes?”
3. Casting directors - Sure, it’s easy enough for an agent, a star, a producer, and a director to get together and put together a deal where said star will take on the leading role in a film. But what about the casting director who has to come up with actors for everything from the second most important supporting role to Angry Sales Clerk #2, who has five lines in one scene? Think of how many parts there are like that in any given movie, and how important it is to get an actor who looks right for the part, for the setting, for the time period, and oh, who can really put across a complete, living character in five lines or less. Casting directors spend hours sitting through auditions trying to find the right people to fill out a movie and don’t get a lot of recognition for it. But I salute them now….and if there are any casting directors reading this, my headshot and resume are available upon request.
4. Netflix - I don’t know about you, but I love getting those red envelopes in the mail. It’s a lot easier than going to a video store (no due dates, no drop offs, no lines); tinkering with your queue is a great way to avoid work; and it gives people an opportunity to see movies that would never make it into their local theaters, or a video store. Plenty of low-budget indies that couldn’t get into a theater can find life on Netflix; plenty of classics that would otherwise only be seen in the occasional retrospective in a big city can be seen by a movie struck kid living in a small town that doesn’t have a multiplex, let alone an art house.
5. Seeing movies in theaters - I know, I just was extolling the virtues of Netflix. But for all the charms that can be found in sitting at home, watching a movie at your leisure, there’s still nothing like sitting in a dark theater, with no distractions (turn off your phones!!), along with a big group of people who are just as excited about the movie you’re seeing as you are. You’ll laugh out loud about things in a movie in a theater with an audience that just make you smile at home; you’ll scream or groan at a scary moment in a theater that would maybe just give you a mild shiver at home. A movie that’s fun or gratifying in some way on its own will be twice that in a theater.On Wednesday afternoon, I went downtown to see a rarely shown 1934 film that was playing at Film Forum. Even though it was a 2:45 pm show on the day before a major holiday, the theater was still 3/4 full, with people of all ages, who laughed out loud at moments that were meant to be funny, as well as things that were just funny now because they seemed dated and silly. Whichever, we all just laughed a lot. Sitting a few rows ahead of me were these two old ladies with white hair, who looked like they might have seen the movie during it’s original release. And they were giggling and whispering and having a great time during the whole movie. Afterwards, I told my best friend about them and said that that’s probably what we would be doing in fifty-sixty years. Here’s to movies and seeing them in a movie theater–may we always have them in some form or another.

Honorable mention: who had the idea that popcorn should be sold at movies? It must have started somewhere and now a movie theater that didn’t smell like popcorn would be a sad place indeed.