CCC: Clayton's Cinema Countdown : September 2022

My Best Movie Theater Experiences

In the past nine years I have covered a plethora of topics for my Clayton’s Cinema Countdown (CCC) lists, so for my ninetieth entry I wanted to do something unique and special. Some of my favourite lists to write and share have been the more personal ones. Everyone has done a list of the best sequels or the best movies of the year, for instance, but the ones I’ve enjoyed creating the most are ones like the best and worst movies I’ve found for my movie collection (CCC Issues #64 & #65), or the best movies to watch on Halloween (CCC Issue #70), or my favourite years for film (CCC Issue #55).

For CCC list #90, I’m looking at my most memorable experiences watching movies in the movie theater. The first movie my mom ever took me to was The Santa Clause (1994), which I don’t remember…because I was asleep, and I was only three months old (but apparently I slept so quietly no one else in the theater even realized my mom had a baby with her). I have so many fond memories of going to theaters—accompanied by friends, family, loved ones, strangers, and sometimes no one—with some memories being as recent as last year and some going all the way back to when I was only five years old.

Honourable Mentions:

Old – August 2021

I doubted I would see Old in a movie theater when I first saw the trailer. At best, M. Night Shyamalan movies have been worth seeing for a laugh for the majority of the past two decades. The trailer for this one made it seem like it might either be hilarious or actually really good, but entertaining either way—and that is how I pitched seeing it to this girl I had just started dating. We had gone out two times before and I had already seen Suicide Squad the previous night, so Old was the most fitting date night movie playing at that time. The short version of this story is the date was extremely fun and the movie was extremely bizarre (I’ll link my review if you want to know more), and as of writing this that girl and this boy have been happily dating for over a year and continue to watch lots of movies together. We still talk during movies when we see them in theaters, but I don’t know if we’ll ever talk during any other movie in the near future as much as we did during Old.

Shin Godzilla – October 2016

When the new Godzilla movie from the monster’s country of origin was announced—the first one in over a decade—it seemed unlikely that it would be released in a North American movie theater near where I lived. Imagine the sheer joy for this life-long Godzilla fan when I found out there would be two screenings of it in the original Japanese language with subtitles! I saw it the first time with one of my best friends and the second time with my cousin, and both times were almost surreal. I had never seen a Toho-produced G-film in a movie theater before, and while the American reboot in 2014 was good, Shin Godzilla was an even more unique and jaw-dropping theatrical experience. Even though I wouldn’t rank it as one of the top-tier Godzilla movies, Shin Godzilla was still a red letter day for me as a monster movie fanatic.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens – December 2015

The energy in the lineup for the first new Star Wars movie in over a decade was electric. I remember my cousin and I cutting into the line with my friends who had arrived before us, then rushing to our seats, the theater full to capacity, and when the blue text faded in, the whole audience cheered. It was truly a unique experience, and the movie was so fast-paced and exciting that it felt like we as an audience were on a theme park ride. But, like even the best theme park rides, we got out of that theater, buzzing with the high of the movie actually being good, and wanting to see it again, and as time wore on and less-amped-up re-watches occurred and the answers to the mysteries were mishandled in the sequels, the hype for The Force Awakens dimmed and became a distant memory. But, the memory of the excitement on that opening night is something I will never forget.

Finding Nemo – June 2003

I saw a ton of animated films as a kid, but not many of them stuck in my memory as I got older, with the exception of Finding Nemo. I distinctly remember my mom and aunt taking me and a friend to see it and all of us loving it. The animation was stunning, the characters were unique and charming, the jokes were funny (and many still are, it’s one of the earlier Pixar movies that holds up the best, in my opinion), and I remained excited about it long after we walked out of that dark theater back into the blinding sunlight. Ten years later I saw it with my mom during its 3D-re-release for the first time in a very long time, and the two of us were the only ones in the entire theater—something that I remember happening only once or twice before, and never again since.

10. Spider-Man: No Way Home – December 2021

This is a specific scenario that made the 27^th Marvel Cinematic Universe film stand out as a lot more than just another Spider-Man movie or yet another post-Avengers: Endgame entry. I saw it with my girlfriend in IMAX in Montreal. Some explanations: we were dating long-distance at that point and hadn’t seen each other in person for two months. I was visiting her in Montreal, a city I had never been to before, and I had not seen a movie in IMAX since Spider-Man 3 in 2007 (which was weirdly coincidental). On top of all that, we had just finished a couple days of re-watching all three Spider-Man movies with Tobey Maguire and the previous two solo Tom Holland Spideys together.

Even without taking the unique circumstances surrounding this initial viewing experience into consideration, the movie itself was one of the most surprising and satisfying things that could have happened for fans of the live-action Spider-Man movies that began with 2002’s Spider-Man. I didn’t have it spoiled for me beforehand, luckily, and the shock and joy we felt in the theater was as genuine as could be. Upon later reflection, No Way Home was maybe a bit heavy with the fan service, but that IMAX experience could never be duplicated.

9. The Dark Knight – July 2008

My best friend and I made it our mission in 2008 to watch at least one movie in theaters per month for the entire year. We accomplished this feat and saw mostly-good movies, but the most memorable experience had to be The Dark Knight, mainly because neither of us were that excited to see it initially. Sure, the word on the street was positive, but I wasn’t that big of a Batman fan and the trailers made it look overly grim and creepy. We got a couple decent seats in a packed theater, and as the opening scene unfolded my focus became solely on the movie. My adrenaline started pumping, the action thrilled me as much as the storyline and the actors and the visuals, there were surprises I didn’t see coming, and I kept thinking it might be almost over and not feeling ready for it to end, but when it finally did conclude, with that shot of Batman riding away on the bat-pod and Commissioner Gordon calling him “a watchful protector, a Dark Knight...” then the hard cut to the title and end credits with the incredible score booming through the speakers, I practically jumped out of my seat with excitement.

We couldn’t stop talking about The Dark Knight all summer, and it has rightfully gone down in superhero movie history as one of the best of the 2000’s. It’s a rare occurrence for me now to be in a packed audience like that and have my attention so captured by the movie that I don’t notice anyone else around me. As a bonus, here are the rest of the movies I saw in theaters in 2008, which was the first year I started keeping every ticket stub: Cloverfield, Jumper, Vantage Point, 10,000 BC, Superhero Movie, Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, Hancock, Step Brothers, Lakeview Terrace, Eagle Eye, Quantum of Solace, Bolt, and Bedtime Stories.

8. Jurassic Park 3D – April 2013

It’s a special thing to get the chance to see a movie you’ve considered one of your favourites for most of your life on the big screen for the first time, and there’s more than one instance of that on this list. Even though Jurassic Park is in my top five all-time favourite films, this theatrical experience ranks lower on the list because I can think of other times when watching it at home was actually more memorable, but that isn’t to say seeing it on the opening night of its Real D 3D re-release wasn’t among those greatest times. The 3D conversion was very well done, and while it didn’t add that many new aspects to the experience (the most memorable shot in 3D for me was when the camera moves toward the raptor in close-up in the kitchen and it felt like its muzzle was inches away from my face), seeing it with surround sound on the biggest screen I had seen it on up to that point was simply awesome (so big was the screen, in fact, the projector wasn’t adjusted quite right and the head of the Brachiosaurus was off the edge). The audience was full, too, and a young girl screamed at the raptor jump scare in the service building, which was the first time in many, many viewings someone reacted with surprise as I watched. It would have been an incredible first-time-viewing experience, and I hope that was hers.

7. Avengers: Endgame – April 2019

I didn’t even know what I was getting into when I saw Iron Man in May 2008. He popped up unexpectedly at the end of The Incredible Hulk and suggested putting together a team, then a few years later, he popped up again—along with the rest of that team, including Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and a couple other new heroes, in The Avengers, an adaptation of the comic books I had read as a kid that I never could have imagined would get made and be a huge success. And yet, it did, and it was, and from that point on I was locked in to each and every new entry in the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. With the exception of Infinity War, I saw most entries with my family on opening night, and my cousin and I watched every single one together from Captain America: The First Avenger onward, often multiple times. I felt bad I missed Infinity War in theaters with the usual MCU viewing crew, but after that cliffhanger ending there was no way in hell I was missing Endgame, the stunning conclusion to the Infinity Saga, so we preordered tickets the very minute they were available.

I was completely into it for the entire three hour runtime, and having avoided spoilers, I had no idea just how much time travel, big-scale action, and emotional devastation we were all in for. It had seemed hard imagining the first Avengers existing and being good, but to imagine something like Endgame was impossible. My cousin and I went back to the theater the next morning before noon and watched it again, and I think we were even more thrilled and emotionally wrecked by it that second time. I don’t know if I’ll ever see another series of films like it where I followed a main character who I loved over the course of so many years and movies and stories and shared it with my family as we grew up and changed. Looking back on it, Endgame wasn’t a perfect ending, but it sure made for a near-perfect theater-going experience after so many superhero movies in the 2010’s.

6. Jaws – July 2015

I have watched Jaws, to steal an unrelated quote from Squints from The Sandlot, “for every summer of my adult life!” but in 2015 my local theater featured it in their Classic Movies Series, where they re-screened an old movie in a one-time showing on a Sunday at a discounted price. I just happened to catch the ad for it and rounded up my mom and cousin to go with me. My mom saw Jaws when it first came out in the summer of 1975, forty years earlier, and to get to experience it on a big screen in a dark movie theater in the heat of summer break with her and my cousin was really special. Of all my summer viewings of Jaws in the 2010s this one was the pinnacle. It was a smaller audience, but everyone laughed at the funny parts, which reminded me of how intentionally comedic the movie was and how well balanced the humour and the horror were, and a few people screamed at the scary parts. My mom noticed for the first time how the waviness of the ocean changes from one shot to the next, and I had never appreciated the cinematography more. Even though I continue to enjoy watching it every summer, that big screen viewing will always remain one of the best times I’ve seen Jaws.

5. Dinosaur – May 2000

This is the longest-ago theater experience I can remember, but it left a lasting impression on me. It was the first time I remember anticipating going to see a movie, a feeling I have experienced many times since (obviously), but my parents had hyped me up by promising to take me (the biggest five-year-old fan of prehistoric creatures you had ever met) when it eventually came out, and I went with my mom and dad and aunt, but I don’t remember if the audience was full or not. I had a toy dinosaur with me (I guess to play with before it started? Or maybe I thought I’d play with it during the movie?) but when the movie ended, I realized I had completely forgotten about it and nearly lost it down the back of the theater seat. What I never will forget, though, is how giant those dinosaurs looked and how loud they were, and that score by James Newton Howard stuck with me without me realizing until I watched it again as an adult. I don’t know how many times over I watched it on VHS as a kid, especially that opening scene of the Carnotaurus attack. I can’t remember for sure, but I think while every other kid in that audience with me during my first viewing was covering their eyes in terror, I was watching in pure fascination.

4. Avatar – December 2009

I distinctly remember seeing the trailer on TV with the shot of the Na’vi riding into battle and the blue overlay text saying “From the director of THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS, TERMINATOR 2, TITANIC” etc. and realizing this was a new movie from one of my favourite directors (James Cameron), and I needed to see it. My best friend was on board (the same one I had seen all those movies with in 2008) and another high school friend tagged along. The three of us were lucky to get seats, because we went on opening weekend and online ordering wasn’t a thing yet. I’m not even sure if we realized it was in Real D 3D beforehand. I had only seen one movie in that format before, and it was an animated one. We got crappy seats down near the front and off to the side, so our necks were a bit sore, but it didn’t diminish the 3D effects, and when those water drops beaded together in front of Jake Sully’s face, we were absolutely stunned with the clarity and quality of the 3D/visual effects. It was a tiny taste of what was to come. As I watched Jake Sully in his avatar body get chased through the jungle by the Thanator, I thought that Avatar might be my new favourite movie of all-time, and that was further reinforced as more creatures were introduced and more action ensued. I had never been so stunned by the visual effects in a movie, and the 3D experience made it feel truly unequivocal and captivating.

Part of the problem with Avatar was how it became so popular so fast that it almost became cooler to dislike it, similar to what had happened to Star Wars in the past, but as I watched it over and over at home without the aid of the 3D and the big screen and booming surround sound, I realized what many others did, too: visual effects can’t make up for below-par writing. I still genuinely enjoy Avatar and think it’s a feat of epic sci-fi filmmaking and world building, but it’s one of those movies I wish I could see for the first time again without knowing anything about it, because nothing could beat that initial overwhelming experience. The characters are not the best and the plot is familiar, but it was all a vessel for James Cameron to experiment with new filmmaking technology that blew everyone away and marked a shift in the blockbuster paradigm.

3. Spider-Man 2 – July 2004

This might explain why No Way Home cracked my top ten movie theater experiences. I was already a big fan of the first live-action Spider-Man in the summer of 2004, and the trailers for the sequel made it look even bigger and better. My mom and aunt took me to see it, and I remember we had great seats, right in the middle of the theater, and as the music began along with the intro titles I became drawn in even faster than I was with the first one. The Danny Elfman score sounded so epic and loud, and no time was wasted getting to a Spidey action scene, with him delivering pizzas and saving a couple kids along the way. Spider-Man may succeed in this case, but Peter Parker fails to deliver the pizza on-time and gets fired, so I’m already sympathetic toward him and thrilled and entertained. But then, once new supervillain Doc Ock was introduced and established, I was fully hooked, and the fights between them floored me. I was in total awe of the experience, and it solidified Spider-Man as my favourite superhero. My mom loved the movie, too, and we have since shared a special bond watching every new Spider-Man movie together—how could we not? Most moms aren’t that cool. Spider-Man 2 was everything nine-year-old-me could have asked for. For younger generations maybe Endgame will be that superhero movie-theater experience that can’t be topped, but for me, it will always be this one.

2. King Kong – December 2005

I have talked quite a bit in the past about the fond memories I have of anticipating this King Kong remake and how it was one of the best movie-theater-experiences of my life, so I’ll try not to repeat myself. I went with two friends and my mom, and I was the resident expert on the 1933 original, having seen it a couple years prior with my dad. I remembered every scene on Skull Island and couldn’t wait to see them redone, so the slow buildup to actually getting to the island was, admittedly, a bit tedious at times, but I was horrified once the ship got stranded and they came ashore, discovering the natives were feral, vicious, and unpredictable—nothing like the ones in the original. I had no idea what to expect after that.

Finally, Kong arrived, and he was more ape-like and less monstrous than in the original, adding to the realism of this version of Skull Island. Once the rescue party trekked past the wall in pursuit of Anne and Kong, I was on the edge of my seat, and that’s where I remained for every scene set on the island. Many moments from the original were not recreated; instead there were new unexpected ones, way more creatures, and upgrades, such as Kong fighting three big meat-eaters at once instead of one. With action scene after action scene my jaw dropped, and I talked excitedly to my friends (probably annoying the hell out of everyone else sitting near us), eagerly awaiting the next action beat, but even when things shifted to New York I was still enthralled. By the end, I was exhausted, but in the best way possible. I wasn’t too old yet to play with my toys, and that’s what I did when I got home for many hours and days afterward, re-enacting the creature scenes and letting my imagination run wild. I look back on that first time seeing King Kong and realize how that experience shaped me in a rather profound way.

1. Back to the Future Marathon – October 2015

It actually wasn’t as tough as I thought it might be to pick my number one movie theater experience of all-time. A few came to mind initially when I started putting this list together, but the Back to the Future trilogy was always at the top, and it’s hard for anything else to beat it because it was more than just a movie theater experience, it was an event. I never expected so much thought and care would go into celebrating a funny little anniversary for this franchise. In Back to the Future Part II, Marty, Doc, and Jennifer travel to the future, and we spend some time in the year 2015. Back in 1989 when the sequel first came out it seemed to be a fun, harmless, somewhat-possible hypothesis of what the world could be like in three decades, but when that actual date rolled around, there was a special re-release of Part II on October 21^st, 2015, and an even more special re-release of the entire trilogy a few days later on a Sunday afternoon. I went with my cousin and one of my best friends, and we were excited, but we had no clue just how awesome the day would be.

First of all, three movies in a movie theater over the course of one day was a new record for all of us. Seeing one of my all-time favourite movies on the big screen is something I’ve already established is a great experience in and of itself, so obviously with the original Back to the Future being in my personal top five, that alone was incredible. But then, to our surprise, they cut the audio short during the end credits and did a trivia game with two audience members and the winner received a Back to the Future movie art book! How cool is that? We got a refill on our drinks and came back to our seats minutes later for Part II. For the record, I love all the Back to the Future movies, even though II and III aren’t among my all-time favourite films. Part III began soon after Part II ended, and we realized two things: one, my friend had never seen Part III before, so that made for a unique first-time-viewing. Two, my cousin and I had never watched all three movies back-to-back-to-back before in one sitting. To this day, I still haven’t done that again.

When the time machine train flew right at the screen then it cut to black, the Alan Silvestri score boomed, and THE END filled the frame, everyone in the audience clapped. Normally, I’m not as affected by applause at the end of a movie, even when it’s great, but in this case, it felt deserved. This was a special event the movie theater chain had put on, I was in an audience of people who were as big of fans as I was (if not bigger fans, some of them, like the guy who came in full Marty McFly cosplay), that it felt like we had been part of a special moment, as cinemagoers. I’ll keep seeing movies in movie theaters for as long as good ones keep getting released there, but as far as theatrical experiences go, nothing will ever compare to October 25^th 2015.

Favourite Films Series:

Spider-Man 2: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2017/07/spider-man-2-2004-favourite-films-series.html

Dinosaur: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2016/08/dinosaur-2000-favourite-films-series.html

The Dark Knight: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-dark-knight-2008-favourite-films.html

Jurassic Park: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2021/06/jurassic-park-1993-favourite-films.html

Jaws: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2017/06/jaws-1975-favourite-films-series.html

Other Reviews:

Old: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2021/10/old-2021-review.html

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Initial Reaction: https://cccmovies.blogspot.com/2015/12/star-wars-force-awakens-initial-reaction.html

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