If I Owned A Theater...

Not surprisingly, I'm sure, this has always been a fantasy of mine. What it would be like to own and operate a theater in a small to midsize town, and play a roster of films that are not mainstream. Art-house theaters can be the most fun to attend, even if the seating is cramped and they lack stadium style steps, but the people there take the movies seriously and aren't just out for a loud action romp. But what would be really fun is playing older movies as well as new independent releases. I saw Taxi Driver for the first time at the Bijou theater in Eugene and I'm sure the experience was greatly enhanced by seeing it on a big screen. Likewise, I would love to have Hitchcock weekends, or John Hughes retrospectives - replay all the films I missed in theaters when I was in diapers and not born.

I came across this idea on another blog (again, not a surprise) where movie bloggers "Tag" each other. The challenge is to come up with 12 movies you would play over 6 days, if you owned a theater. I'm not sure why 12 or why only 6 days, but that's the way this idea's been set up, so I'll play along. I'm assuming the theater is a one-screen kinda deal, so most of my picks can play as double features if so desired.


TUESDAY:Obviously the theme is foreign films. Both of these are pretty well known, but they're two of my favorites. I didn't see Amelie until it was on video, but the color palette and camera style would be so enchanting in a theater. The Lives of Others is the film that beat Pan's Labyrinth for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars in 2006, but it's such an engaging, well-crafted drama that I wish more people I know had seen.


WEDNESDAY:Both of these are smaller films, unseen by many. Dear Frankie is about a young deaf boy who writes to his absentee father, not knowing that it is his mother who writes him back. The kid who plays Frankie (Jack McElhone) is just incredible, and the movie just gives me the warm fuzzies all over, without being condescending. Me and You and Everyone We Know is one of the films on my "need to watch alone" list because I could imagine it being really awkward to see with an audience, especially one that's not open to slightly controversial takes on subject matter. But I've been watching it so much lately and have just fallen in love with it. It's so unique and also leaves me with a positive, hopeful feeling I think others, however few, would also feel.


THURSDAY:
Musical Day! I could have picked Moulin Rouge (God knows I was tempted) but thought I'd go with something old, Top Hat - a classic pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and Across the Universe, which is just too much visual fun to not see it in a theater.


FRIDAY:I was going to go with a horror night, but there weren't enough "off-the-beaten-path" horror movies that I've seen and would recommend. But I do love being scared. So I chose the lesser-known Hitchcock film with a great villain, Strangers on a Train, and the classic horror film ending of Carrie, even if the first hour of the movie isn't all that terrifying.


SATURDAY:This trifecta would really just tickle me pink. None are films I saw in the theater, all are action-adventure films I love that hold my interest on every viewing, and they would make a great triple feature. Personally, I prefer Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade to Raiders, but it's the classic, and I did already see Crusade in the theater (when I was freaking 9! - terrified me! Thanks a lot mom and dad!) Romancing the Stone and Last of the Mohicans are just the perfect blend of romance and action for me. (Plus I've been in this extreme Daniel Day-Lewis phase lately - Scorcese's The Age of Innocence is fantastic!)


SUNDAY:
This is why I could get away with three films on Saturday. This 4-hour epic will only be able to fit in 2 or 3 showings in one day. I know it's well-known and overhyped, but it's huge and grand and technicolor and I really want to see it on a theater screen. I never have and I can only imagine how much more beautiful and powerful it is when it's surrounding you.