For me, nothing says summer like a big, loud, action-packed movie. Living in Virginia, summer can be miserable, with temperatures soaring into near triple digits and 90% humidity. There’s no better escape than the over-chilled confines of the multiplex.
To be honest, I don’t make it out to the theater all that often anymore, preferring to sit in my big comfy chair and ordering up something on-demand, but recently, my fondness for the theater experience has been rekindled thanks to the Alamo Drafthouse.
If you’re not familiar with the Alamo, it’s a chain of high-end dinner theaters with a bar attached. The food is great, and they even create special menus for certain movies. The highlights of any Alamo viewing are the video montages culled from the depths of YouTube and cinema history that are shown prior to the feature movies. There are no bloated Coke commercials here — for the LEGO Movie, we saw a bunch of fan-created clips of stop-motion LEGO movies — a perfect prelude to the movie.
I’ve probably seen more movies this year in the theater than I have in a long time. Now that my kids are finally getting to the age where they enjoy the theater, I get to go more often, and when a movie hits on all cylinders, it’s an experience that is hard to beat. Taking my sons to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 was an early highlight to this summer. We may have had the entire theater to ourselves, but that only gave them a level of comfort that allowed them to jump up and cheer and laugh at all the appropriate points.
Of course, this weekend’s release of the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has me more excited than any movie I can remember. Yep, this one is more exciting to me than space operas, super heroes, and adventure-seeking archaeologists. I have had the simian flu for years and I can not wait to see the Dawn this weekend.
Summer can officially begin!
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This week, the League of Extraordinary Bloggers is talking about Summer time. Check out Go Play Listen, The Nerd Nook, and more!
I was going to talk about summer movies too as they’re the highlight of my summer as well, but then I got to talk about a bunch on the most recent episode of Geek Fallout and got it out of my system.
I want to go to the Alamo Drafthouse someday and see all the hubbub for myself. Glad it receives your ringing endorsement.
LOL I kinda ran into the same problem
I’m behind on my Geek Fallout episodes but have been trying to catch up. Looking forward to hearing your voice on there.
Down here I gotta wait for the DVD to come out.
I’ve read so much about the Alamo Drafthouse. I’m jealous. Wish we had one in Las Vegas.
The Alamo here opened a year or two ago and is the cornerstone of this MASSIVE shopping/dining complex. Other theaters are starting to offer it, but I love the reserved seating — nothing beats securing a seat in advance and not having to worry about having my beloved aisle seat taken on opening night. 😉
I still haven’t seen Rise PotA yet so I’m not as excited for Dawn but it does look damn good.
Guardians of the Galaxy on the other hand, has me squeeing every time I find new merch in the store. I missed the 17 minute preview but I heard a lot of people got an old school Star Wars vibe from it which is exactly what I get from the trailers. And that fills me with all kinds of warm fuzzies.
I hope the Guardians movie lives up to the hype, because it does look great! Fun movies are rare these days, but this looks like it could fit the bill.
Totally agree on the blockbuster! The over chilled theaters are definitely nice!
Saw Dawn this morning. Out-freakin-standing. Saw it at the Ashburn Alamo Drafthouse. The pre-preview monkey themed clips were hysterical.
Yes! I saw it there yesterday. The pre show was superb. Of course the Dr. Zaius musical was in there. 😉