Saturday, March 7, 2009

Watchmen

One reason I love watching movies at the theater in Chelsea is that the seats are comfortable and the crowd is cute, the viewing experience, a quiet one. Tonight, there was something else altogether: chemistry. All thanks, of course, to the movie being shown on the screen: Watchmen. In a word, Don't. (Watch. It.)

The anticipation in the theater was palpable. It was a packed room. We were all there for an experience. At 2 hours and 45 minutes, it better be an experience. Ten minutes into the movie, the guy next to me was fast asleep. I am not making this up. (He awoke on his own.) I expected people would need to go to the bathroom during this movie. I had to go once myself. After an hour and a half, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, and made sure that I took time to admire the urinals and wash my hands and dry my hands under the dryer (twice), and check my messages, and grab some water at the fountain (in the hopes that it would make me go to the bathroom again).

Back in the theater. I settled in and waited for the movie to get better. We all did. In the darkness, you could have reached out your hand and felt the confusion. When was the movie going to get better??? No need to look into the eyes of the person next to you. Just reach out and touch. The sense of loss. The befuddlement. Time slowly (very slowly) slipping away. But at last the credits rolled. And still we sat. When was the movie going to get better??? The lights came on. But all you could see were looks of concern. Is your brain still in one piece? Are the muscles in your eyes functioning correctly? Please don't leave me behind in this place.

On the escalator going down the two cute boys in front of me were whispering. Weren't we supposed to like this movie? I summoned my courage and whispered to them. It sucked. They looked behind, slightly startled, the way you always are when you hear the truth. It sucked, I repeated. They murmured, still too shell-shocked by what they had witnessed. As we all left the cinema house, the slight chill of the New York City wind embraced us in one final moment of bonding. Not that it was necessary. We all had the scars to show from our terrible battle.

10 comments:

dannie said...

i liked how you wrote this. so visually intriguing. i had a feeling the movie would suck. DC movies aren't that great. it looked interesting though. you watched the movie alone? :[

Maybe the cute boys were taken aback from your cuteness lol

Luuworld said...

what a pity spending hours of your life watching a film that sucked. i hate that feeling. whenever it happens to me i always think about how i wasted time that could be spent doing fun or even useful things...

Raven said...

Great writing in this blog post. I still want to catch this film, but you've firmly reinforced my decision to wait for DVD. Oh, and Lady in the Water was bad.

When you said chemistry I was hoping you meant the kind you get in a packed theater where everybody's really into the movie, which makes it work in a way that it wouldn't if you saw it on a slow night or at home alone. But I guess not. :(

J.T. said...

Each of you should send me $4 for warning you about this mental tar pit. Dannie, I didn't think the movie was going to suck. And no, I didn't watch the movie alone, but that's another post. Luu, I suppose I could have watched any number of movies last night, but my date wanted to see Watchmen. (Beggars can't be choosers.)

Raven, I can't say I've seen too many movies where the audience watched as one. There was a bit of that in Slumdog. What about you? It sounds like you watched something that everyone got into.

dannie said...

ooooh a date!!! do tell :]

Luuworld said...

who cares about the film. spill the beans about the date!!

Raven said...

$4? I'll send you $12-$14 + parking...

When I watched Shoot 'Em Up it was a group experience. It was an advance screening and every seat was taken. The movie was incredibly over the top (intentionally so), but the whole audience was into it. The energy in that theater was amazing. To this day I have no idea if Shoot 'Em Up is really any good, but it worked 100% in that environment.

P.S. You must tell us about the date. :)

J.T. said...

Raven, I can't believe you are stirring up this hornet's nest, especially when the hornets are so horny. :-)

dannie said...

who are the hornets? and no you're not getting $4 lol

Rob said...

I agree ... you'd better spill the beans on your date!
As per the movie ... I spent most of my weekend at work ... so that'd suck more than a crappy movie!