Tell me a story

What a fine month November was for movie viewing. I saw nine movies in theaters, visited a new theater in Annapolis, MD, and got to watch a live Q&A with the funny Steve Coogan. Not bad at all (even if I did have my heart set on seeing ten movies). What’s even greater is the fact that I enjoyed almost all nine movies. I saw 12 Years A Slave, Philomena, All Is Lost, Rush, Dallas Buyer’s Club, About Time, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Black Nativity, and Blue is the Warmest Color. Rush and About Time are easily in my top movies of the year, and Blue is the Warmest Color just might be. Black Nativity is the only one I didn’t really get into (you can read why here).

Now nine movies is more than I’ve ever seen in one month. But it’s one less than ten movies. Nothing against the number nine. It’s a fine number. November was originally the ninth month of the Roman calendar—novem means “nine” in Latin—so seeing nine movies in November is kind of appropriate. But it’s still not ten. Now there’s a nice healthy, round number. It makes me think of wholeness and being complete, and it was actually my goal for November. As late as Nov 30th I was driving around trying to catch one last movie, but I couldn’t find parking at one theater and the next one I went to only had front row seating available, and since it was getting late in the night and I was tired, I abandoned my mission. Oh well, at least it gives me a new goal for December! And hey, decem means “ten” in Latin. Aw yeah!

November was full of so many movies I wanted to see that I took day off from work to catch a couple: All is Lost and Rush. I thought All is Lost was fine, but I was hoping to love it. I tend to enjoy most stranded movies, like Gravity, Alive, and 127 Hours. I even wrote an article for WeGotThisCovered.com in November about the 5 Best Stranded Movies, and from what I’d heard about the lost-at-sea story starring Robert Redford, it could have beeny a contender, but for some reason I didn’t connect with it. It might have been the ambiguous ending or the fact that I’m not a huge Redford fan. Maybe if it had starred a different older actor, one that I like more, it would have made a difference. A Bill Nighy maybe or a Chris Cooper. Randy Newman would have been great were he still alive. Still, I’d see All is Lost again, just to give it another shot. I guess I want to like it.

For Rush, once was enough. I loved it right away. I saw it at the Bow-Tie Cinemas Harbour 9, a 40 minute ride from my house. The theater was adorable with a lighthouse attached to the side of it. No idea if it works or not. The inside was very clean, and the lobby is high-ceilinged and kind of charming. Unfortunately the screen that I saw the movie on didn’t leave a good impression on me. It was just very small, which I suppose make sense since it was late in Rush‘s run. Thank goodness that the movie was so good that once it started, nothing else mattered to me. You can read my review for it here.

I stopped in Queens to visit some family for a weekend, and while there I took my niece and nephew to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire at the UA Midway Stadium 9. It’s not a new theater for me, but I hadn’t been there in years, since 2009 going by my old ticket stubs. (The last thing I saw there was The Final Destination in 3D.) I was actually at that theater watching Stepbrothers when my sister was giving birth to my nephew back on July 25, 2008. How (slightly) coincidental that it would be the first movie theater I took him to. And how satisfying that Catching Fire was actually good. I saw the first Hunger Games this summer on Netflix and didn’t really like it. The filmmakers definitely stepped up their game this time around, raising the stakes and increasing the scope of the story. This time the characters’ fates actually mattered to me.

Now if all of that isn’t cool enough, my movie going experiences reached a peak when I got to see a Q&A with Steve Coogan after the screening of Philomena. Sometimes you see a movie that maybe won’t change your life or your views, and maybe it doesn’t make your best-of lists, but while watching it, it completely absorbed you and entertained you and got you invested. You may not love it, but you’re aware you saw something good, honest, and human. That’s how I feel about Philomena. The Q&A was fun too. Steve Coogan is pretty charming man and well-spoken, and he was super passionate about this movie which we wrote and co-starred in.

And now for the MoviePass numbers:

(Click the above to see trailers)

Looks like MoviePass saved me $13.50. Obviously I would have liked to have saved more, but I saw one movie via advance screening, two at a theater that doesn’t support MoviePass, and one through Fandango. Since I saw Rush and All is Lost on the same day, I could only use MoviePass for one of them. (I should have picked All Is Lost which was $10. Could have saved 4 more bucks!!) Ah well. I’m still saving, and I’m having a blast experiencing all this fantastic art, so I’m still pleased. Happy holidays and happy movie-watching, everyone!

November 2013 MoviePass Savings:

Total MoviePass Savings: