At the Movies

My boys convinced me to take them again to see "Megamind" in the theater again. This is the fifth time that Marty has now seen the movie in the theater, which conversely means that this is the fifth time that I've seen it. Neither of my sons have ever been to a movie without me. The closest its ever come was when their mother was with us and they all went to see "Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" because it features Zachary Levi, who's a friend of a friend. I instead went to the neighboring screen and watched something else. I couldn't even tell you for sure what that was, but I do know that it did not have the word "Squeakquel" in the title.

I've been trying to think when the last time that I saw a film that many times in a theater during its initial release was, and I'm struggling to come up with something since the original "Star Wars." Like many males my age, that movie I saw somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 times. In my case that was because "Star Wars" played for 2 years at a movie theater that was about 2 miles from my home. Sometimes I just went to it out of sheer boredom. It got so bad that I remember going to see some documentary on the search for the conspirators behind Abraham Lincoln's assassination that was playing on the only other screen that theater had...and during the 2-3 times that I saw it, I could hear "Star Wars" through the wall and could tell what part it was up to. Then when I went back to watching "Star Wars," while it was still playing I could tell how things were going next door with the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. So, that was partially just a matter of convenience. I mean, I also saw "Smokey and the Bandit" a good number of times at that same theater.

But, I didn't even see "The Empire Strikes Back" or "Return of the Jedi" five times initially on the big screen (for the record, through various special screenings and rereleases, I have now...the geek in me required that clarification). I know that I saw "Back to The Future" and both "Rocky III" and "IV" at least three times each...but that was because I kept ending up going with different people (ok, and because I truly love "Rocky III"...Amy gets mad at my inability to pass up Clubber Lang if I run across the film on cable). Other than that, I'm not remembering anything, since being a straight male, I only saw "Titanic" once and have only ever seen "Avatar" because it featured another friend of a friend (Joel Moore).

Oddly, I also ended up going with the kids to see "Despicable Me" three times over the summer in the theater...and there would've been more occurrences of that had I allowed it. Apparently the storyline of a bad guy that turns good -- the theme of both "Megamind" and "Despicable Me" -- appeals to my kids. I guess that shouldn't surpise me since I've heard them argue over who will be the better evil scientist when they grow up ("I'm going to take over the world, and you can just work for me!" "No! I'm going to take over the world!").

The positive side, I guess is that Marty now has a clear understanding of who Will Farrell and Steve Carrell are. Of course, he sees "Elf" every year at Christmas, and there was a stretch where he and Casey watched "Evan Almighty" a couple of times a week...but it's only now after his summer at the cinema that he's decided that they're worthy of his attention.

One other thing that I learned from my sojourn out with the children is that your wife gets mad at you if you allow your 5-year-old to spritz himself with whatever he wants at the Macy's cologne counter. Apparently having your young son smell like a "Kansas City whore" is upsetting to some mothers.