Swamp Thing!!!

So feel free to share this, in whole or in part, and help me push past all the horror stories of people being jerks in theaters and remind everybody that there's nothing quite like sharing a story with a roomful of strangers in the dark.

To that end, I want to use this space to promote positive moviegoing experiences. Theaters can be truly magical places if everyone is operating at the same level of respect - if you've ever been to a midnight showing of something with a die-hard fervent fan base there's nothing quite like it.

Anyway, it's been a rough holiday season at the movies, for lots of reasons, but at the end of the day, it should be about relaxing and having fun. I've decided I should finally use this account to spread the gospel, as it were, of "church rules" in an attempt to make everyone's moviegoing better.

No smoking, no vaping, no fighting, no throwing things. Keep your phones quiet and out of sight. Keep conversation at a minimum, and at a whisper. Keep your clothes on. That's easy, right? You're in there for 2-4 hours, all you have to do is be respectful for that long.

... well, some people have clearly never been to church. I've been a movie theater manager my entire adult life, and my #1 rule is what I call "church rules" - don't do anything in a theater you wouldn't do in church. Not your church, not someone else's. That shouldn't be hard, right?

Reading "big funny hat" compels me to share this image of Shelley Winters. Consider it inspiration, or perhaps a challenge.

BLACK BAG seemed to be under everyone's radar but it's one of this year's most enjoyable releases: a super cool spy thriller where everone in MI6 is human and damaged and horny, but with a very tight and hopeful romantic core. Also grimly funny, with some truly hilarious banter.

Might I recommend Steven Soderbergh's BLACK BAG? To that end, honestly the entire OCEAN's trilogy is comfort cinema for me. I would also argue that Wes Anderson's entire filmography is just him and those in his orbit doing what they think is cool, fuck everyone else.

This was not exactly a good movie but it was the only werewolf movie playing in theaters last December, which is the most appropriate time to watch werewolves in a theater, so I was grateful for that at least. Oh and mostly practical werewolves are always welcome.

Cadbury Mini Eggs are probably my favorite candy of all time, heartily approve. Breakfast of champions!

Also shout out to the Gandalf vs. Saruman old man throwdown from THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, a wizard fight with no magic beams or lightning bolts, just old people rag dolling each other off walls and marble floors. Not something you see every day.

- the underwater fight from TOP SECRET
- the hallway fight from the first Netflix season of Daredevil
- the final reel of POLICE STORY
- the fight in MY FATHER IS A HERO where Jet Li is swinging the kid around on a rope
- roughly 65% of the run time of THE NIGHT COMES FOR US