Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sunday Salon: Movie watching experiences

Last night I took my son and his friend to the drive-in to see Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman.  It wasn't the most ideal night for it given that it rained a bit so we had to keep on putting the windscreen wipers to clear the screen but it was still fun.

We used to live about 10 minutes from the drive-in and so we went all the time, but now it is a bit of a drive to get there. It was also much cheaper than going to the cinema but now that the little chef has turned 13 I have to pay concession prices rather than get him in free and so it isn't much cheaper anymore, so it may well be that our days of watching movies there may be numbered.

Part of the reason why I enjoy going to the drive in is that you are enclosed in your own space so if you want to talk, or rustle lolly bags or whatever the only people you are disturbing are the people that you came with and not everyone else in the cinema. You can stock up with your own choice of snacks and drinks and spend a couple of hours being entertained.

I have actually been known to read at the drive-in! There have been a couple of movies that I had no interest in watching that the boy wanted to see so I climbed in the back and read my e-reader. The noise can be a bit distracting but in those cases it was better than watching the actual movies!

Every time we go to the drive-in it is inevitable that I will think of this song (dodgy choreography and all):







There are a couple of other songs that use a drive-in as a backdrop that I can think of - And We Danced by The Hooters (one of my favourite songs of all time) and Blaze of Glory by Jon Bon Jovi come to mind. Then my thoughts turned to fiction and I could only think of one book that I have read recently that featured a drive-in scene and that was in one of Linda Lael Miller's recent books. The scene was incredibly romantic (a full on gourmet dinner at a disused drive-in that he owned but he had fixed up for just that night, with the only people being the couple concerned), until the hero unknowingly messed up and it turned out to be a disaster!

I actually am not sure that I can go back to the normal cinemas just yet though. Last weekend I went to see The Help with my sister and her friend (really enjoyed the movie and thought it was a good adaptation of the book!) but rather than going to our local multiplex type set up we travelled a little bit further afield and went to an older style cinema about half an hour away.

The Sun Theatre in Yarraville was originally opened in 1938 and at one stage held more than 1000 people in the single screen theatre! After the theatre fell into serious decline and after a refurbishment back to the Art Deco glory of it's heyday, there are now 6 small theatres. The seats are spacious and very comfy and there are even little tables in between each set of two seats to put your cups on. They show a mix of mainstream films and operas and theatre on film

We went for dinner beforehand but the service was a bit slow in the restaurant and so we didn't have time to have dessert. Instead we went to the cafe next door to the theatre and bought something to eat in the cinema.

I have to tell you that eating baked cheesecake whilst watching a movie is far more civilised than popcorn!

Currently Reading

I am glad that yesterday I picked up my glasses from being repaired as my eyes were really hurting using my old ones!

The books I currently have on the go are Nine Coaches Waiting by Mary Stewart, Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson, Jane Austen Made Me Do It anthology, Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears, How to Eat A Cupcake by Meg Donahue

Reading Next

To Darkness and To Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming

7 comments:

  1. Oh I forgot how much I loved the drive-in! Thanks for reminding me. How was the Hugh Jackman flick? There have been so many conflicting trailers that I can't tell if it's a feel-good movie about the boy, a second chance movie about an ex-boxer, or a romance between a single mom and her ex-boyfriend a one-time boxer(?). All three?

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  2. It wasn't too bad! Nothing you haven't seen before though.

    I would say it is the first two, but not the third one. The romance aspect was a bit wishy-washy for me but the woman you see in the trailers isn't the boy's mother.

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  3. Fun memories of the drive-in, Marg! We used to go in our family station wagon; kids in our PJs, we'd watch the "kids" movie, then climb over to the back and slip into our sleeping bags while mum and dad watched the "grown up" movie.

    Nice that you're still able to get to one, even if it's a longer drive. You probably score points with your son for going in the rain, too.

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  4. Oh, now my mind is tripping down memory lane, remembering drive-ins and old-time theaters!

    When the kids were little, we piled them all in and went. It was fun, and it did feel like a little cocoon. We don't even have any drive-ins anymore in my city...or in the outlying areas. They all started disappearing, one by one, until there was only one left...and then it was gone, too.

    Sad....

    Here's MY SUNDAY SALON POST and
    MY WEBSITE

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  5. What a great post! It has been ages since I was last at a drive in. I think there is one in town, but I haven't been.

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  6. Can you believe that I have never been to the drive-in? I am not even sure we have one in our town, but I need to find out if we do and try to check it out. It sounds like quite an experience!

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  7. I used to love going to the drive in as a child but they disappeared mostly when I was in my early teens - or were too far away to get to. I rarely go to the movies though I will be seeing Breaking Dawn part one when it is released LOL

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd out

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