Nostalgia Bits - Movie Theater Memories
My Theater Experience During the 1990s and 2000s
Welcome to Nostalgia Bits, a series where I get to rant and analyze a bit about nostalgic things from the past. Today, as I get ready to go see The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, I write about another nostalgic memory from my childhood and teenage years, my peak theater-going days.
My Complicated Movie Theater Views / History
I’ve made a lot of jokes (and somewhat serious opinions) about wanting to see movie theaters go away. It comes from a selfish place, as I’ve been dealing with vertigo and anxiety that tends to hit me in the theater. I didn’t always have this; it started around the 2010s, and it’s made me sour on the theater experience in a major way. That being said, I have had discussions recently with my doctor about the same vertigo and anxiety, which are starting to spread to other areas of my life, and I’m hopeful I can make it better over the following years.
Until then, when I go to the theater, I have to take some type of anxiety or vertigo medicine and usually hope I can drink something with alcohol to get me by. I go to the movies to see a film I BADLY want to see and can’t wait to see at home because bootleg quality sucks. That doesn’t mean all the experiences are bad. The dine-in theaters, which I love to go to, tend to have much smaller screens that help a bunch with the vertigo issues, as well as a drink I can grab. I still have had some awesome memories at the theater even in my adult years, but first, let’s talk about some of my early movie theater experiences.
The Disney Experience
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized, after talking to my wife and others, that I was lucky to have parents who took me to the theater so much. Looking back, I’ve realized how many classics and icons I can humble brag that I saw on the big screen. So, as expected, a major part of my movie theater experiences came with Disney. The first film I ever saw in a theater was Aladdin. We went as part of a pre-K field trip, and it was originally billed as a Beauty and the Beast screening. When we got to the theater, I still remember, even at such a young age, the teachers having a long conversation with the theater because they had to be told it was a new Disney movie, not Beauty and the Beast. We still went in. I still have distinct, almost photographic, memories of this experience. Now looking back, when younger people ask what the first film I saw in a theater was, I think it’s pretty cool I can say Aladdin, considering what an iconic film it was. I can say I saw the infamous “Whole New World” scene on the big screen.
That was only the beginning when it came to Disney. When we lived in Puerto Rico, my aunt made it a habit to take my brother, my sister, and me to the theater with her then-boyfriend to see multiple films. So I got to see The Lion King, a film that has become one of my personal favorites and the first movie I fell in love with. When we came to Florida, we saw The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Tarzan, and The Emperor’s New Groove. These were event films and event moments for me as a kid. Now that I’m older, I realize this was the foundation for my current Disney fandom. Of course, there was Pixar who gave me some great movie memories.
I have, to this day, a memory that I talk to people about, where we went to see Toy Story. Younger readers may not realize just how mind-blowing and new the idea of CGI animation was; it was similar to the feeling of seeing video games in 3D for the first time. We came out of Toy Story, and I remember my parents, my great-uncle, and my great-grandmother all huddled together, talking about how blown away they were by the film. Now that I’m older, I think that’s a cool memory to have because I was essentially seeing history as even the adults knew how special this new movie would be. Other Pixar greats I saw in theaters include Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. (which I remember loving so much that I was legitimately sad it was over), and Finding Nemo. I’ve talked about going through a stage shortly after this, when I thought Disney was “too kids” for me, which led me not to see a non-Pixar Disney film in the theater until Tangled. I appreciate having these memories as a Disney fan.
The Box Office Blockbusters
It wasn’t all just Disney for me growing up. A lot of the iconic 1990s movie blockbusters were films I saw in the theater, because, of course, my parents weren’t just interested in seeing stuff we wanted. Name a major film of the 1990s, and I saw it at the theater - Men in Black, Independence Day, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Space Jam, Batman Forever, and more. I remember most of these had tie-ins with Burger King or McDonald's meals, and my parents would take us there to get hyped before we saw the movie.
The two main films I remember from these years were Pokémon: The First Movie and the 1998 Godzilla Tri-Star Pictures film. As a long-time Godzilla fan, I found that 1998 film to be a momentous event for me. We went to see it, and I liked it, outside of not being crazy about Godzilla dying in the end. As I got older, I realized a lot of the issues with it from a Godzilla fan standpoint, but I do think it’s a movie that oozes 90s in both the best and worst ways. I just think that, as a standalone Godzilla film, it doesn’t respect the source material well. The Pokémon movie was due to the sheer Pokémon fever that swept the world. As I’ve said before, Pokémon is massive today, but the hype and mindshare that it had when it first came out will never be replicated. That movie was like a status symbol at school when you said you saw it. Of course, I mostly just wanted that Ancient Mew card tied to the film.
However, just before my peak movie theater-going days would diminish, I had to talk about what to this day is the loudest, and I do mean loud, reaction I’ve ever heard in a movie theater. One of the first times my brother and I went to see a movie by ourselves, as we were now teenagers and trying to do things more freely, was, of course, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Now, I am a defender of the Star Wars prequels. I seriously just do not see why so many people hate them. I admit they are weaker than the original trilogy, but I don’t have the hate for them that others do. That said, I am very aware of the legacy of this film, which is consistently called the worst Star Wars movie. But let me tell you something… The hype for this movie was so crazy that my brother and I barely got in, and they told us they had about five seats left. When we got to the end, and Yoda calmly walked up to Count Dooku, and he took his lightsaber out and began to duel him… TO THIS DAY, I HAVE NEVER heard a loud cheering reaction that loud inside a movie theater. Now, I didn’t see the last two Avengers movies in theaters, so I’m sure they had those kinds of reactions, but for me, that is a specific reaction I will never forget.
Recent Memories
As I explained before, I’ve had vertigo and anxiety issues since the 2010s, so most of my movie theater experiences are fighting that vertigo, and of course, we have the rise of streaming and the big 4K TVs that have made home experiences a better fit for me. That said, it doesn’t mean I haven’t had awesome moments recently. Again, thanks to dine-in theaters and sometimes alcohol, I can still, for the most part, enjoy a movie in a theater; I just have to be really into the movie. The main driver for going to theaters for me has been a combo of peak MCU and the recent golden age of Godzilla films. I remember going to see Black Panther and feeling like I was watching a major part of movie history, especially when I scanned the room and saw who was showing up. This was an event film that went beyond a movie.
The Godzilla Monsterverse, despite its mixed reactions, has been my ultimate film dream come true. As a Godzilla super fan, seeing an MCU-style universe for Godzilla and kaijus has been something I never thought I would see. I saw the 2014 Godzilla film, and that was such a special experience. The movie did a good job of hiding a lot of things, so seeing Godzilla as the hero took me aback, and I loved it. The now infamous “Kiss of Death” scence is probably the second loudest I’ve heard a theater. After that, it feels like Godzilla is FINALLY getting the respect he deserves. We have several films from Japan, including the Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, which I also saw in theaters. The Monsterverse is the pillar of the Godzilla series right now. Now, these films are polarizing, and I think you’ll tolerate a lot of their weaker parts the more of a fan you are, but I personally have always felt people are too harsh on them, humans included.
One film that symbolized all my Godzilla dreams coming true was 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The film's box office was disappointing, and critics slammed it, but I see why it has great audience scores. This is, in its heart, a 90s blockbuster film. Once you recognize that, I think it’s easier to understand what the movie is trying to do. It has a big cast, with emerging actors, similar to how many blockbuster films used to be. The human storyline gets attacked constantly, but I truthfully don’t mind it, and I would argue that there’s a message hidden in there about ignoring a crisis (climate change for example) and I also would argue the dynamic between Kyle Chandler’s character and Godzilla is actually a message about a crisis of faith, which obviously is goiung to resonate with you more if you’re spiritual, but it’s there.
The highlight for me is the monsters. Because for the first time ever, we see Godzilla’s archnemesis King Ghidorah, another nemesis, Rodan, and longtime series kaiju Mothra make appearances. The classic Akira Ifukube themes are there. I remember getting a bit emotional when Mothra came out of her cocoon, with the song the twins would sing in the Japanese originals playing in the background. Ghidorah is respected and portrayed as the big bad he deserves, with a climactic, awesome fight against Godzilla. It’s one of those movies that’s special to me and a theater experience I’ll never forget, critics be damned.
A New Set of Memories
So what next? Well, I think when it comes to movie theaters, the future is creating new memories for my daughter. I saw the first Super Mario Bros. Movie alone, as my daughter was too young for me to be comfortable taking her to a theater, but now, for the first time ever, I’m going to take her to see a movie. That alone is something I’m really excited for, although I’m hyped for the movie as well. The first movie definitely has its flaws; it has a pacing issue, but I came away really liking it. I think it’s a solid family film, and I was happy with the respect for the source material. I expect to feel similar, but in the end, even if I am invested in it, it’s not about me. The theater experiences from here on out are about what my parents gave me, but for my daughter. She’ll look back thirty-plus years from now and have her own movie and theater memories, and I’m ready to help provide her with those.
Like Dylan said, I think we are similar ages too, because I remember all the films you mentioned.
Toy Story was a moment in history I remember well, and it gave me conflicted feelings. Obviously I loved it, and always will, it's fantastic. The conflict though was that my dream (at a young age) was I wanted to be an animator, yet I could clearly see this was a brand new future for films and I knew I could never reach that goal anymore.
I don't know if you ever saw The Lord of the Rings, but that was also a trilogy that made three Christmases in a row worth going to the cinema for.
Great article, JM. Very poignant. You and I must be similar ages, because I remember seeing a lot of the same films as you in the 90s and 2000s.
I hope you and your daughter have a great time seeing Mario Galaxy!