5 Slightly Personal Reasons I Miss the Movies

{Before I dive in here, I want to be clear that I am well aware my feelings about movie theatres are really the least of anyone’s problems when it comes to COVID. That said, it’s something that’s been on my mind and I wanted to expand upon it. Writing makes me feel better.}

Some recent speculation about whether or not cinemas can survive COVID  and what will happen when the pandemic finally ends got me thinking about some personal reasons that I truly do miss the movies. I’d love to hear if you’re feeling the same!

It’s the perfect girls’ night for an introvert. When you spend your days teaching 27 kindergarten students with a partner, and come home to three fairly chatty family members, there’s a LOT of both talking and listening happening and it can be very refreshing in the evenings to sit without partaking in conversation. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see my friends, and I’ve always found meeting up for a midweek flick is a great chance to spend time together without any pressure. – and we can still catch up before the trailers begin! Staring at the computer for a Zoom call (with the awkward time-delays and start-and-stop attempts to chime in) is definitely a whole other level of effort.

It’s not a bad venue for a date, despite common relationship advice. While it’s ideal to go for dinner first or drinks after for some real conversation (plus since we live half an hour from the closest big cinema we always have drive time for that too), the movie theatre is the perfect place to feel like my husband and I are focused on the same thing…with phones away! When the girls were little, we loved going to a Saturday or Sunday movie matinee as a couple. (I was never the type of mom who felt I needed to lovingly tuck my children in before leaving the house – I preferred to head out during the day when one of their beloved babysitters could entertain them and maybe even feed them a meal and then be home to go to bed when the kids did.) When we watch TV at home it’s just so tempting to reach for those devices and not really be sharing the experience.

I miss my sisters-in-law. Dinner-and-a-movie has always been the go-to night out for my husband’s three sisters and me, and I’m sad not to have that connection right now. And with cold weather approaching (who am I kidding, as far as I’m concerned it’s already here) the idea of hanging out together outside just doesn’t do it for me. We celebrated our two summer birthdays with just dinner which was lovely but still felt lacking, and my (delusional?) hope is that maybe this entire situation will have reversed course in time to celebrate the two winter birthdays in our usual fashion.

I really love the food. I mean, I legit crave it. Most of my trips to the movies are planned around a meal time (like a noon matinee or a 6:00 early evening screening) so I can just call it dinner. And by “it” I mean nachos and cheese, Diet Coke and peanut butter M & Ms. Sure, I can find some of those things other places right now, but there is no substitute for the Cineplex nacho cheese. (At least not that I’ve found. I’d love to be enlightened!)

It can be a great outing with kids. Not cheap, but it has its advantages. “Sure”, you’re thinking, “your kids are 14 and 12, of course they’re able to sit through a movie,” but they’ve actually been going since they were born. (Just like with restaurants, I figured it wise to train them early and often.) I loved attending the Stars and Strollers showings with my babies, and in fact Eva went to the Sex and the City movie when she was four days old. (Yep, that says “days”.)  I think my proclivity for taking kids to the cinema also goes back to the introvert thing – throughout my girls’ childhoods we’ve done lots of outings that involve me being the cruise director and providing the moment-by-moment entertainment. At the movies, I pay to have that taken care of for me. It’s also an easy (if not a tad pricey) playdate. Contrary to what many think, the entire experience doesn’t have to be passive either, for example when I took the girls and two friends to see the latest Little Women reboot and we had a fascinating conversation on the way home comparing it to the 1994 version of the movie as well as the book.

While Netflix is certainly keeping me stocked up on fantastic binge-watching material (btw while I totally get the criticisms of Emily in Paris I’m not ashamed to say I loved it, and hello The Home Edit) and it’s not that I have a lack of audio visual entertainment, for me the movies have always been a happy place, and I really would be sad if the cinemas never reopened, not only for myself but for the countless people whose employment would be impacted. Do you feel the same, or are you just meh about the movies?