Where’s the popcorn? Heck … where’s the movie?!
On Saturday, Lisa and I wanted to go see the new Harry Potter movie. Since it had been selling out everywhere, we thought it would be smart to go to a late showing. We’ve done this in the past for the first movie and it was great to not be bogged down by a swarm of annoying kids. So we decided to hit the ten o’clock show at the Williams Center in Rutherford, NJ. The last time we tried to see a movie here was for the second Potter flick. We could not get in due to the fact that the film broke. There was a time about 12 years ago when I tried to see something here and they sent me into the wrong theater. So I wound up missing that one too.
Anyway, back to this past Saturday … we walked up to the box office and it appeared to be closed. We had to go inside the building to buy the tickets. Seven bucks a pop … a regular bargain these days. At least that’s what we thought until we tried to find the actual theater. The place was completely torn up as part of ongoing renovations. No wall covering, flooring or any concessions. We wandered around a bit until we found this little white piece of paper with the name of the movie taped on the wall just outside of one of the theaters.
There we spied a little girl with popcorn. A bit perplexed I asked her father where she got it. It turns out that there was a working concession stand up on the top floor. Lisa and I walk up to get some snacks. All they had was popcorn, nachos and cans of soda. With munchies in hand we went back down to find seats joking that we needed to beat the crowd. The funniest part was that only ten people came to see the movie. This was odd since the man and his daughter ended up here because the theater in the next town over was sold out.
The way this place is set up makes it very difficult to get a truly good seat. It’s an old theater with fairly uncomfortable seats. The isle runs straight up the center of the room so you can never sit in that ever so coveted middle seat. We teased the little girl as she took the seat in front of us. “Oh sure … now we can’t see!!”
The movie was good. Darker than the rest as would be expected. I’m not too happy with the new Dumbledore played by Michael Gambon though. I felt he was a bit over the top. There was a subtlety in Richard Harris’s performance that was missing here. Plus the French girls were hot … can I say that about fictional teenage witches? I think I can.
I have yet to read the Harry Potter books. I’ve gotten about halfway thru the first book. I’m basically a very lazy reader. A wonderful quality for a writer, wouldn’t you say? Anyway … I plan to read them all just so I can truly appreciate the stories. This will allow me to have fully realized conversations with both Lisa and my young niece. I am truly amazed by how these stories have appealed to such a wide demographic. It’s a shame and highly unfair that the NY Times only ranks them among children’s titles.
