BLOG -- My Movie-watching History (in Theatres) Part 1 [1995-1999]

So... this is a bit of a cop-out blog, at least for me. I have to spend most of my day today reading up on my course for work. This is a cop-out blog to me because I've already documented this on Good Friday... though there will be tweaks to make this less personal and less detailed (my original document had extra little details like which theatre I went to, what time, and who was with me).

Anywho, this blog will be about the movies I've watched in theatres from 1995 to 1999 -- just any thoughts I may have about them when I first watched them (no commentary from my current perspective unless necessary). Why am I blogging about this? Well, I like keeping records of stuff -- it's just how I am. And I'm quite big on nostalgia. Hopefully, the mention of some of these movies will bring some memories to you (whoever is reading this) :)

My Movie-watching History

I've always thought that I was a late bloomer to watching movies in theatres. I still think so. Growing up in an overprotective environment, and having parents who worked almost everyday, I was never allowed to, well, go off on my own anywhere, including to the movies (even if my friends invited me; even if my sister was with me).

Even though my first movie-watching experience was in 1995, that only happened because I had an awesome homeroom teacher. She probably overheard me or my sister saying that we had never watched a movie in theatres and decided to take us one day. If she didn't take us, then my first movie-watching experience would have been in 1998 -- nearly three years later. I was over 11 years old at the time.

When movie-watching was new to me, my sister and I watched many. It also helped that movies were cheaper back then. Now, I'm very selective about which movies to watch in theatres. When comparing the price of a movie ticket to the general price of a DVD... it really does come down to if you want to experience the movie once on a large screen or experience the movie more than once on a smaller screen.

SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!

Since I will be mentioning a good number of movies in this blog, some of them will contain spoilers. Any movie that will contain a spoiler will be marked.

1995

MOVIE: The Amazing Panda Adventure

DATE: Sometime in September or October?

RATING (OUT OF 5): Unsure

COMMENTS: This was my first movie, but I was so young… I didn’t understand everything that was going on. I was just happy that it was my first movie in a movie theatre. I enjoyed the panda, and I was pretty sure that the movie had some kind of moral (because I was so young and my teacher took us). I don’t remember the movie being all that great, though.

1998

MOVIE: Titanic [SPOILER]

DATE: May 2, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ***

COMMENTS: Titanic wasn't all that great. We watched it so late in its run, everything was spoiled for us. I didn’t care that much about Rose and Jack (I had absolutely no interest in Leonardo DiCaprio back then). The only sad part in the movie at that time was when Jack froze to death and Rose let him sink. But I was only sad about that part because at that time I was thinking about somebody I loved tremendously.

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MOVIE: Armageddon [x2]

DATE: July 15, 1998

DATE: July 29, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: The first time I went to see Armageddon -– that was the first time my sister and I ever watched a movie without ANY parental / adult supervision. I really enjoyed Armageddon. I’ve always liked the idea of putting a rag-tag team together and using their special personal quirks to accomplish a task. I thought the romance was sweet, but of course… at the time I was stupidly in love, so I enjoyed anything that was slightly romantic. The theme song, “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith -– I’ve loosely associated it with that guy I loved.

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MOVIE: The Truman Show

DATE: July 19, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: This was very enjoyable. It was funny, but serious at the same time. I really enjoyed the idea of the movie, and thought Jim Carrey did a really great job with his role. I only saw him do funny roles before, like Ace Ventura. This was the first movie that I’ve seen him play something slightly different. The romance was very sweet.

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MOVIE: Ever After

DATE: August 11, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: This movie was very sweet and enjoyable. Drew Barrymore did a really great job and I enjoyed the romance and humour. I almost cried during certain parts. Whenever I think back to it, I still think it’s a wonderful, romantic movie –- really touching.

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MOVIE: Disturbing Behavior

DATE: August 11, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): **

COMMENTS: I was first interested in this movie because of the poster and trailers. It looked cool and disturbing (and I was all for disturbing back then). Watching it though… was a huge disappointment. I didn’t realize that Katie Holmes was in it until I watched it. I lost some respect for her because there was a scene where a guy touched and lightly fondled her breast – and she let it happen. I know it’s just her following the script, but she had to okay it for it to happen. It was the first time I ever saw a scene like that, which is why it bothered me so much (and of course, I was quite young). Overall, this movie wasn’t as disturbing as I expected it to be.

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MOVIE: Avengers

DATE: August 25, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ***

COMMENTS: It was a different kind of movie. I was really drawn to it because of the woman and her leather bodysuit, haha. It looked cool. The movie itself was quite meh… though it had some interesting visuals. I still remember a scene where the main guy was sitting somewhere naked, casually reading a newspaper, and speaking with the main woman casually. I kept wondering if some kind of romance would develop between the man and woman. Now that I try to remember, I don’t even know…

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MOVIE: Dance With Me

DATE: September 1, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ***

COMMENTS: This was very enjoyable. I really enjoyed the soundtrack and I loved the dancing. Unfortunately, even though I tried to force myself to like the romance between Chayanne & Vanessa Williams (and I succeeded for many years, but with still something clawing at the back of my mind), I always thought that the romance with a bit too… pushed. Because of that, and because that was the main focus of the movie, I can’t say that I fully enjoyed it. I bought the VHS. I bought the soundtrack (though I don’t have either anymore). But… I knew. In the back of mind, I knew that it wasn’t as great of a movie I expressed it to be, because of that forced romance.

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MOVIE: A Night at The Roxbury

DATE: October 9, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): *****

COMMENTS: I greatly enjoyed this movie (that I'm sure many others would consider as stupid). I saw it as two brothers going to clubs with a dream, and trying to find love along the way. It was also really funny, too, which I liked. I didn’t think much of the fact that they were really just trying to score with girls. I thought it was deep. The soundtrack was AMAZING! I bought it right after the movie.

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MOVIE: Practical Magic [SPOILER]

DATE: October 30, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): *

COMMENTS: I was very disappointed with this movie. I was hoping for a deep romantic film with bits of magic thrown in to enhance the romance. But no -– the romance wasn’t really there, and there was more focus on the magic –- the magic of resurrecting the corpse of a guy they accidentally killed. Just… no. It was horrible.

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MOVIE: The Prince of Egypt

DATE: December 22, 1998

RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: I really enjoyed the movie. The choreography of the graphics was amazing. Disney did a great job, but when I told my religious friend about it, he told me that the movie was garbage!

1999

MOVIE: She’s All That

DATE: February 12, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): **

COMMENTS: Horrible. Just like Practical Magic, another aspect detoured the focus of romance, making it less deep than it was advertised. It was more focused on the comedy of high school life. Maybe if the film was longer and more romance and feelings were developed, then maybe I wouldn’t be attacking it so harshly. Rachel Cook wasn’t all that. She was just a pretty girl. Period. Those two didn’t go through enough together to really know each other. It was too light.

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MOVIE: Forces of Nature [SPOILER]

DATE: March 19, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): ***

COMMENTS: We were supposed to watch Carrie. But we decided last minute to change our show (to my sister's dismay). Forces of Nature was good, but I knew then that if I saw it second time, I would not enjoy it as much. I didn’t like the affair issue, since the guy was going to be married. At the same time, though, I was hoping that the guy would end up with the new girl (after breaking off the engagement with his fiance, of course), only because he seemed happier with her. When he didn’t, I was very disappointed.

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MOVIE: The Matrix

DATE: March 11, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): *****

COMMENTS: This movie was totally out of this world. The explanation and technicality was beautiful. The powers were cool, too. I totally loved it. I totally dug the trench coats as well.

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MOVIE: Tarzan

DATE: July 18, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: I really enjoyed the movie. It was fun and cute.  I really enjoyed the theme song (“You’ll be in my Heart” by Phil Collins).

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MOVIE: The Haunting

DATE: August 10, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): ***

COMMENTS: This was a neat movie. There were some creepy scenes, but interestingly enough, there weren’t many killings at all. I thought this was going to be something very horrific -– something that would give me nightmares. Totally off, but I enjoyed what I got out of it -– a nice story.

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MOVIE: The Sixth Sense

DATE: August 10, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): *****

COMMENTS: This was the first movie I ever watched by myself. And it was a great choice. I really enjoyed The Sixth Sense. Haley Joel Osment did a spectacular job as the kid and Bruce Willis was really good, too. It wasn’t too freaky, except for the scene with the boy ghost (when he says “I’ll show you where he hid the gun”, then he turns around and you see that part of his head was missing). The story itself was very touching. I had nightmares that night, though.

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MOVIE: Pokemon: The First Movie

DATE: November 21, 1999

RATING (OUT OF 5): ****

COMMENTS: I never really watched the series, but my sister and I knew that our friend was really big on Pokemon. Before watching the movie, our friend explained some of the running gags -– like how in every town, there is always a Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny and that they look exactly alike in every town. The movie was interesting and I thought it was really heartwarming, just seeing how much Ash cared about his pokemon, and how much his pokemon cared for him. Now thinking back on it, I think it was the best Pokemon movie out of all of them. This is the movie with Mewtwo.

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That's it for this blog. Thanks for reading! If you have any comments about anything (even if you greatly disagree with anything I've said, or if this made you think about the movies you've watched and want to share), feel free to comment! :)