With this as my daily life, I was shocked when I proposed a movie marathon to my dear editor and she thought I was crazy. “Three movies in one day? I can barely sit through one!” she laughed.
“I must’ve gone to see ‘Return of the King’ four times, and that movie is like four hours long,” I retorted.
“Oh, I never watch a movie more than once,” she said, and co-worker Avery agreed.
Flabbergasted, I went on to compare repeatedly watching a good movie to re-reading a good book, but neither of them had ever watched a movie twice or re-read a book. And they couldn’t believe that Winter, Johnnie and I were going to spend an entire Saturday at the movie theater.
Boy, did we prove them wrong.
After combing through movie listings, we decided to check out the newly remodeled Clark’s Pond for two viewings and finish off with a third at the Westbrook Cinemagic. We started with “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” then Winter and her friend would see “Be Kind, Rewind” while Johnnie and I would see “Semi-Pro.” (We’d already seen “Be Kind, Rewind.”) Afterwards, we’d head to Westbrook for “Juno.” Before, between and after these films we’d hang at the Bistro and have a few beers.
Yes, beers! Clark’s Pond has a bar that serves Sebago on tap, plus wines! And they have a little menu of lunch sandwiches, soups and desserts. You can’t take the beer into the theater, but you can bring in all the food you want.
We arrived early to have a beer before the film. Johnnie ordered while I bought our tickets. We were able to pick our own seats. And let me tell you, those seats are comfy. They are leather recliners, and you can pull up the arm rest for a family cuddle puddle.
The kids were terribly excited about the movie marathon. Since they could barely contain themselves, we held off ordering any pop or candy until after the first movie. That excitement never died down. We were all tickled about seeing three movies in one day and couldn’t wait to get into the next one. And the beers and snacks between films was the perfect break.
After the second film, we headed over to Westbrook for “Juno.” We would have stayed at Clark’s Pond, but no film worked out for our 4:30 time slot. There were no signs of movie overload — we were all psyched for round three.
“Juno,” although a pretty good movie for adults, was totally inappropriate for kids. I allow Winter to watch some PG-13 movies, but most of them are previously screened with mommy vision. In my attempt to work three movies into one day, I dropped the ball. I’m pretty sure most of the inappropriateness was over her head, but lesson learned.
By the time we headed for the car, not a one of us was ready to stop the marathon. We stopped in at Best Buy, bought a new movie and went home to watch it.
Did I mention we love movies?