A Movie in a Theater - How Novel

Heather and my original plans for last Saturday night had to be canceled, but because we had actually lined up a sitter for all the kids we decided to still go out and make a night of it. Though on a smaller scale than originally planned.

Really it boiled down to us simply going to a movie. In a real theater no less! A rare occurrence in our post-children world. As much as I wanted to go see Sin City, I knew with Star Wars Episode III and Batman Begins looming this summer that I should defer to Heather to choose what we would get to see in a theater Saturday night. Unfortunately things looked slim until Heather found Sideways showing at the Ogden 6 theater. The Ogden 6 was a theater I used to go to a lot when I was younger. Back in the 80s it was a first run theater and one of the first in the area that had multiple screen. Now the Ogden 6 is a discount theater ($3 a ticket) with films a few months old.

We grabbed a quick dinner and headed over to the Ogden 6. It was very busy. The line for tickets was about 20 people deep. No problem getting tickets, most of the people were there to see some of the family/kids movies that were screening. Although the theater for Sideways ended up being almost 50% full. A nice discovery about the Ogden 6 is how it is run by Classic Cinemas. Very classy for a small theater screening older films. Heather and I would both like to return to see more movies at this little theater. The price certainly is right.

Sideways was fantastic. Very funny and very moving. I understand completely all the praise the film has received. I also can see why Paul Giamatti was nominated for a best actor Oscar. He is fantastic in his portrayal of depressed Miles Raymond. Thomas Haden Church is very funny in his role, but really he didn't get much beyond comic relief for me. The movie was really about watching Giamatti take his character on his journey of self-discovery. Great movie.

So how do we cap off seeing a great movie in a nice little theater for the first time in like forever? Well, we stopped off at the new Oberweis Dairy store that opened up near our house and which was on the way home from the theater. Hmmmm. Oberweis ice cream. That's good stuff.

It might not have been as glamorous as a wedding reception on the 99th floor of the Sears Tower, but I think our night out was still a good time.