My Favorite Summer Movie Experiences
Star Wars 1977- Limerick Drive-in, Royersford PA (now closed). It was a double feature with Jason and the Argonauts. I was 5 years old and my mom came home from J.M. Fields department store in Norristown with an iron on Star Wars T-shirt and made me wear it before going to the drive in theater. I remember playing on the playground that was in front of the screen, wearing that shirt having no idea what it was, waiting for it to get dark. Was feeling a little tired after Argonauts (also cool) but when “a long time ago in a galaxy far far away” hit the screen, I was awake, locked in. Needless to say my life was changed forever. This movie energized me and every kid I knew like no other movie before or since. Lucas was a genius to lock down the marketing and merchandizing rights.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977 (technically the fall, sue me)- General Cinemas 2 at the Plymouth Meeting Mall, Plymouth Meeting PA (now closed). My parents took 5 year old me and again, my mind was opened to a whole new world. This was the gateway to the paranormal for me. This film and that Time-Life Paranormal Book series at the East Norriton Middle School Library were my bible. I absorbed all the content I could get. The “In Search Of” series with Leonard Nimoy, “Chariots of the Gods” Eric Von Daniken novels, “The Bermuda Triangle” by Charles Berlitz and on and on. The film is incredible and still holds up. The impact on that giant screen can’t be understated. Also Google “Project Serpo” and realize that this is depicted here (according to some people). Wild. I imagine Giorgio from Ancient Aliens was in the theater for this one.
Ghostbusters 1984- Plaza Theatre King of Prussia Mall, King of Prussia PA (now closed). This was a classic “hey it’s way too hot out, let’s pile the family into the car and go the movies” (didn’t have central air at home). Saturday Matinee, packed theater, was the perfect funny, entertaining movie for everyone. They don’t really make em like this anymore. It’s funny how I remember my father laughing at specific lines in this movie. “You never studied”, “Dogs and Cats living together, mass hysteria!”, “It’s true sir, this man has no dick”. The Ghostbusters theme song was the song of the summer, it was playing EVERYWHERE lol.
Jurassic Park 1993 - Queen Theater 4, King of Prussia PA (now closed). In DTS digital sound (first time), the moment when I realized that anything was possible in movies now. This was for every kid who was ever obsessed with Dinosaurs. I recently tripped out by hearing from Spielberg himself (on the 4K UHD) that his love for Dinosaurs was born by visiting the Franklin Institute and Natural History museum in Philadelphia as a kid. Wait…what? That was me! Yeah. Small world indeed. People in the theater were gasping during the T-Rex scene, which is still terrifying from a kids and parent perspective. Spielberg was the master of getting away with some gnarly images in technically PG “kid friendly” movies lol. Poltergeist almost made this list.
Predator 1987- Echelon Mall Cinemas 4, Voorhees NJ (now closed). I dragged my Grandpa to the Theater after golfing in the morning at the Kresson in Voorhees. This was another Oprah recommendation, lol. This one just continues to get better with age. The arm scene with Carl Weathers was seared into my brain. Bill Duke becoming unhinged “gonna have me some fun tonight!” So many great moments and lines in this one. When it was over we left via the exit door that puts you directly in the parking lot and the sun was never brighter or hotter. It was stunning. Summer Matinees are the best.
Batman 1989 - AMC 309 Cinema 9, North Wales PA. My best friend Wayne and I went to the premiere night optimistically thinking we would get tickets, we were so naive. Sold out. We were so crestfallen, didn’t even know what to do. We just stood out in front of the theater in silence and disbelief. Then out of nowhere Wayne’s older brother David’s best friend Jim bumps into us and he says that his two friends he bought tickets for aren’t showing up. Boom, we are in! Snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat. The energy in that theater was insane. An event film. So happy that it delivered in every way possible. That Danny Elfman score was epic. Saw it again about a week later. Every kid on the Wildwood NJ boardwalk that summer was rocking a Batman logo T-shirt.
Back to the Future 1985 - General Cinemas 2 Plymouth Meeting Mall, Plymouth Meeting PA. This one hit me in a way that was unexpected. All I could think about was what it would be like to meet my father as a teenager. Pure magic. I was so happy and surprised by how great this was only to be brought back down to earth when I returned home to find my first dog Andre had passed away. He looked like the AT-AT from Empire Strikes Back, fun fact, smh. Power of Love was the song of that summer, it too played everywhere. Despite my Andre passing, 1985 was a great, great year. Great music (Live-Aid Concert!), television (Miami Vice) and movies that summer. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome almost made this list.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day 1991 - Sneak preview on Thursday night at the United Artists Montgomeryville in Montgomeryville PA. With my boy Wayne again, the place was packed and the crowd was losing their minds (rightfully so) the entire time. This was the rare, rare time when the anticipation was met with complete and total delivery. Cameron really brought it with this one. Instant classic. The buzz afterwards was great after a full standing ovation. I actually went to see Toy Soldiers in the theater just to see the T2 trailer which was rumored to be attached months before. I’m sick. I saw this at least two more times at different theaters.
Aliens 1986 - Gateway Cinema in Wayne PA Gateway Shopping Center (now closed). This was the first R rated movie I ever saw in the theater, we were 14 (Wayne and I) and Wayne’s mom bought our matinee tickets and then went shopping. This was one of those times I never saw a trailer or commercial or any footage, just a short article in Time Magazine with a still or two. All I knew was the guy who made The Terminator was responsible. Holy shit this was great. Again, this fueled an obsession for the Alien films that has never ended, the Dark Horse Comics, unmade movie scripts, the works. When the Director’s Cut Laserdisc Box set came out, I HAD to have it. I bought a Pioneer laserdisc player just for this. So you could say this film also fueled my home theater obsession. So happy to see this on the big screen. It was number one on my list for years. It may still be.
Die Hard 1988 - King Cinema 2 at the Valley Forge Shopping Center in King of Prussia PA (now closed). I was shocked how great this was. I had to see it after Oprah’s glowing review. (can’t make this up). To see Bruce Willis transformation from David Addison on Moonlighting to John McLane and a legit movie star was insane. This NEVER happened back then or even now really. Another big screen experience with big sound that I’m really glad I got to see it with a crowd. Not sold out but decent for a matinee. The power of Oprah influence lol. For those wondering, back then she would take her entire audience to a movie and then have the stars on to talk about it. This came on after General Hospital everyday. IYKYK. I’m sure the Die Hard and the Predator episodes are on YouTube somewhere.
E.T. 1982 - General Cinemas 2 at the Plymouth Meeting Mall (again). Had not seen anything in the way of trailers before I saw this. I was in my front yard on a Saturday when my friend Kenny and his Dad and maybe others, I seem to remember a car full of kids pulled up and opened the window and asked if I wanted to go the movies. I said yes of course. So glad I did and my mom had 5 bucks on her. I knew I was in good hands when I saw the name Steven Spielberg was directing. Just a bunch of kids laughing, cheering and then quietly crying together. I was a BMX kid growing up so this was another cool factor for this film with us. Fast forward to the next year and some teacher at our Paul V. Fly elementary school had a bootleg copy of E.T. on VHS and we got to see some of it before it had to be sent to the next school. Hot potato, lol. I’ll never forget our excitement (more that we were missing actual school work) my buddy Scott said “we’re gonna see some Kuwahara’s fly today boys!” This is another one that gets better with age, it’s Time Machine value for capturing the 80’s “we had that Tiffany lamp in our kitchen!” and all the Star Wars toys we played with. I was always jealous of their cool booth style kitchen table setup. Anyway, I feel very lucky to have seen all these classics in the theater with my people, big sound and a giant screen. Let keep the fire of the cinema alive and support your local theaters!
My David Lynch Story
My story on how David Lynch and his art touched my life and changed me forever. I also had a brush with greatness on video no less…
When the news hit of David Lynch’s passing, I was stunned. I couldn’t formulate words. It just never occurred to me that I would live in a world without him. The more heartfelt stories and testimonials I read on X, the more I wept tears of pain and joy. My 8 year old daughter (my empath) sat next to me and started crying too. She asked why I was sad and I told her my hero passed away. She asked “was he part of our family?” I thought for a while and said “yes.” In my heart he was family. His picture has been on the wall in my office for years.
Where do I start? I have always been a movie guy. From the time I was born, I gravitated toward the magic and the stories being told at the movies. Seeing Star Wars at the drive in and Close Encounters at the local General Cinemas as a 5 and 7 year old really infused my soul with the power of cinema. I first remember hearing the name of David Lynch when I was a kid from The Elephant Man. This film moved me, I saw it on TV/HBO with my parents. I remember Mel Brooks called him “Jimmy Stewart from Mars”. A perfect description. When Dune came out there weren’t a lot of people seeing this in the theater so I waited till it was on VHS to rent (big regret retrospectively). I thought it was great but it didn’t even register that this was a “David Lynch” film. Fast forward to when I was I was at Norristown High School in 1989 (suburb of Philadelphia) and the Entertainment Weekly magazine with David Lynch on the cover promoting Twin Peaks came to my house, I was intrigued about the man who was going to “change the face of television forever”.
This was a Friday night. After reading the article, my best friend Wayne and I went right to Video Village and rented Eraserhead and Blue Velvet. We watched them back to back that Saturday afternoon. Needless to say our minds were opened and melted at the same time. My life was changed forever. It felt like seeing these films made it feel like anything was possible, anything could happen in films and I wanted to experience more. The Pilot for Twin Peaks aired the next night on ABC and I was hooked, I was going to live in Lynch’s universe forever. David was showing us the very darkest place and also the sweetest love at the same time. So after two seasons of Twin Peaks, plus Fire Walk With Me…I was obsessed. Seeing Twin Peaks as it aired, reading Laura Palmer’s Diary, the Dale Cooper Diary/tapes, Twin Peaks Travel Guide book and the hard to find Lynch/Peaks focused fan magazine “Wrapped in Plastic”. All of these combined created a world that was so special, so mysterious and wonderful. I feel very lucky to have experienced Twin Peaks like this. From this point on I saw every Lynch film in the theater. I changed my major in College from Engineering/Architecture to Radio/Television/Film. I was a full on film nerd now and Lynch was my guy, my inspiration. Reading about his history, his connection to my city of Philadelphia and how it informed his art while at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and later infused in his short films and Eraserhead, this really connected with me. Lynch was a Philly guy, walked the same streets as me. It felt like he was extended family. We also shared a love of photography and strange abandoned industrial spaces. I fell in love with all his collaborations with Angelo Badalamenti. These became the soundtrack to my life in the 90’s.
Around this time is when I became a hard core Laserdisc aficionado to the detriment of my credit rating. Seeing my favorite films in their proper scope 2.35:1 aspect ratio was another life changer. Seeing Blue Velvet and Dune the way they were meant to be seen was essential. Tower Records in Philly and King of Prussia carried Japanese Import Laserdiscs, famous for having better quality sound and video transfers and I was lucky to get the Dune Box set and Eraserhead in beautiful letterbox editions. The Twin Peaks Box sets were crazy expensive (about $300 for each season) but I didn’t care, I had to have these. I was the guy among my friends who exposed everyone to the latest Lynch content whether they wanted it or not. I took my friend Scott to see Wild at Heart in the theater at a midnight screening and hearing him cackle loudly during a tense scene (he was the only one laughing) was a favorite moment. That was the power of Lynch’s films. They were beautiful, disgusting, sweet, terrifying and funny as hell. They were abstract and focused at the same time. The themes of light and dark, good and evil, hate and love were strong. What is real? What is a dream? Is this reality the only reality? These are concepts that Lynch handled with such style and imagination. Making the abstract real and tangible. Making you ask questions about the very nature of our reality.
I remember in the mid 90’s going to see David’s paintings at his art show inside the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art on Broad Street. Seeing his work, touching his work (nobody is looking, it’s ok) seeing the colors and textures…it was really a thrill.
Opening night in the one large screen theater at the Ritz 5 in Philadelphia to see Lost Highway with a full audience of Lynchheads like me was incredible. Same for when Mulholland Drive came out. There was nothing like the thrill of seeing a new Lynch premiere on the big screen with the people that are in on the secret. What’s the secret? For me, it’s that Lynch’s surreal worlds are much closer to reality than anyone is willing to admit. There is strange and weird all around us and Lynch seems to recognize and depict the world in a way that feels true to us. We get him.
I started my own video production business in 2005 and owe a lot of inspiration from David for deciding to pick up a camera and film things that interest me and tell stories that move me. In 2006 David was working on his new independent film Inland Empire and I heard he was going to speak at the University of Pennsylvania about his love of Transcendental Meditation so I grabbed my Sony HVR-Z1U HDV camera and fought Philly rush hour traffic to see him. I get there, the auditorium is full. I can’t get in. I am bummed beyond belief, but I am not alone. We all sit outside in the parking lot listening as they are pumping the sound from inside outside. Then, like a miracle the doors open and they let more people in. I rush to the doors and get a spot in the back of the auditorium. At some point he says he will take questions from the audience, I rush over to get in the question line in the aisle and was lucky to be the last question he took from the audience. Here is the video of my brush with greatness. My heart was pounding out of my chest.
So after Inland Empire hit, I wasn’t sure if we would ever see Lynch working for a studio or a television network master ever again. He loved the freedom of working with digital video. So when the word hit the internet “that gum you like is going to come back in style” and that exact message came from Lynch and Frost on the same day on Twitter, it was like being given a gift from heaven. In retrospect, Twin Peaks The Return is a miracle. I still can’t believe that we were lucky enough to have been given the key to the world of Twin Peaks and its expanded universe again. Watching this series, I was able to connect all the films in his library to Twin Peaks. I know we will all be rewatching his work soon and for years to come. I look forward to getting the entire Twin Peaks series remastered in 4K UHD HDR someday. Maybe Criterion is up for this along with the Fire Walk With Me Blue Rose Cut?
It saddens me that I will never feel the thrill of another David Lynch premiere. I wonder what will come of all those uncompleted projects? Unrecorded Night, One Saliva Bubble and Ronnie Rocket, etc. I read the scripts to One Saliva Bubble and Ronnie Rocket many years ago. Best quote on Ronnie Rocket comes from David Bowie when after reading the script he said “It makes Eraserhead look like Dallas” referencing the 80’s television night time soap opera. Who knows what else he was working on that will surface? Maybe Jennifer or Austin Jack will pick up the mantle of his unfinished works? I have some great ideas for a Twin Peaks prequel story that takes place in the 1950s and may involve a Blue Rose if they would like to collaborate? In the meantime I will try to focus on my own projects, my own writing and keep David in my heart forever.
Directors on the come up in 2021
Ok, so you know I am big movie guy and I recognize talent when I see it. The interwebs loves lists so…this list is made up of the Directors that I have admired recently and am very much looking forward to their next work. Naturally in no particular order:
Derek Cianfrance - Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines, I Know This Much Is True
Denis Villenueva - Enemy, Prisoners, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049, Dune
Mike Flanagan - The Haunting of Hill House, Dr. Sleep
S. Craig Zahler - Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99, Dragged Across Concrete
Robert Eggers - The VVitch, The Lighthouse, The Northman
Panos Cosmatos - Beyond the Black Rainbow, Mandy
Alex Garland - Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs
Nicholas Winding Refn - Pusher Trilogy, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, Drive, Too Old to Die Young
Ben Wheatley - Kill List, Sightseers, A Field in England, High-Rise, Free Fire
Ti West - The House of the Devil, V/H/S, The Sacrament, Them
Ari Aster - Hereditary, Midsommar
Taylor Sheridan - Yellowstone, Those Who Wish Me Dead
Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler, Roman J. Isreal, Esq., Velvet Buzzsaw
Lorgos Lanthimos - The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite
If you guys have some Directors that you feel I should check out, please let me know in the comments. Obviously, I have a certain aesthetic that I enjoy, may not be for everyone. That being said If you haven’t seen some of the films by these directors, by all means do so. You’re welcome.
Welcome to my blog
Long time coming, this is where I will be posting updates on the work we are doing and also my opinion on all things media, film, photography and gaming. Stay tuned…