My Movie Habit

I love movies.  Anyone who's known me for longer than 5 minutes realises that I have more movie trivia in my head than the average humanoid, movie watcher.  I love the behind the scenes stuff.  I love the outtakes.  I love the making of featurettes.  I'm the phone a friend that people call when they have a movie trivia question or a "that guy who played that other guy in that movie with the dog and the sunset...". 

I have long tried to figure out why I love movies so much.  Is it the escape they provide?  Is it the sitting in the theatre and watching something so big that it takes over your whole field of vision?  Is it the no-commercials aspect?  Is it the envy of someone who used to act and doesn't get to do it anymore?  I think it's all of the above to some degree.  I recently saw Captain America.  I did not see it in 3D or in IMAX or anything else.  I saw a regular showing of the movie.  And it was WONDERFUL!  This is not an Oscar winning movie but it was an exciting 2 hour escape from the sun, the day, the job search, the dishes in the sink.  I truly loved it!  Before that I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2.  Now this one I saw with all the bell and whistles... 3D and IMAX.  I loved every frame.  It doesn't have to do with the bells and whistles.  It has to do with the whole experience of movie watching and making.  It's wondering what it was like to make the movie.  How did they make that editing choice?  How did the composer know that THAT was the music to drive that moment home?  What was it like to film that in front of a green screen?  Did they really like each other that much?  How long did the costume fittings take?  What is a gaffer?  How does the screenwriter really know what makes good dialogue?

My husband would roll his eyes and tell me that I think too much.  And maybe I do... but that's who I am.  I just know that I love movies.  I love getting lost in another world for a couple of hours and always feel a bit let down when I re-emerge into the real world.  A good movie is like a drug.  The first time you see it, you're riding high for hours.  Then you see it again in the theatre or on DVD and try, desperately, to recapture the original high of the movie.  Sometimes it gets even better when you discover things on the second viewing that you missed the first time.  Usually it just settles into a mellow happiness and eventually loses it's attractiveness and potency.  The nice thing about movies vs. drugs, there's always a new one coming out and it can't kill you, in theory.  So movies will remain my fix of choice.  I will remain an unabashed movie-a-holic.  Maybe I'll go see Thor today by myself before I go pick up the hubby from work.... What he doesn't know can't hurt me, right?  Does this count as hiding my habit?  I wonder....