Part 2: 52 weeks=52 movies

In the year 2000, there were 53 weeks in the year. I started my quest to watch 53 movies in a theater sometime in March--although the exact date wasn't recorded. I remember I was visiting my parents in Grand Island and we went to the Grand Island Mall to see Hanging Up. I felt bad about going to see that particular movie since it was about a distant, not-so-good, dying father and his daughters dealing with his imminent death. I think my mother felt that the movie struck too close to home and she didn't enjoy it so much. It wasn't that good of a movie anyway, but it was an interesting outing for me and my folks as I don't recall ever going to a movie with them before. It was like a new venture into the adult relationship that I had relatively recently entered into with my parents. Little did I know at the time, but nearly all of the movies I would see that year I would attend alone.

Y2K was a turning point year for me in many respects. I look back at 1999 with fond, happy memories, and 2000 with angst. You see, part of what motivated me to go to the movies was escape. I was able to spend hours and hours alone on the weekend in someone else's world--out of reach of the telephone, radio, newspapers, internet--a safe-haven where no one could find me. Year 2000 was the start of my descent into depression, a hole that my brain dug for me and in which I would eventually feel most comfortable.

I met some interesting (fictional) characters that year, saw the movie that still makes my "worst movies ever" list and realized a few things about movies. Primarily, not all movies suck. In fact, just about every movie has a redeeming quality that makes it worth seeing. Take Final Destiny as an example. This movie seems to have little to offer the casual movie-goer. However, I thought that the CONCEPT of Final Destiny was brilliant. It's a slasher film where the villain is death itself. The whole idea behind the movie is that a group of teens have "accidentally" cheated death, and now death is out to get them. After Jason, Freddy, et al, this was definitely a creative approach to slasher movies.

I saw fantastic acting in movies like Erin Brockovich, classic comedies like Meet the Parents and some rare, delicious indy films like The Big Kahuna. See the full list here.

My 52nd movie of the year was in Grand Island. The Grand Theatre had been renovated and was showing first-run movies. Just before Christmas I again attended the movies with my folks. We went to the Grand and saw Cast Away. The Grand is the ultimate, small-town, downtown movie theater. My siblings and I spent our Summer Wednesday afternoons there attending "Summer Movies;" the theater owner would come on-stage before the movie began and direct us through a rousing chorus of "God Bless America." If we weren't enthusiastic enough, we would have to sing it twice. The theater had hardly changed in the year 2000... the clock above the screen with the neon blue light around it was still there, I think the curtain was the same one from 20 years prior. We didn't have to sing "God Bless America" but I still felt pretty patriotic before the movie. Just as I had started the year of 52 movies, I ended it in Grand Island with my parents. There's probably something profound to be said about that...

Overall it was an eye-opening year and I did find the time to see a 53rd film before year-end. Ever since then, I have made a goal to see a certain number of movies in a theater each year which I firmly believe enriches my life. I may not read a lot of fiction, but I love to watch movies.

In three years' time, the first Movie Marathon will make an appearance...