A Night at the Picture Show

By Darin Lowery

Globe suffered a major setback in July 2005 when the Pioneer Hotel and the adjacent Globe Theater burned to the ground. Businesses were destroyed, valuable property was lost, and shock, despair and anger were expressed by everyone.

What remained was a heap of twisted metal which sat on the corner of Broad and Cedar Streets for four and a half years.

I moved to Globe the day after the fire.

After waiting all week, I finally have a night free to go to the pictures, and 2012 is showing. In my book, the best movies in the world are when the world ends.

The new theater (this projection room, one of four) is quiet, and maybe because it’s a Wednesday evening, almost empty. I arrive forty minutes early (I don’t want to miss a minute!) and I sit, popcorn in one hand, soda in the other, and watch the local ads being flashed on the giant screen. But I can’t sit still, so I check out the lobby, with its gorgeous mural (done by local artist Larry Brown: the design was picked up from the original theatre). Even the bathroom is swank, with colorful tile work.

A group arrives; three men, two women; thankfully, no kids. They nod- I smile, then say, ‘Wow, pretty cool, huh? I’ve been waiting for five years to do this’.

One of the women responds, ‘Oh, yes, we just love going to the movies- it’s so much fun’.

Now me, being me (as in Crazy Old Mister Lowery) am alarmed. ‘Fun?,’ I ask. ‘You guys aren’t gonna make a lot of noise, are you? I’ve been waiting all week to see this picture!’

The group ascends to the very top, not even bothering to dignify my remarks. I lean back as the lights dim, then extinguish, and the enveloping Dolby sound system ramps up. I, children, am in Heaven.

2012, for anyone not familiar, is a top-notch end-of-the-world picture- right up there with The Day After, On the Beach, and The World, The Flesh, and The Devil. The premise behind 2012 is a belief by the ancient Mayans that their calendar, and civilization, would end in 2012. Or maybe they just couldn’t count higher, and they assumed the world would implode. Hence the expression, ‘If I don’t ace this math quiz, it’s the end of the world’.

The film, as you may’ve guessed, surpassed my expectations. The outstanding special effects and crashing soundtrack were overwhelming, and I went into shock.  I screamed, I cried, I clutched at my throat. It was a thrill a minute ride, and an hour after it all began, I was standing on my seat, howling.

My new friends in the back of the house kindly ignored me, and did not take the opportunity to call me names, like- oh, ‘hypocrite’ comes to mind.

At least I had turned my cell phone off.

Three weeks later, I was much quieter while watching Avatar. This was due, in all ways, to being enthralled- enchanted- captivated. Use any hundred dollar word you can think of. It felt like First Love: when that girl in front of you in third grade shyly smiles at you- or at least in your direction. I was literally swept up in the saga and the drama. Not to mention the gargantuan flying birds and the exploding helicopters.

The popcorn forgotten this time, the cola going flat, I was one with the Blue Warrior and his cat-eyed girlfriend. The film is ethnic, tribal; it is gloriously us-against-them, in the way it never was with Cowboys and Indians. We are all on the other side now, and there was Unification, a melding of all cultures who believe in goodness and being as one with the world.

I can hardly wait to see the new Jackie Chan picture.

(Note:Hollis Cinemas is located at Broad & Cedar Street in downtown Globe. You can find movie listings on-line HERE)