Movies

Let me say. One of my favourite ways to pass time is to watch a movie. It really doesn’t matter the genre. I can enjoy what always seems to be the oddly timed break out in song scenes of a musical or the gory hack and slash scenes of a horror movie. I’m always down for any type of movie.

How did this all start though? I think to answer that…we have to go back about three decades. As every weekend approached, my father would go to the video store (Chubbies) and rent at least 4 tapes (see VHS) to watch over the weekend. During this time, there was only one channel so in order to get the opportunity to see movies within the comfort of your home, this was the way. Then of course we had the Globe Cinema and the Globe Drive-In. Fortunately the Drive-In is still around albeit without the speakers that used to hook on the doors. In terms of the Globe Cinema, I was fortunate enough to be able to sit as we used to say, ‘high up’, in the balcony and I also had the misfortune of getting in too late where most seats were already taken and I had to sit in the second row. What this meant, was I had to spend the entire time looking up if I wanted to see the movie. My neck will never forget it. What seems so unbelievable now is back then, new movies literally took months to reach Barbados. Then to add to that, movies would only show for a week at these establishments…two if it was popular and held over. What usually changed would be the second movie as you always got two movies unless the main movie was rather long. For consumption it was always a hot dog, popcorn and a large coke. This was pretty much because there weren’t any other options…except for m&m’s. Lol. The good old days as they say.

So from watching countless video tapes on rental to visits to the local cinemas, this all helped mold my love for movies. Nowadays, one no longer has to wait for months for a new movie to debut at the cinemas. They start the same week as they debut in USA which of course is a big improvement from back then. We get to experience 3D as well and all is well with the world. Still no IMAX but that is fine. Of course, a lot of persons say they don’t go to the cinema anymore because let’s face it. All you need is a digital device and an internet connection and you can source movies from multiple places. Well for me, that will never beat the movie going experience. The big screen, the surround sound (yes….some home entertainment systems have great surround sound but most homes have neighbours), crowd reactions to certain parts of the movie….priceless. Take me to the movies anytime. That experience always wins for me.