It's impossible to know how many times I've seen Superman, but I figure I'm pushing triple-digits at this point. Or maybe it's been a mere 70 times. Who knows? I've seen it in the theater so many times I've lost count - but I figure it's at least 10 at this point, and I would have skipped this one, but after going to Metropolis and reading that Larry Tye book, it just felt like serendipity that the movie was screening, and I should probably go.
"Kid's Club" screenings are always fun. As much as I enjoy the evening throw-back screenings of movies at the Paramount and Alamo, seeing movies with the original intended audience is always amazing. Superman runs something like two and a half hours, and I didn't hear a single anxious kid nor a peep out of anyone aside from some mild excitement during properly exciting scenes. There's a sweet spot you can hit where the movies are not as dull as some kids movies, but without over-stimulating kids with just too darn much going on up there on the screen - because I have absolutely witnessed that phenomenon, even in a Harry Potter movie, and the kids start just blanking out and futzing with their chairs or asking for Cheerios or whatever. And despite our weird idea that "kids are so advanced these days"*, the kids certainly don't know about or understand the difference between CGI FX and in-camera or practical effects. They just don't care, even if they're vaguely aware this doesn't look like other movies. And I've seen this again and again, including favorites like The Time Machine, Fantastic Voyage and Batman '66.
The kids even totally dealt with the "Can You Read My Mind" scene at face value. No ironic snickering, no groans of disapproval. It was kind of nice.
One other weird factoid about "Kid's Club" - they show the movies in 35mm, so the print yesterday was beat to hell, discolored in places and had audio issues, but nobody cared, including the kids. It may be the last time I get to see Superman in 35mm, so it was a nice treat.
Anyhow, it was a fun screening. I may want a break between screenings for a while as I did just watch the movie, like, three months ago, but I didn't regret going. Got to hang with Simon and his lady-friend, Tiffany, and we got some nifty plastic Superman rings from Toy Joy.
*what? Kids got better at being kids? That doesn't even make sense. They're just fine with adapting to the world they were born into that has stuff their parents didn't have at the same age.
1 comment:
No ironic snickering, no groans of disapproval. Except from me. To my credit I only half-snickered once. Those kids were really well behaved.
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