Best theater experiences

Brandon, your lists have been really fun to read. Mine don't even compare.

I'll get that 2006 list up soon for you to pick on.

I don't remember the first movie I ever saw in theaters. I have a bad memory for things when I was a kid. Here's some things I do remember:

Star Wars Special Edition trilogy: Exactly what you said, Brandon.

Little Giants: When my brothers and I were little, a family friend wanted to take us to the theater to see Lion King, but we had already seen it, so she took us to this instead. I just remember laughing so hard, having a blast, and quoting it incessantly in the car ride on the way home. So much fun.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy: I hadn’t read the books (at 13 I wasn’t as big into reading as I am now) and vaguely knew what they were even about. My dad took my brother Chris and me to see this. Being huge Star Wars fans, we were for some reason initially skeptical about seeing it. But we were instantly blown away, and raved about it to my eldest brother, who soon became a converted fan as well. Seeing the next installments right before Christmas the following two years are probably my most cherished theater going experiences.

28 Days Later: My 7th grade English teacher (a man I will always be indebted to because he is the first person to get me seriously interested in film) took me to see this. We had the greatest conversation on the way to the theater and then loved the movie and talked about it for hours afterward. This meant a great deal to me and still does.

Minority Report: My dad and I went to see this. We don’t have the greatest relationship, so anytime we can actually share a nice moment is pretty special. We loved the film and had a long talk about it afterward. This also meant a great deal to me.

Big Fish: I saw this with an extremely cute girl (way out of my league) and couldn’t believe she was sitting next to me the whole time. Also, the movie was great.

Grindhouse: Just a great experience.

Spacejam: Need I explain why this was so incredible? Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, and the Looney Tunes. Off the hook combination.

The Dark Knight: Midnight showing with a bunch of my friends for maybe my most anticipated movie ever. I was ecstatic. Saw it four times more.

Sin City: This was just an incredible movie to see in a theater and one that I went back and saw repeatedly as well.

Also, this is how much of a Batman dork I am. I payed nearly 20 bucks to see I am Legend in IMAX at the AMC theater on 34th street in Manhattan, just so I could see the 5 minute Dark Knight preview. Yeah, that was an awesome experience until I am Legend started.

Wish I had been alive to see in theaters: Original Star Wars trilogy, 2001: A Space Odyssey, All the David Lean epics, The Godfather, all my favorite movies haha. I realized just after I started that this list could go forever.