Movies Yes, Parking Spaces No

This past week I went to the movie theaters three times. It was a revelation.

First of all, what's with the handicapped permits? There were literally dozens of handicapped parking spaces, and both of the mid-week afternoons I went, the handicapped spaces were either all or nearly all filled. In one case all the spaces in the entire theater lot were filled, and all the spaces in the lots surrounding the entire huge mall were filled except one lonely handicapped space (oddly, on the opposite end of the lot from any of the entrances - possibly for a person handicapped by a pathological fear of doors?).

Either November is an extremely fashionable month for hip replacements, or they were giving permits out with the candy at the DMV this Halloween.

Oddly enough, when we went to see a movie on Saturday, the parking lots were practically empty.

Another issue: in all three visits, the new Twilight Saga movie, "New Moon", was sold out right up to the last showing, in spite of the fact that it was showing at multiple screens in all three (different) theaters. Also in spite of the fact that all the reviews I've seen have been... well, to put it very gently, a bit sparing in the praise department. Now, to be fair, my son reports that his college-aged friends thought their viewing of the show was quite enjoyable - but then, he also reports that his friends were very possibly inebriated and very definitely howling loudly whenever a werewolf character came on screen, which was a fairly frequent event. I suspect they also were enjoying the squeaky presence of the impressionable high school girls that comprised the remainder of the audience.

So here's what I can report: The Michael Jackson movie, "This Is It", is reasonably interesting... but wasn't quite interesting enough to keep me awake during its entire impressive length. The semi-autobiographical "Blind Side" - a movie about the inspirational high school experience of the Raven's recent draft pick, Michael Oher - was predictable and sweet and touching, a good movie for families and dates. The most recent remake of Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol", was heavy on the scary, and wince-worthy in the "obligatory unnecessarily extended chase scene" department (although I thought that with the addition of trees and a flaming pumpkin, it would have made for an admirable scene for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), but overall it was an interesting and entertaining addition to the ever-expanding lineup of movies devoted to the traditional holiday tale.

In the meantime, my travails in having to share theater lines (and parking lots) with hoards of shrieking, mincing, giggling girls were somewhat mitigated by this gift from my son. He understands my Inner Scrooge...