“We come to this place… for magic. We come to AMC theaters to laugh, to cry, to care. Because we need that, all of us, that indescribable feeling we get when the lights begin to dim. And we go somewhere we’ve never been before.”
Every time I see a movie at the Boston Common AMC, I anxiously await Nicole Kidman to grace the wide screen in her silver bedazzled jumpsuit and tell me about the magic of movies. The ad plays every showing without fail, and while at first it made me giggle because of its meme-ification on the internet, I have begun to cherish the routine of seeing it every time I see a new film, and I resonate deeply with its message.
As cheesy as it may sound, the AMC really did start to feel magical. When I was overcome with the stress of schoolwork and adjusting to a new environment in my freshman year, it provided an escape to another world. Even if just for 1-2 hours, immersing myself in the stories on the screen helped ground me in my own story. The ritual of going to see them with my roommate and best friend allowed us to bond and build a special tradition. When I ached for my small shoreline town amid a bustling city, the AMC brought a consistency and warmth that made Boston feel more like home.
Going to see a movie with my roommate at the AMC across the street from our dorm building was one of the first activities we did together upon arriving on campus. It was the night before our first day of college, and though the film, Honey, Don’t!, was not very good, it allowed us to escape from first-day-of-school jitters. It didn’t matter that the film wasn’t the most riveting or artistic; we were there together. My roommate is a film major, and knowing her and her passions has made me love movies even more (we even do our own movie nights sometimes in our dorm). Seeing films together made me feel closer to her, and now, at a film major-heavy school, more culturally aware of the world around me.
My love for movie-going is nothing new. Ever since I can remember, my family always frequented the theater. My dad is especially fond of the movies. No matter how busy we all were, dedicating a few hours on a weekend to the movie allowed us to share in a meaningful experience together. I always looked forward to debriefing our thoughts about the movie over a meal afterwards. In my first semester, when I was especially homesick, going to the theater would remind me of my family and make me feel closer to them when I needed it the most.
I struggled during the first semester to feel like I was truly settling in socially, often feeling lonely, and I was working to be more comfortable with being alone. One night, instead of staying in my dorm alone or waiting for someone to be free to see the movie, I decided to go by myself. I saw (in my opinion, a riveting and fantastic film) Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. It was my first time going to the movies alone; I was anxious and self-conscious that everyone else had a companion, but it healed something inside me. I actually found myself tearing up at the Kidman ad. It seems ridiculous, I know, but truly, I had come to the AMC for magic–to escape when I was feeling out of place and to show myself I could be independent.
It was a very emotional experience for me, where I really began to appreciate how comforting the in-person theater experience can be. In the rise of streaming, I have learned to adore seeing films as they were intended: in their own environment, with high-quality sound and picture, on the big screen, with an audience sharing in collective emotion. Every time I go see a film, I become part of its world; I become part of something bigger than myself.
I recently got an A-list membership to my local AMC that allows me to see up to 4 movies a week for $25.99 (I highly recommend and think it’s so worth it), which has really encouraged me to see movies as frequently as possible. My roommate and I try to go at least once a week, and now I can’t imagine my life here without it. I look forward to the smell of the popcorn, seeing trailers for new movies, sitting next to my roommate, carefully crafting our Letterboxd reviews afterwards, and, of course, seeing Nicole Kidman come on screen and verbalize everything I love about the movies.