Movies

Marshmallows plop into my bowl leaving the comfort of their plastic bag to prepare for their inevitable fate. Most people use popcorn but to me marshmallows are always the perfect movie food. I guess it has to do with the movie nights Mum used to have. When a movie would have a certain type of food as a plot point, she would prepare some of that food to watch during the film. So, we had fun-sized chocolate bars when watching Willy Wonka, and we would have marshmallows when watching Ghostbusters. The latter was always my favourite, and so we watched it a lot, and we had marshmallows a lot. Therefore I’ve always had marshmallows with my movies, as if eating them would magically make the movie better.

Mum may not be here, but I’m still going to have a movie night by myself. I’ve not only rented out a movie, I’ve rented out three movies. All of them have to go back tomorrow, but I still got out three with little intention of watching all of them in a single night. Choosing which movie to watch adds an element of challenge to the night, and in most cases, the blurb of the DVD is better than the movie itself.

So, which of these three movies should I choose? I pick up the first movie I chose to rent: The Shawshank Redemption. I remember seeing that film on TV a while ago, and I really enjoyed it so I thought I might as well rent it. As I read the blurb of the DVD container, I began to remember everything I could about the film. A man got sent to prison for killing his wife, even after claiming he didn’t do it. Being ‘law-abiding’, I had never thought much about prison or what it would be like until I saw that movie. To think you could spend life there for something you didn’t even do! Still, you would probably have a friend there, and you could find a way to escape ... but I still wouldn’t fancy the sodomy and solitary confinement.

That’s enough thinking about that film, I think. Let’s choose something else.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Every movie fan needs to have seen Star Wars, I think. The Empire Strikes Back was always my favourite, but that’s probably because of the whole ‘I am your father’ thing. I always like seeing that spoofed. Maybe I won’t watch the whole film, maybe just that scene.

There, that could justify the multiple rentals. I just watch scenes from these movies. Maybe I’ll imagine my own story about how those scenes came to be too. What was my favourite scene of The Shawshank Redemption? The ending, I think. I’ll just watch the ending and imagine how it got there. Or would that be wise? The ending is effective because of what transpired before it, though, so the ending would mean nothing if watched alone, wouldn’t it? Also, if I just wanted to watch certain scenes, I could have just used Youtube. Wouldn’t have cost anything either.

What was the third movie I got out again. Oh yeah, Aladdin. I’m pretty sure I only got that out for certain scenes as well. The musical numbers. Those are on Youtube too, I bet. Still, I suppose I have to watch it. I’m pretty sure the person at the counter had an odd look in his eyes when I brought it there, so I should make the night worth that look.

I’ve already eaten one of the marshmallows. Might as well get watching.

So I pop in The Empire Strikes Back, and, like I promised myself, I use the scene selection to go the ‘I am your father’ scene. Mark Hamill and the demonic knight confronting each other with those mighty blades. The fear and confusion when the reveal makes its appearance. Much better than the prequels.

I think I ate half of my marshmallows during that scene.

Should I watch the rest? Or Aladdin now? Shawshank?

Come to think of it, I’m too tired. I’m not in a movie watching mood. I’ll just go to bed and take them back tomorrow. It wasn’t really a waste of money; thinking about them is as good as watching them, right?