Straight No Chaser

Two Days, or, Cinema Show

johnny on friday. shiver shiver shiver.

my brother sucked his teeth and said, disgustedly, "don't you dare go see it more than twice." referring, obviously, to pirates of the caribbean, but thinking, even more obviously, about last year's charlie and the chocolate factory bonanza.

he needn't worry, because i won't. not because i'm suddenly too mature or too resistant to obsession to do something like that again, but because i doubt anything else in the near future will ever recreate my charlie experience from last year. i can honestly say, that's one of the few times i've so easily made myself so happy.

the billboards went up at christmastime 2004. i love most of roald dahl's work and i love johnny depp, so i got very excited, very early. i think the people who advertise movies are geniuses, most of the time, if only for the effectiveness of their teases. a princesque flash of purple velour here, a mischievous pair of eyes capped with top hat there--i got chills for months, watching and waiting. and, because it was johnny, i responded in other ways, too. mostly, though, i was just excited.

and then--and this has only happened maybe twice in my life--the experience totally matched the anticipation. i was just as happy coming out as i'd been going in. i wanted to see it, i saw it, it was fantastic. there is a simplicity and balance to that that makes it more than the sum of its parts. plus, of the thirteen times i saw it in theaters, i only paid twice.

i am sorry. i do know how to be eclectic, i'll often be the first to think that a better way to go, but movies, eh, i'm weak. johnny depp is my one giant mainstream thing, and yes, i'll be seeing his movie this weekend. maybe twice.