Cloudy With a Chance of Memories

When we were kids, my brothers and I used to go to the "Grove Cinema." Our time together was often much like a scene from a movie itself. Times were different then, and our parents gave us a little extra slack. There was less worries about kidnappings, and the like, and while we always walked in a group, we were also sans parents. It all seems so innocent, going to a Saturday morning matinee, and it was. I remember we saw "The Bad News Bears," and on our walk home, we pretended we were on a baseball team. There was an imaginary ball, we had imaginary gloves, an imaginary bat, and we ran real circles around each other being baseball heroes. There was nothing "bad news" about our teams. We were always the best, and we were always a team.

The Grove Cinema was one of those stereotypical dumpy movie houses. The floors were always sticky from spilled sodas, and they were cluttered with discarded candy wrappers and empty boxes of popcorn. I don't think they ever cleaned the place. But we loved going there because it was an escape. Not that our lives were horrible, but step into a cinema, and you are immediately in another world, like outer space--kind of. It was 1977, and we went with a group of friends to see "Capricorn One." I'm sure the movie was way over my seven year old head, but I went anyway. I only remember a little bit about the movie; the space mission was fake. I was both too young and too distracted. One of our friends brought his even younger little brother with us. The entire time, the kid ran up and down the aisles yelling, "Is this the Marathon Man? Is this the Marathon Man?" Funny thing was, no one stopped him. He just did what he wanted and shouted as loud as he could.

The Grove Cinema closed down for a very long time. This was when the multiplex was becoming THE place to watch a movie. Who would go to an old theater, with poor sound, no stadium seating, and sticky floors, when you could get the opposite experience elsewhere? Woodfield Mall had three theaters within walking distance of each other: two outside and one in the mall. Then a new shopping center was built across from the Mall, and with it came another 12 or so additional screens. Eventually, the theaters at Woodfield closed, and The Grove Cinema re-opened.

We like to go to the movies now as a family, and if possible, we try to frequent our local theater. The Grove Cinema (now called Classic Cinemas Elk Grove Theater) attempts to keep up with the multiplexes. They've added four new theaters with stadium seating, and they are building some more. The sound quality has improved, and the theater is mostly clean when we go. While kids are sometimes loud, I've never really seen a boy running up and down the aisles yelling. Tonight, in fact, we were the only ones in the theater when we took the kids to see "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." It was like we were watching the movie in our very own screening room.

My only complaint would be the industry's move to 3-D. I miss the simplicity of the movies, sometimes. Special effects are one thing, but charging me an extra $2 so things can seem like they are shooting out at me, is not worth it. I may sound like an old curmudgeon, but give me a group of misfit kids on a baseball team, or the excitement of a fake moon mission anytime. You can keep your Harry Caray glasses, and let me enjoy my movie.