j.lowe : making and finding stuff

yeah i think this is ironic

I grew up in a small town on the Oregon Coast. The closest movie theater was 16 miles north. I remember seeing several films there. It had one screen, cheap popcorn, old seats. Perfect.

All the movies I saw there were popcorn flicks.

Dances with Wolves. My Girl. Ghostbusters 2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit*. Dick Tracy. Naked Gun 2 1/2. Back to the Future III. Kindergarten Cop.

I was a nine year old with a subscription to Entertainment Weekly.

This was the only Entertainment Weekly I didn't get to read when it arrived in the mail due to this cover

I was making my own movies with the camcorder my grandpa bought my dad at home. Ghost Code (in which I would dissapear and re-appear in places by having my dad start and stop filming). Crime Stopper Jones – a two scene film showing the repurcussions of shoplifting (my dad and I play cops who chase after mom, we pull her over and I tell her she’s under arrest for ’shoplifting, dangit!’).

I enjoyed movies for their creativity – for the worlds they took me to. I cried when Macauley Culkin died in My Girl. I was shocked when the baby in Roger Rabbit said a swear word (I think it was ‘damn’). I laughed along to Leslie Neilson with my cousin Denise.

Then something big happened in 1991.

The old theatre shut down and a new one (with three screens!) opened up in Newport.

I was there on opening night to see Hook (not a great movie). Back the next night for Beauty and the Beast. And back shortly after that for a Star Trek movie. I had thought it was one with Patrick Stewart but I guess it was the Undiscovered Country. I remember some special effects involving red bubbles…

it must have been this:

Movies were an escape for me. Not that I had a bad childhood. I was blessed with great parents.

I will never forget driving into Springfield, Oregon with my mom and brother Travis. We had just visited my brother Tyler – Travis’ twin who was in a nursing home in Eugene, Oregon. We’d drive to see him almost every weekend. Four hours round trip.

In the distance near the mall we were about to explore I saw a sign. A large sign. MOVIES 12.

I couldn’t believe it. “MOVIES 12! THEY HAVE 12 SCREENS?”

If I recall correctly I immediately convinced my mom to see a double feature of Nothing But Trouble and Kindergarten Cop (which I had just seen with her two nights before in Newport).

Man. My poor mom! No mom should have to endure Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd:

(let alone the amount of sitting we did that day!)

Eventually I got to start watching more adult movies. I remember asking my mom how guys had sex, before we saw Philadelphia. She hesitated thinking maybe I was too young to see the movie. We went anyways. It was amazing.

My dad took my brother and I to see Terminator 2 in Portland, Oregon. Possibly my first R rated movie in the theatre. There was so much hype about how much money Cameron had spent on the film, we decided we had to see it. It was a blast.

But it was nothing compared to seeing Pulp Fiction in the theater in 1994. I was in middle school. I don’t think I had ever seen a movie that didn’t follow a three act structure. It went to some dark places. It was shocking. Funny. Great use of music. I have never been more blown away walking out of a movie. When I got home there was a news piece about not letting your kids see it. Dad looked at me. “Too late” I said.

Kids can handle more than you think.

I remember seeing Leaving Las Vegas with two friends in Newport. My mom picked us up. We got in the car and she said “Anyone want to go get a drink?” We all laughed. No thank you.

(The funny thing is I’m not sure she remembered what Leaving Las Vegas was about. I think she was genuinely offering to stop somewhere so we could get sodas)

There was one movie I anticipated seeing for a long time while growing up. It was CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. The trailer and poster sparked a curiosity in me. It looked like nothing I had ever seen before. It looked like by watching it you would literally enter another world of imagination. It looked stunning. I feel like it took a year before it got anywhere close to an Oregon screen – or at least to an Oregon screen I was close to.

Finally my family was in Portland and it was showing downtown. I was going to go see it by myself. I walked up to the theatre doors which were cracked open. Flys were buzzing all around. I got nervous. The theatre seemed sketchy. I decided to wait for video.

When Waldport Video got a copy in, I was first to rent it out. Ironically, I feel asleep during the first ten minutes.

BTW- kinda wierd for a foreign film to have a videogame made after it, eh?

There are a few more movies and experiences I could share with you. Seeing The Sweet Hereafter at the Portland Creative Conference. My feelings walking out of Fight Club. Why I think Wings of the Dove is amazing. Watching great ’90s comedies like Defending Your Life.

But now it’s time for you to share some memories … leave comments below!

*Of all the movies I mentioned this one still holds up – it’s like LA CONFIDENTIAL for kids. Brilliant. Also the effects still look good some 20 years later. I think the way everything was puppeted (all the props were puppeted by strings and wires and poles) is still genius. A lot of work used to go into shooting stuff. Now everyone just puts a lot of work into post-production!