My Last Stand.

Original post: May 26, 2006

This evening, I went to see X-Men 3, and almost had it ruined for me. Let's recap, shall we?

After I got out of work, I went home and changed as quickly as possible. Chris was going to meet me there and I was going to drive the rest of the way. I had to skip the delicious dinner my mother had prepared in order to make any reasonable showing. Chris tells me he'd be there in ten minutes. Twenty minutes later, he's still nowhere in sight. I thought he'd run out of gas, 'cause he did say he was low.

AMC Hamilton was PACKED. It was 8:05, and all the showings until 11:10 were sold out. "I'm not waiting that long. Let's go to Regal," said Chris. "I hate Regal," I said. "So do a lot of people, which means there will be available showings." The man makes a good point.

So, we drive all the way back to Burlington to the shitty Regal Cinemas. We paid the amazingly expensive price for the tickets and found our way to the theater. Chris decided we should sit in the first row of the balcony section, right behind the railings, so we could put our feet up. As more people start to pour in, seating gets tight. Soon, this guy comes in and sits down right next to me. The entire rest of the aisle on my side is empty. Fine, I'll be uncomfortable. Nothing is going to deter me from seeing this film.

The movie starts and the guy starts making comments about the movie to his girlfriend, or whatever she was. Whereas most people, if they have to say something during the movie, will turn to that person and say it at a reasonable volume, so as not to annoy the other moviegoers. This man had never heard of such a concept. He kept his face toward the screen, and in order to make sure he was heard, said it loudly. Chris and I exchanged glances.

During one key moment, when Professor X was explaining what happened to Jean Grey, he proclaimed "That's bullshit." To which, I replied, "Dude, shut up."

It was like a scene out of the movie of my life. He stared forward for a few seconds, then slowly turned his head in my direction. ".....Excuse me?"

Gulp. All right, Ian, time to stand tall. We stared at each other for another few seconds, then I cocked an eyebrow. He said, "You could have said 'Be quiet.'"

Sarcasm took over. "Oh, I'm sorry. Be quiet then."

He returned to the movie, and uttered nary a peep afterward. Ahhh, finally.

Chris turned to me. "I think we're surrounded."
"What?"
"This guy on my side won't shut up, either."
"Jesus..."

So, besides being surrounded by assholes with voice imodulation, people bringing infants to a 9:30 showing, and being in a place I didn't want to be in, the movie was amazing. I think I'll go back when there's less of a crowd, in order to fully enjoy it.