If it weren’t for the drive in here in town, I wouldn’t get to have any fun at all. I figured that I’ve seen 8 movies so far this summer at the drive in. Well, maybe 7 1/2 if you want to get technical. There has been “Spider-man 3″, “Shrek 3″, “Pirates of the Carribbean: At Worlds End”, “Live Free or Die Hard”, half of “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”, “Transformers” and now “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “Evan Almighty”. Considering it’s only July 14, that’s a lot of movies! And I may have been able to see only one or two of those without the drive in.
Liam enjoys it and already sort of “knows the drill”. He enjoys the prelude to the movie, where we all hang out and eat (sometimes, like last night, we eat dinner there) and talk and goof off. Last night was no exception. He munched happily on Kix, graham crackers, french fries and movie popcorn. He just likes being a part of the crowd and being where he can watch everyone and holler at them as he feels the need to. Harry has a good time running around with his best friends while we holler at them to stay within a pre-designated area. Last night, however, there was an “incident” as Harry got a grievous wound on his leg from trying to jump up on top of a fence section. The drama surrounding that particular incident was pretty amusing, I have to say. You would have thought he was near death.
The movie started and the boys settled into the back of our van which is fluffed with many blankets, pillows and sleeping bags. All of us adults camped out on folding chairs and Kile held Liam who enjoyed sitting on our laps to watch “Harry Potter” and snack on popcorn and Whoppers. He fell asleep about halfway through the movie, though his big brother had probably fallen asleep a good 20 minutes before he did. The movie was great. I had a hard time focusing on it for the first 20 minutes or so but soon settled into the story. The breeze was cool and the night was beautiful. Perfect for the drive in. One could even pretend we weren’t in the middle of the ghetto to watch this thing.
That is, until the movie was over and there was a “scuffle” between a couple of the viewers. I’m still a little unclear as to what exactly happened but I think one car accidentally backed into another when they were trying to leave. The driver of the car was a young gal and she had what can only be described as a “punk ass boyfriend”. This boyfriend was hopped up on SOMETHING cuz he bounced out of the car and proceeded to go up and brandish himself to this poor family as if they were the ones who had hit the car he was in, instead of the other way around. Then, he proceeded to KICK this other car. By this time, everyone around had seen what was going on and a few big, burly fellows stepped in a threatened to call the cops and send this punk to jail. We, on the other side of the fence, just watched (and munched on our popcorn, cuz this was a pretty good show). Eventually, the punk ass boyfriend took off running and the “rent-a-cop” showed up along with the theater management. Statements were recorded, both involved parties left and the show was over. I was left to wonder who in their right mind tries to start a fight at a “Harry Potter” movie??
We stayed for the double feature, “Evan Almighty”. The boys pooped out in the back of the van pretty early on in the film. They were so cute back there. And it was a cute movie. Not the greatest, but just about right for that particular moment. And who doesn’t love some Steve Carrell? I was just impressed that I was able to stay awake for the entire thing. It was a little touch and go around the middle of the film but I made it. And it didn’t end as late as I would have expected. We were in the van and headed home at a quarter after 1am and I was thinking surely we would be there until 2. I’m glad we stayed and I’m so glad we went. I had a simply fantastic time. And damn, I love that drive in. Whatever will I do in the winter when it’s closed down for the season??
