15 Moviegoing Questions With David Thomson, Film Critic/Author
"I'm against any food in theaters. I think we're there to digest an imagined thing, so any other digestion is distracting."
Name: David Thomson
Location: San Francisco
Occupation: Film Critic/Author
Links: Read David’s new book A Sudden Flicker of Light, A Revisionist History of Movies:
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
10 am, any weekday — the best time for press screenings.
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
The Granada, Tooting, in South London. It has not been a movie theater for decades, but I treasure it as it was in the late 40s and 50s, as the most fabulously decorated cinema I have ever known.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
I am against any food and drink in theaters. It sounds stuffy, maybe, but I think we are there to digest an imagined thing. So any other digestion is distracting.
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
See above.
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
All of Babylon Berlin.
8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?
Frequently. I saw The Big Sleep three times in one day. First the wonder that it existed, the second viewing as proof, the third beginning to learn it.
9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?
I see the credits. Often they contain valuable information. And they help transition our return to life.
10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
Improve the movies.
11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.
The San Francisco press screening of Eyes Wide Shut. After about an hour the film broke down. We had to leave the theater. A long wait. Then news that the distributor said we had to start again from the beginning. Such moans of disbelief and distress that the distributor agreed to let it resume where it had left off.
12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
The next Paul Thomas Anderson picture.
13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?
Ernst Lubitsch directing James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. It happened! It’s called The Shop Around the Corner.
14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
Red River. From when I first saw it I wanted the cattle drive to go on forever and I wanted to be one of the cowboys.
15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?
For the sheer mad size and the feeling of watching with a crowd of strangers, laughing and being afraid together.
Absolute purist. As a film major, we read David Thomson all the time. Can’t wait to read this book!
oh shit! he used to do a programming series every year at the Pacific Film Archive when I was in college. One time I saw Cleo From 5 to 7 followed by Shampoo with introductions by him. He also programmed Shop Around The Corner every year, so I got to see that one on the big screen a few times.