Name: Shea Serrano
Location: San Antonio, TX
Occupation: Writer
Links: GOOD MOVIE
Ps. ORGANIZING THINGS, a podcast by GOOD MOVIE, coming September 1st.
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
This one is easy. I see pretty much everything at the theater, and I like seeing the stuff the first day it comes out. That’s why my favorite day and time to go to the movies is Thursday evening, because that’s the first day the new stuff is released at the theater by my house. It’s the movie version of how I used to buy CDs on Tuesdays back when I was in college.
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
I wish I had a more romantic answer here. I wish I could say something like the dollar theater in (which is where my dad would take me and my sisters when we were growing up because it was the only theater he could afford to take us) or The Mayan Theater (which is the first theater I ever made out with a girl in) or Westlakes Theater (which became my go-to theater when I was in high school). But my actual answer is the IMAX Palladium. That’s the one I go to now. It’s the nicest theater in town, and it has a bar in it that my wife likes to get drinks, and I’ve accrued enough loyalty points there to keep a small family fed in free nachos for a year.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
It’s entirely dependent on what I’ve eaten earlier in the day. If I had a big lunch, then I usually go with something small like Gummy Clusters and a soda. If I had a moderate lunch, then I usually do something like a hot dog, regular nachos, and a soda. If I skipped lunch entirely, then I usually get this thing called the Epic Nachos (it’s this big order of chips, cheese, chicken, jalapenos, and pico de gallo) with a soda and whatever candy I happen to want at the time.
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
I’m not above sneaking food into the movies—I’ve done it many times in the past and will continue to do it until I get caught. That being said, there’s a fast food spot in San Antonio called Chacho’s that has my favorite bean and cheese nachos. The packaging is a little too big for me to smuggle in. I wish I could have that while watching a movie. That would be awesome.
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Kickboxer in 1989. I will never forget it. I was 8 years old at the time, and we got there a few minutes late, so the first thing I saw up on that giant screen when we walked in was a guy getting his spine broken by a psychopath during a kickboxing fight. I was hooked immediately.
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
I’m answering these questions on a Friday morning. Last night, I went and saw The End of Oak Street.
7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
There are a ton. If you’re talking about current options, I wish I’d have been able to see Is God Is at the theater. I didn’t even know it existed until I saw it pop up for rent on Amazon. That movie fucking rips. Highly recommend it.
If you’re talking about all-time, though, then that’s for sure Robocop. I can’t even imagine how hype it would’ve been to be in a theater watching Robocop walk into that corner store the first time he was up on the screen. That would’ve been so great.
8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?
Oh, definitely. Especially if it’s a movie that was designed specifically to be watched in a theater (like, say, The Odyssey because of its spectacle, or Obsession because of the communal energy of horror movies, or even Ford v Ferrari because of the sound design).
9. Do you stay through the credits or leave as soon as the film ends?
I’m typically with my wife and kids and nieces, so we’re out of there pretty quick once the movie’s over. What we do is we leave the movie, then we stand in the lobby in a little circle and talk about what we’ve just watched. It’s one of my favorite traditions.
10. What’s one thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
They could definitely be cheaper. I was just talking to my son last night about a trip to the movies he had with his girlfriend and he said he got one combo snack meal and an extra drink and it cost him $40. And that’s crazy. People shouldn’t have to take out a payday loan to go watch something at the theater.
11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.
There are a bunch that jump to mind. I remember feeling like my brain had been dropped into a pot of sizzling grease when I watched Kickboxer as a kid like I explained earlier. I remember feeling like the world opened up as a teenager when I saw The Matrix for the first time. I remember feeling like I couldn’t breathe during the table scene in Training Day when I watched that in college. I remember my youngest son (who was a toddler at the time) very loudly asking “What’s ‘fucking ants’?” when John C. Reilly says “It’s fucking ants” in Kong: Skull Island. I remember emotion shooting through my body when that iconic Rocky score finally played right before the final round of the final fight in Creed. I could go on and on and on. I love movies, man.
12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
The two at the top of my list right now are Robert Pattinson’s Primetime and the final Dune movie. I think those two are gonna be so, so great.
13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?
I think Inde Navarrette has given the best performance of the year so far, so let’s put her in something with a chance to be really good. And if you want a movie that you can be totally confident is gonna be really good regardless of subject matter, then I think Ryan Coogler is the first call you make. So give me those two together.
14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
I wanna live in Big Trouble in Little China. Magic karate is real cool to me.
15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?
Because seeing movies in theaters is the best possible thing.
Is God Is was not promoted like it needed to be and it makes me sad! I saw it and there was only one other person at my screening the night it came out
The baby asking “what’s fucking ants?” made me lolllll