15 Questions With Madison Huizinga, Writer
"An Auntie Anne’s x AMC collab would mean a lot to me, personally."
Name: Madison Huizinga
Location: Los Angeles
Occupation: Writer and marketer
Links: Cafe Hysteria
1. What’s your favorite day & time to go to the movies?
7pm on a Saturday. Gotta save time for a debrief after!
2. What’s your favorite movie theater?
It’s a tie between Williamsburg Cinemas in Brooklyn, NY, and the AMC Kabuki in San Francisco, CA. Williamsburg Cinemas has such a cozy, neighborhood feel. I love the classic popcorn buckets and the retro intro that plays before the movie starts. I saw Challengers, Poor Things, and Saltburn there in sold-out theaters and remember the audiences being so engaged.
The AMC Kabuki in SF has the vibe of the bustling suburban AMC theaters I grew up going to. It’s always full of groups of friends and young and old couples on dates, popcorn crunching underfoot. The audiences are very reactive - it’s the perfect place to see a blockbuster like Wicked or Sinners.
3. What’s your go-to movie theater snack & drink combo?
Popcorn with butter and peanut M&Ms. It’s salty, it’s sweet, it’s nutty, it’s everything. I usually wash it down with water, but I’m a sucker for a cherry ICEE.
4. What’s your dream movie theater snack & drink combo (if noise and sound weren’t an issue)?
A lot of movie theaters already offer pretzel bites, which I think are fabulous. An Auntie Anne’s x AMC collab would mean a lot to me personally.
On the other end of the spectrum, a charcuterie board and a glass of wine in the theater sounds equally fabulous.
5. First movie you remember seeing in a theater?
I have hazy memories of seeing Ratatouille and Cars in a theater. But the first movie I remember truly rocking my world in the theater was Up.
6. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Wicked: For Good at a one-hundred-year-old theater in eastern Washington State.
7. Is there a movie you wish you could have seen in a theater?
So many! I would have loved to see the sweeping landscape shots in No Country for Old Men and Brokeback Mountain in the theater.
I would have loved to see Twilight opening night in the theater to experience that buzzing energy.
8. Have you ever seen a movie more than once in theaters?
I’m a chronic re-watcher of movies in theaters. I saw La La Land, Anora, and Challengers twice because I liked those movies so much that I needed to experience them in theaters with my friends and family.
I saw the first Jurassic World three times because I kept getting invited by different friend groups and didn’t want to miss out on the fun.
9. Do you stay through the credits or leave once the film ends?
Unless it’s a Marvel movie and it’s 2016, I’m usually leaving as soon as the credits roll.
10. One thing you would change to make movie theaters better?
I would force studios to release more movies in theaters, or at least extend their theatrical run! Watching movies in the theater with a full crowd makes the experience so much more fun.
11. Tell me about an especially memorable moviegoing experience that stands out in your mind.
Around a year ago, I went to an IMAX screening of Interstellar for the film’s tenth anniversary. I had previously only watched Interstellar on my Samsung TV at home, and didn’t love it on the first viewing. But seeing it in the theater completely blew me away - I cried four times, and one of those times was just because of the sheer sound of the IMAX film.
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12. What’s a movie you’re looking forward to seeing?
Marty Supreme!
13. What’s your dream combination of director and lead(s)?
I want Glen Powell to have a kind of McConaughey arc. I would love to see him lead a big Christopher Nolan movie or a more tender film, maybe something written by Greta Gerwig or Noah Baumbach.
14. If you could live in a movie, which one would it be?
I would love to live in the Call Me By Your Name house. Hanging out all day, running and biking through fields, eating delicious-looking food. Looks like bliss.
15. Why do you think people should continue seeing movies at the movie theater?
Laughing, crying, screaming, and sitting in complete silence with strangers is a rare and precious experience. The audience and the films themselves both benefit from experiencing movies in the most optimal setting, which is a theater. It’s a quiet kind of community that we need to protect!
AMC Kabuki is great. I saw Marjane Satrapi there smoking a cigarette in the lobby during the SF International Film Festival back in the day. Also, having gone to one of the midnight premieres of Twilight, I can attest that the energy was BONKERS. (and there were a lot of fake plastic teeth)
Twilight mention: beautiful start to the year