Second Helpings. How Often Do You Have Them?
Monday, June 30, 2014 at 10:02PM Ten years ago today Spider-Man 2 (2004) was released. I loved it so much that I went back the next day for seconds. This is not in my nature. This is so infrequent for me, in fact, that I can remember every single time it's happened. The othertimes being Queen Margot (1994) and Ladyhawke (1985) and, once on DVD if you want to count that, with Trouble in Paradise (1932). Because those four movies are so similar, what.
So I guess my next-day-rewatches are on the same timetable as Cher's #1 singles and Diane Keaton's Oscar nods arriving once per decade; We're due for another.
This still from Sam Raimi's awesome movie (still my choice for best superhero film) neatly sums up how I feel about the hateful reboot franchise which is just wasting so much money and talent (Andrew Garfield, who was supposed to be one of our great new actors, has literally been in nothing else since Social Network and it's been FOUR YEARS). In case you need help interpreting the photo the reboot is James Franco and he's trying to kill the best superhero. Greed ruins everything.
Anyway...
How often have you seen the same movie on consecutive days? I doubt I'll ever start doing this but I will probably end up seeing movies a second time more frequenty than I used to since MoviePass makes the money much less of an obstacle. I saw Snowpiercer today and may actually need to see it a second time to clarify my feelings.
Reader Comments (54)
I once watched "Xanadu" three times in a weekend. I was a first year grad student holed up working on a paper at the time, but that's the only defense I'll offer (as if one is even needed).
I do this all the time. I've seen movies in theaters three times in one week even. There was a cheap second run theater by my house growing up so it wasn't always expensive, but I've done it at the multiplex too. Love that you went back for Queen Margot! Just saw that recently and adored it. I kept taking breaks while I was watching it because I didn't want it to be over.
Twice at the theater. Towering Inferno (don't judge, it was a Richard Chamberlain/Faye Dunaway thing) and Young Frankenstein. But I saw Victor/Victoria 8 times in the theater during its first run and Tootsie 10 times (once each weekend it was in house) so I think I get bonus points.
Can't count DVD as I almost always double watch to catch what I missed the first time (if I liked it that is).
Fellowship of the Ring. Two days in a row, five times in a month. I've never watched a movie immediately following the first showing, though I have plenty of friends who have.
I revisit my favorites quite often, but the only movies I've ever gone to see on consecutive days in theaters were Moulin Rouge! and Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows Part II. With the former, I almost felt like I had to see it again just to make sure that I really did have that kind of awe-inspiring experience in the theater. It was the first time that every element of a film just blew me away, and I couldn't wait to take it in again. It even delayed me from seeing Pearl Harbor (an event that, sadly, wasn't completely avoided).
I know you aren't a fan Nathaniel, but I think those Harry Potter movies are really something special. I'll say it again, Warner Bros. should be beyond commended for infusing such care and resources into this franchise. When the epilogue started and they used that familiar theme from the first movie, I damn near lost it. For all that time we could expect to revisit a great story and characters once a year and suddenly it was done. I went with die-hards opening night and jumped at the chance to go with casual fans the next day.
I used to do that all the time with movies I loved when I rented them on VHS or DVD since you only had a day or two to watch it. Now not so much because it's far more accesible.
I think I've only seen three movies in theaters more than once. First was Juno (twice), then Toy Story 3 (three times, two were consecutive days with the same friend!), and 12 Years a Slave (twice).
Guess my double-viewings are a good Best Picture nomination bellwether.
1989 was the beginning of me seeing things multiple times at the movies. And since I was a small child of six then it wasn't always my choice. Batman, No Holds Barred, Star Trek V, were all titles I saw more than once on the big screen. For 1990 it was Dick Tracy prior to becoming a Madonna fan. In 1991 it was Terminator 2: Judgment Day because it was just too good to not see it again theatrically.
On DVD, I think I watched Moulin Rouge! every day for the first week it was out, but those might not have been full viewings.
In theaters, I've actually done consecutive day screenings quite a few times (Toy Story 3 twice in 12 hours!), almost always because I made plans with different groups of people to see a movie both Friday and Saturday of opening weekend. The only time I ever did it without forethought, just because I was that excited by the movie and had to see it again immediately, was Inland Empire. Which I feel both weird and smug about.
I haven't done this very often, back when I was a film student I saw Nashville one night and took friends with me the next night. I was so blown away by that film. Then next time was All That Jazz, same thing, I just had to see those dance sequences one more time. Four Weddings and a Funeral was so funny I did a repeat viewing 4 days later, (not quite the next day), but pretty close. I haven't done a consecutive viewing since, although I agree with Val that the HP series was great, I went to the last two films at midnight viewings for those. With dvds, I watch some movies twice, it's so easy, and I find I can really observe more the second time.
In Andrew Garfield's defence, he was on Broadway and got a Tony nod for "Death of a Salesman" in 2012, plus he has "Silence" and another promising project coming up. Maybe he's just being selective aside from keeping himself financially well secured with his franchise.
I see movies again all the time, of course, but I can only remember doing the consecutive days rematch twice - the first was when I saw the usual suspects for the first time. I had rented the video, got to the end, had my 14 year old brain blown wide open, and promptly rewound it and started watching again. I then watched it two more times the next day.
The second was just last year, when I saw The Worlds End in theater twice on back to back days.
Also, thanks for the heads up on the movie pass thing. That seems almost too good to be true. I take it you have been happy with the experience so far?
Brokeback Mountain on consecutive days. I have a vague recollection of seeing consecutive screenings of a couple of movies, but I'm blanking on what they were.
I just came back from my third viewing of Edge of Tomorrow. I feel like I have to watch it in the theaters as many times as possible before it's taken off and never played in a movie theater again. Haven't been as excited and pumped up about a movie like this since.........???
Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers. I went three days in a row. I've never done that before. All my friends thought I went barmy.
@Val : Glad you like Harry Potter. The franchise did nothing for me. I watched the first one and was so underwhelmed, I didn't watch the rest. I just couldn't stand the sub par acting, the sub par CGI, the below average direction and the thread bare plot. I've always thought it was a mistake to make the movies before the books were completed.
Never in theatres (sorry, ain't no body got money for that... no matter how much I love movies), but when I was extremely depressed I watched Ghost and Donnie Darko on several consecutive occasions.
Last time it happened: Blue is the Warmest Color and it is three hours long!
I used to do it all the time as a kid, when movies were super cheap and I was unaware of my own death.
Although I like Garfield just fine as a celebrity - the Emma Stone/Arcade Fire factor - as an actor... well, all I can say is, I hope Spiderman keeps him busy for years to come. Because I never used to like it when he turned up in a film I wanted to see.
I always find ambition far outweighs technique in his performances - perhaps less so in Social Network than in the others, but his undergrad-worthy mugging in Never Let Me Go (He's jittery! Like Pacino is! Whoa!) made me break off relations with him for a long time.
Meantime, to answer the actual question - the only time I've seen the same film two days in a row was Moulin Rouge. Partly because it was the only DVD I owned (it was a prize) and my dad just bought a DVD player. But mainly cause of, you know, wtf awesomeness.
Black Swan, two days in a row. I ended up watching it twice more in theatres.
Nathaniel -- i trust you all understand that consecutive days does not imply the only movies i've seen multiple times in theaters. I don't do this a lot at all either. I assume partially because the window to DVD is so short. My record is Breakfast Club cuz I was young and young people have lots of time. I think I saw it 7 or 8 times in theaters. But as an adult the winner is definitely Moulin Rouge! (5 or 6 times) because I knew that once I couldn't see it on the big screen anymore it wouldn't be the same. (it's not - have only watched the DVD three times I think in past 12 or so years but i still love it)
Roark -- there have been glitches and it is a little cumbersome to use BUT if you see at least 3 movies a month at the theater and you have enough theaters in your city that take it (not every theater does but a lot do in NYC) it pays for itself within three movies. One of my friends uses it a few times a week so he's saving tons.
The only major annoyances are 1) you can't pre-order so you have to buy ticket at theater 2) you can only use it once every 24 hours so if you're like me and like a Friday night and then a Saturday afternoon, that doesn't work.
On the plus side I no longer worry about "wasting" money on a second trip to see a movie.
I think the only movies I've seen in theatres twice (though not consecutively) were Black Swan and Toy Story 3.
Danny Boyle's Sunshine. Saw that twice on Saturday, twice on Sunday (in theatres).
goran, have you seen Boy A. I'd highly recommend it before dismissing Garfield's talent. But I don't agree with your comment at all.
@cal Roth--I did it with Blue Is The Warmest Color too! And it wasn't even my first time--my second and third screenings were the ones that were back to back.
The last films I saw twice in theaters were Inside Llewyn Davis and American Hustle, though that was partly because I wanted to take other people to both.
Like many others here, I saw many films repeatedly when I was a kid. The two big ones I recall were Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Dead Poets Society, both of which I saw 7-8 times. My poor grandma ended up taking me to Pee Wee on any number of repeats. What a sport.
@Arkaan : Garfield was quite good in Boy A, but was inconsistent in Never Let Me Go. I think his acting skill is above average, but nothing really special. Dane deHaan is much better.
I had a real Kevin Costner fetish from 89 - 93 and watched all his films needless to say i saw The Bodyguard 5 times at the movies,twice on my own,once with friends and with 2 lots of family,we used to listen to the soundtrack on the way to the theatre.
I haven't seen much with Dane DeHaan, but nothing he's done that I have seen reaches what Garfield did in Boy A, The Social Network, Dr. Parnassus or Never Let Me Go, imo.
Marcie, what did you find inconsistent in his performance in the Romanek?
Marcie: Just watch the third, the first director change-over that changed EVERYTHING. Also: Pretty much nothing in the first two films has long term impact on the rest of the series.
It's not quite consecutive, but I saw both Inside Llewyn Davis and Pacific Rim twice in three days; the former I ended up seeing four times in a cinema total.
@ Arkaan : It's been a while since I saw it, but my opinion about Garfield's performance was that he was there, but not quite. I love the book and when I read that he was cast, I thought that's a good choice because I was quite impressed with Boy A. There were some scenes where he seemed to be overwhelmed by Mulligan, like he didn't quite grasp the essence of his character and his acting just felt flat to me. But in some other scenes he was so on point, so in character and so good. I wish I could be more specific but it's a long time ago. I still like the movie, though. Perhaps I should give him another chance. I haven't seen The Social Network.
@ Volvagia : Funnily enough, my kid brother is renting the whole Harry Potter movies currently and I just watched the fourth one with him (he insisted to show me Emma Watson's spastic eyebrows at their peak) and unfortunately I have to say I didn't enjoy the movie at all. The special effects were okay, but the main weakness was still the acting. I'd probably watch the last two, if only to see whether Watson's eyebrows improve or not. I think they did because she didn't seem to use them that much in Perks of Being a Wallflower. They came back full force in The Bling Ring, though. What's up with that.
Only once. I saw Fellowship of the Ring in consecutive days - the first time I was so enthralled with finally seeing the Middle Earth that had existed in my imagination for so many years, that I needed an immediate second viewing in order to evaluate it as a movie. The true legacy of Jackson's films (even The Hobbit movies) will be the almost perfect production design. Unrivaled by any other fantasy-to-screen translation so far.
I've never seen a film in theaters on back-to-back days, but I have seen two twice within the same weekend: Enchanted, which I saw first with a friend and then decided I just HAD to take my man to see, and Black Swan, because my sister called me while I was in my first screening to ask if I wanted to see it later that weekend, and after seeing it, I could not say no.
Funny enough, I saw Spider-Man 2 four times four days in a row when it came out. Seeing a movie multiple times in theaters is something I do for at least two or three films a year. In fact, in the 2000s, I would see up to six or seven films more than once in a year. That number has slowed down considerably this decade but I've already seen X-Men: Days Of Future Past three times this year and I can't imagine not seeing the Final Hobbit film at least twice (unless it's mediocre or god awful). In terms of personal records, the LOTR films and the Star Wars Prequels (you heard right) are the champs with X-Men 1 & 2, Spider-Man 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II and The Dark Knight Rises not too far behind.
Added Note: I need to restore my Movie Pass membership because matinees are getting harder to wake up for now, lol (I still prefer going to the movies earlier in the day, though).
I don't think I've ever seen the same movie in theaters on consecutive days, but I did go back in the same way to see Magnolia and Serenity. I also saw The Fellowship of the Ring the next week because we got stuck in the front row the first time.
I usually wait until DVD to watch something again, though there have been a few exceptions.
Moulin Rouge! Twice on The same day, Back to back.
I used to do it all the time as a kid, when movies were super cheap and I was unaware of my own death.
Lol. I second that, the second part. Life is way too short, and there're so many other (new) things to do... I don't think I've ever seen a movie consecutively in cinemas. Only when I babysat (!) my nieces have I seen movies consecutively. Disney movies. I still resent Disney, they were an animation monopoly for too long.
I don't think I've ever seen the same movie twice on consecutive days. And right now the only movie I can remember even seeing more than once in a theater is Sister Act, which I saw 3 times (!). I was a big Whoopi fan back then and those musical numbers were pretty exhilerating to a little musical theater nerd like me.
I've sometimes seen movies in consecutive showings! I saw the 4pm matinee of Solaris the day it opened and then the 7pm right afterward. I did that with Primer, Far from Heaven, and Atanarjuat, too. That way it could be a six-hour movie about a sprinting Inuit who doesn't say much. I love that movie. I also used to talkbacks at the local movie theater in graduate school, and the managers would let me see something for free at 4 to think of questions/talking points and then again with the 7pm audience I'd be talking with, without paying. That's what happened with FFH and Atanarjuat, but I also did it with Monster and Monster's Ball and Memento.
To answer Nathaniel's question, I saw Mystic River on consecutive days because I felt self-conscious about not fully responding to it the day before, and to how uneven my reactions were to different elements. The reviews were so amazing that I wanted to try again.
I saw Morvern Callar four times in six days, too.
(@Peggy Sue, why are you so hilarious?)
Huh? I do this all the time. I'd much, much rather watch a good movie multiple times than a bad movie even once.
When I was 12 I went to the theater and saw a double feature of The Sound of Music and Thoroughly Modern Millie. I saw The Sound of Music twice that day and only left the theater because I got in trouble. I went back the next weekend and saw it all over again.
I saw That's Entertainment several times when it was in the theater but I doubt if that counts since it's a compilation.
At BYU I saw Bergman's The Magic Flute at least three times in 24 hours. I saw Dr. Zhivago and Ben-Hur three times each in a weekend at the "budget movie."
I saw Tootsie, Terms of Endearment, The Big Chill and The Right Stuff multiple times in the theater in 1983. BYU was awful and I needed an escape. :-)
I love this Movie Pass. Huge value, especially for those in New York. It does have the drawbacks that Nathaniel already stated. Also, you can't technically use it for the same movie twice, which sucks, because sometimes I would rather see a movie that I loved again rather than spend my time seeing a crappy movie. Oh well, at least I earn hundreds of AMC points!
Now to the question at hand. I used to work at a movie theater, so seeing the same movie two days in a row was never a financial burden for me so my standards are relatively low, but the ones that I can remember are Harry Potter 7 part 1 and 2, both Hunger Games movies, Toy Story 3. Those are just consecutive days. The list would be much longer if I included movies I saw in the theater multiple times, but I won't bore you with that list.
Henry, my soul brother! I saw The Towering Inferno four times in two weeks when it came to the dollar theater near my house. I could not get enough of this old-style star-studded Hollywood blockbuster. John Williams' music! As a kid, it was the most exciting experience ever at the theater. I still love this movie.
I'm pretty sure I did it with every Harry Potter movie. With X-Men: Days of Future Past too, and The Counselor last year. Those were on purpose because I loved the movies so much (yes, I loved The Counselor).
I do that quite often, actually, there's a UK cinema chain that has an 'Unlimited card', you pay a monthly fee and can see as many movies as you'd like (yes, it's as good as it sounds!). Sometimes I'll watch a movie and then the next day a friend will want to see it and I'll just go along, since it's paid for anyway. Off the top of my head I did that with Seeking a Friend to the End of the World, This is the End and Populaire.
@Brookesboy--I heard a good story about the making of Towering Inferno. The extras who were hired for the ball room thought they would retire on the money they were going to make. On one of the first days, the PA called for volunteers for an elevator scene and everyone jumped. It turned out to be the elevator where everyone gets burned and those eager extras only got a couple days work while the rest got weeks.
I loved the Fred Astaire story line in that film.
Everyone should see it. A disaster film before CGI made them all sort of generic.
Henry, Mr. Astaire is so touching in this. I love his story with Jennifer Jones--this sparked a lifelong fandom in me for her! Love at first sight.
So true what you said, real stuff is always better than CGI. This is why the movie looks so great today.
What immediately comes to mind are The Sixth Sense and Gravity, both to feel gobsmacked again, as well as The Hudsucker Proxy (for pure, unadulterated joy).
Jeff - UGH. I didn't notice that you couldn't use it for the same movie twice. I was totally planning to. But still. NYC is so expensive so this card pays for itself even with the limitations.
Julie & Julia! It opened on my birthday (thanks for the present, Meryl!), so we had plans to see it then, but my dad found out there was a midnight screening, and took me as a surprise.