At any rate, about a month ago, my brother and I went to see a special 25th anniversary screening of the classic movie "Back to the Future," which is one of my all-time favorite movies. I have a great memory of this movie. I was 10 years old when I saw this with my mom and brother in 1985. A story dealing with time travel and cause-and-effect has the potential to be really complicated, but I was not only able to perfectly understand the movie, but I also enjoyed it from beginning to end. This was one of the movies that made me the movie buff that I am now.
This screening was somewhat similar to the 25th anniversary screening of the movie "WarGames," another classic from the 1980s, which we went to see two years ago.
Here is a link to the article I wrote in the Reading Eagle about the 2002 DVD release back in my journalist days, when I was actually a published movie critic.
I was excited when I heard it was going to be re-released, but my hopes were deflated when I found out the re-release would only take place in Europe. Apparently U.S. screens were overcrowded with high-quality films like Saw VI and movies with talking dogs.
Fortunately, enough people screamed and yelled, and the AMC theater chain was able to show the movie twice over one weekend. We
The movie has aged surprisingly well. Aside from a couple of 80s references like "Pepsi Free," the story and look of the movie have held up really well. The Oscar-nominated screenplay that balances the plot with a great character-centered story is still one of the best in movie history, the production values are great, the special effects are good by 1985 standards, and the DeLorean still looks exotic and cool (although reports from the set said the car was a piece of junk).
I forgot how good the acting actually was in this movie. Michael J. Fox's comic timing is impeccable, Christopher Lloyd has the mad scientist schtick down pat, and Crispin Glover really makes George McFly a unique character, even though they supposedly had some problems with him on the set.
As for the moviegoing experience itself, I couldn't have asked for a better crowd. It was clearly evident the crowd was full of fans, because people started to laugh before some of the movie's signature lines, such as "When this baby hits 88 mph, you're going to see some serious sh**!" I also loved how just about everyone in the theater started bobbing their heads and dancing in their seats to the Huey Lewis classic "The Power of Love." I even asked why the "To be Continued" card wasn't at the end of the movie, and a knowledgeable moviegoer told me that it wasn't in the original theatrical release, and they didn't add it until it was released on VHS. (that's a videotape that plays in a VCR for all of you young kids out there).
Of course it was fun watching it with my younger brother, because I saw the movie with him 25 years ago, and he also noted that we saw it in the 2-screen cinema inside the Plymouth Meeting Mall, which was located about 500 feet from the much more modern 10-screen multiplex we saw this re-release in. I even got him to admit that BTTF was a better movie than "The Blues Brothers." ha!
Overall, this was a great experience, and, even though I was sick for the next two weeks after seeing this movie, I was glad I took the time to check this out.
