- The first time I remember, consciously, going to the movies was to see the movie Titanic (theatrical run of 10 months between 1997-1998) with my mother. I remember there being a long line to get in. I also, for some reason, new beforehand that there was a scene where Kate Winslet was nude and I fully expected my mom to raise her hand in front on my eyes to block the view. At the beginning of the scene I kept looking with the corner of my eye to track her movements but the block never arrived. I wasn't even 10 years old I believe.
- I guess that whole evening stuck with me because it out of the ordinary since while growing up my parents never took me to the movies. I think that's because neither of them spoke or could truly understand English and they preferred to simply catch them in Spanish whenever the local channels got the rights to it.
- In 1998 I was at the mall with my mother and she was bored out of her mind and she said for me to pick a movie to watch. I picked The Waterboy. Yikes.
- In 1999 came the first time I remember my father taking me, my mother and brother to the theater. The Phantom Menace. Darth Maul sure made an impression on me, and it was clear that this Star Wars thing was synonymous with "an event".
- Before I could or would decide to go to movies by myself I only went to the theater during the summer in summer camp. From 1999 to 2002 we went to a relatively small and isolated cinema complex and saw Wild Wild West, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (not that bad by comparison) among others.
- By 2004, unbeknownst to me, I was being indoctrinated by my high school teachers which homework assignments included Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Motorcycle Diaries (a biopic about the journey and written memoir of a 23-year-old Ernesto "Che" Guevara).
- 2005 looks like the definitive year in which I started to take agency about which films I decided to see at theater. Among them Batman Begins (twice), Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and the first time me and my friends decided to dare buy tickets for an R movie (our oldest looking member bought them): Saw II.
- Then in 2006, for reasons we shall not discuss, what we may call a Movie Cambrian Explosion occurred. Let’s take a look at the graph:
- In the peak year of 2009, according to my records, I saw 26 films in the theater that out of the total 37 theatrical releases I have rated for the year 2009. That's 70% of all the films that I saw in 2009. That % is certainly higher since I have seen 37 films from the year 2009 but not all of them in 2009 but I digress. Point being that I loved going to the movies.
- That number started to fell precipitously when, among other reasons, different high quality methods to watch films became an option.
- By the beginning of the 2010's I started questioning why I was putting myself through the ordeal of watching movies in the theater where inconsiderately individuals were making my experience miserable when I could enjoy them from the comfort of my home.
- December 22nd 2016 I saw 3 movies (Nocturnal Animals, Jackie and Rogue One) in 2 theaters, I consider this to be my last official day as a "regular" movie goer.
- 2017: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the last film I have seen in the theater.
- 2018: have not seen a single film in the theater so far and I predict that shall continue for the foreseeable future.