For the first time in well over a year, I have gone to the movies. Until at least July, when I’ll be at Joe Bob’s Drive-In Jamboree, that is going to have to do for excitement. Because it was indeed pretty exciting to step into a movie theater again. I realize the risks are still there, but if the theater isn’t particularly busy, and my wife and I are done with our vaccinations for now (we are), we decided my 36th birthday was as good a day as any to roll the dice.

I was looking forward to taking the leap, despite the intense inherent anxiety in doing so, and to the chance to see Godzilla vs. Kong on a suitable screen. Even so, I went still feeling much of the same way I have about theaters for the past few years. Somewhere along the line of my adult years, movie theaters dropped in quality, became worse in terms of bad behavior by patrons, and largely lost any of the appeal that justified the ever-rising costs of going.

Even after months upon months of a pandemic, which is still going on, I only missed going to the movies on a very basic level. I missed it as much as I missed most things that involved leaving the house. Over the past few years, seeing a good movie at a really good theater became a rare event.

However, despite still having a lukewarm relationship with seeing a movie in theaters, watching a movie in theaters with my wife was something I also missed more than I would have guessed. I’m still not sure I’ll ever get back to getting really excited about going to the movies, but absence has put the heart closer to that notion than it has been in quite some time.

Having hardly anyone else in the theater probably contributed to the good time we had. If so, I’m grateful. By being able to focus solely on the big screen experience, I was able to remember what I liked about it. There is something still to be said for seeing something in an actual theater.

As the year goes on, and as hopefully it becomes safer to go more often, I’m curious to test what a pretty formidable flicker of interest. Getting back to the world, even with small steps, is going to mean trying to enjoy going out again. Movies in their own way could help me to achieve that, and I guess that’s the most interesting thing about this.

Corvette Summer (1978): B-

If you’ve been dreaming of a movie where Luke Skywalker and Janine Melnitz go on an insane late-70s adventure to wrest a customized Corvette Stingray from professional car thieves, I have some incredible news for you in the form of the largely-forgotten Corvette Summer.

While not a masterpiece by any means, it’s a shame Corvette Summer is generally only mentioned as some sort of punchline. While the movie can certainly drag at times, it remains a charming product of its time, throwing a lot of weird circumstances and plot on the screen. Hammill keeps up nicely, proving early on that he could do more than Star Wars.

It is also a relentless delight to see him with Annie Potts, who also seems to be impossible to dislike in most of the things she’s done over the years. While her character was a little sloppily written, Potts plays the rookie prostitute with a lavish, hysterical commitment. Another person where you see them in this, and it is not difficult to see how they later went on to high profile gigs across a range of titles and genres.

Simply put, if you like these two, and who the hell doesn’t, you’ll like Corvette Summer.

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street (2021): A+

Based on the book by Michael Davis, and directed by Marilyn Agrelo, Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street is as effortlessly charming as you might imagine.

However, while the film could probably have gone into even greater detail, this is not a movie that’s pulling punches. While virtually everyone from the glory days of the PBS juggernaut is present, including co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney, the deeper history of the people behind this iconic show is explored to a very satisfying degree.

Again, it really just comes down to not having as much time with this story as I might like. For example, it would be pretty interesting to learn more about the goodhearted, charismatic, and ultimately very complex director of the show for several years, Jon Stone. That is to be expected. This is a affecting, vital account of a television program that really did change the world.

And when you’re done with that, go watch I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story free on Tubi. You’ll be glad you did.

Damn Yankees (1958): B+

If you only know Tab Hunter (Pink Flamingos) and Ray Walston (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) from the work they did later on in life, it might be time to change that with one of the most famous Broadway musicals. The best part? The plot, in which an older man sells his soul to Satan for baseball fame, is impressively timeless.

After all, the New York Yankees, whose dominance of the sport inspires the premise here, are still the best team money can buy.

Anyway, fame proves weird, as fame often will. As long as you don’t mind the fast-paced conversational style that follows movies such as these, you should be fine. Damn Yankees is virtually impossible to dislike, with high production values, distinctive choreography, and great performances. Look for All in The Family’s Jean Stapleton as an impressively annoying (I love her, calm down) old biddy.

Fried Barry (2020): A+

How to describe Fried Barry? This can prove to be more difficult than you might suspect.

Because while I can give you a pretty straightforward synopsis, an alien presence invades the body of a homeless drug addict (an utterly incredible Gary Green), and takes him for what is essentially a joyride through the manic, pounding streets of Cape Town, South Africa. That is the entirety of the movie in a nutshell.

Yet as you will soon discover, Fried Barry gets profoundly stranger and more disturbing, as things go on. Things also go very quickly in this world. It is impossible to feel secure in this world, and the movie digs at this fact repeatedly.

One of the strangest and wildest rides I’ve taken in quite some time. Visually, the film is incredible, and it impressively never runs out of things to show you.

Blue Caprice (2013): B-

It is staggering to my mind that it has been nearly 20 years since the 2002 D.C. Sniper Attack. Because this is something that happened in America, where we like senseless gun violence more than just about anything in the whole wide world, it has the bones of something that happened centuries ago.

Blue Caprice, exploring this story with one of the most haunting approaches to pacing, lighting, and performance that I have ever seen, is a masterpiece retelling of what led up to that horrible day. The movie benefits tremendously from an unpretentious psychological-based look at a man named John Allen Muhammad, and the effortlessly chilling relationship he shared with Lee Malvo.

It was Malvo, a lonely teenager, who was taken in by Muhammad. Their relationship was one of a father and son, and it is clear that Muhammad, regardless of what he actually believed, was willing to use that love to gain an ally.

Blue Caprice is another reminder of just how much blood stains our weary infrastructure. As you can imagine, it is a fairly depressing film. It is also wholly brilliant.

Gabriel Ricard writes, edits, and occasionally acts. His books Love and Quarters and Bondage Night are available through Moran Press, in addition to A Ludicrous Split (Alien Buddha Press) and Clouds of Hungry Dogs (Kleft Jaw Press). He is also a writer, performer, and producer with Belligerent Prom Queen Productions. He lives on a horrible place called Long Island.