As a film fanatic, a video store employee, and a movie columnist, there are certain questions I get asked very regularly.

Most of these questions are just people who don’t understand my lifestyle and are legitimately curious.

They ask questions like, “Do you have any friends?” or “Are you afraid of direct sunlight?”

Of course I have friends, including several fellow movie fanatics, and of course I’m not afraid of direct sunlight – I have to leave my house all the time to go to the movie theatre.

That being said, the question I am asked most often is, “How do you watch so many movies without spending a fortune?”

I just finished watching Million Dollar Baby, which comes out on DVD on Tuesday, and with nothing really exciting opening at the box office this weekend, it seems like a good time to answer this question.

Of course, the first rule of watching movies on the cheap is learning that when there’s nothing really exciting at the box office, DON’T GO!

Even with Famous Players dropping their prices, I still feel like they’re gouging me every time I fork over ten dollars for a ticket.

But, when it absolutely must be done, the trick is to pick which ones you really want to see, and which ones can wait.

A perfect example of this is Million Dollar Baby. After watching it, I can fully understand why it won Best Picture, although I can think of a few that were better (*ahem* Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.)

I knew Million Dollar Baby would be good, but for a variety of reasons, I was willing to wait until video for it.

For one thing, I’ve never seen a boxing movie I’ve really enjoyed. I’ve seen quite a few that I thought were brilliant, but none that I enjoyed.

Maybe it’s just me, but guys ? or girls for that matter ? beating the snot out of each other just doesn’t appeal to me, and when they glorify the violence, it just makes me a little bit sick.

Furthermore, this is definitely a movie that didn’t really need the big screen or the big sound to enjoy, so watching it at home was every bit as good.

On that note, let me sing the praises of renting.

I will admit at the outset that I have certain biases in favour of renting ? I work in a video store ? but I think the facts speak for themselves.

At any given time, a movie theatre will only be playing ten or so different movies, whereas a video store has thousands of titles to choose from.

Video stores stock movies that for whatever reason never made it into wide theatrical release; these movies, usually independent projects with smaller budgets, are often the best.

Video stores are MUCH cheaper.

Finally, if you go to the video store, you get to talk to intelligent, incredibly good-looking employees like myself, and if you ask nicely, we will take the time to recommend a movie that we believe you will enjoy.

For anyone who chooses to rent a lot, be sure to rent at more than one store. No store has a complete selection, and while Blockbuster may have more copies of a movie that just came out, independent movie stores generally have a much broader selection.

If renting isn’t for you, there are other options.

Whenever I know that I want to see something on the big screen, but I refuse to pay the prices, I turn to the independent cinemas.

As far as these are concerned, every city is different, and since I live in Toronto, I can only really talk about Toronto’s independent movie theatres.

So if you’re from Toronto, this is your lucky day, and if not, you now have one more reason to hate Toronto.

My personal favourite is the Bloor Cinema, an old style movie theatre that plays a wide variety of independent stuff, as well as the cream of the mainstream crop.

All independent cinema listings are in the newspaper. This is true for pretty much any city, and when in doubt, just look below the giant listings that the big multiplexes take out.

For more comprehensive listings, check out theatre web sites and specialty publications. Now Magazine in Toronto has exhaustive listings for independent cinemas, along with critic’s picks to help sort out the good from the bad.

These theatres are almost always cheaper, the screens are often bigger, and the floors are usually delightfully sticky.

Anyway, to sum things up, here are the basic rules for seeing movies on the cheap:

Pick and choose which ones to see in theatres.

Rent movies, especially older movies because video stores usually have great deals on them.

Go to independent theatres because they’re usually cheaper and stickier.
In extreme situations, do what I did. Search for gainful employment at a video store or movie theatre.

That’s all for this week, but before anyone posts nasty comments, I already know that Fantastic Four came out this week.

I deliberately chose not to write about it, because I deliberately didn’t see it. It’s a perfect example of something I will happily wait for video.

From what I can see, it’s just the latest B-grade comic book movie, and it certainly doesn’t seem worth opening-weekend prices.

More importantly though, if Jessica Alba’s invisible, I have nothing to look at.






Related Stories: