Enjoy a Movie at Home

There's nothing quite like going to the movie theater. The sonorous explosions of an action movie, the heart-wrenching emotions of a drama, all on an enormous screen. But sometimes, it's time to enjoy a movie in the comfort of your own home. Here are some steps to improve your home cinema experience.

Steps

  1. Decide whether you will watch alone or with company. When you get home, either call up your friends and invite them over or watch it all alone. It all depends on the experience you want.
  2. Decide what kind of movie you want to watch. Maybe you're craving an action-packed movie? Maybe you're craving a hilarious comedy. Pick a basic genre of movies first. Ask any friends who are joining you for your movie night at home to throw in with their preference and let the majority rule.
  3. Consider choosing a theme. Maybe you will watch all three "Lord of the Rings" films, or "Star Wars", or maybe you'll watch holiday movies. For example, on St. Patrick's Day, you could watch "The Quiet Man" with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; at Christmas, you could choose "A Christmas Story" and "The Family Stone," or "It's A Wonderful Life," or even "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Choosing a theme and letting your friends know what it is ahead of time will allow them to think about which film they'd like to see. You could encourage them to make suggestions and then choose from them.
  4. Choose your movie within the genre you picked in step 1. Try to get a film everyone will enjoy - even if you choose an action movie when someone else wanted a comedy, you may be able to find a happy medium: in this example, "True Lies" or "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" might work.
  5. Get great movie snacks. Try to offer similar choices as you would get at the movie theater, like microwave popcorn, packets of candy, hot dogs! Or you could go all out and provide some crudites (cut up veggies and dip), hors d'oeuvres (tiny quiches that you can heat up in the oven), or even shrimp cocktail (just get some frozen, fully cooked tail on shrimp and thaw it overnight in the fridge, get some cocktail sauce and lemon wedges and you've got a party).
  6. Get comfy. Collect everything you'll need in the room where you'll be watching. You don't want to be bouncing up and down every few minutes, going to get stuff you forgot. Get a drink and some snacks, bring some extra pillows, blankets, or a jacket. Put on your comfy, movie-watching clothes and prepare to settle in.
  7. Chat and catch up for a few minutes before you start your movie. When your pals arrive, you'll all want to talk and blow off a little steam before you settled down to your movie, so allow some time for introductions, a little ice-breaking conversation if your guests don't know each other well, or just a little catch-up before you start the show.
  8. Turn off your cell phones and the handset of your house phone. Try to make the experience as immersive as possible by preventing distractions like phone calls from intruding.
  9. Dim the lights. If you can, try to lower the lights. For the best experience, try to keep what lights you are using behind you and your friends. Lights on between you and the TV are very distracting.

Setting up Equipment

  1. Part of the experience of a good home movie is having good equipment at home, if possible. This section discusses improving your movie viewing space.
  2. Buy a large widescreen and flatscreen HDTV if you can afford it. These are best purchased during the sales. Affix it to the wall in a place where a large group of people can sit and see it easily.
  3. Buy surround sound speakers. Again, best purchased during a sale. Affix these to each corner of the TV room. This will ensure a very realistic movie experience.
  4. Consider getting a Blu-Ray DVD player. Although more expensive, the quality is very high and will make everyone feel that they're at the movies.
  5. Be careful not to scratch the DVD when adding it. Use clean rubber gloves to avoid any fingerprints on the DVD.

Tips

  • A very standard and original, yet delicious treat is popcorn and soda/pop.
  • Have movies everyone likes.
  • When choosing candy, look at what movie theaters sell. Try things like Licorice, Mike&Ikes, or sour candies. Also, Chocolate is great for a movie.
  • Buy or rent two or three movies so you can chill out or watch with friends longer.
  • If you do invite over friends, make sure that they all agree on the movies. If you can, find two or three good movies. Take a vote when your friends get there.
  • Make sure it's nighttime. Movies are nowhere near as good when watched in the daylight.
  • If you're a fan of chips, you can try buying melted cheese and dipping them in the cheese.
  • Find a theme. For instance, it would be a good idea to have friends over for a horror themed movie night.
  • Try out some smoothies - they're delicious and healthy.
  • You can sip on hot cocoa if it is a cold night!
  • Invite your boyfriend or girlfriend over, it will be really fun for you both and it can be like a date!
  • Don't invite friends over who may talk through the movie, or worse, fight!
  • Remember, if you're watching with younger viewers, make sure that the movie is age-appropriate. Expect some distractions from the kids - they are not just little adults. Kids sometimes fidget if there are parts of the movie that seem to "drag" for them.
  • Relax, sit down on the couch and watch your movie.
  • Try out foods, like popcorn with Parmesan cheese if you want to go ultra healthy.

Warnings

  • Take a 10 to 15 minute break every 2 hours to relax your eyes. This is a great time to refresh your beverage, use the restroom, etc. Just call it "Intermission."

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