Growing up amidst the maize fields of the great Midwest, I volunteered at a restored movie theater on weekends: single screen, ‘30s era art deco interior, concession stand inside the theater. The Normal Theater in Normal, Illinois. My old man took me to see Vertigo when I was ten. A few months later I worked my first movie: Gone with the Wind. I worked there for the next thirteen years, until I moved down to Baton Rouge. That theater is one of the things I miss most about my hometown, especially this time of year, when they have their annual showings of Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, and of course, White Christmas. The packed-to-the-ceiling crowds never fail to sing “White Christmas” at the end of Bing’s Technicolor explosion. If that doesn’t get you juiced up for mistletoe and eggnog, may a CGI Jim Carrey pull a stocking over your head and kick you down a flight of icy stairs. But the Normal Theater is much more than cozy holiday traditions. Here’s a sampling of movies I missed in October and November alone: Waltz with Bashir, Moon, Bright Star, The Tingler, The Shining, Young Frankenstein, A Hard
