With so many options, how do you choose your movies?

Whether the “old school” wandering around a video store, or now the endless scrolling Netflix - choosing a movie can be quite the task.

Many of you will remember calling into the Movie Mill to hear our showtimes, or checking this very newspaper to see what was currently playing on our screens. Now that is all on our website or app, complete with posters and trailers. And we have more great movies to choose from than ever!

We were recently at a friend’s cabin for the weekend, with no WiFi, so it was just the DVD’’s they had. What were we in the mood for? Something new? Something nostalgic? Something funny? Or more serious in tone? It can be tricky picking just the right one.

Oh and everyone has a different idea of what movies are “good”.

“You’ve never seen ..... ?!?! Oh you have to!” “I love that movie!”

Followed with someone else’s, “Really? Huh, I didn’t get that one. It was weird.” Or “It was so long and boring.” And the rebuttal, “It was brilliant!”

I have taught my kids we all like different things. Shows, clothes, games, food, all just a matter of individual taste. In fact, one night I was trying to get my then 6 year old to try dinner and he very confidently said, “But Mom!! We all like different things, remember?!” I made him try it.

Have you tried a movie lately you wouldn’t normally see? Maybe someone recommended it? At the Movie Mill we love offering a wide variety of movie options. Our cheaper ticket prices allow you to take a chance on a movie you might not, at a steeper price point.

The Movie Mill tries really hard to make sure you have lots of choices.

We want there to be something you can take the kids to. Right now we are playing Pixar’s Turning Red, Thabo and the Rhino Case, and Migration will begin its 9th week, because it has been such a favourite with young families.

There’s usually a few intense thrillers or horrors playing on our late shows each week, like The First Omen (May 10th), joining Late Night with the Devil, Monkey Man, and The King Tide.

We have big blockbusters like Dune:

Part Two right alongside nostalgic $3 throwbacks ... this month all musicals! Les Miserables (May 13th & 16th), Annie (May 20th & 23rd), and In the Heights (May 27th & 30th).

We regularly bring in Indian Malayalam language films, like Malayalee From India (May 12th and 13th). As well as movies for our anime fans– Spy X Family Code: White, (starts May 10th).

We also know our audiences love true stories.

Along with The Long Game, starring Dennis Quad, we are also still playing One Life, as well as adding Unsung Hero and the highly anticipated Escape from Germany. Heavily requested, this film is the true account of missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were forced to flee Germany before the advent of the Second World War. Set in the summer of 1939, as Hitler’s army was closing the borders where eighty-five American missionaries were still serving, this film is based on the novel “Mine Angels Round About: Mormon Missionary Evacuation From Western Germany,” and personal journals. The escape of these missionaries from

Nazi Germany is one of the most dramatic events to occur in modern church history.

We also have two Angel studios moving coming soon: Sight and Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot.

We have important films that tackle the issues of racism, poverty, and shed light on the suffering of our fellow humans, telling diverse stories from voices we may not hear in our day to day lives, but which we can choose to listen to and learn from in film.

A film like Uproar. “Set in New Zealand in 1981, when the arrival of the South African rugby team sets off nationwide protests against apartheid and racism. Josh Waaka, a 17-year-old of mixed race who has been a passive bystander all his life, is suddenly forced to stand up for himself, his whanau, or family, and his future” - (Rotten Tomatoes.com)

So how do you choose your movies? Director Jon M. Chu has described film as the last media to respect our time (author’s personal notes from Cinemacon interview). There is a very set contract- you buy a ticket, the theater is given a couple hours, to entertain, to inspire, to awe you.

Other media has the rather insidious goal of keeping you for as long as they can- keep scrolling, take the click bait, rabbit hole away - they will do anything to keep you looking at their content regardless of its quality.

I loved this idea of quality of content as respect. The idea that our time is worth something and that we should get to consciously choose how we spend that time.

So, if you choose to spend your time with us, eating delicious popcorn, hopefully we can provide you with the kind of film you’re looking for, tonight and maybe a different kind of movie another night. See you at the movies!