Mamma Mia! 8:45

I've been in Arizona visiting my in-laws, and my Mother-in-law also has a penchant for going to late-night movies alone, so she wanted to go to a movie and take me along. She told me about a wonderful discount theater in her area that shows B-grade horror movies on weekend nights and has regular Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings. It also shows mainstream second-run movies. I was hoping for an extraordinary experience with an old zombie movie or something, but during the week the screens are solely devoted to Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, Iron Man, The House Bunny, and Mamma Mia! among others.

I'd already seen all the movies she was willing to see, and I knew she wouldn't want to see Tropic Thunder. She asked Alicia to come along too, and she settled on Mamma Mia! And I, out of sheer curiosity, decided to go along.

The theater is tucked in the corner of a 2nd rate shopping center that has been overtaken by a Target and parking lot that dwarfs the cars parked in it. Alicia and I have come alone, and we are meeting Alicia's mother at the theater. So we walk, joking to the entrance.

The lobby is large and open. There is a small table next to the door that is tiled with stacks of fliers for local head shops, rock shows, comic book stores, and a horror movie festival. The walls are covered with movie posters instead of wallpaper, and movie standees guard the walls and corners like monuments to recent movies that have already been forgotten.

We buy tickets at a counter under boughs of copy paper listing movie times hung by scotch tape.

Alicia finds a bathroom while we wait for her mom and I pass a glass case displaying a DVD compilation of classic X-rated movie trailers.

When Alicia's mom shows up, she is perky and excited to contribute to the "experience." She points out the idiosyncrasies of the theater joyfully, as if this is her first time in the theater, making sure I am soaking up its authenticity.

The theater is empty except for the three of us, and we nibble on popcorn and leftover Halloween candy as we watch the trailers and the movie starts. We enjoy the singing and dancing and absurdity of people breaking out in spontaneous singing and dancing when the mood strikes them.

When it's all over, we laugh and leave. We go to our cars, say goodbye, and drive home in the warm Arizona night.