Tonight I’m seeing ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ with my pal Skip. His daughter Mia Grace just appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show going head-to-head with the actual stars of the movie (Bradley Cooper, Zoe Seldana, Vin Diesel, Chris Pratt, et.al) on Marvel trivia (and promptly whipping their butts). More on the miraculous Mia in another post (she merits one of her own). For tonight, Skip and I are heading to what looks to be the movie adventure of the summer. Skip has been my man-date for a number of movies over the years, and he’s a reminder of what I miss most by not hanging out with straight guys that much.
There’s also the thrill of an adventure movie, something that harkens back to the first time my brother and I saw ‘The Goonies.’ I remember coming out of that movie and yearning to go on a similar thrill-seeking journey. We spent the summer riding our bikes through the neighborhood or exploring the forest behind our house, hoping to find our way into an adventure that offered a bit of danger, but not enough to truly threaten or frighten us. Measured risk, wherein we’d try to tempt the neighborhood bully into giving chase and following us along a booby-trap-laden forest path. (That’s what I said! Booby traps!) Of course it never came to fruition, but the planning and anticipatory delight we took in mapping out the possibility was all the fun we needed.
Other movies through the years inspired similar adventure-seeking desire: ‘Cloak and Dagger’, ‘Adventures in Babysitting‘, and the first ‘Batman’ reboot by Tim Burton. After each, I was left wanting something more exciting to happen in my life, some exciting trip down the rabbit-hole that resulted in growth. In some ways, I longed for the simple cementing of friendship that happens when you go through something so extreme with someone else.
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