---

Going to the movies always feels special. But in 2021 it became more of a personal treat than ever — a once taken-for-granted joy that felt new and vital again. For me, June marked the end of a more-than-year-long COVID-related break from theaters, a place that had transformed from a haven to a hazard in mere days. Any other year, the last movie I’d seen in person — Autumn de Wilde’s delight-filled adaptation of Emma — would just be a gem, an enjoyable evening out. But in 2020 it unwittingly became personally symbolic as an “end” to filmgoing as I’d once known it.  

I remember being annoyed that the movie that wound up being my theatergoing comeback — John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place: Part II — didn’t have the in-theaters-but-also-on-streaming viewing option that became commonplace for many high-profile releases of its ilk. While I wasn’t very big on the movie both before and after I’d seen it, I’ll never forget how good it felt to walk into a Regal, friends in tow, feeling for the most part at ease. The only real difference now versus our golden pre-COVID years was the mask that would stay rigid on my face and a distant cough’s new sense of alarm. When I cautiously dethawed my long-frozen AMC A-List account shortly afterward, I couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassingly excited, if well-aware that this auspicious start could end just as quickly as it had begun.

Read the full feature on 425.