Starlight Cinemas

This is always a load of fun after «Zombie-​O-​Rama». I mean really, how much better does it get then to watch a zombie film under the moon while hanging out with a bunch of zombies? Thanks to great fun! Bring a chair if you can, they bring some, but it’s not meant to supply the entire crowd.

The best way to enjoy an evening in the summertime!

This has got to be one of the coolest Summer events the city of San Jose puts on. Big screen under the summer sky in San Pedro square, great folks and fun! And free! I highly recommend!

Starlight Cinemas is a very fun, low-​cost event. They usually have a very broad selection of movies to choose from, and it’s just fun to watch a classic in the middle of the street while munching on your favorite food from one of the restaurants nearby. Get there early, because if you aren’t close enough to the screen, you will have problems hearing the movie; especially if you sit close to one of the bars. They should consider installing speakers in the back area for those that choose to bring their lawn chairs and set up back there.

The San Jose Downtown Association comes thru with another fun event for locals to do with a budget and brings community and local businesses together!
This year, I’ve been doing a lot of community events because I’ve been away form the area for years. Last fall, I volunteered at the food bank. I wanted to do more, but there was my acclimation to the weather plunge, the presence of actual humidity and I had to unpack from the move, reuniting me with things I hadn’t made eye contact with in years from storage. When the weather wants to cooperate, I look for any excuse to shake off my cabin fever, unfortunately I don’t have the money and limited means to do the expensive attractions and concerts in the bay area. It’s like being on the teenager entertainment circuit again, at least I can buy a beer and stay out til the sun rises? Utilize strengths.
Like the Thursday concert in the park series, I was pleasantly surprised how many people showed up for the events. I admit it’s because it was my first time to either, so I had no basis of comparison. But with each I paid attention to what people said about past events and consistency of quality.
The premise sounded good to me, a free outdoors movie projected onto a big screen in the middle of the blocked off San Pedro between Santa Clara and St. John, every 2^nd and 4^th Wednesday for the summer. There are 2 other event areas I have yet to go to, but I’m looking forward to: 2) Post between market and first every 3^rd Wednesdays for the summer and 3) so. 1^st and Williams St. parking lot twice, one July 6^th for Big Lebowski (!!!) and Aug 31^st with Zombie-​o-​Rama 3 WITH zombie crawl! Check out the schedule on the web page link, the other ones I want to go to are: Spaceballs, because I honestly never met anyone on the 501^st Leigon, as big a fan as I was of Star Wars (I have a collection that can fill… an antique mall booth), and Swingers, a monumental movie that was a major influence on me moving to Vegas and Viva Las Vegas. It was one of the other movies that influenced me.
When I showed up, things begin at 7PM Pacific (international force of habit) and the movie «at dusk.» I thought the food setups were nice, great variety from neighboring restaurants. I was happy to see there it wasn’t a national chain brainwashing. There were maybe 100+ plastic chairs setup, so people are encouraged to come early or bring their own folding chairs which they did. I really need to get organized on that, but I also like «working the room» instead of sitting in one place for too long. I need to invest in a good folding chair, I had an excellent folding couch for 2, but it suffered sun damage after I left it out on the patio one long Vegas summer. Damn, that was my drive ins couch, too.
They had trivia, live blues music (one of my favorites!). People were dancing with the movie! audience participation that rivals rocky horror without the props. It was a great environment. There’s always things going on which made a great night out.
I have to include a mini review of Blues Brothers. This isn’t one great movie, but 40+ segments of the greatest epic events in American cinema. And I say that because this movie was before CGI or resting on blue/​green screen effects. The stuff in this movie REALLY happened, using exaggerated, in– camera optical effects and editing. This movie goes over the top with a cast of literally thousands of extras in all kinds of different environments. There are things filmed that have never been done before or since. Just about every non-​musician involved hasn’t done anything since that could compare. It features a lot more music besides blues that is inspired by it (country, gospel, lounge, 50’s rock); It has the only and best trashing of a mall in cinema history (a poignant commentary on consumerism), it makes new generations aware of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, John Lee hooker, Cab Calloway, that we know are legendary now. It has the best celebrity cameos, best obscure product placement (cheez whiz, Orange Whips); It trashes hundreds of police cars that made Guiness book of Records; Richard Daley Plaza filled with more military presence than Libya during this administration; The 25^th anniversary DVD has the making of that is more epic than Heart of Darkness. And has as many relentless laughs as it does quotes. This movie gets it in every way.
And it has the best dive bar stage EVER, over any real existing one.

Finally had a chance to experience this last week for «The Goonies» showing. I went with a friend and we had no idea what to expect so we brought sleeping bags, blankets etc. Turns out they had quite a few chairs set up which was a pleasant surprise and made the experience all the more comfortable.
Set in San Pedro Square with restaurants all around, it was a nice cozy atmosphere for outdoor movie watching. We stopped in at Peggy Sue’s for something to snack on and settled in to watch the movie.
Love that you can bring all the food and snacks you want and that the movie is FREE! who doesn’t love free things? Parking wasn’t too bad either. Since it was after 6pm, we didn’t have to pay for a metered spot. I would come early though so that you can get a good spot. We came around 7 – 7:30ish and it was perfect timing to get our seats and grab something to eat before the movie started.
Only thing that could have made it better was if the screen was higher. It was sort of hard to see at times especially because the guy in front of me kept moving around.

Love nice summer days and love it even more watching some movie favs outdoors! My bf and I went to see The Goonies last time in San Pedro Square and it was great. We weren’t very prepared w/​the seating and whatnot since we had low lawn chairs that made it hard to see but it was ok. We grabbed some pizza at Amici’s and bought some beer that they were selling in the back of the screening and had a good time. It took awhile to start but we were fortunate we got somewhat good seats since the whole place got really really packed. The movie brought back childhood memories and goodtimes. Loved the experience but I may want to do what others did and have a cute picnic… I am glad I did get some advice from Nam N. who suggested to bring blankets, etc. I totally used mine when the sun went down. Good times.

We went downtown to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show that was put on by Starlight tonight and it was amazing. The fact that Starlight puts on these outdoor movie nights for free is awesome. On the 11^th they are playing the Goonies and you better believe that we will be there for it.

I absolutely LOVE the Starlight Cinemas Series featured in Downtown San Jose. This is our 3^rd year attending the series and I cannot speak more highly of this fun and family-​friendly event!
Taking place every 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th Wednesday of the month, the San Jose Downtown Association features this «traveling cinema series» that show FREE outdoor movies in 3 areas in downtown San Jose. Films in the past have included: «Old Skool», «Casablanca», «Shawn of the Dead», and many more! Many of the movie nights offer booths that sell food and «adult beverages» as well as games and raffles.
We suggest arriving a bit early to snag an ideal spot, bring warm blankets and/​or folding chairs, and a picnic basket with your choice of goodies. :)
Complete movie list for Summer 2010 can be found at:
We’ll see you there!