With air travel and gas prices going north while housing values and income margins going south, perhaps this is a great summer for going to the local theatre. Sure, you may want to eat at home before plopping down the big dough for snacks, but great movies are there for the seeing and its never been easier to actually plan for their openings as big events.
USA Today has my favorite calendar, which is

introduced in today’s editions. Premiere has a great “Coming Soon” page with plenty of trailers and nice viewing. Yahoo’s site isn’t bad, either. Do you have a favorite site to direct your friends at Beliefnet to? If so, post it below.
We live in a time when so much media is available anytime we want it. As much as I love it and as convenient as it is, it may be time to re-create a time when watching a great movie was a Big Event, whether it be on opening night in the theatres or at an assigned time with family or friends gathered around the home screen. Sure, we can TiVo, record, download, buy, and subscribe in order to watch movies whenever we want. But perhaps we’re missing out on the fun of the event and the value of sharing it with a friend. In fact, most of us would say that we still remember who it was that we saw a particular great movie with. We even remember who we endureda bad movie with or with whom we shared a disappointing premiere or sequel.

Further, for a spiritually-minded person, it can be so wonderful to chat afterwards—whether over a meal or coffee or late night happy hour—about the enduring implications of the thoughts of the movie.
This is a good summer to reinvent some old traditions. There’s never been more information available about when movies are coming out and how you can plan to be there! Share the inspiration live with others and then we’d love to hear what you thought here at Idol Chatter.