Ext. Movie Rental Store - Day

A dark blue mini-van pulls in to a small parking lot. There are not many spots left as it's a Friday afternoon in the winter in the Midwest. The neon sign on the small building said Moovies. A chain of stores that was as short lived as the others that graced that building. Same movie drop box with the sticker of its predecessor sloppily ripped off and pasted over with the current tenant. Over the years the store took many different names, but still had the same carpet, smell, and seedy Adults Only section in the back left corner.

Out jump 3 boys shouting, punching each other in the arms, and ready to sprint into the store.

Mother - Keep your cool boys, here's $20 to get a movie and some snacks. I'll be here in the car, you have 20 minutes!
Boy 1- Okay okay, we won't take all day. Just give me the cash so we can get going, it's freezing out here.

Off they ran to the store, and bolted through the door.

Int. Movie Rental Store

*Ding* goes the bell alerting the clerk behind the desk who could only count the minutes until his shift was over and be in a corner booth of the campus bar. The boys all move as a single organism as they go around the store to find the hot new movie for their sleepover. Roaming through the aisles of Classics, Horror, Action they debate which one movie they're going to get.

They didn't want to blow all the money on multiple movies because they knew the plan was to buy as much candy as possible to stretch their $20 bill to the max. They grab a few movies as they go to deliberate on before checking out. They finally get to the New Releases section. 4 big shelves with 30 sets of the 5 newest movies to drop that week. There were mostly older movies that they had no interest in other than to gawk at the hot girls on the Rated R VHS boxes.

At last, they spy it, the movie that will be coming home with them today. Men In Black. The coolest film of the summer finally available for them to rent. They tore through the shelves looking behind all of the display boxes to get a rental copy, but coming up empty each time. Starting to feel dejected two of them started to look at their pile of other selections trying to decide on plan b.

Boy 3- Dudes, I got one!! It was hiding behind a different box on the bottom shelf. Someone must have been saving it for later.

Elated with the choice work by their bro, they went to check out with Gushers, Twizzlers, and M&Ms stuffing their pockets to the car.

Cut to

Int. Basement - Night

It's 10:30 and the parents are off to bed after ensuring the boys are in their sleeping bags ready to go to bed as well. They forgot all about the movie because they spent all of their time that night playing Goldeneye on the N64. After about 20 minutes of stifled giggles and trying to make each other laugh and not be too loud the adults can hear them. They slowly get up after the coast feels clear. There was never an intention of actually going to bed. After all, this was a sleepover and they're pulling an all-nighter.

After sneaking to the kitchen to get some pop and their snacks, they retreat to the basement to put on some late night entertainment. Cracking open their drinks to get hopped up on sugar to have regretful stomach aches 2 hours later they settle into their sleeping bags.

Prying open the VHS box and powering on the old tube TV, Boy 2 can feel the static from the screen make his hair stand on end as he puts the movie in. As the Coming Attractions end and the feature film starts, the boys prepare for an epic night.

Little do they know it, but this will be one of the best nights of their lives.

Movie Notch is a nostalgic look back at the movies that made up our childhood. Embracing the good times and rehashing movie quotes endlessly in the group chat to this day. Those movies and experiences make up a lot of who we are today and what we yearn for still. Taking a critical look at what Hollywood currently offers in hopes we can rekindle some of our love for cinema.

If you see yourself in this story, then Movie Notch might be the place for you. Come, hang out with us as we talk about films new and old. As we get older and farther away from friends we were with, movies still connect us.

So remember, Notch before you Watch.