From March 2020 to April 29, 2021, I only went to a movie theater once. It was a special screening of Tenet in Warner Bros.’ misbegotten effort to woo moviegoers back to theaters, with zealot of the theatrical experience Christopher Nolan leading the charge. It was an IMAX theater so it was pretty massive, and there were only five other people in the theater with me, all film critics. It was weird. It was weird to be back in a theater, and it was weird to know that there was some assumption of risk because there was no vaccine in sight and people had to essentially take their chances. Despite all the accommodations—everyone temperature-checked, wearing masks, socially distanced—I couldn’t lose myself in the experience.

Last Thursday, I became fully vaccinated. I was two weeks past my second dose of Moderna, and the following day my wife (also fully vaccinated) and I headed to an AMC theater to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World in Dolby Vision. We still followed all the rules about masking, but it no longer felt like some weird compromise where the mask comes off to eat food as if that’s when the virus knows not to move around in an enclosed space. We were fully vaccinated. We hoped that the people around us were also fully vaccinated, but if they weren’t, we were still being responsible and following CDC guidelines. We no longer had to thread the needle of wondering “I need some kind of recreation, but also I don’t want to endanger myself or others.” In other words, we were free to go to the movies and enjoy the experience.

And it was wonderful. Granted, we had the benefit of watching a movie we know we enjoy packed with a crowd of fellow fans, but it didn’t change the shared joy of getting lost in the big screen. The new Dolby mix was terrific, especially from the get-go when the opening credits roar to “We Are Sex Bob-Omb” and then just being able to get lost in a phenomenal movie. Even the lady several rows back who felt compelled to quote along couldn’t dissuade my enjoyment. I was back at the movies getting lost in the big screen in a way that my home viewing experience can never fully replicate because it’s never fully a movie space. It’s the space where I watch movies, but it’s also where I play video games and watch TV shows and yell at my sports teams. It’s not only for movies, and it’s not like I can fit a hundred people in my media room.

Having gotten a taste of being back at the movies, I was already hooked again, and so on Sunday I made my way out to an AMC theater showing a 25th anniversary screening of Fargo. While not exactly the raucous crowd pleaser of Scott Pilgrim, Fargo is still a perfect movie from my favorite filmmakers, and I had never seen it in a theater (for some reason, my parents didn’t want their twelve-year-old son to see a man shoved into a woodchipper). There were only two other people in the theater for this one, and yet the theatrical experience was still magical. On that big screen, you get enveloped and lost in a story in a way that’s harder to do at home. Of course, I own Fargo and have seen it countless times on a TV, but this viewing experience hit better because there were no distractions, and I could get lost in the bleakness of Roger Deakins’ snowy landscapes.

We’ve seen the world of streaming over the last year, and to be blunt, it’s not good enough. There are some movies that work well streaming at home like some documentaries or small-scale indies, but others require the big screen to work their magic. I watched hundreds of movies at home over the last year, and while I was grateful to expand my cinematic horizons, I’m more than happy to leave my home, pay money, and be part of the theatrical experience. I know it’s not going to be perfect every time. There will always be rude people on phones or talking too loudly, but I’d still take it over the cold solitude of Godzilla vs. Kong on my TV when it was clearly intended for the biggest screen possible.

The movies are not “My TV but larger and my living room but with more seating.” It’s a completely different experience, and one I had missed badly during the pandemic. I should stress that I don’t think anyone should go back to the movies until they’re fully vaccinated, but the good news is that we’ve reached the point where basically anyone who wants a vaccine can get one! They’re free! They’re safe! They highly reduce the risk of you contracting a fatal illness that you could then spread to other people! It’s all upside!

And when you get vaccinated, you can get lost in the movies again. It’s not “content”. It’s not “a platform”. It’s an experience all its own, and I’m so grateful to have it back.