I went to the movies with Bruce Springsteen.

Specifically, I attended film screenings that Springsteen also attended. Four of them, in fact, in 2019. It was part of my job covering The Boss.

It was the darndest thing. If I was watching a movie on a big screen in a theater, there was a good chance Springsteen was there too, watching.

The Boss came in, relatively incognito, about 10 minutes into a screening of Netflix’s “Springsteen on Broadway” on Jan. 13 at the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. He left through a back door after the showing and most in the audience did not know he was there. I figured out he was there after a few friends gave me a heads up.

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Springsteen made another surprise appearance at the Bruce Springsteen Archives event of the Asbury Park Music and Film Festival on April 27 at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park. The program included footage of Springsteen and the E Street Band from 1974 to 2012. He and director Thom Zimny took questions from Christopher Phillips of Backstreets after the screening, which Springsteen watched from the audience, unbeknownst to most in the crowd.

See:Springsteen surprise at the Asbury Park Music and Film Fest

Springsteen was self-effacing once he got up on the Paramount stage. He didn’t like the slowed tempo of an early performance of “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”

“I went to the bathroom and I came back and I was still playing,” Springsteen quipped.

The next movie I saw with Springsteen in the theater was “Blinded by the Light,” a more-than-charming musical based on the “Greetings from Bury Park” memoir by Sarfraz Manzoor. It tells of the impact of Springsteen’s music on a South Asian Muslim teenager growing up in ’80s England.

Gurinder Chadha of “Bend It Like Beckham” fame was the director. The Boss attended the film premiere Aug. 7 at the Paramount in Asbury Park.

Cast members were surprised.

“No one told me that was going to happen!” said “Blinded” star Viveik Kalra after Springsteen, wife Patti Scialfa and Chadra and her family walked arm-in-arm down the red carpet.

'Blinded by the Light': Tapping into the magic of Bruce Springsteen and Asbury Park

Inside, Springsteen and Scialfa sat in the middle of the Paramount. Fans twisted in their seats to take pics of the couple. Chadra thanked Springsteen, fans and members of the Spring-Nuts Facebook group during the introduction of the film.

The Boss threw a handful of popcorn into the air during the acknowledgement. It looked like confetti.

While the film played and its characters traveled from half way around the world to the Jersey Shore to visit the places were a young Springsteen passed, I thought what a trip for Springsteen to be viewing this. Especially here in Asbury Park. Could a young Springsteen ever have imagined that a major motion picture would one day reference the humble places he graced as a child and young man?

My guess is no. It really is quite fantastic when you think about it.

The next movie I saw with Springsteen was “Western Stars” at the movie’s New York City premiere on Oct. 17 at the Metrograph Commissary in New York City. It was a big deal. Lots of celebs and family members showed up, daughter Jessica Springsteen and brother-in-law Michael Scialfa, plus Ralph Lauren, Clive Davis, Jon Stewart, Edward Burns and wife Christy Turlington, Jimmy Iovine, Steven Van Zandt, Harvey Keitel, Gayle King, and manager Jon Landau.

I said hello to Springsteen and Scialfa on the “blue carpet,” as well as a few of the other celebs, including Lauren.

“Well, he’s good at all things,” was the comment I got from Lauren about Springsteen. I like to think I made it work in my story.

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“Western Stars” is a concert film shot in a barn in front of a small audience on the rocker’s Colts Neck property. Vignettes starring a solo Springsteen, set in the Southwest and California, preface performances of the songs of “Western Stars,” released as a music album in June.

It’s directed by Springsteen and Zimny, and I called it “an enchanting expansion of Springsteen’s artistic repertoire” that was “stark, honest and moving.” I like the film even more now after more viewings.

Home release:Bruce Springsteen's 'Western Stars' to make Blu-ray, digital debut in time for Santa

I see it, as does Springsteen, as part of an introspective trilogy along with his “Born to Run” memoir and “Springsteen on Broadway.” Its release was quite a way to cap a year of Springsteen-themed movies in 2019 that included “Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock ’n’ Roll,” the Tom Jones-directed film about the unifying scene of the former Upstage Club in Asbury Park. It played in theaters in 2019 before hitting Netflix.

Springsteen was interviewed at the site of the former Upstage nightclub for the film.

No, there was no E Street Band tour in 2019, and “Springsteen on Broadway” ended on Dec. 15 in 2018.

But he was in the movies in a big way.

A few days before the “Western Stars” New York City premiere, photographer/videographers Tanya Breen and Cynthia Salinas and I met Springsteen and his publicist in the basement lounge of a city hotel to chat about “Western Stars,” and take pictures and video, too.

Springsteen was sharp, insightful and good-humored. We had chatted several times previously over the years around the Asbury Park area, so there was a degree of familiarity.

At least I was familiar with him.

Our 45-minute conversation expanded into several other areas, including talking about John Wayne, Barack Obama and hitch-hiking at the Jersey Shore. It was quite a way to spend a morning.

I hope the subsequent stories, which included a feature and a Q&A, were entertaining and enlightening for you.

They were my favorite stories of 2019.

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. His multiple awards include recognition for stories on Bruce Springsteen and Snooki. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.