In Tallahassee, FL, I live near an AMC 20 Multiplex.
Stadium seating, loveseats, wall to wall screens, THX surround sound, 20 screens, and you could buy tickets w/ a credit card at an ATM looking thing.
Here in Pacific Grove, CA, the local theater is like stepping into the dark ages. Sticky flat floors, fold down seats, analog sound, and just 4 TINY screens. Even the “nice” theater at the Del Monte Center in Monterey is only a 6 screen place, no stadium seating, etc.
I thought places like this were basically all out of business these days!
Hey you’ve got it better than me I have to drive an hour to go to a theater. Well…there is one a half hour away but it only shows two shows and that’s only on certain days.
The theater I go to most often was built in 1926 in the last days of vaudeville. The place was refurbished in the early 80s (including rebuilding the theater organ). About 2000 seats, georgeous fixtures. They fill it with live acts, but show films when nothing else is scheduled. And they actually pop their own popcorn.
Interesting - nearest movie theater to me is also an AMC 20 multiplex. Very similar description, though I don’t recall seeing an ATM-type tickets thing there.
And just a few miles from the shopping center that multiplex is in is a separate shopping center that has an AMC 18 multiplex that is on two floors. The entrance is on the second floor; to get to screens on the ground floor one takes an elevator or two escalators.
Best I can recall, only single-screen movie theaters left in this area run “art”/indie type movies.
My wife and I went to a new addition to the Houston movie scene tonight, The Alamo Drafthouse and Cinema. Its a movie theater, with tables. Before and during the movie they have waiters come around and take your order for food and beverages. Get this though… they serve beer, and not just any pansy beer. Oh no, this is Texas. Not only do you get the old crappy standbys in Lone Star (a delight on the taste buds :sarcastic smily: ) and Miller Lite, but you can also get Shiner Bock and Guinness!!!
Wow! Beer in a movie theater. How so very… German. :German Smily: It really was a wonderful experience (and Bruce Almighty was an interesting, and very funny film).
I understand that the Alamo Drafthouse started in Austin, Texas and was imported from there. They show plenty of strange films and have live events as well. Intereactive movies, a MST3K-like group, and film festivals all dot my future movie going.
If you are in Houston or Austin (or are just interested) click here!
Well, my favorite to go to for an evening out is the Commodore Theater
Great seating, love the fact that I can pick up the phone to order more popcorn right in the middle of the movie. Love it love it love it. About the only problem is that they tend to keep one movie for a long time, and they need to do some maintenance work on the interior. Some water spots on the ceiling, and falling paper on the walls. Other than that, it’s just the most beautiful theather I’ve ever watched a movie in.
For run of the mill movies, we have a Consolidated Theaters near us. Stadium seating, arm rests that fold up, rocking high back chairs. A pretty nice set up.
Here in Zürich there are an extraordinarily large amount of cinemas, perhaps thirty or so which carry mainstream movies. Most of them are consolidated under the slightly unnerving Kino corporation (complete with Soviet-esque logo).
Fortunately for a Brit like myself, most showings are in English with German and French subtitles. However, this means movies like Crouching Tiger have no English language, as well as foreign language scenes in movies like Romeo Must Die.
The cinemas are pretty standard fare, usually with three screens of varying sizes always with digital sound. You’ll usually only see screen 1. Very good quality seats, especially if you pay extra. No free seating though, which can be irritating for someone who grew up with the English multiplexes. T
he food served is uninspired to say the least, and you get the feeling they’re only selling popcorn because they feel they’re expected to. Most bizarre of all for me, is that the movies have 15 minute breaks in the middle! It can totally kill suspense, but it can also effectively relieve a bladder or dry throat. Don’t really mind whether it’s there or not, but it was a little hard to get used to.
Overall, very good, just with a few quirks like anything else familiar in a foreign environment.
We have several very modern-style theaters, with stadium seating and all that. But a very beloved theater, which I can see right from my office window, is the downtown theatre first opened in 1928.
It went through many stages but in the 1980s it was bought by a nonprofit group with a passion for preservation. They’ve managed to preserve the organ (from the days of silents, when they had live organ accompaniment) and they still have an organ perfomance before weekend shows. Out of 7,000 organs installed back in its time, it’s one of only 40 still in its original home, and one of very few that had been unaltered mechanically.
It’s a lovely theater, with old-fashioned, velvet seats, gorgeous chandeliers, and fabulous wall sconces. It’s a real treasure. I saw “Nowhere in Africa” there yesterday.
Our “neighborhood” theater is 1/2 mile walk from home. An old-time theater that was chopped into 4 mini-shows.
Pretty decrepit. Be careful sitting down, cause the seat might fall all the way to the floor. You’re better off grabbing a seat way over on the side - they tend to be less dangerous than the ones in the middle.
But they show a decent variety of “art” films, and there is a micro-brewery right across the train tracks.
The theater, and other parts of our town including my kid’s high school, were used to shoot the film Lucas
Huh, I must be having deja vu. I remember posting a rant to a previous Guybud5 thread where he complained about his local theater being no good.
I won’t repeat my rant (though here’s a link if you really want) but instead describe my local theater:
There are two floors, the main floor and the tiny balcony. The seats on the main floor are rotting from hurricane damage, and have mostly been ripped out and piled near the screen. The screen is poorly tensioned. All the upholstery on the chairs is old, and the wall hangings and wallpaper are sagging and peeling. It smells faintly of mildew. The place is exactly what you’d imagine seeing in a horror movie where someone visits a long-abandoned theater, complete with rats, except this still shows movies. Two showings a day, one movie per week. There’s only one projector so the movie pauses in the middle while they change reels.
At least the rats keep the floors from being littered with jujubees.