Does your town still have a great cinema? (1 Viewer)

[steve jaros]

In Tampa, we have the Tampa Theater,http://www.tampatheatre.org/[/url] one of those historical-landmark, 1920s theaters. Beautiful artwork, balcony, etc. The projector and sound are pretty lousy, but they only show classic and independent films. Overall, it's a movie-goers treasure.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Zenas, those theathers are great to watch an old movie or an independent movie in once in a while. I certainly wouldn't want all theaters to look like those. They do not have stadium style sitting, seats are often small and uncomfortable... they are not perfect, despite what the "old is gold, new is crap" crowd would have you believe.

Sloping floors are far better than stadium-style seats. You should be looking *up* at a screen, not *down* at it (as you do in stadium seats). A well-done floor slope simply presents a better picture. I may be biased, though, as our best theatre is an "old-fashioned" one.

 

[JaleelK]

I just wish more theaters would install DLP, I think this is the future of Cinema, sound and picture wise. I like the idea of seeing a movie without scratches, pops, dirt, sound drops outs etc. like you get watching films. When I saw Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets in Digital Prjection it revitalised my may waning zeal for going to the Cinema to see a feature film. The picture was clean with striking colors and the sound was incredible!!

 

[Jason Seaver]

I just wish more theaters would install DLP, I think this is the future of Cinema, sound and picture wise.

Maybe when it's a robust, easily-upgradable technology with higher resolution than a VGA monitor that still looks good if you're sitting in the front 30% of the theater - that, incidentally, doesn't cost theater owners a lot of money to install. Until such time, though, give me film.

 

[CraigEG]

THe senator theator in Baltimore is an Old fashioned one screen theater that rivals any big screen mulitplex we have in the area.. They dont have any trouble selling out the big releases, and I doubt that this landmark will be going anywhere anytime soon. I saw Die Hard with vengence there whenit first came out and I have been a fan ever since.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

We still have The Egyptian, in the heart of downtown. I like to skip the Edwards Theater on occasion and take in a new release in this fun old theater.

http://www.boisetheatre.netfirms.com...an_theater.htm

 

[John^Lal]

In my hometown Petaluma, California, we used to have 1 good theater, and 1 O.K. Theater...first the O.K. theater closed, then the other theater, which actually had talks of expanding, closed down too . so now whenever i want to see a movie, i gotta go out of town. so, not only do we not have a good theater in town, we dont have any in town. oh well

 

[Andrew_Sch]

I'm proud to say that my town doesn't just have "a" great cinema, it has THE great cinema...the Senator theater.

THe senator theator in Baltimore is an Old fashioned one screen theater that rivals any big screen mulitplex we have in the area..

Replace "rivals" with "blows away all those half-assed concession stands that happen to show movies every once in a while" and you've got my opinion.

 

[Scott David]

I'm proud to say that my town doesn't just have "a" great cinema, it has THE great cinema...the Senator theater.

There's a wonderful book out called "Popcorn Palaces: The Art Deco Movie Theatre Paintings of Davis Cone" that features many "photo-realist" paintings of old movie palaces, and I remember being impressed by the Senator from its painting. If it looks and sounds just as great on the inside, you do have a "great cinema" in Baltimore.

I'm originally from St. Louis, and they have a terrific old cinema still going strong, the Tivoli. Built in the 20's and gone to seed by the '80's (when I practically took up residence there when it was a repertory cinema), its main theatre was fabulously refurbished back to its original 1929 splendor a few years ago, with two smaller theatres built onto the rear part of the auditorium. A must-go-to cinema if you're ever in St. Louis. Other nice, still-going-strong cinemas there that I miss include the Hi-Pointe, the Esquire, and the Plaza Frontenac.

I moved an hour outside of Atlanta four years ago, and was shocked to find that for a city of its size, there are virtually no "great" old still-operating cinemas here. Tons of multiplexes, and a cool six-screen drive-in, but only the Lefont Plaza, the Lefont Garden Hills, and the Tara cinemas qualify as decent alternatives to all the 'plexes (the Plaza is my personal fave, and is also featured in that Davis Cone book).

Thank God for the Fox Theatre, where I will be tonight enjoying LOA the way God intended for it to be seen!

 

[Christopher_S]

The Normal Theater in Normal, IL, is a fantastic example of a broken down, neglected property being renovated into something really special. They do one- or two-night showings of all sorts of films, from old classics to newer art-house stuff. The prices are low, (at least they were when I was still there). There's nothing like going out to see something like "The Searchers" on the big screen on a Friday night, just because.

And there's a cartoon before every movie!

 

[Ted Lee]

we have a couple in sacramento.

one is called the crest and the other is the tower theater. both of them show mostly indie and foreign flicks - which is fine by me.

the crest really has a great vibe to it. you walk in and literally feel like you've time-warped. there's this little stand-alone booth in the front where you get your tickets, the main theaters have these great ceilings with all this ornate decorations amd the walls are covered in thick tapestry - very cool. heck, even the bathrooms have these really cool retro-looking urinals.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

I like The Crest too. It's main auditorium is beautiful, though their downstairs small screens leave much desired.

But then there's Tower, Ted. I don't think I've seen one film properly projected at that place. The sound is weak. The lighting during screenings is poor, and they seem to be really skimping on the projection lightbulb. Dark images most of the times. Besides their selection, which still lures me back despite the conditions, their best feature is, umm, probably free parking.

 

[Ted Lee]

i agree 100% kirk. i guess the other bonus is i can go to the music store or tower cafe afterwards.

my friend refuses to go to tower cuz he thinks the place smells of old urine!

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I worked as a fill-in projectionist at the Tower for a few months about 10 years ago; even though they paid me more than twice what I was getting at the 6-plex I absolutely hated it. My rule is that I don't go to theaters that don't at least have analog stereo in 100% of their houses, and NO theaters that have been plexed. Since the Tower was a single-screen that was ripped into 3rds and the bottom 2 had mono sound (they say at least 2 have Dolby Digital now though), that rules it out. It's disgusting that they still get exclusive engagements of a lot of good films.
A real tragedy in Sacramento is the Century domes- they were large dome theaters, both with 70mm and over 1000 seats built in 1967- by the end of the 70's they were both cut in half and look awful! I haven't been there in more than 10 years and won't go back until they restore these to their original glory- they've added several newer screens since then (2 smaller domes in 1974 and 8 regular theaters in 1994) but I still won't go because of the half-domes! It's a shame since it's the oldest theater in the area that's always shown first-run movies!
A little-known treasure is the State Theater on Main Street in nearby Woodland- it was built in 1936 and still has the original large auditorium- it looks like how the Tower might've looked before it was ruined. Unfortunately it also has 2 smaller screens added separately in 1977 which are VERY small- I remember seeing ET there and wondering if I'd gone into the broom closet by mistake!

 

[Ted Lee]

jesse - it looks like you still live in sac? how do you feel about the cinedomes on greenback being torn down? i personally never liked them either - plus i must admit the new edwards they put up has some pretty rockin' sound.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

The Cinedomes were pretty cool, but I quit going there when they cut one of those domes in half back in 1992 (they only opened in 1983!) I haven't seen the new theater there yet, in fact I'm planning on going there after work tonight just to check it out.
The closest Edwards to here is in Fairfield, I assume you mean the Regal (Natomas)? I was the booth manager there from 2000-2001- I left because most of the screens there have top-bottom masking for scope films, and they wanted them reset to flat between every show so that the ugly advertising slides could show on a "bigger" screen- I personally don't think the masking should ever move when people are in the theater to see it, ESPECIALLY the top/bottom kind. They didn't appreciate me there anyway- the place was a wreck when I started working there. Most of the theaters had noise in the left surround speakers, which *I* fixed. I also got their stupid green-band-cutting policy changed, which they probably still hate me for I went back there a few weeks ago for a free sneak preview and it's well on its way back to the mediocrity from where it came.
Other Sacramento news while we're on the subject- the Sacramento Inn cinema finally got knocked down last week after standing empty for several years. I never liked that place either but I could've done something with it if I'd won the lottery.
I'd like to get back into the theater business, but there's noplace around here I'd really want to work at right now- unlike many people in the business I have standards! There's still some new places slated to go up in the next few years though.

 

[Russell B]

We have a United Artists 10, Signature 16, and a Edwards 21 here in Fresno, Ca. I go to the Signature the most because of the $4.50 twilight showings. The Edwards theater is one of the top 5 in the nation in ticket sales so it gets pretty busy.

 

[Kirk Tsai]

my friend refuses to go to tower cuz he thinks the place smells of old urine

I'm afraid your friend is right....

Jesse, the Century Domes you refer to, over at Arden? If so, I actively dislike it. The theater shape is very awkward; I'm never sure where to sit.

 

[Ted Lee]

i sorta liked the sacramento inn (i liked how easy it was to get to) - i was bummed when it closed.

kirk - too funny. i'm gonna have to tell my friend that you agree with him.

 

[Chris Atkins]

I grew up in Anderson, IN, and we had a Paramount Theater downtown.

I always loved seeing movies there. I saw STAR WARS there in 1978 (I believe this was the second time I watched the movie), ET, THE NATURAL, etc. Just a great old classic theater in a mid-size midwestern town.

Anderson also has the State Theater. I remember seeing quite a few films there, includig RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.

The Paramount was nearly torn down, but was rescued in the late 1980s. They have restored it to its original condition, and it is very nice. I saw STAR TREK II there back in 1996, but the print was terrible (very bluish tint).

Anderson, IN, Paramount Theater Link