Comments on: Movie Heaven or Movie Hell? http://livingincinema.com/2007/05/22/movie-heaven-or-movie-hell/ Movie reviews, news and opinion Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:46:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Bob http://livingincinema.com/2007/05/22/movie-heaven-or-movie-hell/comment-page-1/#comment-88 Bob Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:36:38 +0000 http://livingincinema.com/?p=97#comment-88 Did ya know Mark Cuban’s favorite “film” is Weekend at Bernies? Did ya know Mark Cuban’s favorite “film” is Weekend at Bernies?

]]> By: Craig Kennedy http://livingincinema.com/2007/05/22/movie-heaven-or-movie-hell/comment-page-1/#comment-87 Craig Kennedy Fri, 25 May 2007 07:43:50 +0000 http://livingincinema.com/?p=97#comment-87 Because it's more expensive, Arclight tends to draw less of the 3 most annoying groups of moviegoers: Old people, teenagers and toddler laden families. Their attempts at being an entertaiment destination are only partly successful, though it's nice to have an attached bar and restaurant to meet friends for a snack or a drink before or after the show. All I ask is a comfortable, civilized venue with a good mix of movies. I don't need a lot of bells and whistles. All indications are that's what Cuban's new multiplex will be and despite my skepticism, that's a good thing. That guy just rubs me the wrong way though. Because it’s more expensive, Arclight tends to draw less of the 3 most annoying groups of moviegoers: Old people, teenagers and toddler laden families. Their attempts at being an entertaiment destination are only partly successful, though it’s nice to have an attached bar and restaurant to meet friends for a snack or a drink before or after the show.

All I ask is a comfortable, civilized venue with a good mix of movies. I don’t need a lot of bells and whistles.

All indications are that’s what Cuban’s new multiplex will be and despite my skepticism, that’s a good thing. That guy just rubs me the wrong way though.

]]> By: Joel http://livingincinema.com/2007/05/22/movie-heaven-or-movie-hell/comment-page-1/#comment-86 Joel Fri, 25 May 2007 00:06:08 +0000 http://livingincinema.com/?p=97#comment-86 Yeah, it's a crap shoot. I don't know what kind of audience the Arclight attracts on a weekend, but we have a similar chain located in Vancouver, WA (a short drive north of Portland) where they have specialized, adult-only theaters at a premium price. The seating is first-come, first serve and the auditoriums are small, only 40 or so seats per theater. This particular locally-owned theater specializes in food service along with the movie, which is great if you want to combine dinner with the film on hand. It sucks if you don't enjoy sitting in a theater smelling the equivalent of a cafeteria and having to deal with waitstaff walking through the aisles for the previews and the first 15 minutes of the film. www.cinetopia.com We have another new, independent theater in town that offers a similar service and upscale, smaller intimate indie movies but their business model has been relying on extremely small foreign films with little or no marketing. Further, many of these movies are so old you can easily rent them on DVD from Netflix. www.livingroomtheaters.com Everything else here is Regal multiplexes or a handful of small indie and second-run theaters. I guess my point is that anything that ISN'T a mainstream multiplex is an abberation these days. It sounds like Cuban will be running the Landmark like one of Landmark's larger theaters, like say the Metro in Seattle that runs first-run blockbusters alongside mainstream Oscar contenders and only the most popular foreign-language films. Still...if it's another good place to go see a Spiderman 3 or a Kill Bill, that can't be entirely bad. Yeah, it’s a crap shoot. I don’t know what kind of audience the Arclight attracts on a weekend, but we have a similar chain located in Vancouver, WA (a short drive north of Portland) where they have specialized, adult-only theaters at a premium price. The seating is first-come, first serve and the auditoriums are small, only 40 or so seats per theater. This particular locally-owned theater specializes in food service along with the movie, which is great if you want to combine dinner with the film on hand. It sucks if you don’t enjoy sitting in a theater smelling the equivalent of a cafeteria and having to deal with waitstaff walking through the aisles for the previews and the first 15 minutes of the film.
http://www.cinetopia.com

We have another new, independent theater in town that offers a similar service and upscale, smaller intimate indie movies but their business model has been relying on extremely small foreign films with little or no marketing. Further, many of these movies are so old you can easily rent them on DVD from Netflix.
http://www.livingroomtheaters.com

Everything else here is Regal multiplexes or a handful of small indie and second-run theaters.

I guess my point is that anything that ISN’T a mainstream multiplex is an abberation these days. It sounds like Cuban will be running the Landmark like one of Landmark’s larger theaters, like say the Metro in Seattle that runs first-run blockbusters alongside mainstream Oscar contenders and only the most popular foreign-language films.

Still…if it’s another good place to go see a Spiderman 3 or a Kill Bill, that can’t be entirely bad.

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