DISQUS

AMERICAblog: Why don't we have this in America?

  • chowderSF · 1 year ago
    Here in San Francisco we have a Sundance Movie Theater, one of two I believe. They refurbished and old AMC theater that had seen better days, and I really like going to the movies again. All of the seats are reserved, and you and book and pay for your seats at home. There is one big theater for blockbusters, which also has a bar and a nice balcony which is adults only. Add to that some smaller, more intimate theaters that are like being in someones deluxe home theater, with luxury chairs and tables in between every other seat. The movies themselves cost a few dollars more, depending on the day and time, but the experience of going to the movies is just so much more fun,,,,,really.
    Oh, and the cafe sells great coffee and gourmet popcorn at quite reasonable prices. I find I go to movies much more often, and see more quirky films than I normally would because they showcase indy films of course.
    Check it out.
    http://www.sundancecinemas.com/kabuki.html
    See you at the movies.
  • Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago
    groovy.
  • cereal · 1 year ago
    So, it exists - glad to see that! However, I suspect it will only ever happen in small numbers, and only in places like SF, Boston, NYC and Seattle.
  • scottinsf · 1 year ago
    The Sundance Kabuki rules. I love that you can reserve the exact seat you want, the adults only balcony, the big seats with tables, legroom, etc.

    The $3 amenity fee is worth it.
  • Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago
    I just wait until it comes out on DVD. You go to a movie theater and someone and their girlfriend coughing down the back of your neck giving you the plague. A friend of mine is going to burn onto DVD all of his.
  • Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago
    ha ha This gay guy who I've heard for years, just called into Coast again. He's hugely intelligent. He really gets into their topics. The topic tonight is sorta lame about life after death or something. But he's deeply trying to figure out what's going on. Good to hear from him again.
  • brian · 1 year ago
    The have the same in Italy. They don't have this in America because the cinemas here don't want people to leave if a film becomes sold out while they are in line. They would rather them choose a different movie.
  • Õ¿Õ · 1 year ago
  • Bostonian_Queer_in_Dallas · 1 year ago
    I go to the movies about once a year, and only if the film is outstanding and also "David Leanish"...it needs a big screen to get the true impact. That of course is rare now because everything is made to fit nicely on DVD/TV aftermarket. Most films are out within months on DVD. But even better, this summer we got the Roko box from Netflix where you downstream a movie instantly. It is very new. Because their instant library, at the moment, is only indy films and some public domain stuff, we've been forced into watching some obscure BUT wonderful Sundance stuff, foreign indy stuff, movies I had never heard of. Incredible films. Brilliant young directors with low budgets telling marvelous, emotional stories. It's rather like having a fabulous NYC art house right at home, with a 12 second download delay. Most of the crap coming from major studios looks like technically elegant vaporous prime time sewage for the mind.
  • ClayPotts · 1 year ago
    The religious right made good on their threat to destroy America's educational system because -gasp- some public school teachers said being gay was OK. Cultural warriors discredited science for suggesting -gasp- the unforgivable sin was genetic. Evangelicals equated a college degree with a ticket to Hell, so they decided if knowledge contradicted the Bible in any way it wasn't worth knowing and the dumbing down of America began.

    Hillbilly home schooling using the Bible as the only text for learning became fashionable. As the substandard saintly students entered the workforce, the model for career advancement shifted. Job performance was replaced by God performance as the key to moving up as corporate Monica Goodlings infiltrated human resource departments. This has all worked well for right track Republicans who want to destroy our democracy and set up a theocracy but the lock down on curiosity, innovation, and the open mind has its consequences.
  • ComradeRutherford · 1 year ago
    1: That would cost money, which would interfere with profits. Shareholders would sue if US companies would spend money so frivolously just for their customers convenience.

    2: Only hippie liberal freaks like you travel outside of the USA (despite the GOP's every effort to dissuade you), so only a tiny number of Americans even know that a better world is possible - a world where incoming cell phone calls are free, where TV, internet, and phone are half the price that we Americans pay, where health care isn't designed to force citizens into poverty...

    Hippie freak, shut up, or the whole country might find out that you CAN have universal healthcare and cheap cell phones and internet, yet still have a functioning economy and society! You'll ruin it for the GOP, the Dem 'leadership' and stockholder's profits!
  • cereal · 1 year ago
    This feature is as far as I can tell a particularly, maybe uniquely French thing. Its benefit does not seem obvious to Americans, who I think tend to go to the theatre mostly to see a specific movie. French people, on the other hand, see movie-going as more of a general thing to do (and they do it a lot..just look at the number of cinemas in Paris, and the attendance). French people will certainly go to see a particular film (a new hot movie, or a classic or revival etc.), but they are just as likely to just stroll over to the local, or a particularly nice, "cine" and just see whatever. The seat-count thing helps there - it tells you what movies are popular (in case you haven't heard of them before) and on the other hand, which theatres are less full, so you might get a better seat/have more privacy with your date, whatever. It also lets you know whether you should buy your ticket now (if you plan to go out for a drink, smoke, bite to eat before) or whether you can just do it later if you still feel like going (later plans may change depending on how that drink/meal goes, right?)

    Here in Amsterdam, we don't have the French seat-count posed on a sign, though you can get the information orally when buying the ticket - this is because the Dutch have RESERVED SEATS, something I've never seen in France or the US. (In France you get a reserved seat on the TGV, which is very civilized, but not at the cine). This is great - when you go to buy your ticket, not only can you learn how many seats are left for each movie, you get an actual seat number on your ticket when you buy one. Come early enough, and you can find out not only which movies have how many seats left, but WHICH EXACT SEATS! And you can pick whichever seat you want (cozy nook in the balcony, right up front, etc.). Come later, there are naturally fewer choices but you still get a reserved seat. Then you can go do whatever you want, get a beer, walk around, have dinner etc, and stroll into the theatre two minutes before screen time. No stress or hassle having to get there early and claim a good seat! (The Dutch being Dutch, it's possible someone may be in your seat if you arrive late, hoping you have bailed, but you show them your ticket, and they give it right up).

    The Dutch provide other movie perks, too - for one, there is always a full bar at your snack counter, and you get your beer in a real glass (the proper glass for your beer, whether fancy trappist thing, regular Amstel, etc.) which you then take into the movie theatre with your snacks. Glasses for your Coke, as well. No crummy paper cups! And at larger places like the amazing Art-Nouveau Tuschinski theatre in Amsterdam, you can get sweet "packages" - reserved balcony seat or private "love seat," included glass of wine or champagne, special snacks, buffet before, etc. etc. Check out how civilized! http://www.pathe.nl/tuschinski/

    Will this sort of thing ever catch on in America? Probably only in small numbers of theatres in big cities that charge extra for real drinks and special seats, as a novelty. As a general thing, I doubt it. it makes too much sense, and is too civilized. Most Americans wolld find it snobby, elitist, and weird, I think.
  • Indigo · 1 year ago
    Beer in a movie theater? That's rude.
  • cereal · 1 year ago
    ? Why?
  • existenz · 1 year ago
    Here in Los Angeles, my favorite theatres are the Arclight cinemas. You can buy tix online at their website -

    www.arclightcinemas.com

    which allow you to pick out your exact seats. It was a jolt at first, after a lifetime of just picking out my seats when I arrive, but it's actually really awesome. First, when the theatre is empty you can just sit anywhere if you want. Second, on sold out movies like Dark Knight you can make sure to get decent seats in advance and avoid winding up in the first row or something. Also, the theater does have clocks outside each screen telling you whether the film has started or not. The Arclight in Hollywood is one of the most popular theatres in LA.
  • Sage24 · 1 year ago
    Our Secy on Blahniks, Rice, refuses to cut short her vacation, to deal with Russia/Georgia conflict. Surely her supposed to be experience in Russian matters, would come in useful, to bring peace to that region?

    What is she taking a vacation from? Jetting around in first class comfort?
    But wait, she did make 90 calls. I wonder if she dialed the numbers herself.

    http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/11/rice-refuse...
  • Bush_Bites · 1 year ago
    We're not number one in much of anything anymore.

    But most of the movies I go to never sell out anyway, so getting a seat is never a worry.

    The big problem is getting to the theater before the movie ends its run.
  • KarenMrsLloydRichards · 1 year ago
    Letting people know that there aren't many seats left before they buy their tix would drive people away. "Let's go another night..." Can't have that.
  • Indigo · 1 year ago
    Kung Fun Panda is the one to see.
  • daveleck · 1 year ago
    All of our newer theaters in Kansas City have both features (remaining seats and a countdown clock outside the theater).
  • Bobby · 1 year ago
    The X-Files bombed big time.
  • Ruttle · 1 year ago
    That would be a very welcome feature. I often ask the cashier how many seats are left if I am going to a busy movie. However, I prefer to use the automated kiosks, and, obviously there is no one for me to ask. :(
  • PhilipGraham · 1 year ago
    Here's something else they have in Europe--motion sensor lights, which go on and then off when someone enters or leaves a room. Saves tons on energy costs. Can't be expensive to install, I'm guessing . . .

    Why ain't that here?
  • Wesinoregon · 1 year ago
    They have some of these in Oregon... But, one place they had them was in the restroom at a campground. It's not too fun to be on the can and because of little motion in the room if no one comes in the lights go out leaving you in a dark abyss.
  • jdeisenberg · 1 year ago
    Another neat thing I saw in Hamburg, Germany: street signs that not only show you where the parking lots are, but how many spaces are left: http://www.langintro.com/hamburg/16jun08/parkin...
  • JetSetter · 1 year ago
    Santa Monica has parking structures that tell you the number of spots remaining, AMC Century City has count down clocks 'til the next show and the Landmark theater down the street has seat selection by clicking on a seating chart (like online airline tickets).

    We have auto light switches in our house.