Accio good theaters!
May 16, 2007
The opening of Sundance 608 is a great thing. It looks terrific, and I hope it does well. See Jeff, Tom , or Ann (with pictures) for more.
But as nice as the occasional art film is, I’m far more likely to spend my movie-going dollars on Harry Potter, or a pirate movie based on an amusement park ride, than on a touching film about a “man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer’s disease [who] faces an epiphany when she transfers her affections to another man, Aubrey, a wheel chair-bound mute who also is a patient at the nursing home.”
Given these plebian tastes, the addition to Madison’s movie environment I’d really like to see is a nicely apportioned, high quality theater that shows movies like Spider-Man 3, in all their commercial-free and properly projected glory. And that serves popcorn with real butter (*).
The ability to loiter at a cafe afterwards and discuss exactly why the movie sucked in comparison to the first two Spider-Man films, would make for a perfect nightcap to a movie-going experience.
(*) I note that in Wisconsin, the kids at the multiplex concession stand ask you if you want “butter flavoring” on your popcorn, whereas in other parts of the country, that corn syrup-based goo is actually pawned off as butter.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:01 am
The selection is very limited, but the Star Cinema IMAX is good for this. Ticket prices are comparable to Sundance, the projection is first-rate and the popcorn … well, OK, not real butter. It’s not “properly projected” in that the film wasn’t designed for that format (and the overwhelmingness of the IMAX experience), but I saw Harry Potter 4 and V for Vendetta there and I don’t think those movies suffered for the IMAX blow-up. It’s be where I see Spider-Man 3 and Harry Potter 5. And I’m pretty sure that there are no commercials.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:53 am
The IMAX is pretty good, as is the ultrascreen at Point, the terrible popcorn excepted.
I do wonder if there’s a market in town for a Sundance-quality theater that shows major studio releases, perhaps along with smaller arthouse movies. I have some doubts — would enough people pay the extra ticket premium for the nicer experience, when it’s in direct competition with your average multiplex? With Sundance, the choice usually isn’t that explicit, and Westgate is not exactly a top-notch theater these days.
May 17th, 2007 at 11:09 am
As I note in this piece, I think that’s a somewhat dangerous thing to think because we’re acknowledging that the market-dictated ticket price for our region is an appropriate amount to pay for a less-than-acceptable experience. If we don’t make a fuss every time a screening goes wrong when we’re at Star (which has already had the best reputation among the local multiplexes for quality), then our only input into the matter is voting with our dollars to justify an ever-diminishing status quo.