Our Favourite Cinemas

[Chienfantome]

Holy Schnikies!

Le Grand Rex looks effing unbelievable!

Next time you're in Paris, Ron...

[JohnErle]

You remind me to keep on feeding that thread. I'll come back to it later.

That was all part of my cunning plan.

[JohnErle]

The reason this occurs is because of the ease of digital distribution, most projectionists are now spotty teenagers earning candy money (or credit for Candyland) and actually know very little about cinema projection. It's going to keep happening too.

The Landmark cinema does look pretty good, and it's bizarre to see one at a train station.

And good luck explaining to a teenager why free 3D is not actually a bonus. To be fair, it was a 10am show so I probably wasn't dealing with the best and the brightest Landmark has to offer, but with digital distribution it can't be more complex than clicking a few icons on a computer screen, so you'd think someone would have known how to do it. Their excuse was that it was all pre-programmed.

And all the cinemas I attend regularly are within walking distance of a Skytrain station, but the Landmark is the only one within spittin' distance. The Rio is directly across the street from one, and Tinseltown is one block away from one.

The Skytrain is an awesome public transit system, and most stations are built in the heart of major business, shopping, or entertainment districts, or in the case of New Westminster, an entire shopping/entertainment complex popped up around one after the Skytrain station opened and completely re-invigorated the neighbourhood.

[numbersix]

Rathmines Omniplex
This cinema only existed 4 or 5 years ago. Plonked on top of a small shopping mall, the 3 screen cinema expanded to 4 and now it recently re-opened with 8 screens. One of which is a "Maxx" cinema, not quite iMax but apparently larger than the normal screens. Fortunately there's no surcharge outside of 3D screenings.

But the best thing is that it's about a 2-minute walk from my apartment door. And with 8 screens surely they'll play the odd arthouse movie as well.

No interior photos available just yet, but here's the new exterior.

Photos are too large, so click on the links if you really want to see them.

http://www.republicpr.ie/wp-content/upl ... OPOSED.jpg

And the old entrances to the screens
http://www.egecarpets.com/Files/Billed ... 28_002.jpg

[Buscemi]

How does a film like The Master or The Tree of Life look on one of these Maxx screens?

[Chienfantome]

So where's the entrance of the theater on the photo ? Do you have to get inside the "Shopping" building to access the cinema ?

[numbersix]

So where's the entrance of the theater on the photo ? Do you have to get inside the "Shopping" building to access the cinema ?

The "Shopping" sign is actually the cinema entrance. In reality it says Omniplex there.

Just did a quick check and its 8 screens range from 100 seats to 260. Not huge but it's a small city anyway.

[Chienfantome]

Ok, because you would have shown me that picture without telling me there's a film theater on it, I wouldn't have guessed !

[numbersix]

Yeah, it only opened there on Thursday so no proper photos yet.

[Chienfantome]

I wish I had such a theater 2 minutes away from my door too. I gotta take the subway or the bus to go see a film, that's the one thing I hate about living where I live.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

The reason this occurs is because of the ease of digital distribution, most projectionists are now spotty teenagers earning candy money (or credit for Candyland) and actually know very little about cinema projection. It's going to keep happening too.

The Landmark cinema does look pretty good, and it's bizarre to see one at a train station.

And good luck explaining to a teenager why free 3D is not actually a bonus. To be fair, it was a 10am show so I probably wasn't dealing with the best and the brightest Landmark has to offer, but with digital distribution it can't be more complex than clicking a few icons on a computer screen, so you'd think someone would have known how to do it. Their excuse was that it was all pre-programmed.

In their defense, it's definitely the manager's fault if they (meaning management) doesn't know how to operate a digital projector. It's very simple, but the interface is very intimidating. I pity anyone who would try to do anything on a dig projector having never even seen one before.

It is all pre-programmed these days, there's one booth manager that programs the whole week on Thursday mornings. So it's almost normal these days for everyone in the building not to know how to troubleshoot a projector. It's a terrible plan, when something goes wrong - they usually would just call the booth guy at home and ask them what to do. But theaters are cheap, they'll risk it to save money on payroll.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

All you foreigners have got sweet ass theaters, while we in America (outside of major cities) have generic multiplexes. Thanks Regal & AMC!

[Chienfantome]

Europe's the best !

[Buscemi]

Slightly unrelated, I managed to find a film lineup of the Eaton Centre Cineplex from June 1982. This was the world's first megaplex and I love to find information on this place. It's too bad the later history of Toronto theatres happens to be so undocumented. Also included: a lineup of the still-open Carlton Cinemas, perhaps the first North American arthouse with more than four screens.

http://www.invisiblecinema.ca/blog/wp-c ... int_ad.jpg

You just have to love those lineups. The Eaton Centre had everything from family films to porn (and even Rocky Horror all day) while the Carlton had Citizen Kane, Jules and Jim and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie along with Mephisto, The Atomic Cafe and My Dinner with Andre. In 1982, it was clear that Toronto was the place to be in North America for movies (too bad this era of film exhibition there is so poorly documented compared to New York and Los Angeles).

Bonus: an E.T./Blues Brothers double bill at one of the drive-ins listed in the E.T. ad.

[Chienfantome]

I'll soon post a new entry in this thread, but I just read an interesting infography on The Playlist about the history of French cinema, with great informations about cinema in Paris : http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ ... y-20141126

I already knew Paris is the city in the world where you find the most cinemas and screens, but I didn't think it was that many more than in other cities :
1003 screens in Paris in 302 cinemas. In New York, there's 501 screens (half !) in 117 cinemas (a third !). In London, 566 screens in 108 cinemas. In Shanghai, which seems to be the second city with the most cinemas and screens, there's 670 screens in 230 cinemas.
Another fascinating trivia is about film festivals. There are 190 film festivals in Paris (including the best, the Korean Film Festival ), which is more than the number of film festivals in London, New York and Toronto COMBINED.