Palaces

I know I wrote that a bad night at the movies is better than a good night doing almost anything else, and I meant that. Just watching a movie is an enjoyable enough experience that it often doesn't matter to me where I'm doing it. Movie-going is like pizza or ice cream -- even when it's bad, it's still pretty good. I've watched movies in hot, crowded theaters, on airplanes next to snoring fellow passengers, at my desk at work, in classrooms, on portable DVD players, on smart phones, on laptops, projected in city parks, and, of course, at home on the couch.

Still, can't we all agree that some experiences are better than others? Yes, Little Caesar's five buck special fills your belly and more or less resembles pizza, but isn't it a far cry from, say, Buddy's Pizza in Detroit where the crust and sauce are made fresh literally by hand every day? Isn't Italian gelato a whole other world compared to the generic half gallon of ice cream from the depths of the grocery store freezer?

So it is with movie theaters, I think. Yes, a movie is a movie wherever you see it - but how much better is it if you see it in a good theater? When movies first really began to take off as a form of entertainment and became a staple of American life, exhibitors had tons of money to sink into their facilities. Because these were literally the only places on earth where your average joe could see a picture, theater owners built elaborate, beautiful buildings that were essentially temples of film. They're commonly referred to these days as movie palaces.

Check these out and consider how they compare to the last theater you went to:

Some were done in Art Deco, others were Art Nouveau, and some had some kind of ethnic theme like Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood. But attending a movie at a place like this made film going an event, not an afterthought.

Many of the original palaces have decayed or been torn down. Some have been saved and refurbished. One of my personal favorite old theaters is the Egyptian Theater in Boise, Idaho. Once on the verge of ruin, it's been restored to its former glory and then some, and now it is a jewel of the downtown area. Back in 2000, my wife and I saw a small, independent film called God's Army that is now a major part of my PhD dissertation, so I have a lot of affection for that place.

What's interesting to me now is that some of the big theater chains are trying to replicate the palace vibe in their giant multiplexes. In bigger markets, chains want to move away from mall theaters and instead create giant meccas of movie going. AMC, Loews, and Carmike all have big, glossy theaters in bigger cities. Stadium seating, surround sound, high def projection, gourmet snack bars, etc.  While they are kind of cliched in how they try to replicate old fashioned theaters, I still appreciate that they try to make movie going a special event.

There are a few theaters around here that just sort of make me angry in how shabby and cruddy they are. I've vowed to never pay money to see a movie a the Roxy in Ottawa ever again. The whole place appears to be rotting, the sound system seems to have been stolen out of a '73 Chevy Nova, the screens are the size of postage stamps, and the popcorn tastes like it's been around since the Clinton administration. I'd rather see a movie in a bad theater than not at all, but the utter disregard at the Roxy just makes me mad. And since there are other options, there's no reason for me to give another cent there. 

Speaking of other options, I've lived in this area for almost five years now and I have yet to see a movie at either the Majestic in Streator or the Apollo in Princeton. Maybe that will be part of this blog project this summer - to visit those two and maybe the drive-in up near Sandwich. If so, I'll be sure to take pictures and keep you posted.