The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA recently had a 50th-year anniversary screening of West Side Story at the end of last month. It was clearly not 70mm, but I was so glad to see it!
Although I first saw “Jaws” when it was out of date, I remember the opening day(s) when “Jaws” was the talk of pretty much every circle. It was cool to listen to.
While it’s true that inappropriate behavior on the part of audience members has always gone on in movie theatres, the advent of texting and cellphone use, generally, has taken inappropriate behavior in the movie theatres to a whole new (and intolerable) level
I don’t live in the area, but it’s heartening to read/hear about the re-opening of cinemas. There’s hope for true-blue movie theatres and the moviegoing experience yet!
A church that also converts into a movie theatre when not being used for services??!? Wow! Isn’t that a fact! Maybe more churches and synagogues should do that!
I also might add that perhaps if more movie theatres had this “zero tolerance” policy towards texting and cellphone use in general while in the movie theatre, it would bring more people back to the movie theatres.
Ya know….Even though I don’t live in the Los Angeles area, it’s disheartening to hear/read about the demolitions of precious movie theatres, because every single time that happens, no matter where it is, it’s an attack on movie theatres and the movie business, generally. It makes me wonder if any of the venerable areas in our neck of the woods might be next on the chopping block, if one gets the drift.
I second all the comments on here. That woman who was rude enough to text and bother everybody else in the Alamo Drafthouse Theatre deserved to be kicked out. This isn’t such a gentle world, especially nowadays. She’ll meet her match sooner or later.
I can see one being scared of something like that when they’re between the age of 7 and 10 years of age, because that’s still quite a vulnerable, tender and impressionable age. However, in the events of a real nuclear fall-out, there wouldn’t be people running around taking care of the sick.
Thank you, Moviemac. It’s good to see that there are other people who advocate going to a real movie theatre and seeing movies as they’re really meant to be viewed, with a large audience, and on a great big, wide screen, with the lights down low. The only problem, however, is that nowadays, movies go on DVD and Blu-Ray about six to nine months after they’ve had a run in the movie theatres, which seem to be used as a form of advertising for the industry to push the American and world population into DVD and Blu-Ray.
Since I live alone and don’t have a family to tie me down, I go to movies quite a bit and hold memberships to the two independent movie theatres left in our area.
Moviemac, it sounds like you’ve got a great idea when you and your friends/family go to a good, affordable old theatre where the kids don’t run around in packs and rudely interrupt people with their cellphone use, talking, etc. More and more theatres these days, however, are advocate no cellphone use. The great old classics are a real treasure, and I wish more of them would be restored. Most of what hollywood is putting out nowadays isn’t great, so I hang onto wonderful old classics.
With many adults with families working long hours, it’s more convenient for them to stick a movie in their DVD or Blu-Ray player and have the whole family, with or without friends and/or relatives watch a movie at home. Not as intimate or exciting for them as a movie theatre, but for many people, it passes.
Too bad it couldn’t be saved due to being structurally unsound and unsafe, and too bad that it was taken due to the owner not being able or willing to pay taxes on the building. I still remember the time when almost every city, town and neighborhood here in the Commonwealth had a movie theatre to go to. Growing up in one of the few towns that didn’t have a movie theatre, my siblings, friends and I generally had to go the theatres in towns that did have them, or downtown Boston, or Cambridge, relying on adults to drive us, due to poor public transportation in our town. Oh, well..that’s history, since I’ve long since moved out of that town.
There are good and bad movies in every era, but the past two or three decades seem to have been the worst, regarding the turn-out of cheesy films, or films that had the potential for being among the all-time greats, but have fallen woefully short of that potential for a number of reasons.
Okay, points taken, terrysmith, KramSacul, KingBiscuits and bob1007. Thanks. It’s an interesting concept, and might be a model for the building of more real movie theatres, maybe.
Midnight movies can be lots of fun! I’ve watched midnight showings of “The Warriors” , “The Goonies”, and afew other movies at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, in Brookline, MA, and I once watched an all-night Japanese Animation Marathon, which was lots of fun, even though I was only able to hold out until 1:00 a. m., when I drove back home again. It was well worth the $20.00 that it cost for admission, however.
The idea of a movie theatre with a dine-and-view concept is an idea whose time has come. The Strand Theatre, an independent movie theatre out in Clinton, MA, is one such theatre, and here’s hoping that more movie theatres will follow suit in the future. Since many more movie theatres already do serve beer and wine, maybe that’s a step forward. Who knows??
That’s too bad. I guess they don’t want people to go out, have fun and mingle among each other, but to remain isolated and alienated from each other at home. Movie theatres are one place that act at least as a temporary community, where people, whether they know each other or not, can come together to share the experience of seeing a good movie on the great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre with the lights down low, as they’re really meant to be viewed.
You’ve got a point, CWalzcak, but that’s how it is these days, unfortunately, because most movies these days are so trashy that of course the Oscars are going to award Best Picture and other Academy Awards to trashy pictures. The Oscars Night has gotten to be a rather tawdry joke because most of today’s movies are tawdry.
The Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA recently had a 50th-year anniversary screening of West Side Story at the end of last month. It was clearly not 70mm, but I was so glad to see it!
It sounds exciting! Since West Side Story is my all time favorite movie, I sure wish I could be there!
Although I first saw “Jaws” when it was out of date, I remember the opening day(s) when “Jaws” was the talk of pretty much every circle. It was cool to listen to.
While it’s true that inappropriate behavior on the part of audience members has always gone on in movie theatres, the advent of texting and cellphone use, generally, has taken inappropriate behavior in the movie theatres to a whole new (and intolerable) level
I don’t live in the area, but it’s heartening to read/hear about the re-opening of cinemas. There’s hope for true-blue movie theatres and the moviegoing experience yet!
A church that also converts into a movie theatre when not being used for services??!? Wow! Isn’t that a fact! Maybe more churches and synagogues should do that!
I also might add that perhaps if more movie theatres had this “zero tolerance” policy towards texting and cellphone use in general while in the movie theatre, it would bring more people back to the movie theatres.
Very true, Mike Rogers. Either that, or they’ve passed over into the Other World.
How cool!!
Ya know….Even though I don’t live in the Los Angeles area, it’s disheartening to hear/read about the demolitions of precious movie theatres, because every single time that happens, no matter where it is, it’s an attack on movie theatres and the movie business, generally. It makes me wonder if any of the venerable areas in our neck of the woods might be next on the chopping block, if one gets the drift.
I second all the comments on here. That woman who was rude enough to text and bother everybody else in the Alamo Drafthouse Theatre deserved to be kicked out. This isn’t such a gentle world, especially nowadays. She’ll meet her match sooner or later.
I can see one being scared of something like that when they’re between the age of 7 and 10 years of age, because that’s still quite a vulnerable, tender and impressionable age. However, in the events of a real nuclear fall-out, there wouldn’t be people running around taking care of the sick.
Thank you, Moviemac. It’s good to see that there are other people who advocate going to a real movie theatre and seeing movies as they’re really meant to be viewed, with a large audience, and on a great big, wide screen, with the lights down low. The only problem, however, is that nowadays, movies go on DVD and Blu-Ray about six to nine months after they’ve had a run in the movie theatres, which seem to be used as a form of advertising for the industry to push the American and world population into DVD and Blu-Ray.
Since I live alone and don’t have a family to tie me down, I go to movies quite a bit and hold memberships to the two independent movie theatres left in our area.
Moviemac, it sounds like you’ve got a great idea when you and your friends/family go to a good, affordable old theatre where the kids don’t run around in packs and rudely interrupt people with their cellphone use, talking, etc. More and more theatres these days, however, are advocate no cellphone use. The great old classics are a real treasure, and I wish more of them would be restored. Most of what hollywood is putting out nowadays isn’t great, so I hang onto wonderful old classics.
With many adults with families working long hours, it’s more convenient for them to stick a movie in their DVD or Blu-Ray player and have the whole family, with or without friends and/or relatives watch a movie at home. Not as intimate or exciting for them as a movie theatre, but for many people, it passes.
Too bad it couldn’t be saved due to being structurally unsound and unsafe, and too bad that it was taken due to the owner not being able or willing to pay taxes on the building. I still remember the time when almost every city, town and neighborhood here in the Commonwealth had a movie theatre to go to. Growing up in one of the few towns that didn’t have a movie theatre, my siblings, friends and I generally had to go the theatres in towns that did have them, or downtown Boston, or Cambridge, relying on adults to drive us, due to poor public transportation in our town. Oh, well..that’s history, since I’ve long since moved out of that town.
It looks like it was once a really fantastic movie/performance theatre. Another one bites the dust. (sigh). Too bad.
There are good and bad movies in every era, but the past two or three decades seem to have been the worst, regarding the turn-out of cheesy films, or films that had the potential for being among the all-time greats, but have fallen woefully short of that potential for a number of reasons.
Okay, points taken, terrysmith, KramSacul, KingBiscuits and bob1007. Thanks. It’s an interesting concept, and might be a model for the building of more real movie theatres, maybe.
Midnight movies can be lots of fun! I’ve watched midnight showings of “The Warriors” , “The Goonies”, and afew other movies at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, in Brookline, MA, and I once watched an all-night Japanese Animation Marathon, which was lots of fun, even though I was only able to hold out until 1:00 a. m., when I drove back home again. It was well worth the $20.00 that it cost for admission, however.
The idea of a movie theatre with a dine-and-view concept is an idea whose time has come. The Strand Theatre, an independent movie theatre out in Clinton, MA, is one such theatre, and here’s hoping that more movie theatres will follow suit in the future. Since many more movie theatres already do serve beer and wine, maybe that’s a step forward. Who knows??
I saw the programs on the website for the Somerville Theatre’s Classic/repertory programming for this summer, Ron. Thanks.
How Cooool! There are some neat classics there. The July 14-15 TBA, however, drives me a little batty.
How I wish that the Orson Welles Cinema and most of the other Repertory Movie Houses were still in existence! (sigh).
I’m grateful for the Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Brattle Theatre, both of which I hold yearly memberships to, but…
That’s too bad. I guess they don’t want people to go out, have fun and mingle among each other, but to remain isolated and alienated from each other at home. Movie theatres are one place that act at least as a temporary community, where people, whether they know each other or not, can come together to share the experience of seeing a good movie on the great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre with the lights down low, as they’re really meant to be viewed.
What? When was the new 70mm print of West Side Story with the improved soundtrack shown at the Ziegfeld in New York? I’m just curious.
You’ve got a point, CWalzcak, but that’s how it is these days, unfortunately, because most movies these days are so trashy that of course the Oscars are going to award Best Picture and other Academy Awards to trashy pictures. The Oscars Night has gotten to be a rather tawdry joke because most of today’s movies are tawdry.