Comments from Mark_L

Showing 476 - 500 of 538 comments

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Dollar Cinemas Westland on Jul 2, 2008 at 11:39 am

Westland 1 & 2 were in the strip mall just to the east of this location.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Thomas Lamb treasure hosts summer film series on Jun 27, 2008 at 8:29 pm

There are 2 and maybe 3 projectors in the booth. They do have reel changes. Boston Light & Sound did some refurbishing up there a few years ago. The do usually put up an intermission tag. The intermissions have been there since the beginning of the series 39 years ago.

The Ohio is one of the great movie palaces anywhere. Clark Wilson is an amazing organist and his presentations of silent films are works of art.

Just a note, when they ran NAPOLEON in its 1980’s release, they had 5 projectors in the booth — the 3 house projectors ganged for the 3 screen sequence, and two portable units for the rest of the film.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Thomas Lamb treasure hosts summer film series on Jun 25, 2008 at 1:01 pm

This is one of the great deals anywhere. Admission is only $3.50 and cheaper for seniors. All films are preceded by organ music usually by Clark Wilson. Each year, Clark plays a silent film, this year it will be SPARROWS with Mary Pickford on July 16 & 17. Clark is one of the finest accompanists I have ever heard.

The Ohio Theatre is located in Downtown Columbus, and inexpensive parking is available under the State Capitol building across the street.

One word of warning: ALL films are shown with an intermission. On NORTH BY NORTHWEST, it came during the crop dusting scene. It usually falls on a reel change!

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about North High Drive-In on May 4, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Also a Miles Drive-In, like the East Main.

Played Porn the last few years of operation.

I don’t believe this land was ever developed.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Chakeres East Main Drive-In on May 3, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Miles East Main. I went there often when younger. Used to wait for the projectionist to get hot and open the door. One night, he was running flat films and had to run a scope trailer on one machine. It was great to see him hustle around to put the reel on and thread up that other machine.

There was a root beer drive-in outside the gate that you could see from the inside. It was a sure sign the evening was getting late when they turned off the revolving root beer mug on top.

This was never twinned…always a single screen.

For the record, Whitehall is an eastern suburb of Columbus, OH. There were 2 other drive-ins on E. Main Street in Whitehall, one was the Inn-Town and I think the other was the EastSide.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Gateway Film Center on Mar 3, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Display ad in the Dispatch, which started running on Saturday, March 1, 2008, does show the apostrophe: “Landmark’s Gateway Theater”. I am not familiar with the architect, but whoever it was had to design in a very odd space (all rooms are very high and steep).

I believe there are actually only 7 full screens and one “multi-purpose room”.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Landmark Theatres takes over Gateway on Mar 3, 2008 at 10:28 am

I don’t expect Landmark to do any better there than the Drexel. Many of the OSU students consider the area to be too expensive, and the general community really has no good reason to go there.

The theatre is nice enough, but many find having to pay for parking to be annoying.

Biggest problem here is the AMC Lennox 24-plex that is about 2 miles away. They have abundant free parking, usually show the latest films, and have free bus service for OSU students almost straight to the door.

To get me to go there, Landmark will have to program films I just can’t see anywhere else. Given a choice, we’ll probably go to the $5.00 AM CINEMA shows at the Lennox.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Gateway Film Center on Mar 3, 2008 at 3:31 am

Name changed to LANDMARK’S GATEWAY on 3/1/08. No immediate change in programming.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Gateway Film Center on Feb 9, 2008 at 3:23 pm

I’m sure they’ll keep the word GATEWAY, as that is very important to the area. Most likely, LANDMARK GATEWAY. As soon as they make any official comment, I’ll post it here.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Gateway Film Center on Feb 9, 2008 at 1:08 pm

I think they are looking at keeping it a theatre, but doing meetings. There already is a multi-purpose room there. They would not have brought in Landmark if they didn’t want to keep showing movies there. We’ll see what happens come March 1 when the changeover is made.

I would only go there if that is the only theatre playing a particular film.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Gateway Film Center on Feb 9, 2008 at 5:21 am

Ron, you hit it exactly. On February 8, Campus Partners announced that they are hiring Landmark as their management company.

They are going to push this location as meeting/event space. There is a lack of that in the area with the rebuilding of the Ohio Union taking until 2010.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Gateway Film Center on Feb 6, 2008 at 6:46 am

Campus Partners is removing the Drexel Theatre Group from managing this theatre in March, 2008. The theatre lost $187,000 in a recent fiscal year. Campus Partners is planning on hiring a new managing team to administer both the movie theatres and a recently expanded meeting space.

There are 45 other screens within 2.5 miles of this location, and getting exclusive product is getting very difficult.

Sad to see this happen, as they were able to bring in some of the more obscure art films that would not normally play outside of the largest cities.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Carriage Place Movies 12 on Feb 6, 2008 at 6:35 am

A very successful dollar theatre. This place packs them in on holidays and weekends. It is very hard to go to any of the businesses in this center during prime movie time as parking is very difficult. I believe it was a first-run house for awhile, but it has mostly been a discount theatre.

No stadium seating, and only a few digital sound rooms.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about AMC 84th Street 6 on Dec 3, 2007 at 10:32 am

Warren,

REAL-D is a digital 3-D system. It has been used for Chicken Little, Meet the Robinsons, Nightmare Before Christmas and Beowulf, along with a few others. It works quite well, but I understand it is very expensive for exhibitors.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about AMC Dublin Village 18 on Oct 27, 2007 at 9:55 am

I think this started out as Dublin 10, then grew to 14, then added on 4 more.

Original installation was all sloped seating. Stereo was limited to the largest 2 rooms.

First round of additions added 2 large rooms with a modified stadium seating where you enter at the highest point at the back, then the rows go down from there. They also added 2 very small rooms off the lobby at this point.

4 more rooms added at a later time, also sloped seating.

Showed DICK TRACY in 70mm. That projector may still be in the building, but that is not confirmed.

Shopping center it is located in is almost deserted due to zoning requirements of Dublin. Stores across the street in Columbus are thriving. Also, this location is not situated on a main street, so you have to know where you are going to find it.

Rumors of its closing have been around for a long time. I’ve heard it might close and AMC will build a new facility a bit to the west in the Tuttle Mall area.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about AMC Dine-In Easton Town Center 30 on Oct 4, 2007 at 1:07 pm

The theatre is on the second floor of the Easton “Train Station” which sits at the center of this large entertainment complex, which features shops, live comedy presentations, and many fine restaurants. If you might want to buy it, someone in the Easton area will want to sell it!

Theatre has 13 screens in the far left and right sections, with the 4 largest screens in the center.

The IMAX unit is in one of the larger rooms, #14. The screen is typical for the MPX 3-D units designed for a standard multiplex, about 50' wide. Sound quality is very, very good. The room still has its 35mm projector.

This is a very high grossing theatre, with people coming from all over Ohio to shop and be entertained. Presentation quality is usually very good.

One oddity about the place is that it was originally built without water fountains.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Polaris 18 + XD on Oct 3, 2007 at 11:58 am

I don’t know of any major release they have not played.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Polaris 18 + XD on Oct 3, 2007 at 11:45 am

According to a source at RAVE, they have pulled all 35mm equipment from all of their theatres.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Polaris 18 + XD on Oct 2, 2007 at 5:08 pm

All digital projection as of late summer, 2007. One screen equipped for 3-D digital projection.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Phoenix Theatres Lennox Town Center 24 on Oct 2, 2007 at 5:02 pm

Standard AMC 24-plex, with 10 screens left, 10 screens right, and the 4 largest screens in the center. All rooms have digital sound, originally all SDDS with a few Dolby Digital and DTS in the larger rooms. Not sure of the current set up.

One moderate sized room has digital projection equipped for 3-D.

Many of the rooms have Torus screens.

Located within sight of the Ohio State University football stadium, this theatre does an excellent business with the college students. A bus runs from campus to the theatre and its adjoining shopping center.

Called the LENNOX because this location used to be a plant for Lennox heating and cooling equipment.

One of the largest grossing theatres in the area.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Screens at the Continent on Jul 25, 2007 at 3:16 pm

Moved to a new ownership in late June, 2007.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Raintree Cinemas 1, 2,3 on May 22, 2007 at 3:36 pm

Dolby Stereo installation books from the 80’s list this theatre as having 70mm equipment. This was an error in the Dolby book, which I confirmed with Glen Ackerman a number of years ago.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about Lincoln Theatre on Apr 1, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Theater is tied up in a political mess. Don’t expect any activity there in the near future. I’ve heard the place is cleaned up but totally empty.

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about AMC Columbus 10 on Mar 22, 2007 at 12:30 pm

One large room and 9 smaller ones. Some rooms do not have digital sound.

This theatre was built on the cusp of the stadium seating era, and was built with that in mind. Because of this, the screens are quite high and there are some awkward viewing angles. No real improvements since construction.

This is, however, the only first run theatre in the fast growing western part of Franklin County (Central Ohio).

Mark_L
Mark_L commented about National Amusements launch ticket price war in Flint, Michigan market on Dec 26, 2006 at 6:25 pm

A similar “price war” is going on in far-north Columbus Ohio. A Rave 16 and a Marcus 17 have a $6 evening rate. This has been going on for some time. Both are well run operations with excellent presentations.