Indie Film Megaplex

Isn’t that title an oxymoron? The whole idea would be cool if it weren’t so… what’s the word… ummmmm… not?!

Well its about 10 steps up from mainstream megaplexes, but unfortunately this still doesn’t sound right… does it? The Hollywood Reporter wrote today that Landmark theaters will be opening their first Megaplex in L.A. It will feature, amongst other things, “…new upscale restaurants, and the top floors will house a lounge and wine bar”. Who is this place for exactly? Upscale restaurants? Really? People will come out to see Road to Guantanemo and be able to enjoy a sirloin steak topped with cavier and a thin sheet of gold!? Ok, maybe I went to far.

Seriously though, what kind of snobby-monsters are we creating by having a theater that caters to people who think “Crash” is a fine example of an indie-film? I don’t have answers to these questions…

The opening of this theater makes the closing of one of my all-time favorite movie theaters, Cinema du Parc, here in Montreal, that much more heart-breaking. The walls were plastered with movie posters of all kinds, literally. You could buy sodas, popcorn, candy, and more at cost price! They stopped doing there midnight screenings about a year ago of cult films, which I never understood, but man was it great.
Sure, the seating wasn’t those giant chairs you get at your Multiplex, but they did the trick. No arcade games in the lobby, 3 halls, so no huge crowds, and no one getting up 5 minutes before the end of a movie so they can beat the traffic coming out of the parking lot. Sigh…

I apologize for the rant… you can get the full story on the opening of the new Landmark Theater here.