I went yesterday to watch The Dark Knight. I think it was really good. I was impressed in many ways, acting, direction, visual effects, sound! I won't go into any details since those are easily found all around the web and by far best people to review it. As I was writing this post I was in between reading some feeds from the sites I usually surf only to realize that my post started almost the same way as one of
my friend's post. So I kept reading and when I was done I totally forgot where I was going with this post.
Anyway, when I was a little brat I remember going to really crappy old movie theaters. It was an exciting experience. Ignorance is blessing. I don't blame older generation who since those years haven't been back to the movies. Parking was always chaos. Then line ups. Line up for buying tickets, to enter the complex since the box office was usually outside the main area, then for popcorn and other really good but terribly expensive candy, and to enter the theater in order to get a good seat. Lots of people will send the fastest of their gang along with their jackets so that he or she could literally throw those over the whole row of seats to save those places. The theater was often hot, stinky and you had to choose between a few theaters that had less chances to have cockroaches or rats. Oh those good old days!
The movie theater business was obviously not working in Mexico. Suddenly someone with a bit more vision and an MBA in Harvard noticed the potential. Two other companies from the US did the same. Basically those three I believe have the 95% of the market now.
They understood that some quality was needed in order to attract a lot of people and that they could turn it into a good business. I dare to say that these new movie theaters were even better than many in the US or Canada.
Then again, the world is not prefect and there are always the little details that can spoil the experience. I must say that most are related to the human factor. Service is not consistent and sometimes common sense is not very common. Us viewers don't help either in many cases. I think that is quite universal. Some people think that because they pay a ticket that grants them to step over the neighbor's toes. People talking, cellphones, babies crying in a rate R movie and all sort of things happen in probably every cinema around the world.
Now Singapore. Here is very similar to Mexico if not for one thing I consider to be a big deal. Buying tickets. In Singapore you can go online and buy tickets and select seats by using a debit or credit card. Don't have to sign up into the movie theater system or any hassle like that. Their system is linked to the same bank network that is used in groceries stores or any other place where you can use your bank card to buy anything. It is fast it is efficient. You can even pre order a combo deal of popcorn, soda and a candy. Once at the movie theater there are machines to collect tickets or a fast lane with a real person behind it just in case some one more tech savvy did the booking online for lets say their relatives.
But most important is assigned seats. I love to be able to choose where I seat. You know exactly where you will be seating therefore there is no need to be at the movie theater one hour earlier to be able to grab a seat no matter if you bought the ticket a week earlier. You can arrive sharp on time and you get the same result. I have heard some people saying that they like the excitement of chasing a seat. I am sure they love the excitement of getting a crappy seat and a sore neck if they were too back in the queue. In my opinion there are way better places and things to do if you are looking for excitement. I just want to enjoy the movie. Probably the downside here are the 20 min commercials before the movie. Most of the are terribly produced. The usually throw in a few movie trailers to make the wait tolerable.
So, if you haven't watched that movie it's a good chance to go. Choose a good seat and if you can't well, get there early I guess.
