From outside the box

Hello, my name is Joe and I am a movie theatre junkie, an addict. (At this point you have to imagine a crowd responding, "Hi Joe, we love you Joe"). Ok, enough of the AA thing....Now I use the term movie theatre junkie/addict because it is not just movies that I am addicted to but the experience of the movie theatre as well. There is nothing like loosing yourself in a dark room where the audio and visual surround you and encapsulate your senses, where nobody can find you, telephones will not ring, a place where life's petty problems seem to be a million miles away.

So as you can see, I take my movie going quite seriously. Although a crying baby or over reacting teenage girls will irritate the hell out of me, I am on the other hand, very appreciative of the nice things like a comfortable chair, lots of leg room, or good sound quality. I will leave the actual movie critiquing to others. My area of expertise is in the experience of watching the movie. So I share with you some thoughts on theatres, past and present.....

I remember the El Rey theatre quite well. I liked to go there because of the size of the screen, great visuals, good seating. But the El Rey had two problems that were never addressed and had they been, it might still be showing movies today. The sound system was lousy. You couldn't hear the movies. I never understood why they couldn't turn the sound up, I mean who's gonna hear it except the people in the theatre? If it was a speaker problem would it really have been that expensive to just get bigger speakers? But the main problem with the El Rey was the fact that when a movie came there, it would stay for months and months. They would get a popular movie, fill the theatre for a week or two, and then four months later that same movie is playing to a crowd of four. I think with proper management this theatre could flourish again as a movie house or any other type of entertainment.

The Senator theatre was the perfect movie theatre (it had a balcony for God's sake!) until some idiot got the bright idea to divide it into a four-plex theatre. It never worked as a four-plex. In the two downstairs theatres the screens were not centered right. You had to sit in the exact middle, which oddly enough was right next to the side isle, or the screen appeared to be wobbly and somewhat out of focus. The upstairs theatres were too steep and the theatres were not deep enough. The top row was like 20 feet from the screen, just plain weird.

I remember how exciting it was when the new Cinemark theatre opened up out on Springfield by the Chico Mall. It meant that we could have more than 4 or 5 movies playing at a time in Chico. To me this was the Christening of Chico from a town to a city. My excitement was soon dampened when you realized that all of the theatres were so small that unless you were sitting in the very back row, you were too close to the screen.

I love the idea of the Pageant theatre, but not the Pageant theatre. I am 6'3" and I just don't fit well in those seats. It seems to me that they would do well to invest in better seating. I will go there if there is a must see movie, otherwise I will avoid this theatre. If I feel that way, there must be others. I know I'm not the only large man in town who likes to go to the movies. Also, the seating is not slanted enough. At the Pageant I try to sit where there is nobody behind me because I know I will block their view.

And the Cinemark 14? All in all it's not too bad. I love the way they crank the volume, they usually handle the crowds pretty well, and the stadium type seating means you can see over heads. But can anybody tell me why they took out that wonderful 2 story parking lot? Not only could you park closer but the bottom level offered cover from the rain as well as shade from the sun.

Now all that being said, I have a few final thoughts on the theatre experience. Have you ever looked at the movie pages in the Chronicle or the Sacramento Bee and noticed all the movies out that we never get or never heard of? Chico needs another Pageant (artsy) type movie house, with maybe 2 or 3 screens, so that we would not have to miss so many of these foreign and independently produced films. The Pageant can't keep up, and it's uncomfortable. Other movie needs that could be improved upon in Chico is more comfortable chairs, better food and snack selections, candy wrappers that aren't so noisy, ban babies from any movie rated PG-13 or higher, and change the commercials more often that are shown before the previews begin. I hate it when I have them memorized.

I would just like to say in conclusion (picture me with wet eyes right now) that movies are Gods greatest gift to mankind. Without them we would die. Whenever somebody tells me that I am being too much of a couch potato, that I need to get out and get a life, do something constructive, I usually agree. So I get up, brush my hair, get my walking shoes on, and drive to a movie!