"Up" in 3D... Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... Friday May 29th 2009

My second digital 3D movie (or third, counting Beowulf at the Gateway a couple years back), Up was a special screening for some corporate employees I was invited to as a guest. (Thanks guys) My last 3D movie was also at the Alamo Drafthouse (see Monsters Vs. Aliens below), and was in the same auditorium (4), but I noticed they also had a 3D movie playing in Auditorium 2 at the same time, so I'm thinking the Alamo folks can show four 3D movies at a time if they want.

After some DVD-quality Pixar short movies put on by the Alamo, the film materials started, with a conventional 2D trailer for Where The Wild Things Are, and after a header saying "put on your 3D glasses now" we saw 3D trailers for Toy Story 3 and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. Good idea to group them like that.

This movie does not have a lot of strong/obvious 3D effects, even though it's in the same 3D format ridden pretty hard by Dreamworks in Monsters Vs. Aliens. Probably a stylistic choice by Pixar... goes to show the studios' variety in approaches to the new format.

While Skywalker Sound's Oscar-winning staff created the Up soundtrack, this is a movie intended for families, and the Alamo's audio system was not strongly tested; I'd say it was sonically more like a beefed up version of the movie "Earth." No audible artifacts of any sort.

Picture was nearly perfect again, they have a small mark on the screen in the bottom middle, but it didn't detract from the viewing experience too much, and there were no picture problems. However - I think I saw my first "artifact" of either the 4K projectors at the Drafthouse, or the 3D process (not sure how I'm going to determine which). There's a long, slow-moving shot of Paradise Falls where the camera follows the water falling down the beautiful, high waterfall. The frame is nearly all water, and the picture basically has a bunch of white noise in the middle where there's lots of misty clouds of water. I was seeing a weird "glistening" on the screen wherever the water was. Is this a screen door effect? Or... something to do with the appearance of this type of picture (which has a high amount of white noise in the frame) when viewed through the 3D glasses? More movies will reveal.

Foodwise, I just ordered their popcorn this time. Honestly it's not the best-tasting cinema popcorn in town, because it feels like it's cold (not popped on site?) and their "butter" has a weird texture to it... it might be real butter, knowing the Alamo. Not sure how I feel about real butter!

Ticket cost = zero :)

Are Austin Cinema Ticket Prices Rising Too Fast?

IMO it is OK for ticket prices to follow the rate of inflation.  But if ticket prices are rising faster than that, one wonders why.  I started buying tickets en masse in 1991, and I think they were $3.25 and $4.50 back then... may take some input from my friends.  (the Northcross Mall cinema was generally cheaper than that)  If my numbers are correct, Austin ticket prices have risen faster than the rate of inflation.

Using http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ - -

$6.75 in today's money, a matinee ticket, was $4.31 in 1991.

$9.00 in today's money, an evening ticket, was $5.74 in 1991.

If 1991 prices kept track with inflation, $3.25 matinee tickets would now cost only $5.08 !!!

If 1991 prices kept track with inflation, $4.50 evening tickets would now cost only $7.03 !!!

Additionally, some cinemas charged matinee prices all evening long on Wednesdays, I think in an attempt to generate sales.  That has gone the way of the dinosaur too.

Buying online was not an option in those days either.  Many cinemas are charging you money to buy tickets online (instead of offering a discount).  Pretty disappointing.

"Star Trek" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 1... Thursday May 21st 2009

Ah, my epic Star Trek reviewing journey comes to a close (I hope) with my 4th exposure to this memorable blockbuster.

Just when I thought reviews of the Alamo Village were getting repetitive! I was all ready to cut 'n' paste "beautiful, pin-sharp focusing and edges, bright screen, rock-steady picture, and adequate (but not leading-edge) audio & acoustics," but unfortunately, the picture and sound experienced here both fell below that. This was my first time in the Village Auditorium 1 in a long time. The Alamo staff had put together a very entertaining loop of Star Trek-oriented clips, including William Shatner's reaction to not being cast in the picture (quote - "I'm Captain Kirk!!!").

I was sat almost at the back row, affording a pretty majestic view of the screen. The Alamo's near-silent motorised matting withdrew to a beautifully-wide 2.35:1 as the movie started, and I realized that Star Trek would just about fill the entire width of the auditorium. Way to maximize your wall space, guys!

Overall the picture was excellent - not a scratch on it, just as with opening night. (Why would there be, with digital?) There were three issues worth mentioning that prevented me from calling this a truly excellent picture.

1) the top edge of the screen droops in the most randomly lazy-looking way. I was unable to see what was causing this, whether it was duvetine, or what, but the top edge of the movie was not straight. It was lower in the middle and higher near the sides. Was easily seen against the lower edge of the picture, which was totally straight.

2) there is a splodge on the screen! Sacrilege. it's half-way along the screen horizontally, close to the top. It was only visible in bright shots of course.. you can't see a splodge in a space film very often.

3) I noticed a weird little "triangle of picture" along the bottom edge, about a third of the way from the right-hand side. This is underneath the otherwise super-straight bottom edge of the picture. Is this a weird chunk missing from the duvetine at the bottom of the screen? Or... extra pixels of Star Trek brought to us by some anomaly of the projector? Hard to say.

All other aspects of the Alamo's picture were exemplary. Overall I would say that these auditoria are the best picture in Austin at this size.

The Alamo Village's sound remains its weak spot, and never was this more noticeable than when watching Star Trek after three other presentations. Notwithstanding the Metropolitan's busted loudspeaker, I believe the Alamo fared the worst of all four in sonic enjoyment. A large problem is the lack of low-end bass, beaten by all three competitors. Another problem is stereo imaging clarity... doesn't hold up like the Highland or IMAX. And the surround experience during Spock's mind-meld sequence falls pretty flat & quiet, whereas at the IMAX it's a tour-de-force of swirling sonic elements. (Nobody beats the IMAX... bah) Oddly, I never felt like the room volume was limiting the experience, which I've often thought at this cinema. Star Trek, which is often loud and bombastic, never seemed crushed by the small room.

Since I am reviewing the cinema, and they serve food, I guess this makes me a food critic too. I ordered their "Moonstruck" personal-sized pizza, and I'm sorry to say I was underwhelmed. Their popcorn is recommendable however, and not too expensive, and served in a round, steel bowl which is nicer than eating it out of a paper bag. I partook of the $4 free-refills soda, which is OK if you're into consuming large quantities of HFCS but otherwise not a good buy. Total food bill was $16.

Evening ticket price - $9.00

"Angels And Demons" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... Saturday May 16th 2009

Reviews of the Alamo Village are getting repetitive! Beautiful, pin-sharp focusing and edges, bright screen, rock-steady picture, and adequate (but not leading-edge) audio & acoustics. This was the same auditorium I saw Monsters Vs. Aliens In 3D - this movie wasn't in 3D though... no glasses required. Eating in the dark is an acquired taste, but it certainly hits the spot when you need it. Angels And Demons allowed the Alamo's management to put on one of their better pre-show video collages - a whole bunch of old Tom Hanks clips from the 80's and onwards, many from Saturday Night Live. Very funny.

I have to say, I've not had to sit in the front row at the Alamo Village since 1999's Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Rings - and it felt pretty darn close. A word to the wary - show up in time to get seats away from the screen, otherwise you could end up not seeing the entire movie.

Matinee ticket price - $6.75 (not bad!)

"Star Trek" Galaxy Highland 10... Auditorium 5... May 12th, 2009

I actually arrived a little late and don't have any comments on the trailers. Was easily able to sit in the sweet spot.

Phew, you can get too much of a good thing... so - this was my first digital projection viewing of Star Trek. The Highland's acoustics feel accurate and intimate, not remote and disengaged, but, there is an energy capacity limit due to the smaller rooms. It didn't feel shrill at the highest levels, like Alamo Village, but there was definitely a feeling of stress in the sound. For the most part the sound was favorable and problem free (in fact, no sonic artifacts were heard at all), just this niggling problem with the size of the room prevents the low end effects from being able to amaze like they should.

The visuals were rock steady and bright, passing the usual brightness tests from the other screenings. No scratches, marks or blemishes whatsoever. Focusing was perfect throughout, and the image edges were sharp, though reaching the duvetine only on the left and right edges; the screen was actually a bit taller than the film image, with maybe a foot of pictureless screen at top and bottom. (motorised matting broken perhaps?)

This was a relatively empty auditorium being as it was a Tuesday afternoon; wandering down to the front row as the credits rolled up, I noted the picture was beautifully focussed and rock steady at the top of the screen, but seemed to have a jumpiness at the bottom. This was not noticeable from the sweet spot.

The Highland has 2K projectors... I don't have any issues with them at this point.

Matinee ticket price was $7.00

"Star Trek" Metropolitan... Auditorium 7... May 9th, 2009

Star Trek is on at least 4 screens at the Metropolitan, but a judicious call to Dean in the box office (447-0101 extension zero [the secret, unlisted extension] ) revealed the showtimes for the two specific screens I wanted to know about. Explanation...

Regal's Metropolitan 14 is a sister cinema to their Gateway 16 cinema. It was built a few years later than the Gateway, on basically the same floorplan, size & shape, but has one important difference. Regal looked at the four auditoria behind the concession stand, and were able to knock down two of the dividing walls, allowing them to create two uber-huge screens where the Gateway has four. These screens are #7 and #8 at the Metropolitan, and Austin's biggest auditoria (unless you count the Bob Bullock IMAX screen, which doesn't compete by the same rules!)

The engineer who installed the sound & projector equipment at the Metropolitan (Cliff Anderson of San Antonio's Independent Theater Supply) told me at the time that the theatrical sound system follows in the best possible arrangement: amplifiers behind the screen, close to the speakers, and balanced line-level wires running from the sound processors to the amplifiers. Also, their Dolby Digital sound readers are on top of the projector, where the film is entering the projector smoothly and without any jitter. (This secures a more reliable data stream, unlike cinemas who put their Dolby Digital sound reader on the bottom, where the film exits the projector with a bit of shutter jitter and suffers from more data errors)

The film program, beginning with trailers, started up 3 minutes behind schedule. There was a sonic glitch in the digital sound of the first trailer, probably more due to being the first piece of film, but otherwise the digital soundtrack was perfect throughout the show. The huge screen has beautifully sharp edges with nothing discernable projected on to the walls, and focus was excellent throughout the show. Having watched this same movie on the IMAX screen the night before, I was able to realise that it is darker at the Metropolitan. Not good. This actually impacted the movie in real ways. There are numerous scenes where characters are lit from the side rather dramatically. At the Metropolitan, there was a moment or two when their darker side was basically black, and you couldn't make out any detail. At the IMAX you can still see the detail of their eyes, etc. on the dark side of their face. Not that important, but there was one shot that contained real plot detail and IMO was rendered less effective at the Metropolitan. There's a shot in the movie where a planet is turned into a black hole. At the IMAX, you could see a black disc in the middle of the screen, with stars all around, and a perfect circular border to it. At the Metropolitan, the black disc is there, but you can't really tell it's a disc... the surrounding stars are dimmer and some of them don't show up at all. The shot goes by so quickly that if you don't know what to look for you won't realize what the filmmakers are trying to convey. Bah! Generally speaking, watching a space movie at a cinema that isn't as bright as it could be isn't the way to go. There're a lot of dark scenes in Star Trek... and not everything shows up!

The concessions struck me as a bit expensive, even in the world of concessions that are more expensive than they should be. A large popcorn, for example, which is something they pre-cook then serve you out of a big hamper, is $7.00. This is almost the price of an admission ticket... it is as much as the price of an admission ticket a few of years back... and it is as much as some restaurant meals. A tub of cinema popcorn costing as much as a restaurant meal? I would buy more concessions from them, but their prices are simply unrealistic. I had smuggled in a "Raisinettes" from the grocery store ($1 versus their $3.50) and a bottle of water, since they charge $6 for same. Now - compare this with the concessions at the IMAX... there are no concessions really, just a small storefront that seems to serve neither sodas nor popcorn (the two staples of cinema concessions). So I suppose you could say the Metropolitan has the IMAX beat in that way. The Metropolitan's seats are wider and more comfortable, and have cloth arms w/ cupholders. The IMAX's seats are narrow, with skimpy wooden arms (the likes of which haven't been seen since the Ford Trimotor). It's pretty cramped, frankly. The IMAX is not a comfortable place to see a movie lasting 2hrs or more. It was designed/constructed for 45-minute IMAX movies, remember - more like theme park attractions than for people wanting to spend their time absorbing thought-provoking narratives.

I will now turn my attention to the sound, which was the Metropolitan's piece de resistance when it first opened (it was undoubtedly the best-sounding 35mm cinema in Austin). There were two big comments, both of which independently lead to the same conclusion (that the IMAX sounds better).

#1 The first is the cinematic version of the old automotive adage, "there's no substitute for cubic inches." I should start by saying that the Metropolitan's auditoria 7 & 8 handily beat all the other screens in town, there's nothing else as big (or nothing else feels this big anyway). Unfortunately, the IMAX unfairly beats the poor Metropolitan in sonic majesty, there's just no getting away from it. It dwarfs the Metropolitan's big screens, probably cost a hell of a lot more to install, probably has more wattage, more loudspeakers, better speakers, and other tweaks that put it way ahead. Normally I would say that the Metropolitan Auditorium 7/8 has so much volume inside that it handles any bombastic summer blockbuster with ease - and while it's not as dead as the Highland 10, it's not suffering from undue reflections at high levels a la say, Alamo Village. The low noise floor, lack of projector noise, good wiring and other aspects would normally contribute to a city-beating score - if you are looking to hear a big, loud movie in grand style, the Metropolitan and its #7/#8 auditoriums are about as good as you can get. Unless that same movie is also at the IMAX. That's the killer - if the movie is also at the IMAX, it will sound better. The finesse, power and stereo imagery at the IMAX cannot be beat in Austin. Two examples - the very first minute of Star Trek is a bold statement of the new theme played by orchestral brass. I would never ordinarily say such a thing, but at that moment I swear to you I could almost close my eyes and imagine I was in an auditorium listening to an orchestra - it is that close. I've never felt that in any regular theater in Austin, or any regular cinema, anyway. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles would probably beat :) The Metropolitan merely sounded "very good" but was nowhere near getting such commendation. Second example - there's a minute-long sequence in the middle of the movie where Spock performs a mind-meld with Kirk and imparts a chunk of story exposition into his head. The sequence contains many layered and panned clips of dialogue, whizzing around the auditorium and with many different types of EQ and processing to represent etherality, time-juxtaposition, inner monologue versus regular spoken words, and so on. The dialogue is all crystal-clear at the IMAX, despite whizzing around the auditorium in a manner hoping to confuse. Confusion is achieved at the Metropolitan, where some of the dialogue clips are relegated to "ambient sound-effects" since the stereo imagery isn't as clear, and the surround speakers don't hold up to full-range sound design. The IMAX's surround speakers are probably full-range and as good as the fronts in some theaters... you are never in doubt as to what the dialogue is about when it's panned around.

#2 The second thing that holds back the Metropolitan in this comparison is a shameful, temporary issue that can be fixed, and isn't a corollary of architectural design, bigger funding, or some other permanent difference that can never be redressed. Listening to Star Trek in auditorium 7 yesterday, it's my opinion that the center loudspeaker is damaged and needs repair!!! Dialogue was distorted, especially during shouted lines. This affected story clarity throughout the show, and prevented me from properly evaluating what the Metropolitan can do. I tell you now, if you're planning to see Star Trek at the Metropolitan, auditorium 8 would be my recommendation. Sure, I don't know what shape that auditorium is in either, but there's a good chance it is working better! Naturally I am very disappointed about this, since it marrs Austin's best non-IMAX screen... and will contact the manager to let them know how noticeable it is.

Getting back to the more usual review factors... there was some light scratching on the film, which was not really that noticeable, though still disappointing considering this is day three of projection! It was nothing like the "large black chunks of gunk" problem affecting the IMAX screen (see review below), but still, with digital projection there are no scratches, even after 3 months of projection.

At the highest level, the other advantage of the Metropolitan screen is that it's a 35mm screen, projecting a movie that is made for 35mm screens. This may sound like a statement without much useful information... until you examine what the IMAX screen is, then consider projecting a 35mm film onto it. IMAX is a format whose screen size and seating position is deliberately constructed to reach the periphery of your own field of view. This is so that the format can simulate the view your own eyes send to your brain when you're looking around. The advantage IMAX pictures get over 35mm is that they convey a much more realistic personal experience, such as is excellently-suited to documentary footage where you can imagine that what you are seeing on-screen is your own experience. Contrast this with 35mm narrative films like Star Trek... no matter how whizz-bang these summer blockbusters are, they're still stories cut into shape under the control of the director, and told from their point of view - not yours. As such there is no need for the visuals to fill your entire field of view. What is necessary is that you can see the entire picture, and to some degree, this isn't possible when watching on IMAX - the screen is simply too big, you're sitting too close, and you can't move your eyes back and forth quickly enough to follow the important action. This is a problem IMAX will never solve, and only narrative movies made specifically for the IMAX format (for example "Wings Of Courage") will work right... keeping the narrative action in the middle of the screen, while the periphery is filled with the amazing surroundings. 35mm films have their narrative action all over the frame, because the director assumes you can see it and take it all in!

Evening ticket cost - $9.00 (plus $1.00 Fandango fee)

p.s. - places to go tell Regal what you think of the Metropolitan!

http://www.regmovies.com/corporate/contactus.aspx or

http://www.regmovies.com/comment.aspx

"Star Trek" Bob Bullock IMAX... May 8th, 2009

A lot to cover here. This'll be the first movie I'll watch in more than one cinema in order to get the full comparison on this blog!

The picture was nice and bright - I recall seeing Jurassic Park projected on IMAX in San Antonio years ago... it was kinda too dark really. The projector they had didn't have the oomph. This projector had good brightness, and I think it was actually on IMAX film. (nice!) The resolution on some shots was outstanding, seemed better than the 4K digital content I've seen so far at the Alamo.

The sound was amazing, at least, I could tell the sound system was fantastic. The movie was loud a lot of the time, as you'd expect, but I think there was a little too much reverberation going around for clarity to remain pristine. But... the stereo imagery on the music track was outstanding... over the first few bars of the main theme, I sometimes felt like I was experiencing a live orchestral performance. Well-recorded, too. The subject matter was not generally of this world, and so the clarity and realism of fantastical sound-effects is hard to evaluate - this was frustrating at those times the mix was at its loudest, where reflections tended to muddy the soundfield. Subjective commentary on the film itself isn't the purpose of this blog. But I wonder, could this problem be that the sound mixing style for blockbuster 35mm productions is intrinsically different to the mixing practices on conventional IMAX format titles? Hard to say.

The screen is truly huge, of course, it's IMAX! I have to say it is somewhat frustrating with modern, hi-adventure and sci-fi action that it's hard to see what's going on... and this is exacerbated by the large screen. If you're in the wrong spot in the auditorium, it can be a negative. I don't look forward to watching Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen in IMAX... Michael Bay is well-known for panning and fast cuts.

Occasionally, specks of dust get into the IMAX projector mechanism while the movie is playing... these are manifested as big splodges of black stuff that appear and stick around without moving, for a few seconds at a time (or sometimes over a minute!) but eventually disappear. My own dislike for this is one thing, but the patrons were audibly distracted and disappointed by it... the splodges totally ruin your suspensiuon of disbelief. Too bad for IMAX!!!

There aren't decent concessions at this place, the seat width is kinda narrow, arms are made from wood with no drinkolders. The staff indicated that patrons are welcome to bring their own drinks & food into the theater however... stark contrast to regular cinemas! (you just gotta make sure you don't leave it in there, sorta like an airline) The restrooms are difficult to reach, and staff advised patrons to ignore "no entry" signs in order to return to the movie without opening the entrance doors that shine sunlight right on to the screen (oops). This probably represents an issue for feature-length 35mm films, but not on the 45-minute IMAX titles, that don't tax people's bladders as much.

Picture jitter was evident, more at the bottom of the picture than at the top... not sure if this was related to the 35mm format-on-IMAX or not.

Patrons lining up to watch the 7:3pm show were asked to stand outside the museum, in humid 73-degree Austin air. What would have happened had it been raining? What's going to happen in July 15th when people are waiting to see Harry Potter and it's 90 degrees outside? Does the Bob Bullock really not have enough capacity for a sell-out show to stand inside while waiting to go in? Bit of a faux pas by the designers and/or management if you ask me. This cinema is simply not organised to deal with big crowds.

Evening ticket cost = $14 ($12 ticket plus $2 online booking "fee" a.k.a. "scam")

"Fast And Furious" Cinemark Tinseltown South... Auditorium 14... Sunday May 3rd 2009

Definitely a movie to test the extremes of a cinema's sound system. This movie was pounding music and bass effects from the beginning to the end. The Tinseltown South's speakers coped well, didn't distort, nor were there any audible artifacts of any sort. However, the system sounds a bit "middly" (strong in the 500Hz-1KHz region) and the room overall has a healthy amount of reverb - a corollary of being rather large in the cubic volume department. This room is about as large as, and similar in shape to the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz' large room. For now, I would say it sounds better, but my one-man jury is still out on that.

Picture, on film, was bright and reasonably sharp at the edges, and weave/jitter didn't seem to be a problem. However - and this is big - there was a pretty serious focusing problem. The movie is out of focus at the bottom of the screen, and in-focus at the top. It also seemed to be a little out of focus on the right hand side. This was most evident during the credits roll, but you know it's going on during the film, and it doesn't help. Cinemark doesn't pay for THX certification and their own alignment program probably allows this, to allow for easier construction of booths over stadium seating auditoria.

Odd fact - the men's restroom (and I may assume the ladies') is within earshot of the auditorium, and while the restroom itself was quiet, and otherwise pleasant, I was listening to the screams of men & women in some sort of horrific distress while in for a tinkle.

Matinee ticket cost = $7.00

"The Soloist" Regal Gateway... Auditorium 3... Saturday May 2nd 2009

Since the last three movies I'd seen were projected digitally, it was interesting to see a movie projected on film again. The Soloist started up and the jitter and weaving were immediately noticeable, and the edges of the picture were incredibly soft, as if the gate was casting a shadow on the edges of the screen. None of these have been problems with the digital projections I've experienced recently. This movie does not really test the extremes of the sound system, even though it's a story based around musical performance. I would say that the auditorium showed itself to have a nice, low noise floor, evident during the many quieter scenes in the movie. The room isn't too reverberative, nor does it "kill" the sound in the way that the terminator-like Highland 10 seems to.

Is optical projection weave and jitter annoying? Well... Part of me recognizes it as the "legacy" of film projection. Part of me is getting used to rock-steady digital projection. If filmed content doesn't have jitter and weave built-in to it at the time of filming, then theoretically the digital projectors aren't adding anything to what has been created by the filmmakers, whereas optical projectors are jiggling the movie all over the place, so that's bad, right? Hard to make an objective call.

Oh yeah, one annoying thing.. when you wash your hands in the Gateway restroom, there is nowhere to dry them except these crazily low heat blowers. The air comes out 29" from the floor - you have to reach down to your crotch basically. (or worse if you're taller) They don't have them set up for children and adults... they're all 29" from the floor. Dumb.

Evening ticket cost = $9.00

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 4... Thursday April 30th 2009

Ahhhh..... I do love the Alamo. Despite the niggles... which is why I created this blog... I still love 'em.

This movie was an 11:55pm Thursday showing, technically starting at 12:01am the next day since opening day has to be on Friday. I had intended to sneak in with a $1 box of Raisinettes but, as I rushed to leave home, the Alamo Gods prevented me from remembering to get them out of the fridge. :(

I arrived 50 minutes ahead of time and converted my credit card order into a ticket at the will-call. No waiting... nice. I asked "are they seating already" and the guy answered "oh yeah." Not realizing what he meant by that, I sauntered in, and to my amazement the place was 90% full already, with loud, party-going opening nighters. This was a fun place. The pre-show videos were very funny (sometimes their video choices are not funny whatsoever). If I had to call one out, it would be the old "Dino-Boy" TV cartoon show... audience got plenty of laughs outta that one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlZIjE79Dnc

The movie started and I was pleased by the bright, sharp picture. There were no visual artifacts or problems with the picture throughout the entire show. The sound, on the other hand, suffers from the Village's fundamental design... it is not really made for loud blockbuster soundtracks. The auditorium IMO is a bit boxy-sounding and too confining for a bombastic experience like X-Men Origins: Wolverine. As the amount of sound energy bouncing around the auditorium increases, you can feel the strain of the loudspeakers, the reflective walls, and your own difficulty separating reverb from direct sound. It's fine for quieter movies, but for blockbusters with a lot of loud action, there's no substitute for cubic feet in an auditorum. I reckon the acoustics could be improved a bit too, the entire auditorium is shaped like a box.

Now for my gripes... the cost of patronizing the Alamo has gone up significantly since their early days. Tickets used to be $3.50, or $1.00, or even free, for example. Now they're $8.50. Like many cinemas nowadays, they allow you to book tickets online via credit card. This saves them coping with huge lines at the box office, allows them to predict how many people are interested in a screening and book the right amount of waiters/cookstaff ahead of time, and generally saves them a lot of time and money. Their online ticketing system is purchased from Ready Theater Systems http://www.rts-solutions.com/soft.html. In the interests of covering what they presumably are portraying as "extra costs on their part," when booking online the Alamo charges you an extra dollar for every single ticket in the transaction - in addition to the money for the ticket itself. Not an extra dollar for each transaction, an extra dollar for every ticket. Meaning... if you buy 3 tickets online, you pay 3 extra dollars, even though there is only one transaction. Why is this? It should be one fee per transaction, not per ticket. To be honest, there should be a $1 discount for paying online, as you are buying tickets without any real inconvenience to the theater (versus showing up to their box-office and taking up their time).

Next... if you want your money back on a ticket - even one you paid for in person at the box office - they won't refund your money, they just give you a voucher that is redeemable for a ticket, and the voucher expires if you don't use it after a certain time! I got a voucher about a week ago, after we changed our minds about going to see a movie. The vouchers both expire at the end of June, in two months! Not really that long... I would prefer to get my money back when... asking for my money back. I know that Alamo has no obligation to do this, but, other cinemas do it, so they're behind the competition in that regard.

My final gripe for this post is... the waiter came up to take my order and proudly proclaimed during his spiele that the Alamo was now serving sodas with free refills. Great, I thought, better than having to pay again. However - their sodas are $3.99 for something that is similar to what you get at restaurants for $1.29-$1.79. Are they setting their sodas in the price range of other cinemas? I suppose it is prudent for couples to get one "free refills" soda and share it.

Alamo folks, don't feel bad about my gripes... everyone else will feel the edge of my sword eventually.

"Earth" Alamo Drafthouse Village... Auditorium 2... April 28th 2009

Nothing much to say about this one... they have their system down pat at the Alamo. The digital picture was bright and sharp... occasionally there were shots that didn't look as prinstine as the norm, but that was probably the filming process. Picture and screen edges matched each other perfectly. The soundtrack did not test the electronics or acoustics of the place.

Evening ticket price = $9.00