For several years now I’ve been reading Ain’t It Cool News. Harry Knowles is the guy responsible for the website, which is the best source on the internet for early news on films and television. They have tons of “sources” providing all sorts of inside dirt on scripts, casts, directors, and anything else that has to do with making movies. The people who are primarily responsible for the web site refer to themselves as film “geeks”. They are people who love film.
I consider myself one of those people. One of my dream jobs is to make a great video game as a software developer. But if I had my true wish I’d direct movies. I simply love the medium of film.
It is through the AICN website that I learned of Butt-Numb-A-Thon. It is a 24-hour film marathon, something I hope to attend someday, if the planets align correctly.
The host theater for BNAT is the Alamo Drafthouse. In August of 2005 Entertainment Weekly did a feature on the ten best movie theaters in America. The Alamo Drafthouse was listed #1. Ever since I read that issue I’ve wanted to visit this theater and soak in the atmosphere as well as the great food.
Yes, you read that right: food. The Alamo Drafthouse is not your typical theater. It is a theater experience. It is what attending a movie theater should be like. Everything else you’ve ever been to is a disappointment compared to this.
For starters, the theaters are designed much differently than a standard theater. Every other row of seats has been removed and replaced with cabaret style tables, with narrow rows for waiters and waitresses to slide through. Viewers are encouraged to arrive 30-45 minutes before the show starts so they can order food in normal fashion (meaning, using your voice and actually talking to the waiter/waitress). Once the lights go down, if you want to order something to eat you simply write what you want on a piece of notebook paper that they provide for you on the table, and then fold your paper and affix it to a small metal rail along the table so that it sits up like a flag. Your server will come by if they spot your flag and snatch it away in the dark and then bring you your meal when it is ready. It’s all very simple, easy, and causes minimal interference with viewing the film.
Thirty minutes before the movie is over your hostess will make a last call, and then hand you your check. You can leave your credit card or cash and they will swing by and pick it up. When the house lights come up, you can sign your receipt and be off.
In addition to the cool food service, the Alamo Drafthouse doesn’t show commercials. Instead, they show clips of movies and trailers for films, most of them older. For instance, I watched about 10 minutes of a car chase scene from some movie in the 1970′s. I have no idea what film it was from, but it was great to see something that wasn’t a commercial.
And the people who attend the Alamo are, by and large, film buffs. They are people who want to have a great theater experience, so there’s no talking, cell phones, or any of that other bullshit. It was unfortunate for me, however, that the couple sitting to my left were from out of town (hey, I’m from Idaho, but at least I knew all about the Drafthouse before I showed up), so the guy talked for a few portions of the movie. Not a lot, but enough that I wanted to elbow him and tell him to shut up. They were the exception though – everyone else in the theater was stone silent, and that was totally awesome. It was definitely different from what I’m used to experiencing.
I can’t say enough good things about the Alamo Drafthouse. It was clear from talking to the waitresses and waiters that they don’t consider this exceptional; they work there everyday so this is normal for them. But for a guy like me, who loves films as much as I do, who wants to get completely lost in the theater experience, the Alamo was extraordinary. It was the best theater experience of my entire life, and I only wish I had an Alamo where I lived so I could attend movies this way all the time.
People of Austin, TX hear me: do not take the Drafthouse for granted. You have something really special there.
Oh, and what did I see? Eastern Promises, but you’ll have to wait for my review to see what I thought of the actual film 