All hail the Cineplex

The cheapest two hour thrill available within walking distance of West End costs less than ten dollars and offers two hours of usually satisfying entertainment.

I refer to the iMax – not that we call it that any more. Cinema 5 at the Southbank Cineplex is a jaw dropping, stunning, immersive experience that still excites me, even writing about it now.

The jaw dropping moment comes when you first walk in. Even if you have been there a squillion times before, stepping into the near vertical incline of Cinema 5 carries a frisson of excitement reminiscent of a viewing platform on a cliff top in the Border Mountains.

I love:

• the homey reminders to pick up our rubbish so the owners can keep the ticket prices down.
• the local advertising promoting the sushi bars next door and across the road
• the fact that some big name movies just won’t appear because the family who owns the cinema doesn’t like them
• the exasperated sighs when it is a full house and the whole machine stops for ten minutes while the head-ticket-seller bosses us all into moving closer together so that late comers can take their seats at the edges.

That is what I call Going to the Movies.

Compare Randy’s love affair with the Cineplex with what happened Across the River