Alamo Drafthouse and also politics of talking during the movies thread

Ugh I really hope they don't replace the amazing pre-movie entertainment with endless ads, but wouldn't surprise me if that's one of the first things to go. I am anticipating some heavy enshittification as a result of this. They offer one of the best movie going experiences still out there imho

Oh wait - they were owned by private equity prior to Sony? Okay then... Maybe I can allow myself to not be super cynical about this

Yeah the fact that private equity DIDN'T touch the preshow rolls I regard as a minor victory at least, or at least some vague recognition that a certain brand had to be maintained.

i would see wide-release movies almost exclusively at the Arclight Cinemas for a long time and while the price was kinda exorbitant it was also always a good experience as far as watching a film. but the pandemic forced them outta business in 2021. every time i'd gone to one of the other big multiplexes in recent years it had been pretty bad. dirty, technical issues, bad seats, too dim, and there are some shitty audiences out there too. the arclights at least rarely had that as part of the experience.

AMC closed the one I always went to, it was moderately crappy (one of the first wave of stadium seating builds here, no upgrades but the AC always worked and it was cleanish) but at least they hadn't given in to full meals and servers and all of those horrors.

I’ve also had it with the food-and-drink-serving model (it’s the Nitehawk Cinema in my area although we also have Alamo). I find I really need to disappear into the reality of the movie - submit to the hallucination - and servers criss-crossing my view every two minutes just ruins that. Also on several occasions I’ve had people next to me order stinky food (like they’ll order a bowl of French fries, eat a few, and then leave the rest of the stinky bowl sitting there for 90 minutes. Also the seats are too close together. Also they always give you your check to deal with 20 minutes or so before the end of the film, aka the climax of the film, which disrupts everything. In conclusion, it was an anmbitious concept but it doesn’t actually work. At least not for me.

This, I admit, is where my endless strategizing about what screenings to attend and where plays out (preferably late afternoon and well away in a corner of the theater from anyone else -- no seat neighbors, very often no row neighbors, ergo the only server is someone getting something I might order). A large part of this is how I see movies after COVID, but that's a useful side benefit.

This was always a horrible idea, if you’re gonna serve dinner during the fucking movie you might as well let ppl talk as well

nb I don’t think you should talk through a movie (obv, unless you’re a psychopath) it’s just always been funny that the us cinema most known for discouraging this is the one where you can “discreetly” call a waiter to bring you some chicken wings or whatever

It was a good concept when they got started in Austin, but it lost something as it got watered down
and expanded into a franchise model. Even after that, I did admire how they used to go in and renovate older, dormant multiplexes, although I guess they stopped doing that at some point (I know times that but then in the ass: the one Houston-area Drafthouse that actually was in Houston--and barely at that, being on the far west side a few miles from Katy--was a revived mall theatre that helped revitalize said mall, who subsequently bounced the Alamo when their lease was up in favor of a new, stand-alone Edwards Cinema built in the parking lot. Covid eventually finished off both the theatre & the mall in 2020).

I don’t know a single person who goes to this in Los Angeles. Why bother when there are so many better theatres that have repertory screenings? Also, fuck Tim League for giving Devin Faraci a paycheck

I have a season pass in Los Angeles, so ymmv

Here’s your medal

He literally said "I don’t know a single person who goes to this in Los Angeles."

lol I was just quitting brinstead

Was exited for my local Alamo to open but their lineup is quite mainstream.

My two most patronized AMC theaters still remain clean. Except for a handful of critic/advance screenings, I haven't been to a show at night in years, way before COVID: I'm a pre-noon guy if I can help it, 2 p.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays usually.

I'm having summer of AMC A-List and I am delighted by 5pm screenings where I have a nice clean theater entirely to myself (or sharing it with like 3-4 other people).

Believe me, that is the best.

*She*

The original Alamo, I dunno, philosophy I guess, was so ahead of the curve. Not just in the serving drinks and food business model, but also in their programming: everything getting spiffed-up today by Vinegar Syndrome or the niche boutique label of your choice was probably already exhibited by the Austin Alamos in the then-best surviving prints or off bootleg VHS sometime in the mid-'00s. Taking the MST3K and Night Flight aesthetic back into theatres, they were really leading the way outside of NYC & LA in programming series on all sorts of niche Horror (Giallos, Folk, Found-Footage etc.), weird Foreign stuff (pretty sure they're responsible for popularizing all those unauthorized '70s & '80s foreign remakes of Star Wars, Superman etc.), and vintage American Exploitation & Indie--all of this way before YouTube as well. They used to publish these free monthly programming guides that were little full-color magazines with quality staff write-ups on every film and special presentation. To have all that happening in Texas of all places was just too much.

It couldn't last, particularly as Nerd Culture has become whatever the fuck it is now, and one could certainly tie-in the gradual decline of the Alamo with everybody else catching up with them stylistically, from Hollywood studios going all in on IP franchises to other theatre chains offering higher quality drinks & food, and the aforementioned Boutique Labels beginning to bypass theatrical releases for their latest 'finds'.

I'm a fanboy and this might be copium, but I think the "decline of the Alamo" is a little overstated. The prices are a little higher, Mondo got sold and people debate about whether the "no talking" rule is enforced as thoroughly as it once was, but its still the most humane way to see first-run movies afaic

t

It's not a particularly high bar these days

Especially when, as box office reports clearly indicate, finding an empty movie theater to enjoy by oneself is not an insurmountable challenge

re: decline of Alamo, I think C. Grisso is presenting a very Austin POV which might not be apparent to people who have enjoyed Alamo since it became a national chain. In the past, it was very much focused on lots of fun events rather than first-run movies. The frequency of events has declined a lot and it's mostly become just a movie theater with food and drinks.

its still the most humane way to see first-run movies afaict

what about going to an independent theater

Most worried that they'll lose access to a lot of programming due to the Sony ownership -- more than the chain being too corporatized, which has already been happening since before the pandemic. So far they're still good, though, and I hope they keep the spirit alive.

I'm with Whiney (and echo Nhex's concerns). My perspective has always been via the SF location -- it'll hit its tenth anniversary at the end of next year -- and honestly I've been delighted. About the only reason I've gone to the AMC downtown is for the occasional IMAX screening and one or two things that never made it over to the Drafthouse. I can walk to it from both home and work in under twenty minutes, their in-house moviepass setup pays for itself almost immediately after two screenings a month, and it's always been a treat to watch things in. I absolutely don't doubt everything C. Grisso indicates in terms of the longer view on what happened from origins to now, and when initial unionization talk happened I very much indicated to relevant staff I'm on board -- things have been on hold there for a bit, we'll see what happens now -- but I'll take this as long as it can run. (Interestingly enough, there's been something happening or was supposed about a small one-screen theater that would be even nearer to me and I kinda want to see that happen but after a flurry of initial announcements nothing seems to have gone forward, but it would be great to have something nearby that did programming a la the Roxie at the other end of the Mission but would be even closer to me.)

Austin alone has half a dozen other Alamo-style theaters that match (or surpass, depending on who you ask) their food and service levels. Violet Crown, Flix, iPic, Moviehouse, the flagship AMC on I-35, etc*. And a drive-in! The old school Alamo from the early 2000s is long gone, but even the modern chain has fallen pretty far from its original franchised version. That said, I can't see any of those other chains existing without the Alamo blueprint to follow.

*there's the Paramount, but their seats are punishingly uncomfortable to sit in for five minutes, never mind two hours

re: decline of Alamo, I think C. Grisso is presenting a very Austin POV which might not be apparent to people who have enjoyed Alamo since it became a national chain. In the past, it was very much focused on lots of fun events rather than first-run movies. The frequency of events has declined a lot and it's mostly become just a movie theater with food and drinks

I feel I should mention too that they tried to carry over a lot of the original flavor when they began franchising. The west Houston location was their first franchise, in a refurbished six-screen mall theatre and--initially anyway--they split programming between first-run films and the quirky repertory screenings and "Fun" programming they made their name on (Mr. Sinus theatre, quote and sing-alongs etc.). However, it didn't really play because despite technically being in Houston, their clientele was overwhelmingly suburban and they weren't really coming for that stuff.

At their peak in Houston, they had three venues in the metro area: the west Houston mall location (which lasted about ten years before getting shoved out by Edwards in the early '10s); a new theatre in the Vintage Park development in Spring (which Alamo eventually sold after a few years to another dinner & a movie chain in a horse-trading deal re: suburban market development that later fell through--ask me about that one sometime, it's a doozy!), and a location in Katy (initially in an old shopping center multiplex on Mason Rd., then moved to its current home further out in Cinco Ranch at the La Centarra complex on Grand Parkway), and they all ran up against the same problem of getting a suburban audience against the more hipster cinephile audience that lives deep in Houston and isn't always willing to make the hike out to the 'burbs for their speciality programming.

The main reason I don't go to Alamo more often is that it seems like screenings frequently sell out in advance. (Or at least that's been my experience in Chicago.) For a new release, I'm sometimes deciding between an Alamo screening that's nearly full or a Regal screening that's nearly empty, and the latter is usually more attractive. And I don't really like to eat or drink at the movies, so the food service isn't much of a selling point for me. It is cool that they do special programming (but again, see my first point).

always found it odd that the first Alamo in Houston was at West Oaks Mall

Orlando never got ours as it was cancelled due to pandemic. all we have are a series of humongous chains, and an independent theater (Enzian) who used to actually show both cult classics/rare films in addition to hard to see first-run independent/foreign films, and now it just shows whatever 'quirky' indie comedy is broadly distributed enough to also literally playing at every cineplex. though the 'fun' programming is still there which is what I go for.

weird Foreign stuff (pretty sure they're responsible for popularizing all those unauthorized '70s & '80s foreign remakes of Star Wars, Superman etc.)

I thought Mondo Macabro (first the book and then the label) popularized those, though maybe it was just the message boards I was hanging out in at the time (late 90s/early 00s) and it was more niche than I realized at the time.

Reading up on Mondo Macabro, I'm willing to bet the Alamo crew were totally influenced by them.

I mean, a lot of the early Alamo aesthetic came straight out of '90s message boards and tape trading circles.