Movie weekend

Temperatures fell over the weekend… It feels like Fall has finally arrived in Austin! In view of the chilly weather, we decided to stay indoors and explore the local movie theaters!

Whenever possible, I try to catch a movie countries I visit. I think it’s interesting seeing how the movie-watching experience varies from country to country. For the most part, they have been more or less the same, with a few slight differences. The one exception is Japan (you can read about it here).

Saturday

This theater is very different! It’s the first theater I’ve visited that is on a single floor (and on the first floor too!) I like the nice touch of the old-school title displays too heh. Most curious of all, you are not assigned seats! You buy your tickets, walk into the theater and grab any seat you like.

Fortunately, we caught a month-old movie, so we could basically get any seat we wanted.

I noticed there were benches scattered between the halls. Since people exit the same way they came in, they go right back into the main hallway, with access to all the halls. Unlike in Singapore (or HK or Japan) where you leave via a different exit that leads you out of the theater entirely. Perhaps the benches are… for people to take a rest while waiting to walk into the next show with just one ticket? Haha, people probably don’t actually do that, but it would be so easy to do. The security is almost non-existent!

We caught Maze Runner and thoroughly enjoyed the movie! We always love a good thriller or thinky show. That bit at the end blatantly TELLS us a sequel is coming up and I was so excited about it! But this Fu, just gave a dismissive wave of his hand and said “No la. Don’t have one. They say only.”

I just went and googled.

The sequel to the movie, The Scorch Trials, is set to be released on September 18, 2015.

SEEEEEEE.

Sunday

Fu heard about this place from a friend and was really psyched about checking it out. The reason is because… It has reclining leather seats and dine-in service!!!

Sounds totally like GV’s Gold Class that we have in Singapore, except it’s less than half the price!

When we were in Singapore, we used to prefer watching movies in Gold Class theaters because then we can be free of assholes who somehow always find a way to kick the back of my seat. Or shake their legs so vigorously you’d think someone chained them to their seat and they’re trying to hold their pee in. Or talk loudly. Or use their blasted phones during the movie. Don’t they know that it’s useless trying to shield the screen with their hands (if they even bother doing so) because the piercing brightness still escapes anyway?! MAJOR HATE THESE PEOPLE. Writing this paragraph alone is raising my blood pressure :A

/rant

Conclusion is that we liked Gold Class because the ticket prices does discourage the inconsiderate idiots. The isolated two-by-two seats further reduces contact with any idiot who may have slipped past the price net. I’ve never had any bad experience when I watched Gold Class in the past!

The dine-in theaters at Moviehouse are pretty much just like Gold Class!

And the tickets are just… USD 12 per person! (food is separate cost la, obviously)

I found it a bit tricky to eat in the dark, can’t even see what I was scooping nor what I was putting into my mouth, so I think I’ll stick to small snacks in future haha.

It was luxurious yet affordable. Total win-win! Fu loved the place and asked me what’s the next movie we’re watching here lol. We’ll be back if there’s a good movie before we leave! :D