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This topic comprises 3 pages: 1 2 3
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Author
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Topic: Theatres with a massive lobby
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-05-2014 04:38 AM
Yikes. Can can anyone say: garish, hard, sensory-overload. Can you say UGLY? Imagine what the place sounds like when it's filled with patrons (think kids) and all those hard surfaces reverberating and amplifying that cacophony -- not only voices, but there must be a dozen monitors blaring trailer soundtracks non-stop and the electronic bells and whistles of rows of arcade games all upping the decibel level. And although the pictures don't show it, I'll bet there are strobe lights going off somewhere in that visual mess. It's simply a big, noisy carnival midway. All that it's missing are the barkers hawking games of chance.
The atmosphere is not conducive to establishing a mood for anything but the big, noisy blockbusters where patrons can go from deafening noise and chaos in the lobby to deafening noise and chaos on the screen. Maybe it works for the action genre, but for any other type of movies (MOST, I'd say), this place screams pre-show stress.
I think of the RKO Keiths in Flushing/Queens NY with its huge, but graceful lobby with muted, warm colors and its stunning center-piece -- a three story rococo style fountain with the sound of gently cascading water flowing over status of baroque marble young maidens; it was able to be functional but with some sense of class and style. And then I look at this thing....
I suppose it is doing it job, evoking the motion picture milieu, such as it is -- but for me at least, the movie that jumps immediately to mind is one with Marlon Brando with the appropriate title for this place -- The Ugly American. All it needs to round off the scenario are a few thousand inebriated college spring-breakers cavorting through the place, occasionally vomiting hither and yon. Perfection.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 02-05-2014 09:51 AM
quote: Frank Angel
Imagine what the place sounds like when it's filled with patrons (think kids) and all those hard surfaces reverberating and amplifying that cacophony -- not only voices, but there must be a dozen monitors blaring trailer soundtracks non-stop and the electronic bells and whistles of rows of arcade games all upping the decibel level.
You would actually be surprised at how quiet these locations are today. There is no audio on the screens and the arcade usually is tucked away in its own room. When the theatres did open, yes they were loud and obnoxious, one of the locations even had a theme park like popcorn popper that would shoot giant plastic boulder like popcorn pieces up in the air while making these really loud pops. But today the theatre is quieter than ever.
Originally many of these locations had Burger King, Taco Bell, New York Fries and KFC all located within the concession area. That has now changed. The Colossus and Paramount (Now Scotiabank) served alcohol.
quote: Frank Angel
The atmosphere is not conducive to establishing a mood for anything but the big, noisy blockbusters where patrons can go from deafening noise and chaos in the lobby to deafening noise and chaos on the screen. Maybe it works for the action genre, but for any other type of movies (MOST, I'd say), this place screams pre-show stress.
It was mostly blockbusters that would play at these locations. Famous Players had four trademarked concepts, the Silver City, Coliseum, Colossus and the Paramount flagship theatres. These theatre made a ton of money and they dominated Cineplex until Cineplex bought Famous Players out. The studios gave these locations preferential treatment most of the time, they were real money making locations and they were game changers.
quote: Frank Angel
I suppose it is doing it job, evoking the motion picture milieu, such as it is
Famous Players at the time had a slogan called "Big Screen, Big Sound, Big Difference" and if you look closely at the photos, you will see the slogans posted on one of the walls. The lobby did its job at the time, but so did the actual auditoriums as well. These theatres were spared no expense when it came to the actual auditoriums, all four of the Famous Players concepts (Silver City, Coliseum, Colossus and the Paramount flagship theatres) had THX auditoriums while the Colossus and Paramount theatre were all THX approved. When Paramount opened on May 19, 1999 (same day as Star Wars), the theatre was equipped right from the start with Dolby EX.
Paramount, Colossus and Coliseum had purpose built IMAX theatres added into the complex, I still go to the Coliseum IMAX location from time to time. I saw Dark Knight Rises at the Paramount (now called Scotiabank). The original Famous Players IMAX venues are really nice.
quote: Martin McCaffery
Looks like an airport from hell
LOL
Here are some exterior and interior pics of the Paramount now called Scotiabank:
ULTRA AVX, not just AVX
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 02-05-2014 12:04 PM
Hmm, additional pics of this monstrosity aren't doing much to change my mind. In fact, if you think back of how cartoonists traditionally portrayed their characters going crazy or being hit over the head, it was invariably with spiral circles in their eyes...yes, JUST like the spiral circles the designer-on-crack use all over the ceiling in the third picture (first interior) above. I guess that's exactly what he/she (nah, it had to be a he) was going for. You know, like this:
A design that says, you're in TOON-town and you've just been hit over the head with a toon bat.
BTW, yes the interiors are noisy, garrish, but the exteriors....only one word comes to mind -- HIDIOUS. Oh wait...did I say one word? How silly of me: ghastly, repulsive, grisly, appalling and downright nasty. etc.
And PS, with all that tech-ie looking stuff outside in the lobby supposedly to give the impression you are in a state-of-the-art motion picture theatre, they couldn't seem to get the UltraAVXXX image to be framed properly on the screen, or is that "frame line" at the top of the screen there just for nostalgia's sake, reminiscent of how they used to have their film presentations start out-of-frame? "PROJECTIONIST"! ![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-05-2014 12:28 PM
I spend a considerable amount of time in the GTA, and I avoid Cineplex and their overblown tacky eyesore theaters like the plague, even though their projection and sound are generally pretty good. The exception is the more tastefully appointed Varsity which is only a few blocks from where I stay. I understand that some of these places were originally built by Famous Players, but Cineplex has always been a lousy chain, dating from its days being run by the notorious craphound Garth Drabinsky (or as he was usually called, Darth Grabinsky). I don't know how old you are, Terry, but I wonder if you recall the Cineplex Eaton Center 18, probably the single worst example of film done wrong that I have ever personally encountered. Rear screen projection in most of the tiny, bare walled auditoriums, some of which were 16mm. For someone who used to visit great old Toronto theaters like the University, Uptown, Eglinton, Glendale, it was horrible.
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Terry Lynn-Stevens
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1081
From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Dec 2012
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posted 02-05-2014 04:10 PM
quote: Mark Ogden
I don't know how old you are, Terry, but I wonder if you recall the Cineplex Eaton Center 18, probably the single worst example of film done wrong that I have ever personally encountered. Rear screen projection in most of the tiny, bare walled auditoriums, some of which were 16mm.
Mark, I have been around a really long time. The Eaton Center I remember very well, went there on many occasions. Yes a terrible way of projecting film for an audience and the cinemas were tiny. I believe the Eaton Center was on of the first theatres that Drabinsky opened under the Cineplex banner.
quote: Mark Ogden
but Cineplex has always been a lousy chain, dating from its days being run by the notorious craphound Garth Drabinsky
Yes they were a lousy chains, but Darth did open up some really nice THX approved theatres in the mid to late 80s, it was after they ousted him that Cineplex really went into the gutter in the mid 90s.
Cineplex under Drabinksy did have some good theatre and some bad ones. The original Varsity was his location.
The Uptown, Eglinton, Runnymede, Sheraton, Hollywood, York and Hyland were are great theatres. Some were Cineplex and some were Famous.
quote:
The exception is the more tastefully appointed Varsity which is only a few blocks from where I stay. I understand that some of these places were originally built by Famous Players,
I have never been fan of the Varsity, but it is a nice place. The newer Cineplex Cinemas were indeed formerly built by Famous Players.
quote:
Hmm, additional pics of this monstrosity aren't doing much to change my mind. In fact,
Does this change your mind?
quote: Buck Wilson
I quite like the look of that auditorium, save for the top-of-screen issue obviously.
The Ultra AVX screens are not bad, but they do not have masking.
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