The Bridge Cinema De Lux at the Promenade Gran Torino Tuesday, 12/30/08, 7:30 pm
Price: $11.75. Concessions: None (forgot to even smuggle in more Red Vines). Audience: Approximately 75 people, in a theater that seats about 500. Trailers/advertising: Ads, in progress as I entered, for Van Heusen, Verizon, and Scion. It’s just dawning on me that those all sort of sound the same. Hmm. Trailers for Taken, The International, He’s Just Not That into You, and The Watchmen. Projection: 35mm platter.
Another night, another new venue for me, a seventeen-screen megaplex at a mall off the 405 south of the 10. I made good time getting there, jumping off the 10 and onto Overland to avoid a backup on the 405 south. I parked ($2 flat rate in the garage) and picked up The Economist for the Tintin article in this week’s issue. I had a tasty custom sandwich at Truxton’s Short Order, where my ears were assailed with ’80s music from the restaurant mixed at an almost exactly equal level with Christmas music from the mall.
The cinema itself is on the upper level of the mall, and looms over the open space below, with a huge, multi-story glass front. Posters, banners, flat-screens playing ads and previews, and a dozen other promotional devices cover every surface. The place felt like a too-large variation on the ArcLight; it has high ticket prices, a fancy cocktail lounge, and space-age couch pods in the hallway, but at the same time, you can’t reserve seats, and they still play annoying ads (including that unbearable 3 Doors Down “Citizen Soldier” video/ad for the National Guard). The projection was fine, no issues, but the culture of movie-going isn’t quite the same as at the ArcLight, with crying babies, lots of talking, and little blue, glowing cell-phone screens popping up every once in awhile.
As for the movie itself, I thought it was surprisingly good. Clint Eastwood was so much fun to watch, his performance overshadowed some less-great performances and lackluster writing. It was really an incredible show from Eastwood, a sort of career-capping (or unexpected third-act-capping) show that was full of bitterness, humor, and grit. Three down, four to go.
