Pretension R Us

Tonight I swallowed my pride and went to see a movie at Sundance 608. I know I swore that I would not patronize it; when they announced they were opening their first Sundance theater here in a small upscale shopping mall, the locally-owned theater that had been at the other end of the mall for 40 years closed its doors. I wanted to see a particular movie, however, and wasn't sure it would make it anywhere else.

Sundance is outrageously overpriced. Every ticket has a $3 "amenities fee" attached to it. What amenities? Free peanuts? No, they claim you get to reserve your seat. That means, when you walk in and buy your ticket just as the movie is starting, as we did tonight, they show you a touch screen and you pick your seats from what it shows as available. Then you walk into the half empty theater and sit where you want. All that for $3! Such a deal. Such pretension.

I get it. The amenities are getting to mingle with the upper crust -- the men in their sweaters and tasseled loafers, the women with their haircuts. Yuck. The seats weren't even all that comfortable, and because the theater is relatively new everything is still off-gassing like crazy.

Sigh. I miss the old Majestic Theater days where we always sat in row 5 under the precariously hanging chandelier, where the seats were broken, the floor was sticky, there was brewers' yeast to shake on the popcorn, and an interesting double feature every night -- all for a couple of bucks! And when you came out at 11 p.m., the prostitutes were out in full force across the street and you got another show for free.

Those were the days ...