The Sinner Showing is Better

Chef and I capped his big 30th birthday weekend by attending what I like to call the "Sinner showing" at the local movie theater. It's the early Sunday morning (or in LA early Sunday afternoon) showing--you know, when most people are in church? Well, we sin, so instead of church, we saw "The Hangover 2." But I'm a non-practicing Catholic, so I can just add that to my list of other more relevant sins (hello? nearly 7 years living with a man and not being married or related to him), confess, say my "Hail Marys" for something other than sporting events and be absolved.

Until then, I was happy to be able to go to a movie in LA without a crushing crowd. Chef and I have hit this strategy a few times when there's a popular movie out that we want to see without having to deal with the annoyance of other people. Nothing can ruin a movie-going experience faster than being behind question girl ("Why is she doing that? Where is he going?") or narrates his own experience guy ("That is SO funny!" "I canNOT believe they just did that!").

We went to Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood and when we left, Chef and I agreed that it was sad that the actual experience of going to the movie was almost more noteworthy than the movie itself (which was good, but not as good as the first and we think will probably grow on us over time--in case you cared). We decided to see which movie theater had the highest rating on yelp to see if we could up the ante. I mean, it is the movie capital of the world, right? We should be able to get a VIP movie experience.

Here's the thing about Arclight. When you buy the tickets-online or in person, you pick out your seats. None of that general admission stuff. You know where you're going to be watching the movie and don't get suckered into buying tickets and having to sit in the front row. You know before you go.

Also awesome is the fact that they don't seat people after the movie starts. If you're not there when the feature begins, you can get a later showing or a refund, but you're not going to be interrupting everyone's movie by climbing over people 20 minutes in. And there are a few previews but NO ads, so the movie starts about 5 minutes after the posted time.

And if that weren't enough you can buy cocktails and beer at the concession stand (not at the sinner showing but for the late matinees and night showings for sure). Plus the seats are giant cushioned things that have moveable armrests in case you want to snuggle. Oh, did I mention they use real butter on the popcorn? REAL BUTTER!

These seem like small things. And they probably are, but think about it. Movie-going has slowly declined and become such a hassle that I'd rather wait for a DVD and watch it at home than go out. But now, I'm totally sold on going to the movies again.