Chef Dean James Max guides us through the steps on making his delicious Yellow Tail Snapper with Chickpea Panise and Red Pepper Sauce in the kitchen at Latitude 41 in downtown Columbus, Ohio.
In the past few years there’s been plenty of national news stories covering the recent decline in movie theater attendance and revenue. Most of the entertainment industry corporations have been trying to completely place this blame on internet movie piracy, due to the fact that the spread of high-speed broadband has made it easier for the average person to download full-length films at home illegally. Most people, however, will simply tell you that they just don’t feel like going out to the theaters anymore. Especially when they have to spend $9 per ticket plus additional money on price-gouged concessions, only to see a mediocre hollywood flick that previews have misled them into thinking would be the best movie of their generation.
If you find yourself in this group of dissatisfied local theater patrons, fret no longer! We’ve compiled our complete guide on how you can check out movies here in Columbus without breaking the bank in the process. Really, the key factors in seeing movies at a more affordable price can simply be broken down to three things: time, place, and luck. Read on to find out more:
Many people are unaware of this simple fact: nearly all theaters in Columbus have a discount day. Theaters are always crowded on Friday and Saturday nights, but what about Monday or Tuesday? Theaters of all varieties will try to entice attendees on these slow days by dropping their prices a bit.
Another lull in attendance is during the early hours. Matinee prices have been around forever, but recently AMC has begun an early-bird weekend program which was test marketed in Columbus before being spread to other parts of the country. This allows anyone to grab a cheap movie on the weekend, as long as you’ve been informed about their special prices.
In order to make this section as simple and easy to use as possible, all of the following local theater discount times & days have been compiled into the following list broken down by day. Simply pick what day you want to go see a movie, and be sure to visit the appropriate theater indicated below:
Sunday
- $4 Tix (showtimes starting before noon) @ All AMC locations.
Monday
- $5 Tix (all day) @ The Drexel East & Drexel Grandview Theaters.
Tuesday
- $5 Tix (all day) @ The Arena Grand and Drexel Gateway Theaters.
- 50 cent Tix (all day) @ The Carriage Place Cinemark.
Wednesday
- $4 Tix (all day) @ Studio 35.
Thursday
- None.
Friday
- $4 Tix (showtimes starting before noon) @ All AMC locations.
- $5 Tix (Midnight Movies) @ The Drexel Gateway Theater.
Saturday
- $4 Tix (showtimes starting before noon) @ All AMC locations.
- $5 Tix (Midnight Movies) @ The Drexel Gateway Theater.
So, now you may be wondering what the difference between seeing a movie at the AMC Lennox for $4 on a Sunday morning and seeing a movie at the Drexel Gateway for $5 on a Tuesday night is. Well, that one dollar by itself isn’t going to make much difference in your decision making process, but the theater quality definitely will. Price of popcorn, comfort of seats, and picture & sound quality can make or break the theater-going experience for anyone, no matter what the price of the tickets may be.
Here’s a breakdown of how the Columbus Underground ranks the local theaters listed in our guide:
AMC Easton 30
- Quality of Concessions: Average (Popcorn, Drinks, Candy, Junk Food)
- Price of Concessions: High (Small Soft Drink is around $3)
- Comfort of Seating: Good (Comfy seating. Newer theater.)
- Theater Cleanliness: Good (Easton maintains a very clean environment overall.)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Above Average.
Pros: 30 Screens. Biggest theater in town with a wide selection of films. Beer selection available.
Cons: Lots of teenagers since it’s located in a mall. Crowded on weekends.
AMC Lennox 24
- Quality of Concessions: Average (Popcorn, Drinks, Candy, Junk Food)
- Price of Concessions: High (Small Soft Drink is around $3)
- Comfort of Seating: Slightly above average (Slightly worn, but cushy seating)
- Theater Cleanliness: Average (Worse on busier nights)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Average (One end of the building is close to railroad tracks though, and you can hear trains outside during quiet moments in films on occasion.)
Pros: 24 Screens for wide variety of films. Ample parking.
Cons: Lots of college students with proximity to OSU. No booze.
Arena Grand
- Quality of Concessions: Awesome (Standard movie concessions plus gourmet pizzas, subs, quesadillas, sushi, desserts, coffee, and full service bar)
- Price of Concessions: Good (Weekly specials available)
- Comfort of Seating: Above average (New theater. Leather seats in balcony available for extra charge.)
- Theater Cleanliness: Very good
- Picture/Sound Quality: Very good (The Arena Grand is the only THX Certified Cinema in Central Ohio)
Pros: Only theater downtown. Less crowded than others. $1 parking validation. Wide selection of food. Locally owned & operated.
Cons: Fewer screens, smaller selection of films.
Carriage Place Cinemark
- Quality of Concessions: Average (Popcorn, Drinks, Candy, Junk Food)
- Price of Concessions: Slightly better than average. (Small Soft Drink is around $1.75)
- Comfort of Seating: Below Average (Worn seats, uncomfortable for longer films)
- Theater Cleanliness: Below Average (Older theater, not dirty, but not as clean as others.)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Below Average (Sound is pretty bad in some rooms)
Pros: Cheapest theater in town. $1.50 weeknights, $1.75 weekends, 50 cents on Tuesdays.
Cons: Crowded on Tuesdays & Weekends. A WalMart is currently being installed next door. Expect the parking lot to get 10 times more crowded as soon as that opens. Lots of kids at this suburban theater.
Drexel East
- Quality of Concessions: Awesome (Standard concessions plus Radio Cafe next door with sandwiches, specials, drinks, happy hour)
- Price of Concessions: Good (Specials available)
- Comfort of Seating: Slightly below average (Older theater, uncomfortable for longer films.)
- Theater Cleanliness: Slightly below average (Older theater)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Slightly below average
Pros: Historic Theater in Bexley. Many indie films featured. Locally owned & operated.
Cons: Three screens. Limited selection. Older theater.
Drexel Gateway
- Quality of Concessions: Awesome (Standard concessions plus Gateway Cafe featuring sandwiches, pizzas, subs, paninis, desserts, beer, drinks)
- Price of Concessions: Good (Specials available)
- Comfort of Seating: Above average (Newest theater in town)
- Theater Cleanliness: Above average (Again, newest theater in town)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Above average
Pros: Newest theater. Mix of indie and mainstream films. $1 Parking. Locally owned & operated.
Cons: Many college students in attendance with proximity to OSU.
Drexel Grandview
- Quality of Concessions: Average (Popcorn, soft drinks, candy)
- Price of Concessions: Slightly better than average (A little cheaper than usual)
- Comfort of Seating: Slightly below average (Older theater, uncomfortable for longer films.)
- Theater Cleanliness: Slightly below average (Older theater)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Slightly below average
Pros: Many indie films featured. Locally owned & operated.
Cons: One screen. Limited selection. No booze available.
Studio 35
- Quality of Concessions: Above average (Standard concessions plus pizzas, beer selection, etc. Special events include catered food.)
- Price of Concessions: Good (Pricing cheaper than average theaters.)
- Comfort of Seating: Slightly above average (Some brand new seating recently installed with other older seats waiting to be replaced.)
- Theater Cleanliness: Average (Older theater, but overall clean)
- Picture/Sound Quality: Average for films, with high-def projector for special events.
Pros: Historic Theater in Clintonville. Many special events featured. Locally owned & operated.
Cons: One screen. Limited selection. Older theater.
Every Thursday, new issues of The Other Paper and Columbus Alive hit the newsstands. Many times throughout the year these publications give out pre-screening tickets at various venues throughout town. If you’re fast enough and lucky enough to get your hands on these tickets you can check out new movies for free. Typically, they are shown a few days before they release to the public too, so you can claim bragging rights for seeing a new movie first. The only downside is that these special events give out more tickets than the theater has seats, so you’ll have to arrive early, stand in a long line, and pack yourself into a full-capacity theater to make sure you don’t get turned away at the door.
Be sure you leave your cell phone in the car if you go to one of these screenings. More and more often, the theaters will have extra security to keep patrons from bringing in any sort of recording devices, and even the lowest resolution digital cameras built into many cell phones are not allowed in. Save yourself the hassle and leave it at home.
Wow… this is the best movie promotion ever. I’ve sent one to just about everyone I can think of. YOU SHOULD TOO!
I think you’ve got snakes on your internet!!!
Something I noticed the other day… the original trailer for Talladega Nights showed a clip of the scene where Ricky Bobby thinks he’s on fire and is running around in his underpants screaming “Help me Jesus! Help me Jewish God! Help me Tom Cruise!” but… there’s a revised trailer now that has the same footage, but instead he’s screaming “Help me Jesus! Help me Jewish God! Help me Oprah Winfrey!” He does utter both names in the actual movie, but why change up the trailer?
My only guess… because Tom Cruise is a big fat whiney paranoid babypants psycho that complained to the studio, assualted them with threats, and got his way.
I googled around for some info on this, but didn’t see anything out there on it. Anyone know anything about this?
Anne & I got to go to a free screening of Talladega Nights yesterday at the Lennox, thanks to our friend Lindsey hooking us up with some tickets. WARNING: There may be spoilers ahead, but minor ones. I do my best to not give much away, but really… nothing major happens in this movie that is going to “ruin” it for you anyway, you big baby.
Overall it was a pretty good movie. I enjoyed Anchorman, but I’m usually not a huge fan of dumb comedy. Will Ferrell seems to do a pretty good job of having a unique enough premises to his movies to make them stand out from the rest of the crap even if the story cycle is pretty standard at best, and overly predictable.
The Good : The supporting cast. I kind of expected to see some phoned-in cameos by Owen & Luke Wilson, Steve Carell, Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, but none of them were there. Instead we’re treated to great performances by Jane Lynch, Gary Cole, Michael Clarke Duncan, John C. Reilly, David Koechner, Jack McBrayer (Yes, I actually recognized him from his small bit in Arrested Development. That is how big of an A.D. junkie I am.), Amy Adams, Andy Richter, and of course… Sacha Baron Cohen. I had no idea he was even in this movie until the credits started rolling. When I saw his character in the previews I actually thought it was Steve Coogan for some reason. Anyway, Sacha is awesome, and couldn’t have made a better villain/rival for Ricky Bobby.
The only dumb cameo is by Molly Shannon. She had one funny bit and the rest of her screen-time was a waste of celluloid. Ugh.
There’s one scene in the whole film that really stands out for me, and that was the “knife in the leg” scene. As seen in the trailer, Ricky Bobby sticks a knife in his leg while in the hospital, and the scene that follows completely flips the directorial aspect around into this shaky handheld cam rapidly moving from person to person to capture bits and pieces of people’s expressions, their lines, and their actions. It felt like a high-quality home-made video you’d see on the internet. Two dudes trying to pin down a third and pry a knife out of his leg. It was hilarious, but painfully realistic to watch at the same time. The rest of the direction and camera work is pretty standard. There are comedy shots, action shots, and a sprinkling of dramatic shots. All very standard and while they don’t add anything special to the movie in that aspect, they also don’t distract from the jokes.
And the jokes are mostly good. A lot of it comes in the form of rapid banter, which is great. I prefer it much more than the weaker “stereotype” jokes… where the frenchman has an outrageous accent, or the southerners act like dumb rednecks. But that stuff is mostly minimal. The comedy is well written for the most part.
Really, my only big complaint about the movie is the over-the-top patriotism embedded in the movie, almost to the point of exploitation. They could have been much more subtle about Ricky Bobby representing all that is good about America, but instead they decided to take it to the extreme. Is it really necessary to have Ricky Bobby’s rival be a french guy? Does that add anything to the story at all? I think all it does is further perpetrate the idea that France is somehow the “enemy” of the United States in the backs of the minds of the people who are going out to watch “That NASCAR movie with the SNL guy in it”. And from a comedy standpoint… it’s old. Making fun of the French is sooooo 2003. If you’re still getting a hearty guffaw out of ordering “Freedom Fries” at every drive through window then you are a sad sad individual.
But really, that’s a minor complaint, and I’m sure you probably won’t hear it from too many of your friends who go to see this movie. So yeah, go watch it yourself. Perhaps not at full price at the theater, but it’s definitely worth $4-5 for a matinee or a rental in six months.
(out of five)
I just re-read my old post about my Top Movies of 2005 and realized I’ve finally gotten around to seeing a handful of them that were on my list of movies I hadn’t watched yet. Thought I’d weigh in on them real quick… (all movies are rated on a 5 star scale (because that’s how I roll))
The Squid and the Whale - A great movie that’s turned me into a Jeff Daniels fan (sorry but Speed and Dumb & Dumber never really did anything for me). I went in expecting a quirky comedy (thanks to a friend who told me the movie was downright HILARIOUS) but it ended up being quite a bit more serious and dramatic. It’s what would happen if Wes Anderson made a new movie and decided to tone it down a few notches on the quirk-o-meter and give his characters a little more screentime than his cinematographer. I still enjoyed it quite a bit though. Easily this was the sleeper hit of ‘05. A great movie that nobody saw because there was too much else to watch to make time for it. I recommend making time for it.
Capote - First of all, the copy of Capote that I watched was VERY annoying because the volume was extremely suppressed, and it couldn’t have been a worse movie for that because Truman Capote was so quiet all of the time (except when drinking). So yeah, turning the computer all the way up and turning the TV all the way up made quite a hissing interference to listen over, but we suffered through that anyway. Despite all of that… it was great. The material of the movie was fairly interesting, but I honestly felt a little desensitized about the violence of the killers because watching the local news in this day and ages shows you murders every night before bed. I’m sure this was much more dramatic and interesting material in the sixties though. But really it’s the characters (especially Capote himself) that was the most interesting aspect of the film. Why was he doing what he was doing? What could he be thinking? Anne and I talked about this movie for a few days after we watched it and we’ve borrowed In Cold Blood from the CML to watch the film version of his book. Philip Seymour Hoffman can do no wrong… oh, except for Mission Impossible 3.1/2
Brokeback Mountain - A great movie that managed to live up to the over-the-top hype. Beautifully shot (in CANADA) and steadily paced. Heath Ledger was great, but Jake Gyllenhaal was himself. Every role I see him in he seems to almost act nearly the same. I just can’t get past that. But yeah, good movie worth watching if you are comfortable enough to see two cowboys go at it in a tent without giggling like a little girl.
Cinderella Man - Meh. A nice underdog story, but most of it felt like tired Hollywood garbage. Ron Howard is a great director, but he seems to pick projects that will A) Make Money and B) Win Awards. I guess I can’t blame him, but it really makes watching movies like Cinderella Man feel tedious to slog through their stories. Paul Giamatti is great though. I could watch him in any movie. Russell Crowe is standard Russell Crowe. He’s too much of a prick in real life for his acting to feel true. Renee is ok as well. I’d give this movie the most average C possible. Watch it on the USA network on a Sunday if you’ve got 3 hours to kill.1/2
The Chronicles of Narnia - Ugh. Throw this one on my pile of “Most disappointing movies of oh-five”. Make that the BOTTOM of the pile while you’re at it. Essentially, this is a 20-minute story stretched into a 140 minute (felt a LOT longer) blah-fest. And I think they’re making sequels??? The kids are most unlikable. The special effects are average, and used sparingly. The battle at the end takes forever to get through. Skip the first two hours and just watch the last 20 minutes and thank me later. Or just watch the Lazy Sunday video again and be glad it was Chris and Andy who watched the movie and NOT YOU.
Walk the Line - I’m no Johnny Cash fan, but this movie makes me wish I was. A great film with great acting and wonderful storytelling songs. It got a little long in the end, but perhaps that’s because I started watching it around 12:30 at night. I’d probably not put this in my `creme de la creme’ list, but it would at least get a very honorable mention. Big props to the actors for doing all the singing themselves. Seeing multi-talent showcased like that is plenty entertaining to me.
Crash - One of my favorites of the year. Totally worth the awards it won. A nice rollercoaster ride of emotions, characters, stereotypes, reverse-stereotypes, and social issues to grab anyone’s interest and leave you thinking and talking. I also really got a kick out of some of the editing cuts used to transition between storylines. One door closes and another will open. One phone call ends and another begins. Nice little touches like that always make me smile. Really, I only have two complaints about this movie… Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock. Their characters were lame and almost unnecessary. Nearly all of the other characters served multiple purposes and many had major life changes as their worlds crashed together. Brendan and Sandra did not. But it’s not like I was really expecting much from them anyway.1/2
Anne & I watched a short film tonight by my coworker Lehr Beidelschies. Pretty entertaining I’d have to say.
It’s a story about a college student who’s pretty much a loser. He wanted to go to art school, but his father has forced him into business school instead. After spending all of his tuition money on pot, he’s decided that his only way out of the mess is suicide. Unable to kill himself, he turns to a suicide-assistance service known as “Call Kid Kevorkian”.
Dark material, yes, but I found myself cracking up at a few points in the story. Some of the dialogue and exchanges are shot with very professional comedic timing that will make anyone chuckle, even if you’re not a fan of student films.
My favorite scene in the movie (without giving too much away) is a bar scene where the lighting gets very colorful and so soft that there’s a lot of glow coming from the characters which helps to emphasize the fact that they’ve been drinking. This choice of lighting coupled with the off kilter camera angles almost gives this scene a comic-book type feel similar to the way Sin City was shot. Or at least that’s what it reminded me of anyway… but what do I know, I’m no movie expert.
Anyway, I enjoyed this short film and figured I’d share my opinion with the world since googling Call Kid Kevorkian doesn’t really show much of anything out there about this yet. YET!
So last year, I made a list of my Top favorite movies of 2004, and here’s my rundown this year for 2005. I’d say I had a harder time with it this year, because honestly 2004 was a great year for movies. 2005 just didn’t have any movie that stuck in my heart like Napoleon Dynamite or Shaun of the Dead or Eternal Sunshine or Team America did. I guess that’s a pretty hard lineup to follow. So anyway, here it is… my top 10 of 2005 in no particular order (too hard to line them up)…
Top 10:
Batman Begins
History of Violence
Sin City
The Aristocrats
Millions
Kung Fu Hustle
King Kong
Jesus Is Magic
Four Brothers
Thumbsucker
Honorable Mention:
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Red Eye
Memoirs of a Geisha
Jarhead
Worst (or most dissapointing) of 2005:
Star Wars III
Transporter 2
War of the Worlds
Charlie & The Chocolate Factory
Layer Cake
Constantine
Alone in the Dark
2005 Movies I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet, but still plan on it:
Murderball
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Good Night, And Good Luck
March of the Penguins
The Squid and the Whale
Capote
Brokeback Mountain
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Broken Flowers
Three…Extremes
Howl’s Moving Castle
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Mad Hot Ballroom
Transamerica
The Constant Gardener
Cinderella Man
The Chronicles of Narnia
2046
Munich
Match Point
The Producers
Walk the Line
Pride and Prejudice
Ushpizin
The Matador
Syriana
North Country
Breakfast On Pluto
Paradise Now
Shopgirl
Proof
MirrorMask
Crash
The Ring Two
Schultze Gets the Blues
Inside Deep Throat
Anne & I have been watching tons of movies lately (still trying to make it through my list of movies of 2005 that I haven’t seen yet, but really want to) and a few weeks ago we watched Saw II (not on the list) with Bob and Ann. I’ve heard mostly bad things about this movie, and horror movie sequels usually aren’t all that great anyway (with a few exceptions here and there).
Needless to say, with my expectations lowered, I came out liking the movie for the most part. The story was ok. The acting was ok. It had tons of plot holes and whatnot, but what horror movie doesn’t? Honestly, there really wasn’t that much horror to it. Plenty of painful-looking situations that made me cringe a bit but no real scares that made you jump or anything.
My only big complaint (without giving anything away) was the ending. When a movie hits the big “reveal” at the end and everyone watching slaps their collective foreheads and says “Oh, I get it now!” that should be the end of the reveal, and pretty much the end of the movie as well. Unfortunately, Saw II suffers from the terrible insult of over-explaining the “reveal” with a 2 minute montage of quick clips recapping all sorts of stuff throughout the movie. Perhaps this is to spare you the time of having to watch it again knowing what the “reveal” is, but I ended up finding this sort of ending to be more painful to watch than the scene with the girl swimming in a pool of syringes.
I like to compare this movie ending issue to a friend telling you a joke… they spend some time setting up the joke… tell you a story… define the characters in the joke… very well laid out for the most part… and then at the very end, they deliver the punchline. It’s somewhat amusing and you laugh and say “oh, I get it!” but that’s not all… this friend then starts to explain the joke to you and why it’s funny… “no really, i get it”… they go on and on recapping bits of the joke while you uncomfortably smile and nod your head and sputter out “it’s ok, i get it” during every pause they take while continuing to drone on and on endlessly about why the joke is funny. By the time they’re done, you hate the joke, you hate this friend, and you’re ready to swear on the nearest grave that you won’t ever watch Saw III if they make another.
But you know you’ll probably go see it anyway… probably at the dollar theater, because hey… you’ve got nothing better to do, right?
