BootsnAll Travel Community

When I was traveling in Japan I watched this movie based off the anime "Full Metal Alchemist".

1st- The movie theatre was in the 8th floor of this building in the *cool/hip/youth* part of town(don't remember exactly where it was)

2nd- When I went there they actually ASSIGN movie theatre seats based on how many people you are with (well that was one of the reasons why).

3rd- it was very clean, way cleaner than most movie theatres I have been to while living in the states.


Anyway, does anybody want to give their input on how difference between the movie theatres in the different countries?

In bolivia and proberbly the rest of south america there are small theaters that play pirated dvd's. they look like real theater except the picture quality is crap. sometimes in english, sometimes in spanish you have to ask first.

I saw Revenge of the Sith in Marrakesh and the movie theater was actually really nice. It was in French but I had already seen and you don't really need to hear dialogue to understand Star Wars movies.

It reminded me of a movie theater that would have existed 20 years ago in the U.S. Not one of those large chain places with 93202094230 screens.

There were 2 levels. I sat on the balcony in the front row. Not too many people there.

I saw a few movies in Bangkok in a very nice, modern style theatre. It was actually the only place in Thailand where I had someone "wai" me (the little hands together bow.) It was a fun experience and interesting to watch everyone stand for the royal anthem. It was certainly a much more realistic example of everyday Bangkok life than you'll get on Khao San Road.

We saw some fun theatres in Myanmar, but didn't go to any movies. They're famous for making giant, hand-painted billboards that copy the original American publicity posters. One of the smaller ones wold have made a great souvenir if I could have found one for sale.

When I was living in Venice I enjoyed the annual 'Cinema all'Aperto' in July and August- sort of like a drive-in movie minus the car.:-) They put bleacher-style seats in one of the larger campi(Campo Sto. Stefano or S. Polo maybe?) and show movies on a giant screen, mostly Hollywood productions dubbed in Italian. It cost only 5,000 lire at the time(abt. 3USD) so I went quite a few times.

I ran into seat assigning in Prague

If the seat has already been sold, do they put a little Czech mark next to it?

Ok. Please bear in mind that some people go to at least one bar in every country, I try to see at least one movie.

Mexico: It can range from squalid to palatial, depending on the theatre. Many regional ones are squalid, but it seems there is a theatre in any good sized town. One thing that remains a common denominator is that they give you a ticket. It has a number. you go to the seat assigned, and you STAY in that seat until the movie starts and the usher leaves the theatre. No matter how empty the theatre is, the usher will put someone in the seat that the ticket holder has, and the holder will insist you go to your assigned seat. It's that way with buses as well. Once the usher leaves, and the lights go down, you move to a better spot, if you can, and hope no one comes in late, because they WILL want the seat on their ticket.

In San Cristobal there was a room that showed videos on a projection system, in a restaurant/language school complex. Aimed at the tourist market.

Malaysia: Most civilized and modern in many towns, definitely in KL and Malacca. I never saw the one, or heard about it, in the small town I visited.

Guatemala- There are movie theatres in Guatemala? Seriously, I think there was a reasonable one in Quetzaltenango, not too bad, but in many of the smaller places, there were none I heard about. Antiqua might have had one, but I never passed one. I'm sure there were 'movie nights' in many language schools. None in Panajachel. There used to be a video rental place there, but that closed down. San Pedro has a bar/restaurant that has movie night.

El Salvador: Never heard of one in the smaller towns, and certainly never looked for one in San Salvador.

India- Some good ones and squalid ones in Bombay. Never found one in Calcutta, though they had to exist. I was too hot to go and look for it. In Darjeeling, there was a humid, musty room full of people and benches where they showed pirate video copies of current movies. I saw Spider-man there.

In Bombay, and in Bangalore, one can buy many kinds of tickets:

Balcony: Where couples make out. The view is lousy.
First class: In the middle, best view.
Second class: In the front. Neck stretchers get a discount and love to make noise and carouse.


Venice: A LONG time ago I wandered the streets of Venice without guidebook and with map, and found a movie theatre. It was a small but clean theatre, though a bit musty. I saw Star Wars in Italian, and I can tell you from experience that there isn't much un-predictable dialogue in the movie, since I didn't speak a word of Italian at the time and could guess the next line.

Holland: Neat and clean.

Turkey: In Istanbul, civilised. Other cities, not sure. Small towns? Forget about it. There were none I knew about in Cappadocia, and it has a high tourist quotient.

Spain: Neat and clean, large or small.

France: I'll let you know when I get to Paris.

Venezuela: In Caracas, there are a few. The one I went to was alright, large, clean.

Hungary: Neat enough, but I was in Budapest.

Odessa: Wow! I forgot to see a movie there! I was too busy coping with teaching English.

In Calcutta, they were scalping tickets for double and triple price on Saturday night (still not any money to speak of), the theater was filled with 95% men and they all acted like little children watching The Mummy II. Yelling and screaming, it was one of the most interactive experiences of my life. Usually, I don't like noise at the theater, but these guys were the show much more than the movie was. Well worth the rupees!

quote:

Originally posted by t3h l33t TR4V3L3R :
2nd- When I went there they actually ASSIGN movie theatre seats

This is common in New Zealand as well.

I saw Star Wars 3 in Korea - assigned seats, very clean theatre. It was on like, the sixth floor or something because we had to keep climbing higher and higher. Very different than over here where all of the space is horizontal! I was surprised at how quiet the audience was - no chatting, no cell phones going off. If you've ever been to Korea, you would understand why I was surprised!

I went to see Superman Returns in Hong Kong. Another one with assigned seating and multi-storey theatres. I found the crowd to be noisier than the Koreans, which was quite the surprise. A few cell phones rang, etc.

meg- funny stuff.

So here in the Philippines I haven't been to the theatre yet, but my students have. Koreans they are. They have reported that the theatres are freezing. They have to bring blankets and hats and then they're ok. I think they're funny because they're good sports about it, and they even watch Tagalog movies, which they have no idea what's being said. One of the guys reported that he cried during one of the movies. I said , you don't even know what's going on. He said, I know, but the person on the screen was so sad.

As far as things freezing goes, for some reason here, like on the buses for example, they have AC and I have no idea why, but it's on so high. It's really uncomfortable, you can hang meat in there. I hate the buses here, but that's a rant for another time. Jeepneys rule!

I love, love going to the movies in Ireland. The smaller theaters in the villages aren't as nice as the ones in Dublin. There is assigned seating in some theaters and they seat an insane amount of people. Its lovely.