It's likely that there's not a lot of difference between me and the average person who enjoys the whole experience of seeing a movie in a theatre. Yes, I do take notes during them, and I do write a review afterwards for pretty well every movie I go to see these days. And, I likely do sit through more big screen releases on opening weekends than the majority of people regularly do. Those would be glaring exceptions. However, by most accounts, I'm still an average guy who likes to talk about the movies I've seen - just like everybody else. Meaning, I normally buy a ticket to the show, after checking out what's playing at whatever movie theatre and when. Just like I've enjoyed doing for years, ever since I can remember first going to the movies in the Seventies.
The web is a great resource for planning trips to the movie theatre nowadays. Particularly since I like to figure out a general itinerary of movies to see a few days before they're actually slated to appear in the theatres for general viewing. Doing this also helps speed up the sometimes arduous process of updating my movie reviews website, Stephen Bourne's Movie Quips, from week to week, by finding out ahead of time what poster artwork I might want to include for that site and how many new reviews I'll need to set aside enough spare time for, to put them together once I've seen each new release. There's no point in my archiving all of last week's reviews if there aren't going to be enough new ones to replace them, for instance. So, doing a little pre-screening preparation spreads out the workload this enjoyable hobby usually demands.
The two main websites that I regularly check in with are The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and the Cineplex Theatre online directory at www.cineplex.com. The imdb site is great for getting an over-all idea of what might be playing in my area, and the Cineplex listing gives me definitive info about which new movies will be playing at either one of their two theatre chains here in Ottawa. Since the Cineplex listing is usually updated by mid-week, finding out what will be playing and at what times on opening day is simply a matter of selecting that Friday or Saturday from the drop down box and hitting 'go'.
Another favourite theatre website to check in with is that of the local Bytowne Cinema at www.bytowne.ca. Unlike the majority of multiplexes that include the Cineplex's twelve-screen South Keys (built in 1997) and seven-screen Exchange Centre (opened in 1994) theatres, the single screen Bytowne (formerly known as the Nelson Theatre, from its construction in 1947 until thirty-one years later) is probably one of the few relatively historic buildings in Downtown Ottawa that large numbers of people from a diverse cross section frequently want to visit, and has arguably maintained its standing as the Mecca for alternative film buffs since it took over from its predecessor, the Towne Cinema, in 1989.
Built in 1954 and maintaining a steady roster of Hollywood blockbusters for decades, the Towne Cinema became renowned for its repertory leanings in the late Seventies and Eighties, with specially-encouraged audience participation showings of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975) being a locally famous highlight with my generation of teenagers for a time. It actually set the stage for the Bytowne - with both theatres simultaneously running independent, Art House and foreign-language films virtually invisible in decidedly mainstream movie theatres here for about a year, until the same owners closed the Towne. The Bytowne Cinema's published bi-monthly tabloid that's also been adapted for browsers in a scaled down version on their website, and one of the start clips sometimes used at the beginning of each screening - where the word 'TOWNE' appears, with 'BY' emerging to the close left shortly afterwards - are really about the only other obvious remnants of the Towne Cinema; other than the alternative video rental store that's lived near that landmark theatre's former entrance since before its doors were closed, that are still in existence these days.
Thanks for checking in.
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