7 January 2007

A trip to the Dendy Premier Lounge

| johnboy
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Kerces and I went to the Dendy Premier Lounge for a matinee show today and thought you might be interested in our observations.

â– Cost: $20 for an adult ticket

â– The seats are really, seriously schmick. Big and wide and with a button you can push to get a footrest and near prone reclining comfort.

â– To then get food and wine brought out (every pair of seats has a built in wine cooler) smacks as being the height of decadence. We had two dishes which were pricy for what they were, but were brought out with good timing as the movie went on. Beer prices were reasonable for Coopers.

â– Antipasto in darkness is a terrifying but exhilarating experience (came with our risotto balls).

â– No snuggling! There’s a pretty significant pillar between the seats so while there’s room to curl up on the recliner it’s a solo sort of thing.

â– Some would fear that the reclined seats would lead to sleeping. We can report that Kerces, a notorious sleeper during movies, managed to stay awake despite having been out well past her bedtime the night before.

â– Staffing appears to still be an issue, we wandered all the way to our seats without encountering any staff at all and being a little lost and bemused about what we were meant to be doing. That the actual seat layout is the reverse of what’s on their allocation screen added a bit to the confusion. In any event fully allocated seating demands an usher or there’s a real risk customers will come to blows over the prime seats. Having said that, when Kerces went to the bar to get some drinks (the push button service not being operational yet) the bar staff carried the drinks back for her and then showed us how to operate our seats.

â– We didn’t try to book in advance (something essential for a more popular time with fully allocated seating) and had enough cash on us to not need to chance their EFTPOS system. There have been reports of issues with these.

â– It was nice to see our earlier suggestion for the crowd control around the box office taken up, even if Dendy management are still to reply to our emails.

So, in conclusion:

â– For $5 more a ticket you get a whole lot more movie experience.

â– It would be a great lash out for a second date if the movie is right.

â– Being able to watch a movie and enjoy a drink without having to worry about bottles clinking and being shouted at by a snotty manager is a treasure beyond price in itself.

We’ll be going back.

(Also whatever you do, don’t go and see “Marie Antoinette”, aside from Kirsten Dunst’s oft flashed arse the film is vile, sickening even for the students of history)

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Vic Bitterman11:29 pm 09 Jan 07

This line deserves to be framed in the pool room – absolute classic JB!!!! :

“Antipasto in darkness is a terrifying but exhilarating experience (came with our risotto balls).” 🙂

Two of clubs1:03 pm 09 Jan 07

Discount day (for regular tickets) is Tuesday, $9.

$34 for the premium lounge – it’s $15 for normal seats. There’s also a discount day somewhere in there, but I can’t remember which day it is – somewhere in the Monday-Wendesday range, from memory…

34 bucks ?

id wait for the dvd and watch it on my couch.

whatever it was.

gotta love arthouse cinema.

I went to gold class Village Cinemas in Crown Casino complex yesterday.

$35 each and you get full food and beverage service – an intimate cinema (approx 30 seats) extremely comfportable and fully reclinable jason style recliners.

We ordered lunnch and a beer before we went in – when we got in – we ordered a beer each and a bowl of nuts.

Al the service was prompt and efficient – the surroundings where opulent and it was pretty easy for us to see that the $150 or so we paid was well worth it.

Its easy – if your a scroge and dont like cinemas – then dont complain about the cost – just dont go – me – im pretty stingy – but this was well bloody worth it. Its pretty obvious that they knew what they were doing – and hopefully – with time will come experience to all the canberra staff.

$34 is perfectly reasonable if you have a boyfriend who will pay.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt9:05 am 09 Jan 07

34 bucks a ticket!! What a rort!

But don’t let that stop anyone else.

Two of clubs6:42 am 09 Jan 07

Hazy memory tells me that normal price structure was $25 for weekday (Mon-Thur)-before-5 screenings, $30 for weekday-after-5, and $35 for Friday evening/weekend screenings.
Ouch.

And I’ll second the Marie Antoinette warning. Pretty colours, unusual soundtrack. That’s it.

34 bucks, sheesh! My sofa’s looking awfully comfortable, despite the lack of “home theatre” accoutrements, and the fridge’s in easy reach. How much were the drinks and nibblies, johnboy?

Dendy dold me that $20 is just a deal for January before 5pm – I think its normally $34 each.

… or a recumbent bike.

“near prone reclining comfort”
Sounds like missionary position JB…

I am sure I saw Ralph at the NGA screening yesterday, of Sergei Eisenstein’s “October” – about the victory of Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the 1917 Russian Revolution. This would appeal to someone of a high IQ.

Ralph, get a life you fucking dork!

Poor you, Ralph. Life can be tough when one is as smart as you are.

Each to their own I suppose. I rarely watch movies as I usually find them to be extremely banal, boring and overly contrived. One of the shortcomings of having a high IQ. I’ll just watch the odd DVD (rarely though) when there is something that interests me.

The only thing that appears interesting to me at the moment is The Queen.

shadows seats were fine. at least you could stretch out. i liked the center cinema seats, with that slide/recline thing.

except when i saw ‘hoffa’ and after 4 hours my arse went to sleep.

Good seats make a movie theatre. Electric Shadows was a perfect example of how people will put up with extreme discomfort, just to see the only showing of an art-house movie. Ps. Hi B, J & K.

i hate the seats in civic greater union. last time i went (2 years ago easily) they were like sitting in bus seats.

so i dont go there anymore.

funny story about civic greater union.

seated in front of me were 5 asiatics. when the movie started (dont remember what it was) the one in the middle started translating into some bizarre language, the others leaned in to hear him.

this continued. he even added emphasis to words and mimiced male and female voices.

im normally that bloke who stands up and says ‘will you please shut up’, but i didnt feel it was right on this occasion so i just moved to another seat a few rows down.

Marie Antoinette featured some great cinematography at the palace of Versailles.
It was no history lesson just a light hearted look at palace life, the elaborate indulgence and in dealing with the excessive protocol and expectations.
Worth a look at,indulge as per the film,relax in the recliner whilst drinking chilled wine.

The regular seats also have the “huddle up to your loved one” option, where you can throw the armrest up and snuggle if you so choose.

are the ‘regular’ seats as comfortable ?

The regular seats are very comfortable.

The premier seats are extremely comfortable.

I’ve heard Greater Union Civic have $8 tickets now that Dendy’s opened.

Although ANU Film Group is still the cheapest way to see lots of movies. And people do bring in their hot take-away dinner (which drives me nuts, I hate the smell of hot curry when there’s none for me).

oh, well, carry on then.

We do it on a sheet.

Oh, you’ll make a terrible mess!

I hope they sell halal food there. Otherwise we shall bring our own goat and slaughter him in the aisles (before the film begins, of course).

i get annoyed when idiots talk on the phone at the pictures, why would i pay a ‘premium’ to listen to idiots clink glasses together ?

are the ‘regular’ seats as comfortable ?

the aisles are wide enough that the staff don’t have to stand in front of anyone when brining in the food.

Not really, the clink of cutlery was incongruous, but no worse (in fact much better) than the rustling of lollybags.

Was it annoying when other people’s food and drinks came out during the movie?

Do they provide bibs?

I’m glad you didn’t come out of it with depression

Apologies for my error in the late hour!

By the wonder of the web all is fixed now.

“Terrifying but vicarious”? You mean it scared you even though someone else had it for you?

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