12 February 2007

Another look at the Dendy cinema

| johnboy
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Well our communications with the Dendy management have not been ideal but we do now know they’re keeping an eye on what gets said here. So following on from our last look at the standard cinema experience here’s what we encountered yesterday at the 1.45pm showing of Pan’s Labyrinth (excellent film but seriously brutal, only a real sicko won’t look away at some point, not a great choice for a date).

â– Crowd control leading to the box office is now set up like I’d do it, with a zig zag leading to a pool of box office staff. Hooray!
â– Candy bar was popping off a load of popcorn as the walk-in started. Sure to boost sales as customers get lead by their nose. The concession area has a tough sell as it’s very easy to walk by without paying attention to it.
â– Sunday afternoon showing of a foreign language film… and it was packed! Without allocated seating you wouldn’t want to try and get many more in than they had. If you build it they will come.

Now, onto the not so good.

â– Seats falling apart. Many of the large and rather cool beverage holders were dangling by exposed wires (possibly live with lighting) either on the seats or in the aisles. Just because you’ve got a new cinema doesn’t mean you don’t need a dedicated maintenance guy and a system of fault books for the staff to fill in as problems arise. Kerces counted at least six seats in this dangerous condition on one aisle of cinema 4 alone.
â– TOO LOUD! IT WAS TOO DAMN LOUD! IT’S AN ART HOUSE FILM FOR GOD’S SAKE WHY ARE YOU TURNING THE VOLUME UP SO HIGH THAT FOOTFALLS ARE BLASTING US OUT OF OUR SEATS. THIS IS A CONSISTENT PROBLEM IN A NUMBER OF SCREENINGS WE’VE BEEN TO. I LIKE LOUD THINGS IN GENERAL AND OFTEN CRANK UP THE VOLUME BUT YOU’RE RUNNING IT TOO LOUD.

(See? You don’t like it when I shout either now do you?)

How’s everyone else finding it?

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I wonder if the reason why the sound is so loud is because its been poorly designed and as such leaks noise from below. So they turn the sound up to try and drown out the noise.

hopefully they’ll get it right sometime soon.

they must be getting caned on the mystery visitors

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt8:13 am 15 Feb 07

So when can we expect the next exciting dendy bashing story?

Gee, I am way out of the movie going circle. It’s probably been over a year since I’ve been to the movies, and I haven’t heard of ANY of the movies you have all mentioned. How often do you all go to the movies? And how much does it cost you? (And if I do get a chance to go soon, what would you recommend?)

why is canberra dendy more expensive than other dendys ?

why dont they list ‘premium’ ticket prices on their website ?

I’ve seen Casino Royale, Marie Antoinette and Perfume there, and it’s been a pretty positive experience overall (and not too expensive at $9.50 each with the free Club Dendy membership I picked up last year). They seem to show a lot less ads / trailers than most other cinemas around, which I appreciate. The seats aren’t very comfortable for snuggling up to someone in though, and it certainly doesn’t have the atmosphere that Electric Shadows had.

Hasdrubahl: DVD looks absolutely rubbish on a cinema sized screen (and the distributors don’t provide the trailers on DVD either).

popgoescanberra8:24 pm 12 Feb 07

I’ve seen Volver, Marie Antoinette, Perfume and Notes on a Scandal there. Staff always VERY good, and prices are great with gym member benefits (I go to the cinema way more than I normally would thanks to this). First problem encountered this weekend just gone at Notes on a Scandal preview – the trailers went on forever, and then they started repeating the trailers again. We had to watch this hideous trailer for the stupid looking new George Clooney/Cate Blanchett film. No way am I going to see that now.

Absent Diane7:55 pm 12 Feb 07

sorry johnboy i didn’t quite hear you… i am a little deaf.

I’ve been to three movies in Cinemas 1 and 2, and apart from the damaged seats and powerful air conditioning, I only have one complaint, and it really bugged me.

When I went to see Perfume in Cinema 2, there was a scratch running right down the middle of the screen throughout the ENTIRE DURATION OF THE MOVIE. I don’t know a lot about the technical side of a cinema but the girl I was with does, and told me that this irritating, obvious vertical mark was due to some sort of mishandling by the projectionist. If that’s true, they should really get their act together when it comes to looking after their equipment, because there were a lot of scenes in Perfume where the light-coloured sky in the background was disturbed by these thin, moving vertical lines.

And when I saw Pan’s Labyrinth in Cinema 1, I also noticed a similar sort of scratch on the screen. Of course, this is such a dark, hazy movie that it was not as distracting, but still less than I expect from a brand new cinema.

Sort it out Dendy!

The cinema is good. I prefer it to compared to the old electric shadow or the city Greater Union.

I went to see Pan’s Labyrinth as well… definitely too loud for the smaller cinema (I don’t remember the number). I also saw Casino Royale a while back in Cinema 1, and the levels were pretty good. But I’m definitely liking the extra leg room 🙂

I saw Pan’s Labyrinth there too JB, but had no problems – maybe I’m not looking hard enough.

Totally agree on the gore-factor of the film though, I almost lost my lunch a couple of times.

I’ve seen almost all the “serious” films screened at Dendy in the last month and a half, and it’s mostly been pretty good.

I saw Pan’s Labyrinth in Cinema 1 on Wednesday evening. I think it’s the largest of the normal cinemas — I’ve not seen any of the special screenings — and it’s easily the best.

On the film: I mentioned to some people that I was going to see it, or that I’d gone to see it; almost all of them oohed and ahhed, saying they wanted to see it too. I couldn’t understand why until I saw the trailer. The trailer is almost entirely fantastic, whereas the actual film is mostly anti-war.

I did have fun doing drunken Pale Man impersonations while at a party on Mt Ainslie on Friday night, however…

Last night I went to see Notes on a Scandal, whose 20h45 session was in Cinema 6. We endured almost fifteen minutes of cinematic trailers as well as sound leakage, either from an adjacent cinema or from the noodle bar below the Dendy.

I haven’t noticed any deterioration in the seats or fittings… perhaps I’ve not been looking closely enough.

well, you know Toriness, some of my favourite people are real sickos 😉

i must be a real sicko johnboy, i didn’t look away at all during pan’s labyrinth.

i have been to dendy twice now, and thought it’s been good enough for my $9 discount night visit to a standard cinema. my only complaint is that being a popcorn fanatic have purchased a ‘bucket’ of popcorn both times – and both times disappointed with it not being fresh enough and apparently not popped properly …lots of unpopped or half popped kernels which nearly broke my teeth when i munched on a handful of it!

Went recently for the first time (cinema 2). Casual observations:
* Friendly dame selling tickets, no major queue delays.
* Unusually large amounts of popcorn and other eats being taken in, had to tolerate munching/rustling sounds most of the way through the film. If this means the Candy bar was doing good business – I wish it wouldn’t.
* Also noticed end of seat broken off (aisle seat). In fact, got the feeling that the fabric they use in the seats won’t wear too well.
* Nice legroom.
* Aircon a little fierce.
* Trailers had a lot of film ‘sparkle’ (dust/scratches) on them – why not use DVD for trailers?
* Sound levels OK.
* All in all, probably not worth paying $7 more than for same film in older fleapits around Canberra.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt4:12 pm 12 Feb 07

Never been, and at the prices I’m not likely to. I’d rather buy the DVD, and still have change to pay for delivery pizza.

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