nostalgia isn't what it used to be; what was it again?

The old Electric Shadows posters were pretty cool. I remember going to a flick in their last week and IIRC it was the Rocky Horror Picture show. Or maybe I’m making that up?

I miss the sound of the air pushing out of the seats as you sat down. Those cinemas had a unique charm about them which no new building will ever replace. I understand you can’t stand in the way of progress and all that, but Electric Shadows will always be missed. Centre Cinema, too.

Dendy is much better than Hoyts/Greater Union or that digital one in Tuggeranong whose name escapes me. But alas it is no Lecky Shads. The beauty of Lecky Shads was the unusual movies it brought to Canberra. Dendy is great at showing award winning international and indie films, but doesn’t bring much else.

The cinemas themselves are great and I will go and see mainstream movies there rather than at Hoyts because at least I know they’ll show it in focus.

MM

Yup, these days “independent cinema” is pronounced “YouTube” 😉

Buzz2600 said :

Where do you go for true independent cimena?

The internets!

Electric Shadows final movie screening in 2006 was Volver. I’m still missing Electric Shadows even after all these years… it was one of the only places in Canberra that had some soul. ES posters were a staple wall adornment in our house for many, many years, loved ’em!

Dendy started out as an upmarket alternative and continues to screen a decent selection of international movies but seems to have gone the way of the rest now heavily reliant on a diet of hollywood action blockbusters to get by … ho hum. Where do you go for true independent cimena?

Best (only?) independant cinema in Canberra is ANU film group – http://www.anufg.org.au

Very cheap, and you can nominate films and vote on them.

I’m only a member, but I’ve seen many great films there that I would have never have normally seen.

Pity the seats are crap. Everything else is exceptional.

I know it wasn’t the very last film shown at the ES, but I saw Dr Strangelove/How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb not too long before their sad demise.

I miss small independant cinemas. Hoyts/Greater Union have no soul and are frequented by annoying teenagers and feral bogans. The dendy is marginally better but again has moved towards mainstream films & banal Hollywood blockbusters instead of the quirky range that Dendy used to be known for.

Brisbane has a few independant cinemas still going and I try to get along when I’m back in brisneyland. They still draw a good following, especially to the occasional “trash film” showing.

Would love to see a pic of the poster! Like all good share houses, I used to wallpaper the kitchen with Electric Shadows posters and movie flyers.

I really enjoyed seeing Casablanca at Electric Shadows. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I already seemed to know the script off by heart, even though I’d never seen the movie before. It was particularly nice to see such an integral movie in Western popular culture on a big screen, the way it was meant to be seen. It was the last movie I ever saw at Electric Shadows.

The first movie I ever saw there was Reservoir Dogs. Loved it. And now I have a small child whose favourite bedtime teddy is Mr Pink. Maybe that’s why she is so unsettled at nights.

will try for poster pic, ed, but have to battle technology demons and lack of dig. camera – shall seek astress’s able assistance once again! (and me a photographer!)

The last film they showed was Volver, which according to Wiki, suitably means ‘to return to a place’. It’s Spanish film by Almodóvar.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volver)

At the end of the showing, there was a standing ovation for the Electric Shadows staff who all went up on stage.