Favourite Cinemas, Favourite Screens?

OutlawPete

Think we all have cinemas and screens which we prefer more than others, which are yours?

For me it will always have to be Screen 1 & 2 in the Adelphi, on Abbey St. Screen 1 and 2 are the only screens I can really recall tbh, but I can do so quite vividly. Seen Superman, ET, Back To The Future there and many many more classics also and so it was (and always will be) a very special place to me. First time I took a girl to cinema was even there (Mannequin '87, was 14).

Crying shame it's now a feckin' car park.




One of my fondest memories of the a cinema experience has to be the day I went to see two films in Clones at the Luxor.
Seen Condorman and some film that was 18s about a Haunted House (??) This is a fond memory as I was only .. 9 at the time :cool:





The Carlton was a also a great cinema. Seen Goodfellas, Lethal Weapon, Sea of Love (among many others) and have fond memories of being a young teen going to see movies on a Saturday with all my friends and having to queue up on O'Connell St where the old guy that used to be the main usher there, would try and keep us all under control, while of course having his usual 'you pesky kids' breakdown, that he forever seemed to be having.




Also used to love the old Lighthouse Cinema. Seen My Own Private Idaho there when I was 17. Cracking little screen which had such a great atmosphere, as too had the old Screen Cinema on Eden Quay. Seem to recall seeing a lot of Horrors movies there for some reason, Nightmare on Elm Street II being one that sticks out and also my favourite bond movie, The Living Daylights (yup, love that movie ).




Screen was and still is a great cinema. Whenever I think of going on the bounce to the flicks, it's the Screen that comes to mind as that's where would invariably end up (as they were to strict about age certificates ). How To Get Ahead In Advertising, Sex Lies & Videotape, Clockwise, Life is Beautiful would be some that stick out, but Leaving Las Vegas was far and away the best film I seen there (excluding classics of course, did see Scarface there once in the 90's after-all) but the main reason The Screen is my second favourite cinema to the Savoy (when it comes to cinemas currently still running at least) is down to how they treat their customers, as they are always looking to see what they can do to make them happier. The recent few years of dedication to showing classics is a testament to that if nothing else. Serve wine and real popcorn too, can't be bad




Obviously must have seen hundreds of movies at the Savoy, must have seen more films there than any other cinema (apart from UCI Coolock, as growing up in Swords, it was our local cinema for many years). Wouldn't know were to begin if I were to have to list my favourites that I've seen there. Just a few that spring to mind: Glengarry Glen Ross, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Chaplin. First cinema I got up to some serious shenanigans in also, while "watching" Heathers in Screen 3, back in '89 :cool:


These days I guess Savoy 1 is still the main screen I look forward to most often as, even though I have a Cineworld Unlimited card and I could easily see a film there at no extra cost, I'll still head off to the Savoy and fork out money just for that level of comfort. Love Swords@TheMovies also, just find the place great.

Of screens and cinemas I don't like: I would say that Cineworld can bug me a lot. While it's only a small portion of cinema goers that act like wild animals, the majority of them do seem to frequent that cinema more than any other for some reason. Chair kickers there are in desperate need of knee-capping and the all to frequent talkers: biro tracheotomies. The cinema is also so damn cold and they don't appreciate me bringing a duvet along, so I tend to avoid the place when the weather is not so great and will invariably head off to the warmth of the Savoy or The Screen instead. If I had to pick a screen I don't like and hate to see movies in, it would have to be Screen 2 in IFI , as just never took to it for some reason.

So, what's you favourite cinemas, screens and memories that you fondly (or not so fondly) associate with them?

krudler

I miss old cinemas, in Limerick we had The Carlton, where I had my first few cinema trips (and wound up living where it used to be as it was knocked and turned into an apartment block) and The Savoy:




^I did a google search for the limerick savoy but I think thats the Dublin one?

which is where I would have seen most movies up until the late 90's when the Omniplex opened. It had an arcade and bowling alley in the same building right above it and during really quiet scenes of movies you could hear the bowling balls rumbling along and the sound of the pins being knocked over in some screens. It also unlike the newer cinemas we have now had the doors at the back, meaning you had to walk down the steps to your seat instead of up them like the omniplex and storm. Theres ones that go further back than that which my dad would have went to like the original Savoy:




the Theatre Royal and The Lyric, all long closed and refurbished/demolished:



Cinemas back then had character, now they're soulless multiplexes. Theres talk of them opening a small cinema in limerick showing small and classic movies, I really hope it happens. If I had my way I'd have a 2-3 screen cinema that was really tastefully decorated, proper neon lights outside, old movie posters everywhere, dark coloured carpets and the like, a proper cinema.

thebullkf

I loved the IMAX before it was Virgin/UGC(?)..then cineworld

The Savoy

The Screen


and the old Fairview Cinema... Saw Burtons BATMAN there....{ the happy ring house ads } !!!

August 16/17th it opened... had the T-Shirt for years....

IFI .. have seen some crackers there... Fateless, Harsh Times... Nightwatch

Skerries

yeah as a kid we would go to The Grand in Fairview
and i remember that it had a big pit in front of the screen, i don't know if that was for an orchestra from years previous



but then later on I started going into town to the usual ones, Savoy, Carlton, Adelphi, Lighthouse and the 2 Screen cinemas

I loved going to the Ambassador cinema as it was just one screen which was as big as Savoy 1 or nearly afaik



now I would go to UCI Coolock and Santry and the odd time to Cineworld where i pay for 1 film and stay there all day

why did people have to Q outside cinemas for ages when now we can just stroll around?

Galvasean

Showing my age (or lack of) now. never even heard of half the cinemas in the OP and don't even remember the Ambo being a cinema. As a kid my local cinema was the UCI in Coolock. Don't think I ever set foot in another cinema until I was an adult.
Nowadays I really like Screen 17 in Cineworld. So humongous!

Faith+1

Jesus I'm only 26 and I remember going to see the Lion King in "The Adelphi" , Jurassic Park in "The Carlton" and "Titanic" in "The Ambassador" Christ I'm old.:(

delbertgrady

The Adelphi's legend looms large, not least for hosting the only Dublin concert by the f***ing BEATLES.
I still distinctly remember queueing in the snow outside the Adelphi to see Superman II.

The Grand in Fairview was a total winner: Off the top of my head, I saw The Empire Strikes Back, Flash Gordon (!!!), ET - The Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future and Tim Burton's Batman there.

I remember going to The Odeon on Eden Quay a lot (when it was called the Odeon: it later became the Screen, but to confuse matters further, was originally The Corinthian). I think the last thing I saw there was The Doors (by that stage, it was The Screen). They used to show all the Disney reissues (I'm pretty sure I saw 101 Dalmations there, in a double-bill with a long forgotten caper called The London Connection). The other queue was going in to see the Nicholas Hammond Spiderman film, which was technically a cinema version of the TV pilot, but we weren't fussy in those days. That's the eighties for you.
I'm fairly sure I saw Basil The Great Mouse Detective there, and I definitely saw Danny the Champion of the World, the 1989 dramatisation with Jeremy Irons and Robbie Coltrane, which again, I think was made for television.

The Ambassador was another one for the Disney reissues (where I think I saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Jungle Book), but count is lost, to be honest. This was all pre-home video, when Disney would shrewdly re-release a lot of their major titles every few years to capture a new generation.

The Ambassador also famously did the all-day Star Wars marathon in 1983. It was closed from 1988 to 1994, when it reopened, but it finally closed in 1999. The last thing I saw there was the reissue of Yellow Submarine, which was very close to their eventual closure. Unfortunately, the last film shown was Varsity Blues, the James Van Der Beek college football movie.
The Carlton used to regularly host concerts throughout the 1970s. Gilbert O'Sullivan played there, and Emmylou Harris in 1978, with Elvis Presley's backing band.

Kids these days... :rolleyes:

StonedParadoX

nobody mentioned dun laoghaire cinema yet?

Paparazzo

Am I the only person that hates Savoy screen 1? The seats aren't steep enough, I find I end up watching a film between the heads of the 2 people in front of you.

MagicMarker

The Odeon Cinema in Coventry, it's where I saw classics such as Jurassic Park, Independence Day and Dumb & Dumber.



Now on the rare occasion I go to the cineman, I'll go to Liffey Valley. The only other cinemas I've been to in Dublin is UCI in the Square before it closed, and once to Cineworld/Savoy/Dundrum & Dun Laoghaire.

johnny_ultimate

The Paradiso in Wanaka, New Zealand.



Not only does NZ have the best burgers in the world (Fergburger in Queenstown) but also the best cinema, which makes it a pretty damn awesome place. Paradiso is one screen, and as a result only one film per timeslot (the six or seven films on at any one time are scattered throughout the week at different intervals). The place is tiny. Outside, there's a bar. Before you go in, you get drinks and order dinner (if you want). You enter and lounge on a couch, or if you feel like it a gutted mini - yep, a car in the cinema! Movie starts and there's awesome homemade ads by local businesses and people. There's an interval half way through, in which your dinner is served back outside, and there's also people with delicious freshly made cookies for one to purchase. Even the bathroom is entertaining with urinals and cisterns decorated with hundreds of movie posters.

TBH, it may not be the single best place to see a film due to the interval, but as a cozy cinema experience, there's nothing like it and it's one hell of a place. Shame it's over the otherside of the world!

Frank Black

When I first went to College in Dublin in the early 90’s The Screen were doing a Scorsese festival – saw Taxi Driver and Mean Streets there for the first time and made a big impression on me.
There’s a cinema in Sydney that I always remember from my time there run by the Hare Krishna’s called Govinda’s – remember watching Run Lola Run there on a bean bag.

Skinfull

Growing up in Navan we had two choices. Lyric Cinema on Brews hill (now apartments) and The Palace Cinema (now the Palace Nightclub)

For 50p extra you got to sit in the balcony and for 50p less you got to sit in the stairway! It was great because they were the only ones but they were ****e! Sound quality, comfort, picture quality! I love Cineworld. Some of the screens are smaller sure and the snackage is way over priced but its class! Great sound / picture and with an unlimited card its so worth it!

I do LOVE te screen though! As soon as they get the sound leaking sorted and figure out how to use the Aircon then it will shoot right back up to top place. Love the wine, the popcorn, the seats and the vibe.

Lyric in Navan:

e_e

Lighthouse 1, Lighthouse 2, Lighthouse 3, and err... Lighthouse 4.

AMKC

The screen cinema might be closing down soon sad if it happens.

My favorite cinema screen would be screen 17 at Cineworld but as that is an IMax screen and most films played in it now are in 3D I rarely go there now. Odeon cinema,s are good too thing they are run well and te ISense in the point is quite good too. Even there small screens have very good sound. The best cinema do was Ster Century in Liffey Valley used to love going there and then when it was taking over by Vue it has not been as good.