Sometime early last year, we went into what Mark affectionately called a "dirt mall" located in Garden City, South Carolina. The mall was torn up, with half-finished construction throughout. Additionally, the majority of the stores were closed, with few patrons in the mall. We deemed it the "zombie mall" because it looked like there should be hordes of the undead milling about.
Tonight, I declared we needed an adventure. We were sad because our friends had left, and I had been subjected to Mark playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 for a couple of hours. We hopped in the car, and I started driving. We left Myrtle Beach, drove through Surfside, and ended up in Garden City. On a whim, I stopped into the zombie mall to see if it had changed. When we were there before, we honestly thought the mall was going out of business and that the construction was to never be finished. Imagine our surprise when we saw they had opened up an all new entertainment place.
From the outside of the mall, we saw signs for an arcade, which immediately piqued Mark's interest. We then saw something about Revolutions Entertainment. We entered the mall through Books A Million and found a whole new mall compared to last time! All the areas that were torn up were re-finished with hardwood. The mall is now in pristine condition! Revolutions Entertainment was jumping!
Revolutions Entertainment was kind of like a Dave & Busters. There was an arcade, bowling lanes, a restaurant, a bar, and a movie theater! Before making any decisions, we decided to take a quick tour. The bowling lanes looked nice, but since I'm not a fan, we didn't try them out. The arcade had some fun games, most of them yielding tickets. Mark found a Dance Dance Revolution machine with credits on it, so he played a few rounds for free. That in itself was enough to make me like this place.
We had been talking about seeing Chronicle, but there wasn't a good time at our normal theater just because it didn't line up with what we had been doing. Imagine how happy we were to learn that Frank theaters, the theater in this mecca of entertainment, had a showing about thirty minutes from when we decided to see a movie. Combine the prime showtime with the free game of DDR Mark got to play, and Mark declared it a sign.
We got in line to buy movie tickets at the concession stand. You could use the automated machines, but we knew we needed snacks anyway. We hadn't eaten since lunch time. The lines moved kind of slow, but when we got to the counter, the lady was very nice. It turns out Revolutions Entertainment has been there since June and did indeed have stadium seating in the theater. You would expect that nowadays, but I don't take chances.
Back in the day, Tinseltown in Erie, Pennsylvania offered a variety of food that you could then take in the theater with you. They had subs, pizza, and the like. Since that theater, I haven't really found any with a selection of food that extends beyond snacks. Tonight, that all changed. For $25, we got two tickets to Chronicle during the prime movie viewing time on a Saturday, a large pepperoni pizza, and a large Dr. Pepper. Frankly, that's a great deal. Making it even better, they make the pizza fresh and bring it to you in the theater. The only downside was the lack of Coke products, but I can forgive them this one small flaw.
We took our drink and our tickets and headed back to the actual theaters. A nice man tore our tickets and sent us on our way. There was a restroom close to our theater, which was nice. I've been in theaters where you have to go all the way back out to the front for a restroom. Outside each theater, there was a small monitor playing the preview for the movie on that screen, a nice touch.
The seats in the theater were cherry red vinyl, and the armrests did not lift up for snuggling. On the plus side, they were incredibly comfortable. Not once during the movie was I uncomfortable. You would think holding a large pizza box, trying to eat pizza without getting grease all over me, would make me uncomfortable. Nope, not in those seats. I don't care for the vinyl in general because you stick to it if there is any exposed skin, but I was pretty well bundled up tonight.
All in all, the theater was great. The employees were nice, and I was happy with our pizza. It was a greasy New York style pizza. The only element missing was Coke, but Dr. Pepper is a pretty nice guy. The screen seemed a little small, but I can't say if all the theaters are like that or if ours just seemed small because they had us in a smaller theater, as it wasn't Chronicle's opening weekend.
Now, let's move on to Chronicle. Chronicle is a movie about three guys that get super powers by encountering something strange. It's presented in a found footage style, meaning the film is made to look as if one of the characters is filming or the footage comes from security cameras and the like. Sometimes movies shot in this style can be limited in what they can show and how they can show it. The filmmakers found a clever way around that to give you a film without too much shaky cam, which is always nice. You won't walk out of Chronicle feeling sick.
The basic story isn't that remarkable, but when you combine the way the film was shot with the competent performances and the character development, you get an excellent film. The villain of the piece isn't just an evil person; he's a real person with real problems. Even some of the lesser characters have a bit of fleshing out that leads you to understand why they are the way they are. Where a lesser filmmaker may have just tried to be the Blair Witch/Paranormal Activity of superhero movies, the makers of Chronicle deliver a real film with real characters. The way the film is shot isn't a gimmick; it's part of the movie.
I mentioned before that the basic story isn't anything new, and that's true. The presentation is what makes the film stand out. Both Mark and I felt like we were watching Akira at times. Don't go into this film expecting Akira, but if you have seen that anime, you'll probably recognize the elements that feel like it. Because it is logical with the story, it doesn't feel like they ripped anything off. In no way is Chronicle trying to be Akira, but it would probably be a better Akira movie than the one they've been trying to make.
If you want to go see a movie this weekend, pass up the Star Wars re-release to see something that is actually worth your money. Take two hours and go see Chronicle. It's a fantastic movie that puts forth real effort and delivers a movie worth your time and money.
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