The first thing that you notice is that the price of a ticket is more expensive - $12.50. $2 of that is a "amenities fee", and it varies depending on what day & time you are seeing the movie. While I support that, the best part of the ticket purchase for me was that you get to choose your seats, in a similar manner to how you choose them for a flight. What a stress-reliever! Knowing that you have a reserved spot no matter what time you arrive is BRILLIANT.
So the theater looks pretty much the same from the outside.
But the inside is 100% Sundance.
Inside, there are 3 places to get your eat & drink on before the show: the Balcony Bar, the Kabuki Kitchen, and the Bistro. We chose the Bistro, where we enjoyed a Meze platter, a Green Goddess salad, and a glass of pinot noir. The dim lighting makes it very date-appropriate, and in fact the place makes a good statement about you if you are out to impress: Independent Film Goer + Green Living Supporter + Organic Foodie + Wine Conoisseur = Winner! (see "Stuff White People Like" blog). Depending on the movie's subject, you could easlily knock out a few more of these criteria.
While we were waiting for the lights to dim, there was this cool Monty Python-esque short. Some of the figures moved, and it was very funny and original. So different than animated popcorn and soda marching around or those irritating Fandango puppets.
In a city with as many parking challenges as ours, having a one stop plan for the evening is great. Drawing a customer base that doesn't include obnoxious teenagers travelling in packs is super. Having a wine buzz when you go to to see a movie is fabulous. Thanks, Robert Redford!
