We've been meaning to see a movie at Kent Theater since we moved to the neighborhood. It's within walking distance, it could have historical value (some say Woody Allen used the theater in "The Purple Rose of Cairo") and movies are $5 on Wednesdays and $7.75 the rest of the week. We'd read complaints about it online and knew there were some drawbacks so we set the bar as low as it could go and ventured to the far off land of Below Avenue H to check it out.The lower ticket prices mean that Kent has to cut some corners, including having just one person in both roles of ticket-taker and concession-seller. The woman filling these positions snapped at us to "come closer" so she could reach over the snack counter and look at our tickets. Couldn't she tell we were first-timers?
The compromises continued once we were in the actual theater. During some of the most poignant, and quiet, parts of our movie, (Pixar's "Up," not in 3-D) we could hear dialogue and very loud rumblings from the movies showing in the two other theaters. At another point, a woman walked into our theater and yelled her friend's name. Her friend, who was there with her young daughter, yelled back and once they were sitting together they chatted and also rustled a plastic bag throughout the film, apologizing when shushed but not getting any quieter.
The distractions weren't only auditory, though -- the screen had a large tear in it that was visible for the majority of the movie. Patrick had a sneaking suspicion that his chair was wet, but he was too scared to touch it to confirm his hunch. All this combined with the small size and high placement of the screen make it tough for anyone to get lost in the movie. We found ourselves distracted so many times that we completely lost the fun of the movie-going experience. What started out as a hopeful outing quickly turned into "Checked it off. Never doing that again."
7 comments:
I've been to Kent on a few occasions, and yes there are some definite shortcuts. Having some fill double-duty appears to have been something completely random--I've never seen that before, but the rip in the screen is unforgivable.
The Kent is good for two things: seeing suspect movies for the cheap, or seeing blockbusters--after all, everyone will be going to "real' theaters to see those, and thus overcrowding them.
I'm sorry you had such an unpleasant experience, but I'd urge you to give it another try. I've been to the Kent a few times and always been pretty delighted--a theater within walking distance with reasonable prices? No one's ever been rude to me, my seat's never been wet, the film has never been interrupted, the screen has never been torn (guess that happened after I saw UP there a week ago? Hopefully it's been fixed...) I can understand how having your UP experience screwed up would leave a bad taste in your mouth, but tickets sometimes less that half the price of everywhere else? I kind of love the Kent!
wow didnt know it had gotten so bad, last movie 2 movies i saw there were cloverfield and the day after tomorrow, i think it was still $4.50 at the time.
I'm sorry you had a bad time at the Kent. I've been a few times myself, and even with the shortcuts, the smaller screen, I've found it a more pleasant experience than some of the large multiplexes - I've never had anyone talk on their phone or text while I'm at the Kent! The people who work there have always been pretty nice to me, too.
Try it again, especially with a movie you kind of want to see but don't want to shell out 11 bucks for. Hopefully you'll have a better experience and change your mind.
Maybe the Kent is just one of those things that you had to grow up with in order to appreciate. Of course, as a newcomer, you would find it disgusting. It used to be worse. You used to be able to feel the spring wires through the seats...then they got new seats and upped their ticket price by 50 cents.
I never cared about the suck factor, because it was cheap, within walking distance, and I'm not a snob.
When I was about 16 they had midnight screenings of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Everyone (from black kids from Flatbush, to orthodox Jews wearing tye died yarmulkas, to my neo-hippie high school aged friends) smoked bowls and sang along to our favorite parts.
Ten years later, I prefer to go to the Pavilion. Stadium seating is nice, especially when you're short. But I would never pan the Kent...it is what it is! You gotta appreciate it for that.
It sound like you hit the Kent on a good day.
FB Vegan is kind of annoying with all these snitty posts about the craptastic features of our neighborhood. Have you no sense of wonder and love of the quirky? Why you wanna go and make this place be all slick and clean? Jeez, get over it. Who cares if there's a rat living at Madina? Who cares if the ticket lady wasn't chirpy and pleasant? At least your posts might do a public good by keeping your snobby friends from overrunning the neighborhood once they get tired of coming all the way out here just for Sycamore and the Farm on Adderly.
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