I
have been going to this movie theatre since it opened 12-13 years ago
with all the bells and whistles--a full bar--miniture bowling alley
game--15 auditoriums working-- and little by little, under 3 different
movie managements, have seen it turn into a pig sty. One problem from
the very beginning was parking until the Sunrise Cinemas took over and
arranged 3 hour free parking at the city garage.
The whole
complex in spite of being on the Riverfront offering great scenery and
walking from the start at the Broward Performing Arts center to the
shopping and eating district of Las Olas has been a white elephant since
day one. I don't know--lost count--of how many restaurants, bars,
nightclubs have come and gone--some high class name places like Don
Shula's Steak House--but there have been barber shops, art studios,
cigar and cigarette emporiums that didn't last too long. Now there are
two Mom and Pop restaurants and one pita franchise otherwise it is a
ghost town. They do have a 'jazz fest' the first Sunday of every month
but parking fees are high. The one thing in their favor is that tour
boats and the water taxi leave from their site. The place joins screams
for street fairs, food markets, special events continuously but nothing
happens.


First of all the bottom auditoriums are
closed and the escalator to the second floor doesn't work and, in
yesterday's situation, the elevator to the second floor wasn't working
so we proceeded to walk up the dirtiest escalator I have ever been on..

There
have been times the film wasn't delivered for the Friday opening and
other times one had to go down the non-movable esculator to complain
about sound or even that the movie hasn't started. If you are lucky the
screen will be clean!
As the saying goes you get what you pay for and
this location charges the cheapest price for movies on a Friday
afternoon--$7.50.

Every Friday I go there expecting to
see a 'closed' sign on the door. Their 'movie reward' card is all messed
up and you are lucky if they have the movie schedule up on their web
site by Friday!

I don't have many choices when it comes
to movie theatres but if a picture is playing here and The Gateway
Theatre, which is 60 years old and in much better shape, I would choose
the Gateway.

Really going for the place are the lady
manager, and the woman behind the concession  stand, always have a smile
and will do almost anything they can to make sure the experience is a
little bit better than it can be.