Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Howdy, folks. This is Andy from Odd Trilogies. I'm coming at you with a new form of content yet again. We've been doing quite a bit of this lately, as we expand the scope of our outlet and the types of coverage we do.
Today is the first episode of what I'm referring to as “Odd Thoughts”—a kind of repository for any of our rambles or rants about things about the film industry or things about film discourse. And also, I think, in light of this first episode, it can also encompass movie news, whether local or national. It’s ultimately an opportunity for Logan and I to get on here and express our thoughts about something recently occurring that's nagging at us or that we're excited about or whatever. Not a review, not commentary about a particular movie, but just more general discussion about something.
And today, honestly, this is a pretty exciting way to kind of open up Odd Thoughts because it is local news and it's about a new theater opening up. The national chain, Alamo Drafthouse, is opening up a new location here in Indianapolis. It opens on Monday, November 18, which is just a few days away from when I'm recording this.
Indianapolis has no shortage of theaters in the area. We've got like 15-20 serving our metro area, and we have a few great ones. I love my “home base” theater, AMC Indianapolis 17. That's probably the nicest cineplex in the area and the closest one to me. I love that place.
We also have some really great local theaters. The Kan-Kan is a great place to go for, like, indie films or kind of retro screenings. They do a ton of repertory showings of classic movies or shit you've never heard of, or the kind of thing you'd find on MUBI or the Criterion Collection, stuff like that. They really know their stuff over there and kind of go for the deep cuts, which I appreciate.
[00:02:24] We also have Living Room Theater, which opened downtown just a couple of years ago in the Bottleworks District. But, yeah, I'm excited about an Alamo location here in Indy. For those who don't know, Alamo is a chain of like 20-30 locations across the US, mostly in major cities.
[00:02:50] They kind of—I don't know if they “pioneered,” but they kind of popularized the full service, dinner theater experience, where you order food and eat your meal in the movie theater. And so that's kind of the core of their experience.
[00:03:10] But unlike a lot of theaters that try to do that, they don't really skimp out on the actual exhibition experience, the actual sight and sound.
[00:03:23] Similarly to Kan-Kan, they do a lot of repertory screenings of classic movies. They'll do kind of seasonally themed repertory screenings. You know, I'm sure they do like classic Christmas movies around that time.
[00:03:38] They also make it a point in all of their locations to really kind of embrace the local aspect of it, the heritage and culture of the town that they're in.
[00:03:52] And so, yeah, each location is kind of unique in that way.
[00:03:58] So this location opening up in Indianapolis on the 18th, it's in the Lafayette Square area, basically just across the street from where the Lafayette Square Mall used to be.
[00:04:14] And it's actually in the same location as where the old Georgetown 14 cinema was.
[00:04:22] It's taking up that building. So they just moved right into that building. It was already a theater. And I think they're expanding the building a little bit to add another screen. That's my understanding.
[00:04:35] But anyway, this new location, they invited the members of the ifja, which is the Indiana Film Journalists association, of which I'm a proud member. They invited us and some other press and content creators and influencers from the area out to tour the facility, see their amenities, kind of get a rundown on what they're all about. And they screened a movie for us. We watched 2013's Rush, directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl.
[00:05:11] I’m not crazy about that movie, but, you know, it was a good impression because the theming of the Indianapolis location that's kind of unique to our location is auto racing.
[00:05:25] Because of Indianapolis's history with motorsports. You know, we host the Indy 500. We have the the IMS, which is a great sports venue and just have a ton of history with racing here. Personally, I am not like an enthusiast of auto racing. I do enjoy some good racing in movies. I love Ford v Ferrari. I absolutely adore the John Frankenheimer movie Grand Prix. And I am pleased to let you know that they do have a Grand Prix poster up in the theater.
[00:06:04] But yeah, basically the whole interior and actually even the facade over the front entryway is all decorated with paintings and posters and different kinds of sort of little displays and exhibits about auto racing. They even have an actual Indy car in the lobby. A real, you know, full blown, I think, retired Indy car. And my understanding is you can actually get in it and like take pictures in it. They have kind of this rear projection wall behind it, so you could like take a picture in it and it'll look like you're, you know, racing through a city street or something.
[00:06:47] Kind of funny, but yeah, like movie posters adorning all the walls of classic racing movies and things like that. They have like a Mario Kart arcade system in the lobby as well as a racing simulator.
[00:07:06] I don't know if it's like a professional grade one or whatever, but like it is a little bit more involved. You like sit in a cabin that looks kind of like an actual race car and you've got these screens all around you.
[00:07:19] So anyway, they're really playing into that sort of theme.
[00:07:26] But they also showed us the actual screens, the actual theaters themselves, and I was pretty impressed.
[00:07:35] Like I said, they don't really skimp on the actual viewing experience.
[00:07:40] The theaters are really nice. Plenty of room in the walkways, which I appreciated.
[00:07:49] But yeah, like really comfy reclining seats. I think every. I think they said every seat in the theater has heated seats, which is kind of cool.
[00:07:57] That would probably put me to sleep in a lot of movies, so I probably won't make use of that. But it's cool that they have it.
[00:08:07] But yeah, the screen is great and the projection is great. They use laser projectors in all of their screens, which is a noticeable upgrade from like most of the standard digital projectors used in like AMC and Regal around town. It's a really sharp, really bright and contrasty look. Really pops off the screen. Looks a lot more like a TV than a projection.
[00:08:36] So that was. That was nice. And the sound, I would say the sound is pretty comparable to the Dolby Cinema that's at some AMC locations.
[00:08:48] So, you know, really kind of bone rattling sound shakes the seats and that sort of thing. It's. They don't actually have what they call butt-kickers in the seats, which is fine. I don't need that. But I think Dolby maybe has butt-kickers, which are kind of these vibration speakers that sort of bounce your seat along with the sound.
[00:09:11] But the sound is loud enough as it is. I wouldn't really want any more sound than that.
[00:09:17] But yeah, so the actual viewing experience, really great. I'm excited about that also. Great, since they're actually screens that I want to see movies on rather than kind of an afterthought to the whole dining experience. It's cool also that they have like a sort of VIP pass membership thing that's similar to like AMC A-List. I know Regal has a comparable option too. Basically a monthly subscription that allows you to see a certain number of movies a month for a given fee.
[00:09:54] And if you're somebody like me, who goes to movies a lot. Those kinds of things are really worth it because generally the pricing ends up being such that, like, if you see one movie a month, it's pretty much paying for itself. And that's basically true of Alamo's membership, which I think is called Season Pass.
[00:10:15] It's one movie per day. You can see one movie every day, any movie, for 20 bucks a month. Which is pretty similar to AMC's A-List, which is three movies a week for 20 bucks a month. Now, obviously, one movie per day is more movies per month than three movies per week. So Alamo has the advantage there. But they do limit it to one movie per day. So you won't be able to like go to a double feature on your membership at Alamo. Which is kind of sad for me personally because there are a lot of times where I go see two movies in a day or, you know, kind of back to back movies.
[00:11:00] But I realize that's a pretty niche demographic of people who are going to see multiple movies at the theater in a day.
[00:11:10] And also, I don't know how easy that would be to do at some place like Alamo anyway, because their whole thing is because it's like a dinner theater, they want you to be there like 30 minutes before showtime.
[00:11:23] And showtime starts immediately at the showtime. It's not like delayed or anything with ads. It starts when it starts.
[00:11:32] And they do not accept latecomers. So you have to be there pretty early. And at least in my experience, double featuring at like AMC and stuff. Usually when I try and see two movies close together, they end up overlapping pretty closely. So like I get out of one movie and I have to kind of like rush over to the next movie. That or there's a big gap in between. So I don't know. The experience isn't really tailored for that. And understandably so because very few people do double features at the movies these days.
[00:12:06] But anyway, if that's something you're concerned about, that's something you should know. You can only see one movie per day. If you try to see two movies, they'll charge you for the other one.
[00:12:17] But for the most part, most people, including myself, don't see more than one movie per day. So that's a pretty good deal because their tickets are standard price, which is like any evening showing of a first run movie is like $15.25, which pretty similar to most of the AMC offerings. I think AMC starts at like $14 or something, or maybe it's $16 now. But they go up to like 20 for IMAX or Dolby or whatever. And of course Alamo doesn't have Dolby or IMAX. But I would say all of their screens are comparable to a Dolby cinema.
[00:13:02] They have that kind of punchier visual and things like that, and of course the sound.
[00:13:09] But yeah, 1525 across the board. With the exception of what they call movie parties, which is like for some of their repertory screenings they'll do, they'll have like props and encourage you to wear costumes and things like that. Like if they do, I don't know, you know, if they did like a movie party for Elf, the Will Ferrell movie, you know, they tell you bring your ugly Christmas sweater and when you come in they give you like an elf hat or elf ears or something.
[00:13:41] And everybody's, you know, having a raucous good time or whatever. So I don't know that element of it, the kind of party community element of going to see a movie is not really my thing. I love going to the movies, I love seeing a movie in a packed theater. But I don't really care like props or things like that. So totally fine by me that movie parties are not included in the Season Pass membership. That is something to think about.
[00:14:14] What I don't know and what I wanted to ask, but I kind of forgot was if all of their repertory, I don't know are all of their repertory screenings movie parties or not. I'll have to do a little bit more research on that, but that would kind of suck.
[00:14:32] If all of their repertory throwback classic screenings are movie parties and therefore exempt from the Season Pass, that would probably deter me from getting it. But if they do repertory screenings that aren't movie parties that are regular price that are included in the Season Pass, I will probably become a member, to be honest, because it's a really nice place to watch movies and they have good food and I would definitely see more than one movie a month there, which would, which would make it worthwhile. So $15 across the board except for movie parties. And on Tuesdays they said they have like seven dollar Tuesdays. So every ticket all day on Tuesday is seven dollars. No matter what you're seeing, no matter what time, it's all $7, which is pretty cool.
[00:15:31] Not a lot of the big chains do anything like that. I know some of the, like amc I think has a deal with like T Mobile or something for like two dollar Tuesdays. But nothing broadly across the board like what Alamo is doing on Tuesdays.
[00:15:47] They also on Tuesday Mornings have what the general manager, who was giving our little tour, referred to as baby time, which I don't know if that's the official name because it sounds a little bit insulting. But he kept calling it. He said Tuesday mornings are baby time, which basically means they have screenings that are lower volume in terms of the sound, and also slightly dimmer screens. Basically just like kind of a little bit more of a sensory friendly experience for children and babies.
[00:16:24] Also, of course, because they're kind of baby focused for those.
[00:16:30] There's no expectation that your kids be quiet or anything.
[00:16:37] There will be babies crying, kids screaming, whatever, and that's fine.
[00:16:42] But basically their idea was to have screenings for, you know, moms or dads bringing their kids to a movie on a Tuesday morning. To have a space where their kids can kind of enjoy a movie in their own capacity. However they like to do that, whether that's kind of, you know, playing or talking through it or whatever.
[00:17:05] Because a normal screening at Alamo has a strict no talking, no texting policy. They will warn you once and then escort you out if you violate again.
[00:17:17] But not during baby time, which I don't know. That still seems like a silly name to me. I didn't find baby time listed on their website anywhere, but the general manager kept using that phrase. So I guess it's Tuesday mornings or baby time.
[00:17:35] But for the non babies who are sensitive to sight and sound, they also, on Tuesdays throughout the day, not just in the morning, but throughout the day, have additional sensory friendly screenings which are, again, no or lower sound, dimmer lights.
[00:17:57] But those I understand do, I think have the no talking, no texting policy, which is standard. So that's a cool thing. If you are somebody who loves going to the movies, but, you know, feels the need to wear earplugs or can't stand the intense sensory stimulation. They have screenings on Tuesdays there, which are kind of more easy to handle, which is cool. I think that's awesome. The general manager was really. He really leaned on the idea of, like, we want to be a theater that's inclusive, that has a little something for everyone and can make the viewing experience enjoyable and fun for all kinds of people. And that's cool.
[00:18:46] So, yeah, sensory friendly screenings. I support that.
[00:18:52] Yeah. But in terms of the viewing experience itself, it was great.
[00:18:56] The screen was really bright, the sound was really loud.
[00:19:04] They do recommend arriving 30-50 minutes prior to your showtime. And that's because of how the food service system works. They have a full menu, meals, appetizers, desserts, Drinks, cocktails, beer. They have a full service bar in the lobby with like 30 some beers on tap, which is cool.
[00:19:33] But yeah, because the food is a little bit more involved than like the concessions at an AMC or something, they want you to get there like at least half hour, half an hour early to place your order and get all that taken care of. Because at that point you would, your food would be served probably before the movie starts, which would be great because then you can just enjoy the movie, eat your food, not have to worry about people running up to you and asking questions about your order or whatever.
[00:20:04] That being said, the servers are pretty well trained to communicate with hand signals and work silently. And as they move through your row, they'll crouch. So they're kind of out of the way, which is cool. I appreciate that touch.
[00:20:21] Again, I'm not necessarily the target for something like a dinner in a movie thing.
[00:20:29] I'm not saying I won't make use of it, I definitely will. The food I had was pretty good and reasonably priced. Honestly, you're not getting gouged the way you would at like an AMC.
[00:20:40] You're still probably gonna spend 10 to $20 on your food like you would at a movie theater, but like a regular movie theater, but you're getting an actual full meal rather than like 10 to $20 for popcorn or a pretzel or a drink. You know, you're actually getting a meal and a side and you know, you can order drinks and stuff like that too. But yeah, arrive early for the food.
[00:21:07] I think that's good advice because I had my food before the movie started and it was great. I was uninterrupted. I could just enjoy my food at my own pace, didn't have to worry about anything. And then they, I think they like bring the bill at the end of the movie or like maybe during the credits or something, I don't know. For ours, they brought it during the movie, but I think it was a little bit different because it was like a, you know, we were a preview tour, a bunch of press people.
[00:21:40] But anyway, yeah, that's most of it. I mean, they also do, speaking of the repertory screenings, they also do something like that they call time capsules, which is kind of like they'll do series of repertory screenings that are grouped by like eras or five year stints.
[00:22:02] So, you know, I don't know if that's like early 80s romance movies or late 2010s comic book adaptations. You know, I don't know what that'll look like exactly, but it's cool that they're thinking about their programming in that way and kind of going a little bit beyond, like, well, it's Christmas, so let's show It's a Wonderful Life or whatever.
[00:22:26] It's similar in a lot of ways to like, what Kan-Kan does, which they'll have a lot of themed or serial repertory screenings based around a certain filmmaker or genre or whatever. And I think it's really cool when theaters do that because there are a lot of movies that I would love to see that are not new. They're never getting a full theatrical release ever again. But there's a chance I could see those at Kan-Kan or at Alamo. And I appreciate that. I saw Seven samurai in its 4K restoration at Kan-Kan this year, and that was awesome.
[00:23:02] I will say something I'm curious about. With the opening of Alamo and it being similar to Kan-Kan in a lot of ways, I'm interested to see if or how much they affect each other as competitors. Alamo is a much bigger theater, obviously. It's a huge corporate chain. They have like 14 screens to Kan-Kan's 3. They're much bigger screens. They're like full on what you would expect from a megaplex type auditoriums. Whereas Kan-Kans are pretty small. The larger screen at Kan-Kan is pretty big and a good sized theater with lots of seats. But the other two theaters are kind of small and tight and the screens are not very big. And frankly, the screens at Kan-Kan are not the best or the projectors, I don't know which is the issue. But they can be a little bit fuzzy and dim.
[00:24:00] Whereas Alamo has state of the art projection and stuff like that. So that is a leg up or a lot of legs up that Alamo has on Kan-Kan. Now, will Alamo dig as deep into, you know, the indie world of film? Probably not. And I think that's where Kan-Kan is really going to maintain its hold on that niche. Kan-Kan is also cheaper now. I mean, a distinction would be that Kan-Kan, you're not eating your food, you're not eating your meals anyway in the movie.
[00:24:37] Their restaurant is. It's all one building, but their restaurant is kind of next to all the theaters. And you go there and you sit down and eat and then you go to your movie. So it's a little bit different experience. Can. Can's also a lot more. Their food is a lot more expensive and probably nicer or fancier. Anyway, so curious. I'm curious a if Alamo will hurt Kan-Kan. Or Kan-Kan will hurt Alamo. I don't know that we'll ever know.
[00:25:06] But I'm interested to kind of see how that plays out. I'm also just interested to see how Alamo does in general. I want it to succeed. I mean, I think if you've been listening this long, you can tell that I was pretty positive about the experience.
[00:25:21] I think I was most impressed by the pure, you know, exhibition qualities of the, of the venue that it's actually a theater I want to go to to see a movie in high quality and get an immersive theatrical experience. I think had I gone and been like, oh, the food was good and it was a fun time but like not a first rate viewing experience, I would, you know, that tour might be the last time I go there, but that's not the case. It's actually a really good theater.
[00:25:51] And on top of showing first run movies in really high quality, they're also going to be showing some classics, which is cool and I'm excited about that. Is the city of Indianapolis excited about that? I don't know.
[00:26:03] I have heard very little rumbling about this. I remember when this was first announced and there was some buzz. But when I found out they were opening this month, actually three days from now, that was kind of shocking to me because it was like they just started building it like last month and now they're already ready. And I haven't heard a lot of press about it, which is a little concerning. But you know, there's been a lot of talk about the location they chose in town. The Lafayette Square area is kind of. It has been in sort of commercial decline for a while. The Lafayette Square Mall closed down. A lot of businesses have gone out there. It's not exactly thriving. And now I've heard a lot of commentary in like the comment sections of posts about the Alamo going in that are basically, as my IFJ colleague Lou Harry sharply put it, thinly veiled racist comments, which is exactly what it is. A lot of people like to shit on that area because it's a, a large black population there, a very much a low income area these days. And there's a kind of a larger initiative in that area to revitalize it and bring in some new commercial growth. I know the location where the Lafayette Square Mall used to be is going to be turned into kind of a new commercial res. Commercial business entertainment area kind of in place of the mall. I hope that works out.
[00:27:51] I think it could be really cool. But I, you know, I see a lot of comments on the discourse for that that are like, oh, can't wait for the locals to ruin it, or whatever. And it's just really gross and pisses me off. And it's like, why can't we just celebrate the fact that the city and private investors are putting effort in to the area to give it some oomph and to give it a shot? Because I think that area could use a shot in the arm. And I think. And I hope that they will embrace it. I hope that.
[00:28:28] I don't know, something about Alamo's branding sometimes kind of screams ritzy to be. Maybe that's just inherent to the fact that it's a dinner theater experience.
[00:28:41] But I was surprised when I went in that the prices are actually not. I mean, they're very reasonable compared to the other theaters around town.
[00:28:53] But I hope that, like, their kind of branding and the sort of upscale gourmet look that they carry doesn't turn away people in the area who are lower income.
[00:29:10] Because, you know, it can already be expensive to go see a movie, even at the Regal or the AMC or whatever. And so, you know, if you're lower income and you see this new theater pop up and it's like, oh, this big, ritzy, fancy place, great. Never going there. You know, I hope that they're able to reach the community.
[00:29:31] The general manager talked a lot about community. And obviously their branding is kind of all built around embracing the local area with the motorsports. They're pretty close to the speedway, so it makes sense that they're embracing Indiana's racing history. But I hope that Alamo is not too.
[00:29:57] That their general brand identity is not too big for the city's britches, I guess.
[00:30:07] And again, that's not saying.
[00:30:10] I'm not criticizing lower income people if that's their impression. It's absolutely the impression that Alamo gives off that it's like a fancy place. So it wouldn't be on the people of Indianapolis for thinking that it would be on Alamo for not clearly communicating their offerings.
[00:30:31] So anyway, it's an interesting thing. It'll be an interesting thing to observe because it's a really cool establishment that I look forward to returning to. It's in an area that I wouldn't necessarily expect an establishment like Alamo to go.
[00:30:50] But at the same time, pretty much every other part of town kind of has, you know, they have their theater and they have other things. And so I think it makes sense from a business standpoint of like, oh, well, we got to capitalize on this area because it's not being capitalized. So I'm all for it. I hope they do really well. It'll just be an interesting thing to observe because I don't know how much people will think to go to that area for a movie. Or how much people who are already in that area will think Alamo is a place I want to go and spend my money.
[00:31:32] I hope it is. And if it. If it kind of coincides with the sort of altogether commercial revitalization they're doing in the area and that's all successful, then I'm sure that will help out Alamo, and Alamo will help that out.
[00:31:48] So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Honestly. I think if you're looking for a new theatrical experience in town, if you're somebody who goes to movies a lot and you're sick of the kind of sometimes subpar quality of the theatrical experience at AMC or Regal, I would definitely recommend checking out Alamo because it's very tidy and well organized and well run. From what I can tell.
[00:32:17] It's really beautifully decorated inside and the actual viewing experience is awesome. And all of that for prices that are pretty comparable, if not maybe a little bit cheaper than amc or at least more reasonably priced for what you're getting. Because it's a better experience, better food, things like that.
[00:32:39] But yeah, I'm excited and honestly, I think I will be heavily considering the Season Pass there on top of my AMC A-List. So that's cool. This is not at all a sponsored segment or an advertisement. Although I guess in some sense I am giving them some free advertising. But more than anything, I'm just somebody who is really kind of invested in the theatrical scene in Indianapolis. And I'm excited that we have a new theater kind of fulfilling a specific niche. Not a totally untapped niche thanks to, like, the Kan-Kan. But they're embracing that all the same and doing a little bit more than just being another theater. So I look forward to seeing how they do. I'm definitely going to reach out to the general manager and push for a screening of Grand Prix sometime around the Indy 500. Because that movie fucking rules and everybody needs to see it. So, yeah, Logan and I actually wrote pieces on Grand Prix in like, August and September. So definitely check those out because it's a great movie and more people should know about it.
[00:33:59] But yeah, that's the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema once again. It opens on November 18th.
[00:34:06] I think they said for the first month or so, they're only doing first run movies, which will probably take them through the end of the year, but then after that they're gonna start doing the movie parties and the repertory stuff. So definitely things to consider. I'm excited about it.
But yeah! That's it for this first episode of Odd Thoughts. And this is not going to be a regular thing that I'm doing every week or every month or anything. It'll kind of just be whenever I feel like it or whenever Logan feels like it. Whenever we feel inspired by something happening around us. And something certainly is. We're getting a new theater, which is cool!
[00:34:54] Tomorrow we have our next Odd Trilogies episode coming out, which is Akira Kurosawa's Shakespeare trilogy, with our special guest Matt Hurt, who is a huge Kurosawa nerd. And we had a really great discussion with him, so definitely check that out. And then at the end of November, we've got our Venom trilogy with another friend, Evan Dossey, joining us. He's a huge fan of the Venom movies, and I'm sure that'll be a great discussion as well.
[00:35:26] And then next week I'll be putting out a Gladiator 2 review, so keep your eyes out for that!
And until I see you again, I'm Andy. Thanks for listening.
