Sundance 608

This last weekend I had a chance to visit Robert Redford and company's Sundance Cinema 608. This is Sundance's second theater in our fair nation and it opened to much fanfare in Madison Wisconsin just a few months back. Having an outlet for independent cinema in a college town is a must, but I was befuddled by the Madison choice as it already featured 3 theaters that specialized in indie fare (Westgate, Hilldale, and the Orpheum). Once I learned the Hilldale theaters were right in the same area as Sundance and were bulldozed for overpriced high-rise condos, I decided to cut Bob some slack and check it out to see There Will Be Blood (review to follow later tonight or tomorrow).

The lobby is beautiful but my eyes were immediately drawn to the gift store. Yes this theater has a gift store. Filled with shirts, hoodies, mugs, and date books all with the Sundance logo. Missed the ’07 Sundance Festival? Don’t worry you can pick up last year’s program. I realize they are selling an image here but I don’t think they literally need to sell it.

Further in to the lobby area are two sitting areas. Both were filled with folks on my visit and I noticed that the theater offers free Wi-Fi. Now I’ve never thought of a theater as a place to sit around and chill but with comfy seating like this I can see the appeal.

Aside from the ticket area, which I’ll get to in a second, the other expected staple in the lobby is the concession stand. I like it when theaters offer alternatives to popcorn at the movies but this was just ridiculous. Paninni’s, gourmet coffee, salads, beer and wine dominate the menu. Ok the beer part is pretty cool but where are the nachos, Dots, and Mike and Ike’s? The theater boasts a restaurant upstairs that’s getting mediocre reviews at best so I was further put off by the extraneous offerings. However the saving grace of this pretentious eatery was the popcorn. White kernels popped to perfection served with heaping amounts of real honest to goodness butter. The waiter (seriously it was like being in a restaurant) gave me so much butter it soaked through the bag and onto my jeans. A small price to pay for the best movie popcorn I’ve had in years. Also the cost was no more outrageous than any other theater. A trend that sadly didn’t carry over to the ticket counter.

The ticket area was the first time I truly saw the pretentiousness and elitism I feared would permeate this place. On their price list they listed matinees but also noted that Friday and Saturday matinees feature additional costs called Amenity fees. These fees vary depending on the flick. Geez I’d like to see Movie A but Movie B costs $1 more so that must be the better flick. The final cost of my ticket was actually more than any matinee I’ve been to this year. I checked out the other shows playing. Atonement, No Country for Old Men, and Juno were the big names and I was immediately struck that Juno while an indie darling is currently in wide release and was playing on no less than 3 other screens in Madison. If Sundance truly wants to be an alternative try keeping your screens open for films that are truly in limited releases. After you purchase your ticket you are asked to choose your seat. Now on paper this a great thing. As someone who goes to a fair amount of films solo, I hate it when I sit down in an empty theater only to have a group of folks sit right in front or in back of me. However this assigned seating policy at Sundance does nothing to solve this. I chose an empty aisle but once inside the theater I found an older woman sitting in the seat next to mine. When I walked up she asked if she was in my seat and I said no I’m in the one next to it. I was trapped, as I couldn’t then walk completely away from her and find another aisle as that would be rude but I certainly didn’t want to share popcorn with the lady. Eventually I sat down two seats down and prayed everyone else stuck to their assigned seats. I can see how this process could work for sellouts but otherwise anarchy still rules the seating process.

The theaters themselves are no more different than any new cinema in your town (except for the seat and aisle numbering). Stadium seating, digital sound, large screens, and in a nice touch decent lighting right up to the previews. The preshow entertainment is commercial free except for the fact that you are reminded constantly of how awesome Sundance and all there various corporate arms are. Still, I’ll take that over National Guard ads any day.

In the end I’d say the theater misses the mark. It takes the best of any new theater and then jumbles it up with elitist ideas that fail more than they succeed. On my visit a number of people, old and young, seemed generally confused by everything from the seat picking to the expansive menu of the concession stand. Going to the movies should not be an exercise that makes you feel anything less then comfortable. Sundance needs to realize that their theater will succeed simply by the quality of the films they are showing and not by the bells and whistles they are attempting to cram down people’s throats.