Review: Southwest Theaters

[livingdeb]

I was just telling someone that our only discount theatre was in Round Rock. Wrong! There's also Southwest Theaters, which I learned about from Austinite Tips.

In spite of the name, it's in far northwest Austin and there's only one location: the old Lake Creek Alamo.

My favorite thing about it is that movies are $2 for matinees, $3 for regular movies. (There's a $1.50 upcharge for 3-D movies.) Amazing.

I also like that they show good movies (though old) and that they were not sold out when we went, unlike the last time we went to the one in Round Rock. In fact, it was still basically empty like back in May when the above review was written.

Also, no waitstaff try to ask you questions when you're trying to watch a movie.

The seats have all been re-done--now there's lots of regular movie theatre seating with vinyl seats and no tables, so the theatre feels huge. And they have all the regular movie snacks if you're into that (we're not).

The pre-show is horrible--loud and obnoxious. Bring something to do while you're waiting.

For more information, check out the review linked to above. It's informative, amusing, and has lots of pictures (but also mild swearing). For example: "Important note for people going on dates here! As I mentioned, the leather seats are brand new. As a result, they make farting sounds more or less every time you move. Hilarious? Yes. Mortifying? Possibly. Just be prepared." (I did not notice these sounds; perhaps the seats are now broken in and are now safe for dates.)

Comments

[texpenguin.livejournal.com]

I think this must be relatively new, as this theater only ceased being an Alamo shortly after the new Alamo opened closer to the mall, which was shortly before I moved. No wonder it hadn't filtered to you yet! Cool that there's another discount option. Our nearest "dollar theater" smells like everybody's great-grandmother's house (and NOT the one that bakes fresh cookies!), and the screens are terrible, so we've decided that unless a movie actually demands a big screen, we're better off just renting it on Comcast and watching it at home. Lake Creek still had decent screens though--it wasn't that old--so score!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Ha--not the kind that smells like fresh cookies! Yep. Smells fine there. And the floors aren't sticky.

I do still prefer watching movies at home. We have better sound (and don't need ear plugs), plus you can pause whenever you want, turn on subtitles if the accents are tough, and even talk during the movie without bothering other people.

But this is good for if we want the big screen and don't mind driving. Alamo's better when we want to reward the filmmakers by adding to their opening-weekend numbers.