A New adventure...

Weds 19 Nov 08

A New place to explore...in AS!! Yup, another venue for these 2 OFH inmates to explore...to enjoy...hehe...

And yup, a new adventure began earlier today...to further our lifelong hobby...that of enjoying movies! You got it! A new cineplex had just opened in A/Star! Belonging to the chain of cineplexes around the country known as Star Screen Cinemas, this new venue opened in AS Mall @ Tandop Baru, just a few days ago.

After making an initial visit (spying??) for info, both had an early simple lunch of potato bread & milk and then we were off to nearby AS Mall...not for our usual walk-walk session but for a movie date!!

Tickets were bought @RM6 each...sorry but no discounts for senior citizens...yet....

and then loaded with a box of their smallest popcorn pack, we were ready for the first show in the new cineplex! The movie? 007 in Quantum Of Solace. What else? Ha ha!

And this is the way in...
Not bad, eh? A total of 4 cineplex halls, the biggest seating abt 170 patrons. Sorry but can't remember the capacity of the other 3.
Well, the one screening the 007 latest movie was Cineplex #1, the largest.
Seats were comfy & on a great slope...no blocking by patrons in front rows which is a very good feature. Air-con was cold though towards the middle of the movie.

However, 1 minor (can be considered serious, too!) irritation or shortcoming was the performance of the projectionist at that screening. Blurry image when the movie started. Obvious. Although other patrons kinda appeared to tolerate & accept it (maybe they didn't expect high quality from an AS venue?), me felt that me was not gonna sit through an entire supposedly great movie and suffer such poor quality images!! Even the subtitles were horribly out of focus...

So me went outside, found a cineplex employee & voiced my observations. Within a few minutes, we could see the focus being adjusted and, oh my...clear clear movie on screen...at last!!

Unfortunately, that clarity didn't last till the end of the movie. When the projectionist changed over to the 2nd projector in use, the screening lost a bit of its sharpness...but it was not as bad as in the first instance. Tolerable...and so it was for abt one-third of the movie. Luckily...when the projectionist switched back to the first projector that was re-adjusted, it was good & clear again...phew!!

Another thing me noticed was that the subtitle format/fonts were different, in size & type, when the switchover of projectors took place. Was the cineplex supplied with mixed reels or...?? Can anyone confirm that or explain why? TQ.

One good point that me can mention here abt the service provided by the Cineplex staff is that the one to whom me voiced my complaint, was efficient & prompt in dealing with the said problem. He even came in to confirm with me that the focus was ok already a short while after the adjustment was made & even wished me, "Enjoy the movie..."!! Frankly, me was pretty surprised that he could pick me out from among the other patrons in the dark! Maybe it was easy because I was the only patron with almost a headful of white hair? Glows in the dark? Ha ha!

However, the projectionist himself remained kinda unaware of his own failings. That's why when there was a projector change, the quality deteriorated slightly. Maybe due to his inexperience? Only he knows...

As we all know, first impressions are very important. Advertisements by word of mouth count a lot...more than any printed media. So extra care must be taken to ensure patrons get their money's worth in the early days of a new cineplex operation. Or else....

Well, only time will tell if this new cineplex would survive where others have failed. Frankly me sincerely hope it would cos both inmates here would welcome a local cineplex to enjoy certain movies...rather than have to travel all the way to Penang!!

The movie itself? Not bad, I must say...lots of action, too! Probably done with lots of computerised graphics help? Enjoyable nonetheless.

Anyway, me would still get a DVD copy of Quantum of Solace when it becomes available...hehe...feel there are parts that were missing...if you know what I mean...haha!

ps. An update here : Yup, my tooth that lost its old filling was successfully re-filled! Hooray! Cheers! Saved!! Thanks a meg, Dr K!! For saving 1 of the very few teeth that me could chew with! Me have been a grandpa for years but looks like it won't be long before me not grandpa in name/status but gonna look like a real grandpa soon...with totally white hair & NO teeth!! So, any tooth saved makes that day a little bit farther away...hehe...