Joshua Gunter l The Plain Dealer The restored 1921 Capitol Theatre is a gem of a place to see a movie.
‘Tis the season . . . the movie season, that is. In advance of the Oscar nominations on Jan. 25, movie companies are rolling out their heavy-hitters. A steady stream of award-worthy flicks are opening this month in Cleveland. Which one to see first? And, almost as important, where to see it? Not all movie theaters are created equal, though prices are about the same everywhere. Amenities, location and after-film fun can send a theater to the top of the box office. Read on for Some of the Best Places to See a Movie in Cleveland.
Capitol Theatre, 1390 West 65th St., Cleveland, 440-349-3306: Opened just over a year ago in the busy Gordon Square Arts District, this lovingly restored 1921 theater successfully walks the line between mainstream fare and art-house films previously shown only at the Cedar Lee in Cleveland Heights. The main 420-seat room is 3-D- capable, and all three theaters have digital projection. The theaters are smaller than some, but the seats and cupholders are roomy. Like its East Side sister, the Capitol has an impressive concessions list, with beer, wine and sandwiches in addition to the popcorn and pop. Even better, the theater offers arguably the best nearby post- and pre-show dining and drinking, including hipster hangout Happy Dog, chic Luxe bistro and cozy Stone Mad Irish pub. The Capitol also screens several special late-night and monthly Sunday brunch flicks. Up next is “The Maltese Falcon” at 10 a.m. Jan. 16. Ticketholders also get 20 percent off at brunch partners Latitude 41N, Luxe and Reddstone. And like all theaters in the locally owned Cleveland Cinemas chain, the Capitol offers weekly discounts, including $5 Mondays and free-popcorn Tuesdays.
Cedar Lee Theatre, 2163 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights, 216-321-5411: Also part of the Cleveland Cinemas chain, this East Side mainstay has been drawing serious film fans from all parts of the region to its foreign, indie and art-house films for decades. Often home to exclusive openings — like the recent Swedish trilogy of Stieg Larsson “Girl . . ” films or the Brit-hit “Made in Dagenham,” which opens today — the theater also hosts a fantastic late-night series and is local ground zero for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Saturday’s late-night show is camp hit “The Room” at 10 p.m. See the website for a full schedule.
Regal Crocker Park Stadium 16, 30147 Detroit Road, Westlake, 440-871-7661: No lifestyle center would be complete without a movie theater. Now Crocker Park visitors can shop, eat, see a flick, shop and eat some more. Though it offers 16 screens, this luxurious theater often sells out because of its great location and close post- and pre-show amenities, so arrive early or get your tickets online. Or just do a little more shopping or eating while you wait for the next screening. The diverse lineup, which occasionally brings art films to the mainstream, also deserves a nod.
Cinemark Valley View 24, 6001 Canal Road, Valley View, 216-447-8820: If it’s not showing here, it’s probably not showing in Greater Cleveland. This massive theater complex, located in the valley directly below Interstate 480 and easily accessible from the East and West sides, features 24 theaters, including XD and 3-D theaters. It also has some of the plushest seats and biggest screens in town.
Shaker Square Cinemas, 13116 Shaker Square, Cleveland, 216-921-9342: Yet another knockout Cleveland Cinemas theater. Movie fare at this restored Art Deco gem (formerly the Colony) ranges from arty to mainstream (more of them on the mainstream side, with a total of six screens). Concessions are top-notch — from beer to pop, nuts to popcorn. And top-notch nearby dining options make this a date-night gem, ranging from innovative American cuisine at Fire and Old World comfort food at Balaton to sexy Brazilian small plates and drinks at Sergio’s Sarava.
OVERHEARD
A weekly look at people and places in the national press: This week, we look at a recent Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog post about Cleveland’s own Melt Bar & Grilled. Blogger “beerblotter” ranked it 4 out of 5 on his dining scale and called it a “psychotically creative meal emporium; home of grilled cheese magic.”
“The pierogis, slaw and the buffalo chicken soup (which I got on a follow-up visit the next day) were all amazing. Nothing that I tried failed to meet expectations. Get as much as you can. Remember that you can always take it home. No one at this place will judge you. Take a visit, eat some food, drink some good beer and take a nap.”
The only thing beerblotter doesn’t explain is how he managed to get a table at Melt two days in a row!
OUTSIDE OPINION
Each week, “Outside Opinion” asks a visitor what he or she likes best about Cleveland. This week, we talk to Larry Spisak, 44, of New York.
Spisak, a native of the area, came to town in mid-December to see the Knicks-Cavs game. Lucky for him — and the Cavs — he chose one of the Cavs’ few winning games in recent memory, an overtime scorcher.
“It was my first time at The Q,” says Spisak, who moved to New York after college. “An impressive venue . . . and that night the Cavs were good, too. . . . It really looks like Dan Gilbert puts some money into the team, with the entertainment and concessions better than most [venues]. And it’s certainly cheaper than Madison Square Garden.”
DeMarco is The Plain Dealer’s Friday magazine editor.
The Boston-based quiz show Says You recently came to Cleveland to record a series of programs at the Capitol Theatre in the Gordon Square Arts District. Host Richard Sher and the Says You panel played their game of words and whimsy, bluff and bluster, with the help of two Northeast Ohio panelists, culture critic Charles Michener and writer-director Murray Horwitz. Award-winning local blues man Austin “Walkin’ Cane” Charanghat provided the musical accents for this holiday special Says You, which was recorded in front of a live audience at the Capitol Theatre on December 5th, 2010. It originally aired on 90.3, WCPN, ideastream December 19th , 2010 at 12:00pm.
Midnight Syndicate FilmsZombies and vampires, oh my! “The Dead Matter” is one of seven films in the marathon.
PREVIEW Horror Movie Marathon What: Melt Bar & Grilled Late Shift presents “12 Hours of Terror,” a seven-movie marathon. Where: Capitol Theatre, 1390 West 65th St., Cleveland. When: 10 p.m. Saturday through 10 a.m. Sunday. Restrictions: No one under 18 admitted. Tickets: $25 in advance; $30 on Saturday. Available at any Cleveland Cinemas theater.
We’re talented sitters. We sit through those dopey ads and endless trailers at movie theaters. All summer, we sit at Progressive Field and watch the Indians lose. In the fall, we sit on our couches to watch the Browns lose.
But here’s the Halloween-season question: Can you sit still and be scared for 12 hours straight? It will be fun to see how many survive Saturday night. Cleveland Cinemas is hosting “12 Hours of Terror,” a horror movie marathon that kicks off at 10 p.m. Saturday at the Capitol Theatre and runs through 10 a.m. Sunday. It’s seven movies for $30 ($25 if you buy your ticket today).
“If it goes well, hopefully this will be the first annual of many,” said David Huffman, Cleveland Cinemas’ director of marketing. “Or maybe we’ll try for 16 hours next year.”
Huffman cooked up the idea after attending a Bad Movie festival in Chicago last winter. “I was so underwhelmed,” he said. “There was bad projection, cacophonous noise, people talking the whole time. I just thought, ‘Oh, we could do this so much better.’ ”
He wants the audience to have fun, but constant chatter will be discouraged. “This isn’t ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000,’ ” he said.
The Capitol’s main theater holds 422. There will be a 10-minute break between films. RJ the Movie Critic, from WKNR AM/850′s “Really Big Show,” will be hosting and awarding door prizes including haunted house passes and movie tickets. Much to the delight of the surrounding Gordon Square Arts District neighborhood, there will also be a “Loudest Scream Contest.”
If the blood and gore proves too much for some folks, one of the Capitol’s upstairs theaters will serve as a “Coward’s Corner,” showing cartoons and goofy TV shows. Before the last film screens, they’ll serve a free continental breakfast. The one restriction is that you must be 18 or older to attend.
Here’s the fright festival lineup (times approximate):
• 10 p.m. : “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Wes Craven’s 1984 original introduced the world to Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), the slash-meister who gets you in your dreams.
• 11:40: “The Dead Matter.” Shot in Ohio in 2008 by director Edward Douglas, who decided to balance his blood-sucking vampires with a bunch of zombies.
• 1:20 a.m.: Mystery Movie. No one will know which scary film it is until the opening sequence flashes by. The horror!
• 3:00: “Night of the Creeps.”At this point in the evening (morning?) you’ll appreciate Fred Dekker’s sense of humor with his 1986 flick that includes alien creepy crawlers, frat boys, sorority girls, and, of course, zombies.
• 4:40: “The Devil’s Rejects.” Speaking of zombies, Rob Zombie wrote and directed this hard-core 2005 sequel to his “House of 1000 Corpses,” so we could learn about the unique crime-fighting methods of Sheriff Wydell (William Forsythe).
• 6:00: “Splinter.”One of the better porcupine-zombie-torn-flesh movies, from director Toby Wilkins in 2008. Two couples get trapped in a gas-station quickie mart with spiky things. Note the superb dialogue: “I’m nothing like your white-trash, drugged-out girlfriend!” and “It’s OK, we’ll cut off your arm!” Followed by the breakfast break.
• 8:00: “Child’s Play.”Before Jon Gruden, before “Bride of Chucky,” there was Tom Holland’s decidedly non-children’s movie, from 1988, about a doll with crazed eyes and a menacing mind of his own. And sharp objects.
To get you in proper Halloween-scream mode, here are five favorites for your renting and viewing pleasure. Don’t watch them alone!
• “Night of the Living Dead”(1968). George A. Romero’s wonder of independent filmmaking was a cult classic that became a much-imitated standard-bearer of scares. Not just zombies, but flesh-eating zombies. A new twist at the time.
• “Psycho” (1960). Alfred Hitchcock brilliantly broke his own rules of suspense, inserting totally random violence into a motel bathroom. “Mother” Bates still creeps me out.
• “Halloween” (1978).John Carpenter made life hell for baby-sitters, especially ones who think they’ve already killed the bad guy. You’d think Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) sticking a bent clothes hanger into Michael Myers’ eye would surely do the trick. Think again.
• “The Exorcist”(1973). Twelve-year-old girls can act rather devilish, but Linda Blair takes the concept to new lows in William’ Friedkin’s nightmare-provoking shocker. To paraphrase Roy Scheider in “Jaws,” “Father, you’re gonna need a bigger cross.”
• “The Shining”(1980). What’s creepier, the hatcheted twins or the old lady in the bathtub? Stanley Kubrick’s take on Stephen King not only features rivers of blood and an ax-wielding Jack Nicholson, it’s an elaborate psychological study of what it means to lose one’s mind.
“The marathon sounds extremely cool,” said “Dead Matter” director Douglas.
“It will appeal to people who like the old style of horror movies, the newer style, and we even have ours in there, which is an independent film. I just haven’t seen a lot of these kinds of things. I love the concept.”
Douglas is also one half (with Gavin Goszka) of the Chardon-based band Midnight Syndicate. The band is famous for Halloween instrumentals such as “Haunted Nursery” and “Grisly Reminder.”
The three-disc deluxe edition of “The Dead Matter” ($19.99), released earlier this year, includes making-of extras, music videos, the original motion picture soundtrack, and a Midnight Syndicate greatest hits collection, “Halloween Music.”
The mass appeal of the genre, said Douglas, comes down to escapism, “and for some of the horror films, maybe it’s a little therapeutic, to see those fears that you have up on the screen. But it’s not you, so it’s something you can walk away from.”
Douglas said he really wanted to be at the Capitol to introduce his film, but was already booked this weekend in Morgantown, W.Va.
Joshua Gunter l The Plain Dealer The restored 1921 Capitol Theatre is a gem of a place to see a movie.
Midnight Syndicate FilmsZombies and vampires, oh my! “The Dead Matter” is one of seven films in the marathon.
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