By Giovanni Padilla
With the economy struggling and money always being tight, the typical college student wants a bang for their buck. Many of us turn to the movie theaters for a cheap source of entertainment and for just around $12 we have something to talk about with friends. Yet, many people do not know about the quality of movies being shown at independent movie theaters around Los Angeles.
The amount of time people spend at the movies only increases. According to a survey conducted by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in 2011, the Us/Canada box office numbers (ticket sales) reached $10.3 billion and an estimated two thirds of the population or 221.2 million people went to the movie theaters at least once.
Putting as estimated number to how many movies a single persons watches within a year to 8.5. But what quality of product are we buying into? I can only think of a few movies which I would recommend from big theaters such as AMC and Krikorian over the past couple of years.
For those of us who are looking for something different, Laemmle is a company that caters to people in the L.A. area who crave a bit more culture in their film selections. This company has been bringing independent cinema since 1938.
The “Playhouse” theater in Pasadena is just one of the many theaters that span across the greater L.A. area. This particular theater located on Colorado Blvd even offers discounts to college students on Sundays and tickets are only $7 after 6pm. Other locations include the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood, Claremont 5 and the Royal in west L.A.
When we go to these independent movies, people offer their friends a different perspective to what a good movie is and what is mediocre. It seems like even without the cliche explosions which are always present in the big screen and at times even a lower budget than most movies shown at a larger chain of theaters, one can see that the quality of story-line increases dramatically. These films improve with world renowned directors not only from America but across the globe.
Most of the movies shown at these independent theaters have won multiple awards in many film festivals abroad such as the Cannes Film Festival held in France every year in May. Next time you feel like going to the movies, but want to avoid long lines, big crowds, expensive tickets, bad previews and terrible story-line, one should take a chance at an independent film.
Laemmle, whose slogan is “Movies for grown ups. Those who are unafraid of subtitles,” is sure never to disappoint a movie going looking for quality entertainment.
