My Darling B and I went to see “A Star Is Born” at a place called Flix Brewhouse, which is just what it says on the can: A movie theater that also brews beer. I have to say, I would never have thought of that combination, even though brewpubs are sprouting up everywhere and it probably won’t be long before there’s one in your local gas station.
The one in Madison (it’s a chain, natch) is a multiplex with about a dozen screens. I’m for multiplexes in theory because they offer a wide variety of movie-watching opportunities, but I’m against them in practice, because the movie in the theater next door always seems to feature lots of explosions at the same time the movie I’m watching has reached the quiet part. Kinda ruins the mood.
That said, we’ve enjoyed both our visits, first to see “First Man” last week, and again to see “A Star Is Born” this weekend. The theaters are laid out well; we sat in the back row and still had an excellent view of the screen. The seats are comfortable and there’s lots of legroom, owing to the dinner trays between each row of seats.
We ordered beers at the bar in the lobby both times & took them in with us. One of the staff stopped by to take our dinner order minutes after we sat down, and the food was brought to our table within ten minutes. They seem to have a small army of wait staff on hand to make sure you get what you want fast, then get out of your way. If you need something during the movie, you write it on a pad, press a button on your dinner tray, and the waiter comes to make sure you’re taken care of. Pretty neat.
The food is good, not great. A lot of it is fried. I only mention it because I gotta stop eating fried food. They serve salads and wraps, too, which I’ll have to try next time.
“A Star Is Born” was pretty good. Not great, but I didn’t expect it could live up to all the hype I’m hearing: “Greatest movie I’ve ever seen!” What really? I mean, I liked it, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper are, but this is a story I’ve seen about a dozen times by now. There wasn’t a scene in it that made me think, “Well, I didn’t expect that.” And the music was good but, again, couldn’t live up to the hype people are giving it. I liked it, but I couldn’t whistle a phrase from any one of the songs now.
No, wait: I can whistle “La Vie En Rose.” It was a treat to see Gaga belt out that one.
This Is Drivel 