This past weekend Phil and I decided to check out the movie theater at the biggest, yuppiest mall in Belgrade, the Usce in New Belgrade. We had seen the movie listings online before we went and decided for the 7:50 showing of In Time with Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. Now, it's really weird how they are playing a lot of the same movies that are out in the states right now: Paranormal Activity 3, Anonymous, In Time, etc., but they also have ones like Mr. Popper's Penguins, which is so old it might already be out on Netflix Instant Play or worse, in the $5 bargain bin at Target. Anyway, we go upstairs near the food court and it's like every other mall in the world. Thousands of teenagers are hanging out. Girls on one side, boys half their size on the other. They look at each other and giggle. No one is really in line, they're all just there; looking around pretending to be bored, when you know that they're loving every second of it. So Phil and I make our way through the crazy crowd and get in line for our tickets.
When we finally get to the cashier, I let him do the talking, while I try to figure out the concession stand menu board above us. Then Phil turns to me and asks "where do you wanna sit", "they're letting us choose our sits". HUH?-- I'm completely confused. But yes, when you buy your tickets, the girl turns over her computer screen and shows you a sitting chart, kind of like the Ticketmaster one you get online when you buy tix to a concert. We pick good, centered, back row seats and we are on our way to kill time and see the mall. Since we know where we are sitting, we can come back right before show time.
We walk around the mall, without buying anything, since everything is majorly overpriced and stopping for ice cream because like most places here, the mall was incredibly overheated. I literally had to strip down to my undershirt. We walked around, taking our sweet time, mentioning how awesome it is that we know exactly where we are sitting. The whole time I am thinking I could blog about this under "Ways that Belgrade is better than DC" - no more standing in lines before Harry Potter premieres, no more crooked necks due to sitting on the first row. My movie watching experience has officially doubled in luxury, thanks to the brilliancy of the Serbs. Also, take note that our tickets were about $11 for both, so that is 2 for1 in DC prices AND the concessions are WAY cheaper. Obviously, they are also WAY smaller, but if I went on about everything that's smaller here, this blog would be called Shrinkin' Serbia. Their popcorn and soda are what normal human beings should eat, with no fake oily butter. Also, they do have Nachos with that fake orange cheese, but they call them Tacos. I thought that was hilarious.
When we finally decide we should go inside the theater, because after all, we weren't sure about the length of the previews or if there were previews at all, we walk to the theater and it's packed. But no big deal, we know our seat numbers. Then, they turn off the lights. COMPLETELY. And we can't see. So I am fumbling with my cell phone trying to read the ticket and it's row 8 seats 7 & 8. But we have no clue where we are or where that is..and the previews are starting and people are quiet and Phil and I officially become "That American Couple". I try walking up the stairs counting till I get to 8 and then I whisper to Phil to ask the girl if that's row 8, but my "whisper" is loud, in English and incredibly annoying, even to myself. She clearly understood me and says, no, it's row 7. So we go up one more, but it's pretty full and I can't see the seat numbers because people are covering them with their backs, so I again ask Phil to ask people what is the seat number, but he doesn't want to interrupt anymore. So we make our way to the empty part, and apparently someone was already on my seat, but I didn't care, we just sat on numbers 8 & 9, which was really no different. So much for the easiness of it all.
When we finally get to the cashier, I let him do the talking, while I try to figure out the concession stand menu board above us. Then Phil turns to me and asks "where do you wanna sit", "they're letting us choose our sits". HUH?-- I'm completely confused. But yes, when you buy your tickets, the girl turns over her computer screen and shows you a sitting chart, kind of like the Ticketmaster one you get online when you buy tix to a concert. We pick good, centered, back row seats and we are on our way to kill time and see the mall. Since we know where we are sitting, we can come back right before show time.
We walk around the mall, without buying anything, since everything is majorly overpriced and stopping for ice cream because like most places here, the mall was incredibly overheated. I literally had to strip down to my undershirt. We walked around, taking our sweet time, mentioning how awesome it is that we know exactly where we are sitting. The whole time I am thinking I could blog about this under "Ways that Belgrade is better than DC" - no more standing in lines before Harry Potter premieres, no more crooked necks due to sitting on the first row. My movie watching experience has officially doubled in luxury, thanks to the brilliancy of the Serbs. Also, take note that our tickets were about $11 for both, so that is 2 for1 in DC prices AND the concessions are WAY cheaper. Obviously, they are also WAY smaller, but if I went on about everything that's smaller here, this blog would be called Shrinkin' Serbia. Their popcorn and soda are what normal human beings should eat, with no fake oily butter. Also, they do have Nachos with that fake orange cheese, but they call them Tacos. I thought that was hilarious.
When we finally decide we should go inside the theater, because after all, we weren't sure about the length of the previews or if there were previews at all, we walk to the theater and it's packed. But no big deal, we know our seat numbers. Then, they turn off the lights. COMPLETELY. And we can't see. So I am fumbling with my cell phone trying to read the ticket and it's row 8 seats 7 & 8. But we have no clue where we are or where that is..and the previews are starting and people are quiet and Phil and I officially become "That American Couple". I try walking up the stairs counting till I get to 8 and then I whisper to Phil to ask the girl if that's row 8, but my "whisper" is loud, in English and incredibly annoying, even to myself. She clearly understood me and says, no, it's row 7. So we go up one more, but it's pretty full and I can't see the seat numbers because people are covering them with their backs, so I again ask Phil to ask people what is the seat number, but he doesn't want to interrupt anymore. So we make our way to the empty part, and apparently someone was already on my seat, but I didn't care, we just sat on numbers 8 & 9, which was really no different. So much for the easiness of it all.
1 comment:
I had a similar experience in the UK with assigned seats at the movies. But I think it depends on the cinema. Hope you enjoyed the film!
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