Movies Abroad

One of the relaxing things that we get to do here in Ohio is to watch movies. We watch more movies here in States than we do back home in Manila. We unconsciously made it a Sunday habit practically because there's nothing much to do here on the weekends except shopping, eating and movies.

We watch at Newport on the Levee in Kentucky, an entertainment hub full of classy restaurants, bookstores and bars with minor retail shops. It's a 15 minute scenic walk from the apartment. From the office, it's a 10 minute walk, we would just have to cross the bridge. Newport on the Levee can be seen from our apartment on the East and south from our office in Cincinnati, which is just across the river.

**Newport on the Levee, out for July 4th dinner at Claddagh Irish Pub.

Newport houses AMC Theaters. They have 20 cinemas there, not that it really matters, I haven't experienced falling in line even on prime weekends anyways. It's 10 Dollars per movie, 14 Dollars if you want to watch it on 3D. Since they have 20 cinemas, there is an average of 2 theaters per movie. So if you missed your target screening, there's probably another one coming up 30 minutes. They also have combos of humongous refillable popcorn and drink for another 10 dollars. But there are no sure seats. You just buy a ticket by telling them what you want to watch, they'll print it and you go to the cinema lobby. Once there, you submit your ticket and immediately be welcomed by a huge counter that sells the usual movie finger foods. You go to the hallway where cinemas are located and just enter the tunnel where your chosen movie is being shown. No one would check whether you are entering in the right theater just in case you change your mind on which movie to watch. No one even checks if you're just killing time by watching three different movies. You can even watch half of a crappy movie and transfer to the other one. Minor things adopt an honor system here, clearly not what we practice in the Philippines.**Walked from office to Newport on a Friday afternoon. We were about to watch Eclipse here.

So far so good. I already watched three movies since I got here. I watched Eclipse, Inception and just a few hours ago, Salt starred by Angelina Jolie. My movie experiences here have been relaxing and fulfilling so far. I guess my 10 dollars per movie was worth it. The sound and picture quality are top notch and the same back home. But I believe our cinemas back home are more compact and sophisticated in terms of the seats and layout. It's not that bad like your normal SM Cinemas, but just a minor thing I've noticed. One more thing I noticed was that theaters are hardly sold out even on the first weekend. Unlike in the Philippines, to watch a good movie on the first weekend you'd either reserve seats online or go to the movie house at least 4 hours before. I believe movie watching is not so much popular here.

Movie experience here is okay, not extraordinary, but okay. It helps curb the homesickness and occasional boredom. Movies almost always relieves the mind and strengthens imagination except when the movie is downright crappy. This is what I have been doing just to bring more life to a weekend charged of shopping. There must be some other things to do than eat and shop here, right? Well, this is it for me.