Sat
Mar 3 2018
12:15 am
"It's all about the vision, man!"
By: michael kaplan

Well, this is kinda funny (from 2012, below, in italics). And now Big Ears is featuring 3D movies - at the Regal Riviera, no less - using digital 3D projection ...

Submitted by Somebody on Mon, 2012/03/05

The Riviera has never been what Kaplan envisioned it to be, and he'll drive 250 miles round-trip and complain about the projector settings at a cinema in Asheville just to prove it. I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked, that the Riviera's buyer hasn't returned a call to discuss the idea of taking one of his eight screens offline for a few months in an experiment to see how much money they would lose. As with the Candy Factory, this obsession with the Riviera isn't predicated on economics or plebeian tastes, it's all about the vision, man!

Here's a thought: There's a big gap-toothed space on Gay Street next to the Mast General store. Why not form your own (totally) non-profit cinema art organization, buy that space and build an independent film center right there, raise some money for state-of-the-art digital 3D projectors, and train some volunteer hipsters to be projectionists and to remember to focus and turn on the brighter bulb if there's actually anyone watching the matinee screening.

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Somebody's picture

Context for the probably nonexistent people who care...

Submitted by Somebody on Sat, 2018/03/03 - 11:37am.

Oof. Talk about never letting go.

I had to search for context on this one. Apparently several years ago, Mr. K wrote an extensive review to share his disappointment after driving 250 miles round trip to see a documentary about a choreographer, in 3D. As an aside in the review, he mentioned that he had placed a call to the good folks at Regal to discuss his ideas about committing one of their eight screens at the Riviera downtown to show art films for several months, just to see what happens. Inexplicably, they didn’t return his call. Who knows why they wouldn’t want to commit a screen at a busy, successful theater to low ticket sales for a few months? It seems incomprehensible. Anyhoo, I guess I decided to have a little fun with it, given Mr. K’s ongoing affinity for criticizing all things Riviera.

Now, it seems the Big Ears festival is renting out a screen at the Riviera to show art films as part of the festival. I assume this half-decade-old nugget is being revisited now as proof that Mr. K was right all along. That’s absolutely true, of course, so long as you don’t pay attention to the difference between AC Entertainment paying money for a screen for a weekend as part of a highly regarded, well promoted and well attended weekend festival, and some guy calling up and telling the theater how to run its business. But you know, it’s all about the vision, man! This one’s for everyone who didn’t think of that (almost) clever retort until (six years) later.

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