Roseann M.
Yelp
This movie theater sits in lonely splendor among the empty storefronts that once made the bustling Century Mall. In fact, it's almost the last business there. You won't have any problem finding the place, on the 4th level.
I'm a movie buff, have been since my teenage years when I lived in the wilds of Northwest Indiana and watched every old, classic movie that WTTW ran. And they ran a lot. For years in Chicago, we had the Fine Arts Theaters downtown that ran a lot of indie and foreign films. Now that's gone, too.
Happily, the Century Cinema still runs smaller films. Oh yeah, you can also see all the boring, cookie cutter Marvel films, and watch two or three hours of shootings, car chases, and murder. I suppose they supplement the smaller audiences that "Living" or "The Quiet Girl" or "Showing Up" draw. Fine and dandy. As long as I can still see something original in the special atmosphere of a movie theater, I don't mind the floor shaking a bit when the movie next door is blowing things up real good. So, thanks Century Cinema, for running the movies I want to see, even if they don't draw huge crowds. That's why I come here.
And yeah, you can watch lots of these films on streaming services, from the comfort of your lazy boy. But the atmosphere of the theater, sitting in the dark, sharing the experience with strangers who want to see that particular film as badly as you do, is still special.
The Century also has a bar area with lots of seating. It looks nice and comfortable. I haven't used that -- at least, not yet. Neither do I get fountain drinks or popcorn. The thing I do appreciate, though, is that the ladies' rooms are always clean, and are well-supplied with soap and towels. Frequently, the person who takes the tickets is a movie buff, and we chat for a few minutes about the film. It's nice that at least a few real film geeks work here.
Keep showing those little indie and foreign films, Century Cinema, and I'll keep giving you my money so I can sit in the dark with strangers and enjoy the old-fashioned movie experience.