Jarrod B.
Yelp
A profoundly shitty way to spend an evening.
Don't mistake this for the St George Open Air Cinema kids! This is its poorer, dirty faced and dishevelled cousin. Even if the night is warm and clear, once the sun dips below the horizon and the dew sets in you're in for a cold, wet and uncomfortable time.
To have anything close to a comfortable experience, you will need to bring the following:
- Wine, food, iPad etc. to keep you entertained for the long wait between arrival and the movie starting
- A plastic-lined picnic rug to keep the dew out
- Large cushions to keep you upright (or small chairs, but they do advise to keep your chair down for the movie)
- Long pants and a waterproof/wind breaking jacket, no matter how hot the day was
- A blanket
- Water and a thermos of hot chocolate or tea
- Aeroguard
- Wet wipes (for the bat poo)
So, in all, similar to camping. And, just like camping, if it rains (even a little), your preparation is all for nought. Moonlight Cinema have a very strict policy about rainouts - unless it is a steady, torrential downpour, there are no cancellations. Even if it rains all day so the ground is soaked, and rains in patches throughout the entire movie, rendering you a cold, sodden, shivering mess, there are no refunds, no cancellations, no changed tickets and certainly no communication from customer service.
On top of everything Moonlight Cinema is located in the least accessible part of Centennial Parklands. If you are within walking distance of the Cleveland St/Moore Park entrance, don't think you are within walking distance of Moonlight. Belvedere Amphitheatre is closer to Bondi Junction than Surry Hills, and a fairly substantial walk from Bondi Junction and Edgecliff train stations. Well, with all your camping equipment and setup, you'll probably want to drive anyway. Everybody thinks exactly the same thing, so you'll arrive with the only parking space a good walk away. Well, you'll walk off your Maltesers whatever happens.
So if you love the misery and discomfort of camping, the loud asshole ambiance of a suburban cinema, and the obscured views and inaudible audio of Tropfest or Symphony in the Domain, then Moonlight Cinema combines it all in one really bad way to spend an evening.
Save it for Open Air, which has set seats, a beautiful backdrop and a much better crowd.
Edit: Don't think that Gold Grass will buy you anything better. It is merely a part closer to the screen, all the same preparations apply.