Dinner with the Iron Lady

Something happened to our satellite (DirecTV) the other day, so we've been without service this week until tomorrow when the repairman is due to visit our house. We were originally told it would be two weeks before we could get someone here to fix it. I suspect they rely on telephone support to fix 98% of all issues.

Anyhow, we decided to do something very unusual for us. We went to a movie during the week. I don't think I've done that in decades. A new theater, Cinetopia, opened in our neighborhood last summer, but this was our first visit. Cinetopia is a new kind of theater with different sized viewing rooms and charge accordingly. The smaller the room, the more expensive. We chose the smallest, the Parlor, which was $18 per ticket, but we got senior discounts, so it was $15.50 per.

The seating was very comfortable and the room only accommodated about 18 people in plush living room style couches and chairs. Before the show began, a waitress took our order. We decided to go whole hog, so we ordered dinner -- fish and chips, nachos and two beers. The bill? $48. So altogether with tip we shelled out about $86 for a movie -- surely a record and even steeper than what we paid in London when we lived there.

First, the food. I had been told that it wasn't very good. I would say it was OK, but nothing special. The portions were huge, which always makes me nervous. Though a perfect accompaniment for the film, my chips were too salty in addition to too many.

Watching the movie was a pleasant experience and better than in a big theater. You're much closer to the screen even though it's smaller than in a big theater. We sat in the middle and it seemed just right. The sound was excellent -- also better than a big theater. They offer four different sized viewing rooms. All the other ones are cheaper and scale all the way down to normal prices.

As for the movie (The Iron Lady), we enjoyed it. Meryl Streep did a superb job portraying Margaret Thatcher. It was all done in flashbacks with an elderly Lady Thatcher recalling key moments in her life. I found the approach somewhat disruptive and annoying. Her late husband, Dennis Thatcher, who died some years ago, is constantly popping into her imagination. While that works some of the time, at other times it's annoying and overdone in my opinion.

I felt like there was a bit of a lack of continuity to the story as it jumped back and forth from the present to the past. None of this should detract from the great job Streep did in both the present and the past. But, it left you wanting more and wishing the story line was a bit more tied together vs. the flashback, bits of this, bits of that technique. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 55% ripe rating and that seems about right.