Review: Penn Cinema

I did something I'd never done before this evening. I took Beth out to the movies, to the opening of Penn Cinema. I've never been to a ribbon cutting ceremony for a building or that type of thing, so it was a new experience.

It's actually a nice complex. The all-day rain of Thursday did wonders for their beautiful landscaping - it was all dirt at the beginning of the day, all mud tonight. There appeared to be ample parking, at least tonight, in the dark I couldn't tell exactly how many spaces they have. The fact that you could drive into the parking lot at all is a minor miracle as Airport Rd has been closed for a while and was still closed when I drove by on Tuesday.

There were maybe 100 or so people who arrived early enough for the ribbon cutting dog and pony show. Judging from those who cut the ribbon etc., it's a family owned/run operation. The whole ceremony was held up by grandma getting something situated just right or at least that's how it appeared to me. They actually cut a film strip instead of ribbon, which I thought was a unique twist.

Ever wonder where they get the over sized scissors? A woman walk passed us with a large padded mail envelope which left the building with the scissors - destination, unknown.

It looked like they must've had all of their employees on duty this night, probably for training. After cutting the ribbon they showed second-run movies (Cars, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, etc.) in each of their theaters. I'm guessing it was an attempt to attract a crowd, but just a modest one to give them a chance to run everything through it's paces without being overwhelmed. I've never gone to a theater and had someone open the door for me, two people sell me a ticket and tell me to enjoy the movie, three more people welcome us to the theater and finally two people take our tickets and direct us to the theater where our movie was showing. I'm guessing if I go back next week it will be somewhat different, but I'm not complaining.

We were in theater 5. Walking into the theater we were overwhelmed with the odor of a brand new car. I never realized that buildings have that new car smell, but that's what it smelled like. What impressed me most were the seats. Stadium seating, with tons of viewing space, if the guy in front of me had stood up, I still think I would've had a clear view of the screen - he'd have to stand on his seat to obstruct my view. The seats have nice back support and get this, they rock! I've never been in fixed seats that rock. Recline, yes; rock, not until tonight. It's also the first theater I was in which had retractable armrests. To think my rear end was likely the first to squish the foam on that chair was a unique, once-in-a-building feeling.

I wasn't impressed with the audio. I'm not a Clair Brothers-eared techie or anything like that, but this was less than I expected. I have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the main theater has the super-duper sound. Maybe the movie we saw didn't utilize the surround sound. But whatever the reason, the theater we were in, the movie we were watching had audio that was less than awe-inspiring. It was as if there was one speaker above the screen and that was the sole source of sound.

Overall, to have a theater on the south side of Lititz is much more convenient than heading down to Regal Manor. The Allen Theater experience in Annville is a one of a kind thing, but for just going to see a movie, Penn Cinema will be very convenient. Granted, we go to the theater maybe once a year, twice if we really splurge.

After the credits finished (we always stay for the credits to get full benefit of the ticket price) and we left our seats, I couldn't believe how quickly a brand new theater could become just like every other theater with popcorn squished into the carpet. I turned to Beth and said, "Take a big sniff, it won't smell like this again."