While a jumbo tub of hot buttered popcorn is one of our most frequently indulged guilty pleasures, we think a good movie deserves a little better company than junk food. Try out our movie and meal pairings for yourself or feel free to suggest one of your own favorites in the comments.
The Movie: Mama
The Meal: iPic
See Also:
- Best Luxury Movie Theater 2011: iPic Theatre
- Mama Is Less Scary Than a Call From Mom
- The Collection and Dinner at Green New American Vegetarian
Mama This week we decided to have our dinner at the theatre, completely circumventing the to popcorn or not to popcorn conundrum. We took our meal with Mama, a new ghostly horror flick presented, not directed, by Guillermo del Toro.
In the true spirit of GdT, Mama was a scary, tense, disturbing, sad and oddly sweet take on the supernatural thriller. Even Mama, the spirit of a crazy suicidal 1800's mother who plummeted off a cliff with her baby only to wander the surrounding forest until she found two new babies to care for, was almost heartwarmingly pitiful, between moments of mother bear-like moaning and sucking the souls out of people's necks.
Best of all, the performance by the little actresses who portrayed the two young sisters who were abandoned in a cabin in the forest only to be cared for by Mama (and a seemingly never-ending supply of cherries regardless of the season) was absolutely perfect--when they were scared, you were scared and the youngest girl (Isabelle Nélisse) really shone as a wild child obsessed with her ghostly protector. Unfortunately, iPic's menu was less nurturing than that ghost.
iPic What's the best part about iPic? You can get a full meal in a comfy lay-z-boy style chair while watching your feature presentation. What's the worst part about iPic? Unfortunately, pretty much everything else.
Normally we aren't too concerned with pricing on our weekly dinner and movie dates, but we aren't too happy to be ripped off. $18.50 for a regular movie ticket is bad enough, but it's justified for a "premium" theatre-going experience. $27 for a ticket including a reclinable chair, popcorn, a pillow and blanket and chairside food service is a little less justifiable.
But $11 for the most flavorless, frozen mozzarella sticks is just bonkers. Not to mention some mediocre truffle fries for $9 and $18 filet slider trio featuring blue cheese and caramelized onions that fell short of its price tag. It's not that the food was awful, per se, just far too run-of-the-mill to justify its high-end pricing. Although we'd probably still be a little spurned if we got it all for half-off.
It wasn't all bad. The futuristic self-service wine-o-matic dispensers were pretty cool and the chairs really were comfortable. We just would prefer a great meal and an average theatre experience for the price we paid and not vice versa.
