Two Rivers Cinema: Observations, thoughts and opinion

Two Rivers over the Holidays.  

So yesterday, March 13th 2015 .... for those who read this in the distant future, was one of those nearly Spring, wet and chilly days that you can often find towards the end of an old winter.  Having the day off and nothing but errands to run in town, I decided to catch a matinee in Wilkes' newest theater and find an escape from the dreary rain that has too often corresponded with my days off from work.  After leaving the theater the movie was definitely on my mind but so was the experience of the theater.  And those observations and feelings are what I want to share today.



Make no mistake about it, Two Rivers is a very modern theater.  The sound, the picture and the seats are all fantastic.  It's what you would expect from a brand new theater.  You can actually still smell the newness of the theater.  Very similar to the smell one experiences when driving home that new car.  It's not the same smell but you know what I mean.  The place is exceptionally clean and the air conditioning was neither too cold nor too warm.  All this newness and atmosphere creates a very comfortable seating experience.

This was also my second trip to the theater.  Typically, I never want to write something or state my opinion on an establishment without having at least two visits under my belt.  Lots of investment and hard work goes into building a business and all they need is some loud mouth having a one off bad experience and giving them a bad reputation.  My first experience was in the TRX theater and my Friday experience was in on one of the smaller screens.  Both are were exceptional viewing experinces.  No fault can be found in presentation.  But I do have some suggestions for both the patron as well as management.


The Patron:  If you're on a family outing and you're on a budget, it's imperative that you take advantage of matinee pricing before 5pm.  All tickets on the small screens are $5.00 and you're gonna want to save that $4.50 (adult) and $2.50 (child 12 and under) that you'd pay after 5pm for your concessions because frankly, they're not cheap.  I believe a medium popcorn and a medium drink hit me for $8.00.  And don't make my mistake.  The medium drink is too small even for children.  So if you want to enjoy your movie with your children rather than getting up two to three times to get refills for your kids and yourself, get the large and go light on the ice.  If you're watching a movie alone the medium drink might be o.k but save yourself the irritation and just go large.  In my humble opinion, the medium drink is designed to suck.

If you like your popcorn properly buttered, you're going to need to plan ahead.  They don't butter the popcorn for you behind the counter.  And we all know that to have a properly buttered popcorn, you need to butter in layers versus just buttering the top.  So when you order your popcorn ask them to fill the popcorn halfway, go butter, then come back to have them fill to the top and repeat.  Once again, if you care nothing for the butter this isn't an issue.  But if you want wonderful, hot, artery clogging butter and you want it done right, you have to take these steps.

Also moviegoer, or mom in this case, take a few paper towels with you or some napkins.  When you go to fill your drink via the self service drink dispenser, it's going to overflow.  On the two separate occasions I've visited the theater, the drinks overflow due to the rate of dispensing and the high carbonation.  If you're kids are dispensing, prepare yourself for extra sticky cups and extra sticky children.  I say mom here because it's obvious that the man inherently wont remember the napkins and it's higly more likely that you're carrying the purse than he is.  


Management:    Everything stated above, especially concerning the concessions should be reworked to a degree.  The cup sizes, for the prices charged, should be larger.  We're not talking about health here.  We're talking moviegoer experience.  Perhaps even put in a butter machine behind the counter and allow customers to add more butter after the fact.  Does sanitation concerns even allow a customer to hand you popcorn back to fill the popcorn bag up after the first half is buttered?  Once again, moviegoer experience here.

Please put napkins out (if they aren't already...can't remember) for the drink dispensing machine. Those things really are pretty awesome and allow for many different drink options but the carbonation might want to be looked at and lowered due to the overflow issue.  It wouldn't even hurt to move one of the machines further away from each other so that the customer flow and congestion problem might be reduced.


Atmosphere:  The place is pretty.  No one can deny that.   And it's beyond clean and that's a massive bravo to the employees who keep it clean.  Where's the but?  We all know there's a "but" coming from this opinionated, movie loving, blogger guy.  The lobby experience is too "sterile".  It's very modern but it lacks almost any character and soul.  I'm not kidding. It feels like I've walked into a dentists waiting room but instead of getting my wisdom teeth pulled, I'm going to see a movie.

Walking into the theater should be an event all unto itself.  The feeling you get when you walk into a theater should be a tease to the excitement and enjoyment that you're expecting from the movie itself. So much of the theater is automated and self service that the character of the employee seems to be lost.  Your employees at the counter can help add to the atmosphere of the lobby if they're more involved with the process of catering to the customer.

Final Thought:  If you're looking to watch a movie on the largest screen in town and that's all you care about, Two Rivers has got you covered.  If you're looking for a hands on touch, family atmosphere and a lobby that's an experience all it's own, Liberty Theater is your destination.  Wilkes County is lucky to have two experiences that we can chose from.