Seeing a movie in Paris

I usually take seeing a movie pretty seriously and am generally protective of my movie going experience overall. Frequently in St. Louis people are talking and carrying on before and during the movie to the extent that I will either confront them, wait for Sheridan to do it for me, or just leave and ask for a refund. Although it is usually old people who are the biggest offenders, it can really be anyone. Often it depends on the type of movie it is. Pretty much any time you try to see a movie at Frontenac, there's some older couple loudly discussing what just happened.

Anyway, I was nervous about this because I was meeting Christin, her sister and a friend at Les Halles to see Quantum of Solace. Two important things: 1) I loved Casino Royale and couldn't wait to see the new Daniel Craig Bond film (Bond is a serious badass again); and 2) Les Halles is basically a giant mall where a ton of kids hang out (think the Galleria on steroids, HGH or whatever you prefer to get huge). Needless to say the stakes were high. Christin showed up on time, she had already bought the tix and we just waited in a long but fairly orderly line until it was time to be seated. At that time, we split up because there were just too many people for us to find four seats together.

The place was packed and everyone was loud and talking before it started. This is normal of course but I was scared because I was seeing a movie in Paris, the land where students don't respect silence in the classroom while the professor is professing or, more importantly, silence in the library while I am studying!

I am happy to say that the experience was great. Silence was totally respected, there were no irritating ads loudly playing before the show started, there were people coming around selling drinks to people in the seats, and there were actual ushers helping people find seats! These last two things were especially amazing to me. Selling food and drink in the seats like I was at the baseball game made me wonder why we don't do this at home. I for one was much more inclined to buy something because of this service. It was still more expensive but I found myself buying something anyway. And the ushers. Who even knew that this still existed? It certainly doesn't seem to in St. Louis.

Not to mention that the theater was clean, modern, had a great sound system and it wasn't freezing cold in there. Great experience.