Somebody somewhere at some time (no one seems to know the specifics) said that baseball is America’s favorite pastime. But I scoff at that. Clearly, movies are! We bond over them, we judge people over them. We watch them to cheer us up, to inspire us, to make us laugh, to make us cry. And as much as the budding film scholar in me wants to say something smart-sounding about how a film is a film and the environment in which it is viewed shouldn’t matter, and it should be judged by its own merits, and so on… No. A movie-watching environment _does_ matter! A good theater or a bad one can drastically affect one’s opinion of a film, and so I offer this, a brief rundown and review of the movie theater scene her in our very own Columbia.
**RAGTAG CINEMA — WINNER**
Location: 10 Hitt St.
I’ll just admit at the start of this that I’m on the record as calling Ragtag my “favorite place in the universe.” Sure, that makes me biased, but it also makes me an expert! Let me list all the reasons why Ragtag is just absolutely delightful. First of all, duh, the movies. Depending on your cinematic tastes, the film selection at Ragtag can be a huge plus, a meh, or a huge minus. I understand that a majority of college students would rather take a three-hour biology final than sit through something like “Meek’s Cutoff,” and I don’t fault them for it. But, for me, Ragtag’s playing of movies that usually only appear in theaters in big cities like New York or L.A. is a godsend. No longer do I have to wait for expensive DVDs of indie and foreign fare. And beyond the film selection, Ragtag excels in pretty much every other possible facet. The food should be seriously considered in any conversation about Columbia’s best restaurants, and you can even bring it into the theater, along with any alcoholic beverage of your choice! And you get to sit in comfy couches! And before each film, a hipster (the best kind, I promise) projectionist comes to the front to tell you how awesome the movie you’re about to see is! And the theater is connected to 9th Street Video, which is awesome, and has the widest selection of movies for rental in the entire state! I could go on here for pages. Basically, go. Go soon, and go often.
**HOLLYWOOD – STADIUM 14**
2800 Goodwin Pointe
Did you know that the number after a movie theater’s name is how many individual theaters it has? Well, until about a month ago, I didn’t. Looking back, I don’t know how something so glaringly obvious never registered with me for over nineteen years, but, whatever. I also thought “epitome” was pronounced “eppie-tohm” for, like, the _longest_ time. What I’m getting at here is that the ‘14’ up there after ‘Stadium’ means that this is going to be the Columbia theater with the most options. If you’re the type of person who drives to the theater without a movie in mind to spontaneously choose one upon arrival, then this is the place for you. This is also the place for you if you’re the type of person who prefers arcades on balconies, who delights in those weirdly lifeless promotional movie cardboard cutout things (they’re everywhere!), and/or who feels like $5.50 is a fair price for a bottle of water. If you aren’t any of those types of people, then you might want to go somewhere else.
**GOODRICH FORUM 8**
Location: 1209 Forum Katy Parkway
What is there to say about Goodrich Forum 8? Not much! It’s pretty generic as far as generic movie theaters go. It sells popcorn and candy at insulting prices, it has acne-cursed teens standing awkwardly and ripping your ticket stubs, and it smells exactly like what you would expect it to smell like. In fact, everything at Forum is what you would expect it to be (except maybe for its bizarro location behind Schnucks), and that can be boring, yes, but also comforting. Sometimes you want _that_ movie theater experience, the one that reminds your childhood and the first time you saw Shrek, and this is the place to get that. Oh, also, one time I saw a pseudo-celebrity former Real World cast member there. So there’s that!
But really, just go to Ragtag.
