At one time, going out to the movies in Whitehorse had been a very pleasant pastime. The fact the Whitehorse cinemas were small really had little impact on me as the quality of presentation was fine.
Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.
Since the retirement of Ron Stanyer, the long-time manager of the Whitehorse Landmark Cinemas, the steady decline of the theatres has been profound. For example, last week when attending a screening of Avatar, the sound went off for at least 60 seconds, the film went to black for another significant period of time and the final credits were cut short by the projectionist prior to the end of the film because, depending which of the staff was giving the explanation/excuse, “They thought no one was still in the theatre,” or “It has to stop then to prevent squealing.”
Over and above the training, commitment and competence of employees, the aged infrastructure also contributes to the lack of movie-going enjoyment.
Both theatres have only one ticket booth. If the patron chooses to use an Interac transaction, the connections are on a slow modem dial-up, significantly delaying the queues, resulting in either a delayed screening or missing the start of the features. The buildings are very old, the bathrooms shoddy.
I am convinced that Landmark has no commitment to the Whitehorse population.
As mentioned above, going to the movies was something I very much enjoyed. I looked forward to the latest movies coming to town. My use of the past tense is deliberate, and I am sad to say that I will no longer be going out to the movies in Whitehorse.
Mary McAvoy
Whitehorse