For all the talk about the declining popularity of the moviegoing experience, pecked at from all sides by DVDs and downloads, Sydney seems to be going through something of a cinema renaissance.
There’s the revived Blacktown drive-in, as well as new ventures like the Golden Age Cinema and Bar in Surry Hills, the closest thing we’ve got to Melbourne’s enviable Cinematheque. And the roster of annual summer-only outdoor venues seems to grow yearly. Flickerfest, St George OpenAir and Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinema have been joined by upstarts in every other alleyway or pub courtyard, from The Beresford Hotel to the Local Taphouse. The old faithful in this pack is Centennial Park’s Maltesers Moonlight Cinema, which runs until March 23. Bill McDermid, the Moonlight Cinema National Film Manager, says he’s unphased by all the competition. “One of Moonlight’s major points of difference in terms of films is the huge number of advance preview screenings we are showing this season. In the first half of the season alone we have ten preview screenings! That’s ten films you can see at Moonlight before they’re released in any other cinema. These include The Wolf Of Wall Street, August: Osage County, Saving Mr. Banks and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. There’ll be plenty more preview screenings in the second half of the program as well, which will be available on the Moonlight website from Tuesday 21 January.”
Moonlight also screens the tried and true. The lineup this year includes Dirty Dancing, Grease Sing-A-Long, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian, Top Gun, The Castle and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. McDermid gets the plum job of curating the classics, but is quick to stress that “we consult our customers via social media channels to see what they really want to see. For all the cult classic film fans out there, if there’s something you want to see at Moonlight, let us know.” Encouraged, I tell him that, as a Swayze fan, I was glad to see Dirty Dancing featured, but how about Point Break for next year? “We are playing Point Break this season! I can’t reveal the date just yet, but if you check out the Moonlight website on January 21 you’ll be able to keep your calendar free!” Johnny Utah fans, you’ve been warned.
The program also accommodates the kiddies. Think Frozen, Despicable Me 2, Turbo and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2. Then there’s the adults-only bill sporting Captain Phillips, The Book Thief, Prisoners, Philomena and Blue Jasmine. For an event that’s long been a favourite date night destination, this year is surprisingly light on new rom-coms, opting more for broad comedies (We’re The Millers with Jennifer Aniston, Delivery Man with Vince Vaughn) instead of straight-down-the-wicket tearjerkers, of which About Time is perhaps the solitary example. No doubt there are plenty of boyfriends out there breathing a sigh of relief at this paucity. I ask McDermid what he’d suggest as a compromise that’d please both parties: “I tend to go for a comedy, like Delivery Man or The Castle. And you can’t go wrong with a classic like Top Gun. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones will guarantee you a cuddle.”
McDermid’s advice on how to make the Moonlight experience even better? The bells-and-whistles option would be a couple of Gold Grass tickets. “Tickets cost $32 and you get a bean bed in a premium viewing location on the lawn, as well as waiters to serve you, so no lining up for food and drinks! The Gold Grass area is roped off, so you feel pretty fancy. Put it this way, take a girl there on a first date and she’ll definitely be keen for a second.”
Maltesers Moonlight Cinema can be found at Belvedere Amphitheatre in Centennial Park until Sunday March 24.
