This is the current program poster for the Astor, AFAIK the only dedicated revival house in Melbourne (apart from ACMI, which doesn’t really count). The previous occupant of my domicile was on their mailing list so I’ve been faithfully putting these up on my wall since November, but although I’ve passed by the premises a number of times I hadn’t actually patronised them until last night.
I went to a double of Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby (I quite liked his previous effort Mystic River) and Hotel Rwanda (as endorsed by Operative Li).
It looks pretty run down from the outside… and it is. But the facade doesn’t do justice to the interior; it’s wonderfully grandiose inside. It has this whole faded glamour thing going. The auditorium is beautiful.
Seeing as how I was ten minutes late for the session and had to be torched in I couldn’t quite muster the nerve to ask them to give me a job. But they’re high on my list…
Would you believe I was looking for the program poster today.
You can get a virtual one from their website, but o’course that’s no good for display purposes..
Here’s Xul’s tip- arrive half an hour early, you can get a good park (if you drive), you avoid the ticket queues, and then you can relax with a beer or wine before the film, and chat to Marzipan the cat.
They have a resident cat? Called Marzipan? That’s superb; you wouldn’t get that where I come from. They’re within walking distance of me so the parking thing’s not an issue – if I drove which I don’t (not unaccompanied, anyway) but cheers.