The Fabelmans. They are a 1950’s  NJ family, but not like most Jersey families you might meet.  Paul Goldfinger photo from the movie screen. 11/29/22

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor. Blogfinger.net

We haven’t been to the movies in about two years, but Steven Spielberg’s wonderful film The Fabelmans drew us back to the AMC theaters at the Monmouth Mall. The advance reviews and word-of-mouth convinced us to go.

This quote by reviewer Max Weiss of Max Space says a lot, “The Fabelmans is beautiful, involving, and often spellbinding. Spielberg has now demonstrated that he can look inward, as well as outward, and still command every frame.”  And we agree. (see our review below)

The AMC theater at Monmouth Mall. The rug gave me motion sickness. Paul Goldfinger photo. 11/29/22

At first, when we walked into the theater  for the 4 pm show on a Tuesday  I momentarily felt like I had landed on a distant planet.    But then I realized that it wasn’t much different than before.  The lobby is a spacious place with all sorts of movie promos, mostly electronic,  rather than the historic paper posters.  As before, the mall’s food court is straight ahead out the far doors.

There is no “ticket booth.”  Instead there is a long row of computer stations where you can choose your movie, reserve your seats, pay and be handed a ticket, but not some popcorn, by the electronic screen .  That requires that you get on line at the treats display with a real person waiting on you.

You could have done the paperwork at home on the computer including getting tickets, but I couldn’t figure it out to pay $30.00.  In the lobby I went to the customer service desk and received a  a senior discount (which I forgot about at home) and another discount for my “Stubs” membership.  And I got another discount for coming early on a Tuesday.  My final cost was $10.00 for two tix.  Sometimes it pays to be inept at a computer.   You still have to hand your tickets to a person before being allowed to get to your theatre.

There were few people in the lobby at this time. In the men’s room are about 40 locations to use, but I was the only one there, but who wants company anyhow?

Inside the theatre  it’s good to bring a flashlight.  The comfy chairs let you adjust into all sorts of positions, but I wound up nearly supine with my legs lost somewhere and I was getting a backache.  The screen was large, and the sound is Dolby.

We got out at dinner time and Eileen asked, “Should we go to the food court?”  She was not in the mood to cook.  I said, “No.”  Does anyone have dinner in a mall food court?

Then she said, “Let’s try the Seafood Boil place in the OG strip mall.”

“OK,”   I said. I had been skeptical to go there before, but our son said it looked promising.    And it was a good choice–see our review coming up.

Remember this movie theme?    “The Sting.”  Music from The Fabelmans soundtrack will accompany our review.