GDR movie night

Geraldton Dog Rescue are holding a fundraiser movie night this Thursday night.

In the Heart of the Sea from 6:00pm at Orana Cinemas. 

Tickets will be available to purchase at the Cinema (through Geraldton Dog Rescue only) for $30 each from 5:30pm to 6:00pm.

A representative from Geraldton Dog Rescue will be at the cinema from 5:30pm.

The tickets will be $30 each for cash door sales.

Otherwise, pay $27.50 online by Clicking here to book through Eventbrite.

Frackman The Movie is playing tonight

COME ALONG TO ORANA CINEMAS AT 6.15PM TONIGHT TO SEE THE FILM EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT AND MEET FRACKMAN HIMSELF, DAYNE PRATZKY!

Frackman The Movie tells the story of accidental activist Dayne ‘Frackman’ Pratzky and a group of ordinary Queenslanders as they battle against the $70 billion unconventional gas industry.

The observational documentary, directed and produced by Margaret River filmmaker, Richard Todd, follows Pratzky’s five-year battle against the Queensland Gas Company after they demand to sink gas wells on his property. The David and Goliath battle includes triumph, tragedy, love and conflict as Pratzky and his neighbours face off against the gas company and the coal seam gas industry.

The film runs for 90 minutes and is followed by a Q & A with Director, Richard Todd and Frackman himself, Dayne Pratzky.

Tickets are available online now or on the door tonight. Don’t miss out! 

Watch the trailer here


Why I love Orana Cinema

Pic: wikipedia

There was a time in my childhood, perhaps around age 12, when it dawned on me that every movie I ever saw at the cinema was great. I didn't understand the need for movie critics. The entire experience of going to the movies was magical, especially compared to my tiny 34cm tv at home. No matter what was showing I enjoyed it. 

Sadly, those says of being easily pleased are gone. But I still love the experience of going to the movies. Even by myself. Actually, preferably by myself. 

It wasn't all that long ago that Geraldton didn't have a proper cinema complex. I recall coming often to Geraldton as a kid and the movie going experience being less than quality. 

But our current complex of four screens in our humble town of 40,000 has quickly become taken for granted, as though it were a community service funded by tax payers.

But I think we should be grateful for businesses like Orana in Geraldton. 

The truth is I wouldn't be opening a movie theatre in today's economic climate. Illegal downloads of movies are on the rise, great quality TV shows that never hit the silver screen are more common, Netflix is set to hit our shores early in 2015, and with the roll out of NBN it's becoming easier and easier to just stream a high definition movie of your choosing without leaving the couch.

But I still love heading to Orana. They're always friendly. The place is kept very clean. The cinemas and sound quality is great, and they even went to the trouble recently of adding the much requested eftpos. Moving the ticket booth to the snacks bar makes the purchase experience quicker too.

They even have a wheelchair/pram friendly screen that allows you to enter the theatre at the top of the stairs rather than the bottom.  

Orana also go to the trouble of hosting charity events, special arthouse screenings and other events throughout the year. It's likely these aren't big money earners, but it's great to see they're trying to play a role in the community beyond just selling movie tickets. 

They also made a small change recently that you may not have noticed; starting the movies after the scheduled time. 

This might not make sense if you're not from Geraldton. Because everything is so close here, we usually know exactly how many minutes we need to get to places on time. However, this doesn't result in us getting to places on time, it means we're always two minutes late... church, movies, whatever. 

Orana used to schedule the movies so the ads played before the stated start time, then the movie started dead on the scheduled time. This meant I was often missing the first two minutes of a movie. But they changed that and now I happily waltz in in the middle of the ads, find a seat and start eating popcorn. 

I would hate to see the Orana building empty like so many others at that end of town. And I would REALLY hate to not have a top quality cinema in Geraldton. I just reckon there's nothing better than sitting down to watch an engrossing story with too much sugar and salt on a massive screen.

Thanks Orana. 


 

New documentary about two men who rowed from Geraldton to Mauritius

And Then We Swam - trailer from Ben Finney on Vimeo.

And Then We Swam is the true story of two friends who set out from Geraldton to cross the Indian Ocean in a secondhand boat, having never rowed before in their lives.  Nobody thought they’d make it.

116 gruelling days later, off the coast of Mauritius and just five miles from the finish line, things started to go horribly wrong.  This is the story of two unlikely adventurers who crossed an ocean to prove everyone wrong - but very nearly proved everyone right.

In August 2011, James Adair and Ben Stenning hit the news when they became the first ever pair to row across the Indian Ocean without a support boat.  But a few miles from the finish line in Mauritius, their boat capsized - and they had to swim for their lives.

Far from being extreme athletes, neither had actually ever rowed before in their lives.  But four months earlier, determined to prove their doubters wrong, they got their secondhand boat to the start line on the west coast of Australia, and set off.

Some adventures are so well planned that nothing is left to chance.  But as they lost sight of land, James and Ben took a step into the unknown.  Rowing in shifts, around the clock, they learned to cope with solitude, pain and fear on a stuttering voyage of 3,500 miles, until - agonisingly close to land - disaster struck.

Watch the full film here

The LEGO Movie - Review

[tentblogger-youtube fZ_JOBCLF-I] If you plan on spending some of these school holidays entertaining your little ones at the cinema, you won't go wrong with this installment from Warner Bros.

If you played with Lego as a kid, this movie will touch a nerve deep in your soul that few toy movies can.

The movie centers around a regular guy named Emmett, who is super ordinary and follows all the rules.

Through a series of amazing circumstances, coincidences and humourous dance numbers Emmett finds himself as the hero of the movie, and indeed the Lego world.

The movie is extremely rich in animation. It appears no expense was spared in creating an extremely elaborate and colourful Lego world.

Previous Lego movies have always been ok-ish but felt like they were made for TV, on a budget, and not something Mum and Dad could really tolerate sitting through.

You'll recognise more than one of the character's voices in this flick, included a fantastic Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman.

All your favourite Lego characters are here too. Batman is hilarious, the 1980's random space guy complete with broken helmet (hey, we all owned that guy) is gold, and without spoiling anything, I'll just say the ending is more surprising and touching than I would have ever expected.

If a trip to the cinema is a bit rich, be sure to catch this one on DVD, but it's screening at Orana these school holidays.

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Geraldton Cinema gets Eftpos

photo-1 After 15 years of business, Orana Cinemas Geraldton finally has Eftpos!

Today was the first time the brand-new machines were used after a 3-day installation process.

Four machines have been installed with two currently working and they are used for both ticket sales and the candy bar. The other two are set to be up and running soon.

The machines have a $10 minimum and have PayWave and PayPass capabilities.

“This is very exciting for us,” said Manager Leanne Meekin.

“It’s come at a good time right before the school holidays.”

The cinema opened in 1999 and locals have expressed their frustration with the outlet not having an Eftpos option.

Leanne said it was the owners choice to not have Eftpos installed up until now and she said it wasn’t a problem as the community got used to it.

She said the implementation of the technology wouldn’t increase numbers.

“I think numbers will most probably stay the same."

With the new addition comes the announcement of online ticket booking which is set to be introduced in the next 2-3 months.

Movie goers will be able to purchase tickets well in advance for a movie and also have the option of using their smart phone to scan the online ticket in.