The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 81

WEEKEND CONSUMER GUIDE TO MOVIE THEATERS show trailers from coming attractions a nice touch AMC Ridge Plaza 9200 State Road 84 Davie 475-8407 Number of screens: 8 Ticket prices: $1 all shows (second run movies) Parking: Free Hearing aid: Phonic Ear Handicapped access: Yes OK so the lobby is done in a very 70s tan and brown motif and is therefore in desperate need of refurbishing Everything has a worn lived-in look from the theater seats to the bathrooms to the carpeting But hey you only have to pay a miserable buck to get in here any time of day or night and when it comes to important the movie itself the Ridge Plaza delivers The big 284-seat house features a nice bright picture with Dolby Stereo sound Nachos were crisp and the cheese sauce was tasty Parking is ample Can you say bargain? Hearing aid: Coming soon Handicapped access: Yes Welcome to Jurassic Theater In one of the 250-seat houses the loud groaning and squeaking from the seats drowned out part of the dialogue of The Firm One cantankerous seat even humiliated a viewer into moving The snack bar was equally disappointing i no hot dogs or nachos But parking was a cinch Pompano IV 3251 Federal Hwy Pompano Beach 941-5035 Number of screens: 4 Ticket prices: All shows 99 cents Monday to Thursday $150 Friday to Sunday (second-run movies) Parking: Free Hearing aid: No Handicapped access: Yes This small independent theater is quaint and well-kept with an eager-to-please staff The snack bar is a bit antiquated (no hot dbgs even) but the theaters are clean with no musty odor and the seats are broken in for maximum comfort minimum squeak The two largest houses have 269 seats and Unforgiven which was playing in one looked spectacular Parking is abundant UA Movies at Pompano 2315 Federal Hwy Pompano Beach 946-7951 Number of screens: 6 Ticket prices: Adults $575 ($4 or $450 on the screen) Snack bar features Dove bars in your choice of dark or milk chocolate GCC Deerfield Mall Hillsboro Boulevard at Powerline Road Deerfield Beach 429-3930 Number of screens: 8 Ticket prices: Adults 650 ($4 before 6 pm except Jurassic Park which needs to make a lot of money and is $450) kids under 13 and seniors $4 Parking: Free Hearing aid: Odyssey Handicapped access: Yes This is standard issue General Cinema with the familiar sleek black and red decor The 350-seat big house has a good bright image and sound (no not Dolby Stereo but it sure sounds like it) The parking lot has plenty of space though the way laid out you may have to do a bit of walking Popcorn was delicious with salt optional the way it should be everywhere Fox Festival Sample Road at Turnpike Pompano Beach 974-5553 Number of screens: 8 Ticket prices: Adults $6 ($375 before 6 pm) kids under 1 1 and seniors $375 Parking: Free Hearing aid: Coming soon Handicapped access: Yes The lobby at Fox Festival has all the atmo- NIGHT: Heading to the Swap Shop Drive-In is a Saturday night ritual for Shawn Patnaude 11 from left Jared Lang 12 Josh Shapiro 11 Jesse Saraceno 12 and twin sisters Rachel (in back) and Marisa Lang the best way to hear a movie? In digital? In Dolby? With or without THX? Or is that DTS? What about DDS? SDDS? There are basically two types of movie sound formats (the way sound is physically encoded onto a piece of film): Analog sound (sometimes called optical sound) the dominant way of formatting sound for about 50 years It is produced by a series of tracks similar to the grooves on a record attached to each side of the strip of film When the film is played a beam of light in the movie projector hits the moving tracks and converts them into electrical signals that are amplified and projected through speakers in a theater Voila! You hear a dinosaur roar a quiet whisper and every noise in between Digital sound which made its debut last summer in Batman Returns but made its big leap into the mass market with Jurassic Park is also physically attached to the film But instead of a set of tracks of varying widths all sound is defined by a series of computer digits attached to the side of a piece of film These digits are recorded onto a compact disc and once decoded are fed into the sound system The difference between analog and digital sound in the movies is as distinct as the difference between a record and a CD With digital there is no distortion or background noise (common in analog formats) Digital sound is also more extensive and intense because it can be projected through six distinct channels that surround an auditorium Six-channel delivery makes you feel like inside the movie instead of just watching it When the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park come crashing across the screen your chest shakes you feel the rumble in your feet and their deafening roar-passes through your body Only the biggest potential blockbusters are made in digital because the process is so expensive DTS and Universal Pictures developed the digital format used in Jurassic Park But other companies are riding the sound wave Dolby Laboratories also has a digital system on the market called Dolby Digital Stereo or DDS which was used for Love Got to Do With It and Super Mario Bros And version Sony Dynamic Digital Sound or SDDS made its debut with Last Action Hero in a few theaters So what about the other side of the sound story the delivery system? The quality of theater speakers varies widely Even digital sound can sound bad if the speakers up to the challenge Those problems bothered filmmaker George Lucas more than a decade ago because audiences watching his Star Wars hearing the whooshing swords and other sounds the way he had intended So production company developed THX a system to standardize theater acoustics Without getting into subwoofers amps and other techie talk the gist of THX is that it creates balanced and distortion-free sound that follows the action on the screen no matter what its decibel or pitch Dolby Stereo released with Lisztomania in 1975 allowed viewers to hear sound from four distinct areas Knight-Ridder News Service BETH A REISER Miami Herald Staff NORTH BROWARD Cinema More East Drafthouse 1455 SE 17th St Fort Lauderdale 523-8840 Number of screens: 1 Ticket prices: All seats $250 (second-run movies only) $1 food and drink charge on Friday and Saturday nights ($125 matinees) Monday is $1 night Parking: Free Hearing aid: No Handicapped access: Yes A restaurant and movie theater all in one? Yes the drafthouse is the perfect cheap date opportunity Inside the spacious auditorium are tables with swivel chairs for four and red-lighted wands to signal your server The menu offers appetizers such as potato skins chicken wings and veggies with main courses such as burgers pizzas and subs plus beer pitchers ($650) and a very short wine list The service is helpful and attentive and the picture a bit grainy but enjoyable Once the lights dim chances are your date notice the duct tape used to cover the wear and tear in the carpet 4 AMC Coral Ridge 3401 NE 26th Ave Oakland Park 566-9663 Number of screens: 10 Ticket prices: Adults $575 ($375 before 4 pm $275 for twilight shows) kids under 13 and seniors students with ID $375 Parking: Free Hearing aid: Phonic Ear Handicapped access: Yes Located behind the JC Penney store in the Coral Ridge Mall this theater is a little tough to find But worth the hunt Inside the lobby the snack bar features the regular stuff plus the ever-popular frozen yogurt bar and pretzel bites The two largest houses seat 394 people and easily pass the sniff test no musty smell The screens are wide and two of the auditoriums feature THX sound Deerfield 5 2205 Hillsboro Blvd Deerfield Beach 428-0008 Number of screens: 5 Ticket prices: All shows $1 Monday-Thursday $2 Friday-Sunday (second run movies) Parking: Free fl Hearing aid: None Handicapped access: Yes The marquee at the Deerfield 5 reads "It Pays To Wait" and they might have something there The theater as snazzy or flashy as a first-run house but a lot cheaper The lobby has a nice elegant atmosphere the staff is friendly and the big 280-seat house sports a tip-top Dolby Stereo system (though Aladdin appeared a bit cramped a 0) before 6 pm) kids under 12 and seniors $4 Parking: Free Hearing aid: No Handicapped access: Yes With its faded sign and brown paint this theater looks pretty decrepit from the outside and from the inside for that matter But the friendly staff and wide screens with adequate sound help make up for the lackluster appearance Swap Shop Drive-In 3291 Sunrise Blvd Fort Lauderdale 583-7733 Number of screens: 11 Ticket prices: $350 per person kids under 1 1 free Parking: a drive-in Hearing aid: No Handicapped access: Yes Someone should designate this place a historic site The drive-in is a nearly extinct beast (this is the last one in the tricounty area) and if never been to one missing out on some old-fashioned Americana If got a pack of little ones also the cheapest deal in town The sound here gets pumped through your car radio so the better your set-up the louder those critters in Jurassic Park will roar (it also means have to leave your car on though many people do so anyway to run the AC) Try to get a spot near the middle of the lot because too close or too far can result in frustration an adequate snack bar and people often pull out lawn chairs or climb on their vehicles and watch the film al fresco sphere of a medieval dungeon but the THX-equipped theaters (there are four) make up for it somewhat The Meteor Man sounded terrific and looked good but in an adjoining non-THX house Poetic Justice sounded muddy The biggest house seats 370 but some of the smaller houses are small indeed Several of the theaters here had a rough unfinished look with patches of unpainted plaster in spots but management informed us there is no actual remodeling going on so go figure GCC Galleria Cinema 2630 Sunrise Blvd Fort Lauderdale 565-1883 fl Number of screens: 4 Ticket prices: Adults $650 ($4 or $450 before 6 pm) kids under 13 and seniors $4 No student discounts Parking: Free Hearing aid: Odyssey Handicapped access: Yes The big houses in this quad seem to go on forever but visibility can be a problem where big hair is concerned The screens were wide and the sound perfectly balanced Parking can get congested in the front lot so best to park behind the theater in the covered lot Gateway Cinema 1820 Sunrise Blvd Fort Lauderdale 763-7994 Number of screens: 4 fl Ticket prices: Adults $625 ($395 before 6 pm) kids under 12 seniors and students with ID $475 Parking: Free to to i S2X.