A decent local cinema.
It has a retro look from the outside, with old school lettering spelling PLAYHOUSE on the front of the building, with letters missing. I have never discovered if this is intentional or they just cannot be bothered changing the light bulbs.
Inside, you have a very unremarkable cinema. Seven screens of wildly varying quality - no surround sound except in screens 1 to 3 - and old looking seating with the usual sticky floor, worn feeling of an older cinema.
My main gripe is that the cinema has so many screens, yet it will hold onto mainstream movies long after appeal has subsided, moving them down to less and less impressive screens, milking them as long as possible. I feel the cinema could do with a more eccentric taste in film, with a faster turnover. I would certainly go to the cinema more if they played more unusual movies, such as foreign choices or indie movies.
There is no need to keep playing Star Trek for about a month and a half when you could play something a little more interesting instead.
Mainstream blockbusters are fine and have their place, but with such an old, historic building, the cinema could do with carving out a reputation for supporting lesser known cinema, a lot like the Dundee Contemporary Arts has. read more