The Portland suburbs are generally a wasteland of multiplexes that time forgot. It isn't that they're simply old but well-preserved, but they're typically run-down, isolated, neglected messes with semi-functional speakers, a nod to focused projection, and thrift-store-recliners where theater seating would do.
The staff isn't worth complaining about because it typically isn't there.
Then there's the Century 16, which rises to its surroundings. Now, not every suburban multiplex has a Max-adjacent, walkable shopping center that contains a Powell's, Salt and Straw, Good Coffee, Bamboo Sushi, Kingpins, Shake Shack, McMenamin's, New Seasons, Winco, Best Buy, and a bunch of other hits of Portland yesteryear coming soon (a Grassa at last!). But this one is already surrounding moviegoers with adequate reason to stay in the area even before they venture out to the B.G. food cart pod, Watson Street restaurants, or myriad Korean, Japanese, and Chinese places across the street.
But walking into this place is like walking into the '90s and early 2000s at the peak of their blockbuster powers. Every bit of neon and illumination is glowing. The arcade is packed with games and kids playing them. The concessions stand is a small food court of its own and will sell you beer and actual food. You can graveyard yourself a giant soda to go with giant popcorn and it don't cost double the price of your tickets--which still hover below $10 for matinees.
And while this place is great for playing the hits, the reason I've kept coming back is that it's proven itself particularly useful for finding indie, arthouse, horror, and foreign films in the 'burbs that have cycled their way out of Portland. The first run of Godzilla Minus 1 was here, as was Violent Night. When Dayton, Washington, pulled Bullet Train out of its one theater because it wasn't kid-friendly, we came back early from a Labor Day trip to watch it here.
Now it's a Cinemark, so it's going to reserve a couple of small theaters in the back for that week's Christian movies, but I'm always amazed to see them played side-by-side with films like One Battle After Another, Rocky Horror, a Renée Elise Goldsberry doc, and Mumbai noir. The curation here is more than one would expect from a facility of its size, and more inspired than the Regal offerings at Fox Tower and Pioneer Square.
The multiplex isn't my first resort, and Portland has way too many excellent and inexpensive independent theaters to make it so. Even when I'm out in Astoria, I'd sooner take the $5 show at the Columbian than go to their admittedly excellent '90s multiplex. But Cedar Hills 16 does everything it can to preserve the best parts of the big-building moviegoing experience while coaxing West Side moviegoer away from the tunnel and the Max if the movie they want to see is right there.
C'mon: Movie, books, sushi, Salt & Straw? You could do a far worse date night west of Sylvan. read more