I have a confession. Whenever my wife goes away for any extended period of time. I turn into a aimless, meandering sack. Sure I miss her, but it's not that lonely, "sobbing on the bathroom floor in a pile of vomit & cat litter" mess. I literally forget how to live. I end up drinking from the toilet and eating hair of the floor. The couch? Forget it, I've got no idea how it works. So, this weekend I was proactive. I stocked up on Wii games, hit up StarClipper for a fresh stack of books, stocked the iPhone with podcasts for a few nice long walks, a stack of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" on the DVR and I read the manual for the couch. After playing Speed Racer on the Wii, I got the urge to see it on the big screen. A movie like Speed Racer, no matter how bad the acting, has to be experienced on the big screen. The closest showing was an hour away in Nashville, IL. Why not, I didn't have anything else to do. I set out with my bottle of Crystal Light and bag of chips. Thankfully the Yankees were playing at the same time, so I got to listen to them beat up on the Astros while the Corolla chugged along 64. When I finally pulled in, I first thought "Frank Capra, is that you?" What an adorable little town. A few families had already pulled up and their kids were running around the parking lot. Small town Americana at it's finest. If I wasn't such a cynical bastard, I would've teared up a little. The State shows one movie at one time. If you didn't want to see Speed Racer at 730 then you could stay at home & churn butter. Walking inside, there was literally one woman inside a short booth working the register. the register wasn't electric. Other establishments keep a manual register around for kitsch value, The State theater actually used theirs. Once the show started, that's when the warm nostalgia gave way to an old, fuzzy projector. I would've had better picture quality on the two-inch screen of my iPod. The screen went black while they were manually changing the reels. i felt like I was watching a bootleg print I bought for $5 off some guy on the bus. And aren't rural folk supposed to be nice & polite? Respect your neighbors & some shit? These people wouldn't stop their incessant yapping. I don't mean to hate, but the picture was really crappy. Growing up, the Canarsie Theatre was our hometown theatre. It was known for it's kosher popcorn and sticky floors. I swear I walked out barefoot at least three times because my sneakers were anchored to the floor from years of spilled Coke. it was gross & charming, but at least they got the picture right! I raced home and kissed my 50" plasma. So much for my romantic, small town adventure. read more

State Theater - Cinema Near Me - Nashville, Illinois

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Nashville is the emitope of wholesome, small-town Americana. Great town, wonderful families. Population: about 3500. So, as you'd expect, there are a few churches, a park, a small main street, and a hundred year old crappy yet picturesque movie theater. I have only a couple of experiences here. One--no movie, just a halloween costume contest. I made my daughter a gorgeous home-made costume, and she was beat out by a $5 wal-mart cheapie (turns out it's who you know in a small town) and Two--a free kids movie promotional one summer. We had a great time, but the picture quality hasn't been improved since the 30's I'm guessing. Still, since it is the only movie theater option in this small town, you may want to check it out. read more

So, a little background here, I grew up in Nashville, a great little midwestern small farm town. As I child and young adult, I spent countless hours at this movie theater, there wasn't much to do for us kids, and going to the movies every Friday and Saturday night in the 70's and 80's was just what you did with your friends. It took months to get new releases, but we didn't care, as the nearest theater was over 30 miles away. I was just in town this past summer visiting my family and saw that they were going to have a popular children's movie and thought it would be fun to take my 9 year old son to see it, and to relive my childhood for an hour and a half. I was so pleasantly surprised that they have fully restored this little theater to it's somewhat original condition. They cleaned the floor for one thing, shoes did not stick in the least, unlike my childhood memories. I may have left a pair of Mary Janes there at some point. New carpeting and lighting, new materials on the wall, new paint, new screen and best of all, they still have the original deco clock that lights up in the corner. Concessions were a flashback as well, as they fully restored the old popcorn machine, also a Deco dream, and that popcorn was good, fresh and CHEAP! You can still get a small box for 50 cents or something ridiculous. And yes, they still have giant pickles. Only in the midwest have I ever seen a gigantic dill pickle wrapped up in a napkin and served ready to crunch on. My son, husband and I got all the popcorn, soda and candy we wanted and spent all of maybe $6. They are not making money on their concessions, that is for sure. Ticket prices are also cheap, at least half the price of a big theater. To address the comments of the previous reviewer about the quality of the theater. As many might know, many small town theaters have closed over the last few years because they simply could not afford to convert to digital film. They had no choice as the movie distributors discountinued using actual film, and forced everyone to convert to new, very expensive projectors, or face the demise of their businesses. The State theater has been saved by the dedicated members of the community to provide a safe, family friendly activity. They have done this by holding annual yard sales, gotten donations from all over the community, had hundreds of hours of volunteer work done and have sold "stock" to raise funds. They were able to purchase a digital system for the theater, and I can say that it is now top quality film viewing. No fuzzy picture here anymore. My husband and I were so impressed, and it was his first visit and first impression. I spent half my life living in Chicago and San Francisco and I have been to many fabulous movie palaces. But, there is nothing like this little gem. Ignore what the previous reviewers have mentioned, as it does not apply to the newly restored version of this theater. And by the way, they now get first run films, the movie we saw had only been out for two weeks, and was a big summer blockbuster. For a truly small town family friendly night out, you can't beat going to the state! Heck make a night out for dinner and go have some great food at Girolamo's pizza, Buretta's or China Inn. You can walk from any of these to the theater and make it a dinner and a movie. I'm so happy and proud that my hometown would invest in their community to make it a better place. Supporting this theater is a good thing to do. I know my family looks forward to our next visit home to see the folks and to take in another show at the State. read more

The only thing I can complain about are the old bathrooms and the fact that 90% of the time the movie goes off or something gets out of whack with it. Not sure if they fixed that yet, but it's agitating. Cheap prices for tickets, food, and drink. Used to be slow to get the newest movies, but they've gotten a lot better with that. Can't complain for a small town... at least we have it! read more

Expect nostalgia at this affordable, independent theater showing family-friendly movies a couple weeks after the big chains. It's not fancy and I don't recommend the popcorn, but it's great to have when you don't want to spend $80 to take your kids to see a show. read more