Cinema in Costa Rica!

We just got back from the movies! We saw James Bond – Quantum of Solace. If you don’t know, it is largely set in Bolivia (a Spanish-speaking country – remember that, it’s important…).

We got there a bit earlier than we needed to – it started at 6:40, and we were in our seats by 6:30 (us and another couple). At 6:40 on the dot, the lights dimmed, commercials were aired, more people came in… Reminded me of going to the movies in small-town USA (we once arrived a few minutes into the pre-movie commercial, and they offered to re-start it for us – can you see that happening now? Anywhere?). The price was reasonable - c1800, or about $3.25 each. I think the last time I saw a movie in California, it was $10 (and it was a matinee).

An e-friend (you know who you are) tells me that there is a cine in Curridabat where they bring your dinner and wine orders to your plush seat - just like a restaurant, but with big-screen entertainment - Now that sounds too good to be true!

Most live-action movies in Costa Rica are in the original language (usually English), with Spanish subtitles. Note that most *cartoon* movies are in Spanish. Sooo, if you really want to know if your Spanish is up to snuff, go see a movie in Costa Rica that is set in a Spanish-speaking country – like Bolivia… You will find that whenever the characters speak Italian, French, Spanish, or whatever-not-English, the usual I-depend-on-them-but-not-for-long English subtitles are (you guessed it) not *there!* They continue with the Spanish ones - *except* when the characters are speaking Spanish – then NONE!

I suggest starting with an action-adventure movie, where dialog isn’t really all that important anyway. This is in no way meant to slam these movies, which I like – they’re fun!