Peg and I are very familiar with Point Ruston. Built on the site of the ASARCO smelter, with stellar views and a growing number of shops and restaurants, it even has its own museum about the smelter and town of Ruston. We used to own a number of homes within Ruston and ASARCO was one of our clients. The video that plays at the museum is consists of the video we produced of about the implosion of the old smoke stack that dominated the skyline south of Vashon Island. We also produced videos demonstrating the yard work that was done for homes around the Ruston area. Point Ruston itself has apartments and condominiums for people who appreciate urban and wonderful waterfront living.
On the 19th of November Tacoma saw the first run major motion picture theater to open in years. We saw three movies in four days at the Century Point Ruston and XD Theatre. Good movies always have good actors in them. And all three movies fit that bill. My favorite part of The Hunger Games - Mockingjay Part 2 was seeing Josh Hutcherson. He plays the main character in one of my favorite films, Little Manhattan. In Spectre, the latest James Bond movie I was delighted to see Andrew Scott, who played "Cowboy" in Band of Brothers and one of my favorite characters in Pride. In Bridge of Spies, I recognized Jesse Plemons, who made an impact in Children On Their Birthdays. Plemons played a fellow U2 pilot/friend of Gary Powers. The Cohen brothers wrote the script, Steven Spielberg directed, with Tom Hanks as the defensive attorney for accused spy Mark Rylance. Tom Hanks portrays the kind and righteous man, James Donovan. Mark Rylance plays the spy Rudolf Abel as a man just doing his job and resigned to whatever fate delivers. Rylance played the part of Cromwell in the TV mini-seriesWolf Hall. This feature film resonates with some of the same shameful behavior that our government and citizens exhibit today.
In two of our three visits we parked within fifty feet of the front door of the theater and the third visit, we parked about sixty feet away. On our first visit we arrived about twenty minutes before showtime and the lobby was pretty empty. With the new theater you can purchase tickets online AND choose your seats. Seating is the modern over-stuffed recliners. Peg chose the row just below the main aisle. What's nice about the new set-up is that even in the reclining position there is room to walk in front of the seats. For our second show we sat two rows up and for the third show we sat one row from the top. Like Baby Bear these seats were just right. Behind each row up from the aisle there is a little wall directly behind the seats and even in the full recline position you easily look over the wall and see no heads blocking your view. The wall also blocks off noise and gives a more intimate feel.
The food service was really sloooooow, but hopefully the servers will get quicker. Getting hot dogs is painful to watch. The servers have to put on the plastic gloves, then pull out and open up the little boxes that the hot dogs are delivered in. The server then has to open up a bag of buns and open the buns. Each hot dog is checked for the right temperature and then the hot dog is laid onto the bun and then wrapped in tinfoil and laid in the box, which is then closed. All of this is done with the server turned away from the customer. The good news is that the hot dogs are good . . . and available. One of my pet peeves with movie theaters that served hot dogs is that they never had them ready. Peg and I bought a dog at $4.50 each. Next time I think we'll share the 1/4 pound Angus beef dog, which costs about .85 more, but the dogs are a third again larger.
Again, the servers both at the food stands and the ticket counter were really slow, but after a few weeks they should be up to speed. Everyone was helpful. The seats were extremely comfortable and the prices affordable. On Discount Tuesday we paid $5.50 per ticket. On Senior Day (Wednesday) the price is $6.50 per senior. On Saturday we paid $10.75 for each senior ticket, but was for the XD Theater and we also got free popcorn from a roll of coupons they gave us. We're not going to give up our membership for the Grand Cinema (they have better popcorn)and generally they have films that don't compete, but there is some cross-over. The Point Ruston Cinema location is perfect for us. The Point Ruston theater complex is just down the hill from our home and Dolce Si is just a hundred yards from the theater. After our first theater visit we stopped in at Dolce Si for gellato and cannoli. That's not something your body can take three times in a week, but once . . . we enjoyed the confections. After the movies they do a sweet business, even though the theater sells Dreyer's Ice Cream in the lobby. Besides the gellato and cannoli they had other rolls and cookies as well. There were huge empty areas in their glass cases, so I'm guessing business was brisk for the opening weekend of the new theaters.
p.s. What's really interesting about the theaters is that we found the show times listed in The Seattle Times, but not The News Tribune.
Peg and I are very familiar with Point Ruston. Built on the site of the ASARCO smelter, with stellar views and a growing number of shops and restaurants, it even has its own museum about the smelter and town of Ruston. We used to own a number of homes within Ruston and ASARCO was one of our clients. The video that plays at the museum is consists of the video we produced of about the implosion of the old smoke stack that dominated the skyline south of Vashon Island. We also produced videos demonstrating the yard work that was done for homes around the Ruston area. Point Ruston itself has apartments and condominiums for people who appreciate urban and wonderful waterfront living.
On the 19th of November Tacoma saw the first run major motion picture theater to open in years. We saw three movies in four days at the 
In two of our three visits we parked within fifty feet of the front door of the theater and the third visit, we parked about sixty feet away. On our first visit we arrived about twenty minutes before showtime and the lobby was pretty empty. With the new theater you can purchase tickets online AND choose your seats. Seating is the modern over-stuffed recliners. Peg chose the row just below the main aisle. What's nice about the new set-up is that even in the reclining position there is room to walk in front of the seats. For our second show we sat two rows up and for the third show we sat one row from the top. Like Baby Bear these seats were just right. Behind each row up from the aisle there is a little wall directly behind the seats and even in the full recline position you easily look over the wall and see no heads blocking your view. The wall also blocks off noise and gives a more intimate feel.
The food service was really sloooooow, but hopefully the servers will get quicker. Getting hot dogs is painful to watch. The servers have to put on the plastic gloves, then pull out and open up the little boxes that the hot dogs are delivered in. The server then has to open up a bag of buns and open the buns. Each hot dog is checked for the right temperature and then the hot dog is laid onto the bun and then wrapped in tinfoil and laid in the box, which is then closed. All of this is done with the server turned away from the customer. The good news is that the hot dogs are good . . . and available. One of my pet peeves with movie theaters that served hot dogs is that they never had them ready. Peg and I bought a dog at $4.50 each. Next time I think we'll share the 1/4 pound Angus beef dog, which costs about .85 more, but the dogs are a third again larger.
Again, the servers both at the food stands and the ticket counter were really slow, but after a few weeks they should be up to speed. Everyone was helpful. The seats were extremely comfortable and the prices affordable. On Discount Tuesday we paid $5.50 per ticket. On Senior Day (Wednesday) the price is $6.50 per senior. On Saturday we paid $10.75 for each senior ticket, but was for the XD Theater and we also got free popcorn from a roll of coupons they gave us. We're not going to give up our membership for the Grand Cinema (they have better popcorn)and generally they have films that don't compete, but there is some cross-over. The Point Ruston Cinema location is perfect for us. The Point Ruston theater complex is just down the hill from our home and Dolce Si is just a hundred yards from the theater. After our first theater visit we stopped in at