I’m starting to run out of Odeon cinemas that I can review. Certainly at this point I’ve seen a movie on every screen on every Odeon in Dublin and I’m close (definitely this month) to having seen a movie on every screen in every Odeon in Kildare too.
The Odeon that I visited last in the confines of Dublin was the Odeon in Coolock.
Of all the Odeon cinema that I’ve visited so far, the Coolock Odeon is the most…uniform. More than any of the other Odeon locations that I’ve been too, the auditoriums in Coolock are very similar to one another. Of the ten screens in Coolock, eight of the screens have a capacity of 200 seats and two of the screens have a capacity of 297 seats. Not that the uniformity is a hindrance. You can’t have too much of a good thing.
The movies that I saw in the Coolock Odeon, in screen order, were:
Marvel Avengers Assemble 3D
G.I. Joe: Retaliation 3D
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Side Effects
Ted
Marvel Avengers Assemble
Wreck-It Ralph
Contraband
Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World
Killing Them Softly
Getting to the cinema requires two bus journeys for me, but if you’re coming from the centre of Dublin City, it’s an easy enough journey. The cinema is serviced by a few different bus routes and when they run efficiently they run really well. But when Dublin Bus decides to have a bad day (which does happen), you could be waiting an eternity to get out there or back again.
The cinema is located in complex beside a 24 hour bowling alley, a Burger King, and a branch of Power City. For the Americans out there, Power City is kinda sorta like a very low rent version of Best Buy. And that’s the one thing that I don’t like about the Coolock Odeon, there’s nothing around the local area to eat time if you are early for your movie. You can only spend so much time walking around Power City before idly wondering what the most efficient form of suicide might be, and I honestly don’t know if the bowling alley charges admission. Recently, a Costa Coffee branch has been installed in to the cinema (they have the room, but more on that later) and I’m sure that it will suffice for a lot of folk, but it ain’t my cup of tea. So to speak. If I want to lounge around somewhere, I’ll go for a pint and read comics or write for a while. If I want a caffeine hit, I’ll get a Diet Coke or Pepsi Max and consume it while I go on about the business of living my life. Coffee shops really don’t appeal to me.
When you walk in the front door, you’re immediately faced with a pretty small porch area that holds a couple of automated ticket machines, screens with movie schedules and, usually, a couple of standees for movies yet to come. But when you walk through that small area, you find yourself in a nice huge big foyer. I like being able to walk in to a place and see what’s happening all around you before having to actually decide what course of action to take or where to queue, or just to see that there a load of kids are going to the same movie that you are and having a chance to get tickets for a screening that’ll be less dementing.
I’ve mentioned many times how easy the staff in the Odeon are to deal with, and the Coolock staff are no exception. I have to this point only screwed up twice when it comes to bookings for Republic of Cinema. Once it happened that I booked for a screen I’d already seen a movie on. But once it happened that I actually booked for the wrong cinema entirely. Not only was there an astounding and impressive lack of sarcasm and mockery about my stupid mistake, but I was then accommodated with a ticket for a screening that had already started.
And whether it’s worth mentioning or not, because my Premier Club loyalty card was issued in Coolock anywhere I go in the country to use the card at all, Coolock is listed as my “home” cinema.
Simon Says 