312B William St
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
(08) 9328 3771
Website
Facebook
Hours:
Mon-Thu 10:00 - 18:00
Fri 10:00 - 21:00
Sat 10:00 - 17:00
Sun 12:00 - 17:00
1Up Microcinema is one of those innovative and independent businesses that have a holistic approach to vintage. They sell modern nostalgia not granny stuff. They show Indie movies not mainstream stories. They sell clothing for edgy people, not edgy clothing for normal people.
By the day, 1UM is a fashion shop for boys and girls who are cheeky, daring, cool and colourful. 1UMC has a great selection of funky female an male clothing. Cheaper than you can expect and with a mix of styles that go from the hyper-funky to the daring, from the cute to the cool, from the black and white to the super-colourful, from the hyper-sexy to the hyper-comfy. Prices are also cheaper than I expected. A pair of Ziggy jeans for 90 bucks is a good deal, I think. They also sell super-cute nostalgic toys with characters from 1990s cartoons and TV shows.
By the night, 1UM is
also a super-cool cute and nostalgic cinema. It mostly
shows independent films, documentaries and short films. You can visit on
your own or book the whole place for your family and friends and have
an unique personalised experience. It is so very cozy. They even have
beanbags! Like a home-theatre room, but bigger. Like an underground
cinema but smaller and in the heart of Perth. Their candy bar is actually full of candies! You
can buy a few of funky sweets, like the colourful pop tarts, plenty of
chocolate bars and other pocketable sweets, and take them up to enjoy
with your movie. ]
1UM is also a vintage gaming place with two areas devoted to video-games that are already part of video-gaming history. Oh Gosh, I was transported to my young-errrr days and my three brothers competitions on those very games.They regularly organise Mario Kart competition-dating events ,too, for you and your future girl!
Not enough? 1UP has a couple of owners who have created something unique in Perth and, despite so, act like normal people and are lovely. That is super-cool, to me.
JUST A NOTE
The business is changing its name from 1Up Microcinema to Brown Class Cinema. Their Facebook site shows the name name. I love their original name! On the other hand, Brown is never a good colour for a cinema. What about purple!
164 James St
Northbridge Western Australia 6003
(08) 9227 1771
http://www.luna.com.au
Paradiso is one of the few cinemas left open in the CDB, and the one that shows the most interesting films, mostly European films and awarded ones.
I have a mix of feelings about the Paradiso. I like the location and place, and I go there often, but the atmosphere is decadent and boring, and the selection of movies mainstream. No spark anywhere or from anybody.
Despite its great location, and the mix of cosy and fully-sized cinema theatres, the place looks desert most of the times, no matter the time of the day you go, the day of the week you go. I have often felt like a loner, despite me going there to share the movie with other humans. You know, if I wanted to watch a movie on my own I would do so comfortably at home. I have rarely found the cinema theatres full, and it is usually Oscar-related movies or popular foreign comedies. The last two A separation, and A Chinese Tale.
The Paradiso hosts the French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian, and Israeli Film Festivals every year. That is great. What is not great is the selection of movies shown, which is usually made of bland comedies, feel-good movies and an isolated drama... mainstream. They are great if you want to practice any of those languages or see anything foreign in general, especially if you attend the special events they host. Honestly, I would rather have a World Movies film festival showing terrific films from different countries of a given year, than well-marketed mediocre national ones. Wouldn't you? If you really love
Indie, independent and good-quality world movies go elsewhere.
The Paradiso is full of loners who do not want to be so. There is a reason why the cinema does not attract the bunch of people that Luna does, despite its location, and it is the selection of movies they have, the atmosphere of the place, and the time screenings they have. That explains the abundance of retirees and mature people in general.
A
nother thing that bugs me is that the people selling the tickets never seem to be happy or smiley. That is so, because there is usually one person attending to the sale of tickets, and another to the bar, and one, if we are lucky, helping the other two in special events. This is so even if the cue reaches the street. They are overworked many times, and cannot show any spark, because they do not have any left.
The Paradiso is not like one of those old European cinemas, the ones that pretends to be, because those cinemas are full any time of the day with people of all ages and lots of young people, they are much cheaper in general, and have better prices for students.
The good thing about the Paradiso is that, most times, you can seat wherever you want, and cry freely at a movie without having to fake that a tiny particle of dust is the cause.
I like the Paradiso, but they need to revamp the place, still keeping its essence, and to have a better selection of movies. On the other hand, many of the movie festivals show the films at awkward times, which are impossible for any working person to attend.
They used to have a better selection of movies in the past, so I
do not know what is happening.
700 Hay Street
Piccadilly Arcade
Perth Western Australia 6000
(08) 9322 3577
http://www.piccadillycinemas.com/
Hours:
Mon-Sun 10:00 - 23:00
Let us rejoice - Perth only cinema left in the city centre is also Perth only heritage listed Art-Deco Cinema. Cinema one is really splendid, and will remind you of the Astor and Paradiso. The cinema is in the heart of the city and has the advantage of his discounted priced on special days.
In the last few five years, the Piccadilly has tried to revamp itself by changing their pricing policies and the selection of titles they show, to make the cinema more popular and profitable, but, by doing so, the magic of the Piccadilly has been progressively vanishing.
The movies shown nowadays are mostly average Hollywood blockbusters (bland romances, action movies, animation and popular comedies) and rarely good titles. It used to be the contrary, the occasional blockbuster was a rarity among mostly good films (the same as those shown at the Luna cinemas) although screened one or two weeks after they premiered elsewhere - which explained the super-duper prices at the time.
The increase in prices has not had a reflection in the managing and repairing of the cinema beyond what is strictly necessary. I just want to pinpoint a few issues that the cinema needs to address, as they are charging us full price for the movies at present. Here are some of the Piccadilly's peccadilloes:
1/ Most of the cinema rooms have their seats and/or upholstery in different state of decay, but, instead of fixing or replacing them, soft red cushions have been placed over the seats; still, the cracks in the upper part of some seats are clearly visible.
2/ The space between rows in cinema room 2 (what I call the steep room) is ridiculously small even for my tiny legs, so you can imagine how uncomfortable can be for a normal guy.
3/ The smallest cinema room seems to be in a better shape, however, their seats are flat on the ground, without any considerable gradation, so if somebody seats in front of you, you won't see anything, unless you are really tall. On the other hand, the first row is too close to the screen to watch a movie comfortably from there.
4/ Their toilets have been in need of an overhaul since ever, with some of their doors' locks being broken for months without being repaired - Piccadillian bottoms, rebel! The same can be said of their rusty rattling lift, which you feel is going to stop working right there right now; the only improvement has been the change in colour of the doors from an ugly tone of pink to an ugly tone of red.
5/ For many years the Piccadilly's website has been ugly-looking and badly designed - completely amateur and unfit for any cinema. Fortunately, they have relaunched it lately, and its design and aesthetics are decent. However, underneath the showing times they have added: "No responsibility is taken for the correctness of this information". It is ridiculous and disgraceful. Then, why are they bothering to display them?
6/No EFPTOS. Yes, you are hearing well. Only cash.
Their bar is OK, but has one of those high counters I hate, too short for me and for part of the staff behind it. The staff, on the other hand, vary in their level of friendliness, some of them are really friendly and easy going, while others seem to be a bit nosey.
If you are a movie lover, you will visit the Piccadilly rarely, for some isolated animated films and comedies you fancy. However, if you like just entertainment movies, Piccadilly will be your personal paradise in the city. Despite everything, I always enjoy visiting the cinema, per se, as I like the feeling of watching a movie like people do in the movies - in cinemas that are old and beautiful!
Let's stop rejoicing for a minute and let's hope that the much needed refurbishment and overhaul of the Piccadilly will bring us the splendour of the old cinema, and also a better selection of movies.
MIND
You can now buy tickets online via their website or just following this link. You can pay with credit card and Paypal, which is great.
MONEY TIPS
* There is a NAB cash machine by Target, in case of emergency.
* They have reduced prices all day long on Tuesdays.
* They have just started a Backpackers Monday special of 8 bucks all day long for 2D movies. The backpackers will need to show their International passport or student card. It is unclear if YHA, Nomad and other backpackers cards are accepted as their website doesn't mention anything about the most popular backpacker cards...
UPDATE 7/12/2013
Unfortunately, this Perth icon has closed down its door. The website is no longer working, and it a sad farewell. The place needed of a refurbishment and more care and enthusiasm, but it was lovely. There was some incidents with roofs falling down and asbestos scare mid this year, and I wonder if that is related to the closing down.
it is very sad. Big sigh.
The only cinema left in the city at present is Paradiso.
