Better Than AMC

You enter the stadium-like theater as the previews roll and “’scuse me, ’scuse me, ’scuse me” your way across the sticky floor, only to park your keister in a seat full of nacho cheese. You bought a $15 ticket, $9 glorified Orville Redenbacher munchies, and a $6 bucket of watery Coke for that? Your two-year-old could have put some Velveeta on your loveseat for free! At last, your movie-night options have been upgraded from typical to tropical with Movies Under the Stars. Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is opening its lush grounds to film buffs tired of multiplex monotony, and we can bet you’ve never seen the Oscar-winning Juno while lying on a blanket amid the illuminated sculptures of Lichtenstein, Botero, and Chihuly.

Trans fatty popcorn will be a distant memory after you’ve noshed on goodies from the Garden’s Veranda Restaurant, Garden Café, or Cycad Circle Café. The movie starts tonight at 8, but arrive early so you can wander through the gardens. Admission is $20 for Fairchild members, $30 for nonmembers.
Thu., April 17, 2008