Friday night marked the grand opening of the new theatres at Mall of America. No longer operated by AMC, the theatres are now known as Theatres at Mall of America and have undergone renovations that include comfy high-back seats, digital and 3D screens and real buttered popcorn. Yeah, real buttered popcorn. And I can vouch, that popcorn is good stuff.

MOA also added a VIP theatre that seats around 160 with full service. Meaning drinks, including beer and wine, and snacks brought to you at your seat.

Friday night’s event started with a cocktail hour featuring an open bar, hors d’oeuvres and Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson and Angelina Jolie, celebrity impersonators brought in from LA for the occasion.

Aside: There was mention at the party that MOA reps had an interesting time getting the talent out of Mpls/St. Paul airport because of all the attention they were attracting. Then, in Saturday’s Star Tribune, this item was in CJ’s Dish column:

Here’s Johnny, and Jack

A caller who claimed to be a NWA flight attendant went through a lot of effort — thank you — to telephone me about 2 p.m. Friday to report just having walked by Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson.

“They were lookin’ good, and I’m not talking about Jack,” said the flight attendant, who was surprised by how short Nicholson is. If this sighting is accurate, maybe they are in town for the Coen brothers’ movie shoot.

The best impersonator was the Johnny Depp guy, who worked with the real Johnny on Pirates of the Caribbean as his photo stand-in. Jack Nicholson was the most adept at working the room, making sure everyone got their picture taken with him and rushing over to people as they entered the party with his hands up saying,”Heeeey, you finally made it. I’m Jack.” I’m fairly certain he scared one couple who didn’t get his schtick. They looked trapped – looking at each other, looking at him, looking for an escape route.

I didn’t get the opportunity to mingle with Angelina, who seemed to be a fair-to-middling impersonator, although her temporary tattoos were on crooked.

Apparently, there is enough impersonator work to keep Johnny and Jack busy full-time. Amazingly enough, Jack even gets hired for bat mitzvahs. I had a hard time imagining a room of 13-year-old girls getting jazzed over an old man posing as Jack, but what do I know? I also don’t understand the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana phenomenon or those Jonas Brothers.

The VIP theatre was a great experience. There is leg room. There is arm room. There is, in short, a lot of personal space. The staff on hand was incredibly welcoming. And there was wine and the aforementioned popcorn, which helped greatly in easing me through the screening of Body of Lies, the new Russell Crowe/Leonardo DiCaprio movie.

Some quick impressions from the movie:

Russel Crowe takes the phrase “phoning it in” far too literally. Not only did he phone in his performance, he was on the phone (or headset, to be exact) almost the entire movie. And they took his costuming and hair directly from The Insider, thus saving themselves from having to come up with a look on their own.

If you’re looking to write a thriller, include some, or all, of the following: Stuff blows up. Deals are made and broken. Covers are blown. CIA agents get their fingers smashed (but not their pretty faces) and rescued. A lukewarm, multi-racial relationship that never gets off the ground. No real consequences or resolution.

Even if you place a CIA agent who looks like Leonardo DiCaprio in the middle of Jordan, no one on the street will take any notice. “What? An extremely good-looking white man who speaks Arabic? I wonder if he’s here to open a new bakery?”

Yes, absolute garbage.

But the theatres, particularly the VIP, are something for the film community to be excited about. Management at the Mall has said they are interested in doing things not possible under the reign of AMC, like hosting screenings of independent and local films, film festivals, charity events and other special events, which is great for the filmmaker looking to premiere a film in a more intimate and inviting setting.

This post was written by Rebecca Collins, Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Events, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.