Thanks to Karla’s excellent sleuthing skills, Ryan, Doug, Karla and I were able to go to the
Magic Lantern tonight to finally see the movie
Black Dynamite. I’d never been to the Magic Lantern before, so it was a new experience for us. I was excited to see cookies and
DOMA coffee served behind the counter, and when we found out the actual owner of the theatre was serving us, it was an extra bonus. Ryan’s eyes honed in on the chocolate cake from
Madeleine’s, and Doug started freaking out because they didn’t serve popcorn.
See, Doug’s thing that he does is that no matter what, he
always gets popcorn when he goes to the movies. It doesn’t matter if he’s just eaten a huge meal and is stuffed to the gills with food, he will still buy popcorn. In fact, while Karla and I enjoyed our delicious mochas and Ryan chowed down on his cake, Doug glumly told the story of the last time he had NOT been able to have popcorn with his movie. What was amazing was that it was 10 years ago, back in 1999 when Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace first came out and he thought it would be better to get good seats than wrangle the packed consession line. And here he was, 10 years later at a small independent movie theatre that had the nerve to not even sell popcorn!
When Ryan finished his cake, we walked into the smaller movie theatre to wait for them to start Black Dynamite. The smaller theatre seats 32 (the large one seats 100), but it’s super cute and very intimate. We all agreed that we really liked it a lot. Then talk turned to possibly renting the room for our own use, and Doug came up with an idea that had all of us practically on the floor with laughter. He thought that if we rented the room out, we could make it Cat Night so we could all bring our cats (of course, he really just wanted an excuse to be able to bring his “little man” Leo with him somewhere) and if we got bored, he could use the laser pointer and Leo would run around in the room and chase after it...and he was serious!
Then the owner Joe came in to deliver Doug’s large coffee (Doug had actually caved and bought his own piece of cake to try and make up for the popcorn), and Ryan asked him how much it would cost to rent out the room. Ryan liked what he heard, so if in the future you see an announcement on here that starts out with “The Toad Presents…”, that’s why.
Black Dynamite was amazingly awesome, and I can’t recommend it enough. If you love blaxploitation movies like Dolomite (and all the Rudy Ray Moore films), Super Fly and Cleopatra Jones as much as Ryan and I do, then this new movie is completely faithful to the original genre. Even the soundtrack, the clothes and the sets were spot on! And with lines like “Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for Kung-Fu treachery!” and “I’m sorry I pimp-slapped you into the china cabinet” it’s absolutely hilarious to boot.

When we walked out of the theatre, we were accosted by some college kids doing interviews for Gonzaga TV. They wanted to know how we felt about our experience at the Magic Lantern, so I pushed Ryan over to them, because we all know Ryan’s a ham. We weren’t disappointed, as when they asked him what movie he came to see, Ryan leaned into the microphone and shouted with glee, “Black Dy-NO-Miiiiiiiiiite!” The rest of the interview went off as normal as can be possible when talking to Ryan (thank God Gonzaga TV isn't watched by very many people), and then he walked over and bought another piece of cake to take home and eat.