Going Steady in the Windy City review: Nostalgia worth the price of a trip to Geraldton’s Orana Cinemas

My family has a genius, but likely unoriginal, system when it comes to streaming accounts. It helps when your partner is one of three children. Each household pays for a different service, whether it be Netflix, Disney+, Binge or Stan, and we all have a profile on each one. This comes with the added bonus of having a bit of fun by changing each other’s profile pictures without warning from time to time. Imagine my puzzled reaction when my father-in-law assigned us each one of the Queer Eye guys, or the mock-offence everyone took when I assigned them each a different animal avatar. This plethora of entertainment at the touch of a remote, combined with the endless programs to watch via the free-to-air station apps and YouTube, has made it less appealing for us to fork out an Edith Cowan note to see one movie with a few snacks at the local cinema. We used to venture out every now and then to our old local drive-ins up north, but mainly for the experience of watching a film under the stars from the comfort of a mattress in the back of a ute, and the small-town social aspect, rather than for the actual film or show. But with the hope of a nostalgic experience and an excuse to get out of the house in mind, we ventured off the couch and out to Orana Cinemas for a Sunday evening treat. The cinema is in the middle of Geraldton’s CBD with a decent carpark, making it a convenient venue for most people. It boasts good old-fashioned arcade games, a cafe, and a selection of new releases you would expect at a city theatre. A surprise perk of the venue’s small foyer was the box office being combined with the candy bar, so we got to knock out our ticket and snack purchases in one go. Two tickets, a medium popcorn, a medium drink, a water (don’t get me started) and a classic choc bomb set us back $51 — a pretty penny to pay for a movie and some light snacks. No wonder my dad was an advocate of smuggling our snacks in when he treated me to a movie growing up, but I always longed for a serve of the hot buttery popcorn, which I could smell the moment I stepped inside the bustling lobby. I shudder to think of the joy that awaits me one day when my kids plead to take them to the “curtains”, as I used to call it as a child, but running a business and showing Hollywood blockbusters isn’t cheap, so I don’t begrudge the price too much. But this is a date column, so I’ll admit the experience may make more sense for couples getting out of the house and away from their offspring, or those finding themselves on a first date when “Netflix and chill” isn’t the road you want to go down. While we enjoyed the quintessential cinema fare and the surprisingly stellar The Suicide Squad, other double-income-no-kids folk like me might find it a better option to stay home with the remote in one hand, a budget bowl of Ice Magic-topped dessert in the other, and plenty more options to choose from in the comfort of their own homes.