Dinner & a movie (a.k.a. Fork & Screen)

I had the most enjoyable dinner and a movie experience I've had in awhile. This may be more of a product that I hardly ever go out to dinner and a movie on the same night than anything else (at least since Thurman was born). I do wish my kids could have experienced it with me though.

I'm at a conference (AIR) in downtown Atlanta this weekend, which would be much cooler if downtown Atlanta actually had anything interesting to do. (Yes, yes, there's the Coke museum and the aquarium...and lots of hotels and parking garages.) Seriously, Hoboken has more restaurants and things to do than downtown Atlanta.

I learned from the local planners of the conference that more of the "night life" and entertainment are in little suburban clusters around the city. So, having nothing on my schedule after 4:00 today, I decided I'd take the MARTA train out and check out one of them. I ended up party by chance in the suburb of Buckhead, GA- about a 20 minute ride.

My main goal for the evening was to find a movie theater and go to dinner afterwards, and my trusty iPhone found a couple of cinemas in the area. One had kind of a weird name, the AMC Fork & Screen. I figured it must be some kind of local whimsical name or something. It was the nearest to the train station, so I headed over to check it out.

I knew going in that my family was going to see "Up", and a showing of that movie was starting soonest (my other choice, Terminator, was starting at 8:00, too late). So I got a ticket at the outside ticket window and headed inside. I was greeted by an attendant, and saw there was a bar in the movie theater, which seemed a bit odd. The attendant took my ticket, and then handed me a menu, which I must have looked at in a rather blank or confused manner. He asked if I had ever been there before, to which I admitted I hadn't.

The attendant than calmly explained to me the concept of the Fork & Screen...it's eating dinner while watching a movie. As you can imagine, this is a concept I can buy into easily. I like movies, I like dinner. And ever since watching Pulp Fiction (1995), I have fantasized about eating a big sloppy cheeseburger while watching a movie in a theater just like John Travolta's character bragged about doing while in Amsterdam.

Anyway, it was a very pleasant time. The movie was great. The food was good (Fish & Chips, I had a big sloppy burger last night). I even had popcorn for desert. It was great, I even got to fill out a survey afterwards.

So, upon returning to my room I decided to try to find out how many other AMC Fork & Screens there were. Other than Buckhead, GA there appears to be only one...in Olathe, KS (suburb of Kansas City). Which is really kind of sad. I hope they get more so I can recommend them to friends. I can still recommend them I guess, but no one I know gets to Kansas City or Atlanta that often. Well, enjoy it if you can!

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Separately, I will highly, highly recommend "UP". Just about everything Pixar does is great at minimum, and often achieves movie greatness. "Up" is definitely among the best of the best of the Pixar movies. Do yourself a favor and go see it (with your kids if you have any) in the theater.