Cinemas in Dubai: No food or drinks are allowed from any other food outlet except the one provided by the Cinema.  So we scoured through the food and beverage they offered.  We didn’t find coffee nor cheese popcorn. ??? Sure you wanna compete with the other cinemas around?  So we asked the guys getting the tickets up front if we could bring coffee from Starbucks as they didn’t have coffee anyway.  One said no, another said yes.  Thank you.   Hmmm..  So we stuck to water and caramel popcorn plus a bag of M&Ms.  Everything was quite tolerable until we reached the VIP seats. Uhmmmm…. VIP?  Does this mean a leaning chair which requires a heavy person to sit and lean back otherwise it won’t budge VIP?    Tell me again why we had to pay twice the price of a seat we would rather pay the regular rate..  We vowed not to take VIP seats again.

Just recently, Grand Cinema in Festival City introduced 3D.  Well we decided to go again as the nearest 3D cinema would mean to cross the other end of Dubai which is not quite convenient for us.  This time with lower expectations but we were hoping some improvement considering that they opened for several months now.

So we bought tickets, no VIP this time.  We then lined up for some  munchies, still no cheese popcorn.  Was quite excited to see a hot beverage station, was hoping this would be coffee but no… hot c hocolate apparently sells well in the cinemas that they ruled out coffee and thought of selling hot chocolate. OK, so hot chocolate but no coffee????   This is one question I would love them to answer.  What could be so wrong with coffee that they refrain to sell it?

Anyway, so we didn’t fuss much more about the coffee and tried to concentrate on the movie.  The movie experience was nice, especially with the 3D effect.  Once we finished, i rushed to the loo where I was in complete shock.  For a cinema called Grand Cinema, there was nothing grand about their loo.  Trash was kept in a black trash bag by the entrance of the loo, tiles were missing and the flush was missing in one of the cubicles.

To the management, I think you better have a good look at this.  Oh and please, if you truly care about your customers, better think about your market and what they need to have  the ultimate movie-watching experience.

We may find it hard to admit but debt is becoming one of the biggest problems we are facing at this time.  We all want what we can’t have, that’s human nature.   However,  some people are actually using their brains and making decisions wisely by not giving in to each and every desire they have.  Credit cards somehow assure us that we have money to buy things eventhough we really don’t.  We get so stuck up to buying things we want that we forget what the basic necessities are and what budget and savings mean.  We, most importantly tend to forget living a lifestyle according to what we really earn. 

I like the twist and turns of the movie, especially when she was  on TV and had a hall of fame moment from her credit collector.  Embarassing, yes.  But some of us won’t realize things until we are put to shame  or some sort of punishment. 

Another point i got from this movie is: Addiction can really mess up your life.  Shopping may sound a bit harmeless for an addiction.  But the movie just shows us how bad it is to the point that she almost lost her best friend and the man she loves. 

Each addiction ends up in lies, no sense of time, no concern for others and of course, followed by loss of friends, trust from family and loved ones.   Good thing she got back up after realizing what was happening to her. 

I would recommend everybody to watch this movie.  We all could use a good laugh and a life lesson.