Screen Changer

New River Oaks theater set to lavish comfort, food and drink like you've never seen on moviegoers

The hype has been running pretty high on the new iPic Theater officially opening November 6 in River Oaks District. So when I arrived Thursday afternoon for a preview and a visit with iPic Entertainment president and CEO Hamid Hashemi, I confess to being a bit skeptical.

Skepticism misplaced. And the hype is not hype at all.

The eight auditoriums, seating a total of around 500 movie-goers, are the plushest thing I've seen since flying business class on Emirates Air. Hashemi would beg to disagree. He compares the premium seats (and there is nothing less than premium) to flying first class and the premium-plus seating as flying private.

With 11 locations around the country, iPic Houston is taking even greater strides in the luxury arena by including a restaurant/bar in the theater and introducing a new form of seating — the pod.

Chillin' in the pod

"This is the first theater in our company that we have this pod design that you are looking at," he said. "We've been working on this design for a little over a year."

We sat in one of the cozy, comfy seating arrangements for two on the glove-leather loungers, which recline to about 30 degrees. Premium-plus seating amenities include a storage area for shoes and handbags, pillows and soft blankets, hidden cup holders and a rotating table for food and drink service from the restaurant.

Push a button and an attendant — or ninja — is quickly at your side taking your order. (For those in the mere premium seats, no reclining and closer to the screen, food and drink are available for take-out from the movie theater grill.)

At the moment, the luxurious redolence of leather permeates the theaters. It's an appealing smell that we fear will soon be replaced by the aroma of popcorn, which surprisingly is free and unlimited in iPic theaters.

The theaters are not designed for the typical moviegoer who might be more interested in texting and chatting than in watching the movie, according to Hashemi.

"This is for people that are going out and they want to have a really great night out," he said. "When they buy a ticket here, every seat is assigned. This is a completely different experience. It is a very relaxed experience. People pay a little bit more because they value their time and their experience. You are in an auditorium with like-minded people."

In other words, this theater is geared to adults willing to pay a bit more for a much more civilized movie experience.

Benefits of membership

iPic has a free membership program with various incentives and offerings including a membership ticket price. With 1.3 million members, they must be doing something right.

Premium seats: Member prices are $12 Monday through Thursday, $14 weekends.

Premium plus seats: Member prices are $18 Monday through Thursday, $24 Friday through Sunday.

"It really becomes your nighttime single destination for your most common entertainments — eat, drinking and movies," Hashemi said. "This is the same thing that Starbucks did for coffee. This is that third place away from home. If Starbucks is the place your going to hang out in the daytime, this becomes your nighttime destination."

In short, it's "dinner and a movie" all in one place.

iPic Entertainment president and CEO Hamid Hashemi tries out his first venture into Houston at River Oaks District.

News, Shelby, iPic Theater, Oct. 2015, Hamid Hashemi

Photo by Shelby Hodge

iPic Entertainment president and CEO Hamid Hashemi tries out his first venture into Houston at River Oaks District.

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Documentary News

Netflix series Waco: American Apocalypse debuts with newly unearthed footage

Waco: American Apocalypse

ATF agents at Waco compound in 1993.

Netflix has a new series on the tragedy that took place in Waco three decades ago: Called Waco: American Apocalypse, it's a three-part series documenting the standoff between cult leader David Koresh and the federal government that ended in a fiery inferno, televised live, with 76 people dead.

The series debuts on March 22, to coincide with the 30-year anniversary of the event which took place from February 28 to April 19, 1993.

It's an oft-told tale and not the only new release to try and exploit the 30-year anniversary: Jeff Guinn, former books editor at the Fort Worth Star Telegram, just came out with a book in January, also described as definitive, called Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage.

Waco: American Apocalypse is directed by another Texan: Dallas native Tiller Russell (Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer), who obtained never-before-seen videotapes of FBI negotiations, as well as raw news footage and interviews with insiders.

Those insiders include one of David Koresh’s spiritual wives; the last child released from the compound alive; a sniper from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team; the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit Chief; journalists; and members of the ATF tactical team who watched colleagues die in the shootout against the heavily armed members of the religious sect.

The FBI videotaped inside the hostage negation room, thinking they'd be there maybe 24 hours, not 51 days.

"These are video cassettes that were sitting in somebody’s closet for 30 years, that show the mechanics of hostage negotiations in an intimate setting - not the hostage negotiation scenarios you see in films, but a team of people grinding, day in and day out, for 51 days," Russell says.

He also procured footage from Waco TV station KWTX, who had a reporter embedded in the initial gunfight.

While the standoff was broadcast live on TV at the time, much of it was out of camera range. The film uses 3D graphics to recreate the details of the compound.

Russell acknowledges that the tale of the cult leader who was also a pedophile, the debate over the right to bear arms, the constitutional limits of religious freedom, dredge up painful conversations that continue today.

"It cast a long shadow, pre-saging the Timothy McVeigh bombing in Oklahoma, the shooting at Colombine, and a growing distrust of government, but I think it's important to reckon with our past so we don't repeat mistakes," he says.

"So much of what’s roiling in culture today can be traced to Waco, a story about God and guns in America with all these children at the center whose lives were determined by the adults around them," he says. "There was no playbook for what happened, everyone was out on a limb, and people made mistakes. But almost everybody was trying to do their very best."

"I think this is a story that's often recalled in politicized terms, with finger-pointing on who screwed up and how did we get here, but there's a profound humanity to it all," he says.

Watch the trailer below:

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