Cinema Rex

Cinema Rex is CONvergence's official film room; a place to relax, be comfortable, eat popcorn, chat, and watch great films. Cinema Rex takes the idea of a convention film room one step beyond....

For more on the Cinema Rex history and philosophy, read The Cinema Rex Story.

2009 Update:

Rex is very excited that it will be a four day con forever; rest assured he is pushing for five days!

He is again very glad to be working with a whole extra day of time for scheduling lots of great movies. With this year's theme, Rex will be hitting many different angles of comedy, including straight geek funny material, dark comedy, satire and outright bad films.

At this time, we can announce plans for the following events:

Teen filmmaker and past guest Emily Hagins will be bringing her newly completed film "The Retelling" and chat about her experiences working on the film.

Longtime Convergence funny guys Joseph Scrimshaw and Tim Uren (of Soylent Theater) will do a live commentary/skewering of a bad film... we don't know which movie yet, but you know with these guys slinging the jokes it'll be a metric buttload of fun.

Cinema Rex Movie Schedule

What movies will we be showing at Cinema Rex? Our arrangements with the distributors of these films prevent us from advertising most of them prior to the convention. As a sample of what kind of films you can expect, check out our playlists from previous years:

The Cinema Rex Story

By now, most of you know the drill: Big screen, great sound, comfy chairs, lots of snacks... Cinema Rex is simply the place to watch great sci-fi films.

Why the name "Cinema Rex"? Rex is the name of a long time convention-going dinosaur that lives with Eric Knight and John Grams - the guys running Cinema Rex. He has been a regular participant in the CONvergence Masquerade and has judged at the CONvergence Masquerade in both 1999 and 2003! Rex has thought long and hard on how to best run a film room. Some may think he's full of hot air, but here is what he has come up with:

Comfort

Who wants to sit through a movie in a hard chair? Well, you don't have to: Rex has brought in a truckload of comfy couches, chairs, and love seats for your beleaguered bottoms.

Atmosphere

While he was at it, he scooped up armloads of lamps, coffee tables, and end tables so during the films you'll have a place for your drinks, food, and feet. In between films you won't be blasted out of your seats by fluorescent lighting.

Concessions

Candy and fresh popped popcorn (yum, yum) will adorn our concession stand. Of course you won't have to trudge all the way to the Consuite to get a beverage; we have our own. And did we mention cookies? Best yet, it's all free!!!!!

Technology

Our screen is bigger than yours. It's hard to take, we know, but it is one of the reasons to come to Cinema Rex. Most of the films projected onto the 10-foot screen will be on DVD or Laserdisc to ensure a sharp image. In addition, all widescreen films will be shown in letterbox format. Did we mention surround sound?

Films

In the end, a film room can only be as good as the films it shows. Several factors go into selecting a lineup. We want to show a variety of movies: classics that everyone should see (but we know some of you haven't), films that are painful to watch on a small screen, let alone pan-and-scanned, films that are fun to see with a crowd, and some of Rex's personal favorites.