Learn Hardcore Vietnamese: Mặc dù vé đắt nhưng phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị. - Although the tickets are expensive, the new movie at the cinema is very interesting.

Mặc dù is a subordinating conjunction like English although, introducing the concessive clause mặc dù vé đắt. Nhưng is a coordinating conjunction like English but, introducing the main clause nhưng phim mới… rất thú vị. You can drop nhưng and write
Mặc dù vé đắt, phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị
but most speakers keep both for clarity. If you drop mặc dù, you can say
Vé đắt nhưng phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị
or replace them with synonyms such as dù, tuy, dẫu, or tuy nhiên.

Why doesn’t this sentence include any form of the verb là or có between vé and đắt?

Vietnamese does not need a linking verb when the predicate is an adjective. You simply put the noun followed by the adjective: vé đắt (literally “ticket expensive”), where đắt functions like “is expensive.” Inserting là or có here would sound awkward or overly formal.

In English we say “expensive ticket” with the adjective before the noun. Why does Vietnamese place the adjective after the noun, as in vé đắt?

The normal order for noun plus adjective in Vietnamese is noun + adjective. Any descriptive modifier—color, size, quality—follows the noun: nhà đẹp, áo xanh, vé đắt. If there’s an adverb like rất, it comes immediately before the adjective but still after the noun: vé rất đắt.

What does rạp chiếu phim literally mean? Why does the word phim show up twice in the sentence?

Rạp chiếu phim is a compound of three words. rạp means theater, chiếu means to screen, and phim means film. Together they designate a cinema. The first phim is part of that compound, and the second phim is the noun “movie” in phim mới (“new movie”). You can shorten rạp chiếu phim to rạp phim in casual speech, but rạp chiếu phim is more precise.

Why do we use ở in ở rạp chiếu phim to indicate location? Could we use tại or đến instead?

Ở is the general preposition for location, similar to English at or in. Tại also means “at,” but it sounds more formal or written. Đến means “to” in the sense of moving toward a place, so it doesn’t work when you want to say where something is happening. Thus ở rạp chiếu phim is the natural choice.

How do you say “very interesting” in Vietnamese? Why is it rất thú vị and not thú vị rất?

In Vietnamese, intensifiers like rất always precede the adjective. So “very interesting” is rất thú vị. Placing rất after thú vị would break the rule for adverb‐adjective order and sound ungrammatical.

Can we replace the subject phim mới with a pronoun like nó and then drop phim mới altogether in the second clause?

Yes, once the movie is clear from context, you can substitute nó:
Mặc dù vé đắt nhưng nó rất thú vị.
However, you cannot omit the subject completely.
Mặc dù vé đắt nhưng rất thú vị
would feel incomplete because listeners expect a subject for rất thú vị.

Is it possible to start with the main clause and put the concessive clause at the end, for example:
Phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị mặc dù vé đắt?

Grammatically it can be done, but it sounds awkward. The preferred structure is concessive clause first with mặc dù, then main clause with nhưng. If you lead with Phim mới… rất thú vị, you’d more likely use nhưng to introduce the concession:
Phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị nhưng vé hơi đắt.

Are there other ways to express mặc dù and nhưng to make the sentence sound more varied or formal?

Yes. Instead of mặc dù you can use dù, tuy, dẫu, or the more formal tuy nhiên. In place of nhưng you can say nhưng mà, song (literary), or pair tuy nhiên with a comma. Examples:
Dù vé đắt, phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị.
Phim mới ở rạp chiếu phim rất thú vị, tuy vé hơi đắt.