The Local AMC Sucks

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

So I go out to the local AMC that's now about 2-1/2 years old. I walk into auditorium 12 and was met by a huge screen, probably 50 feet wide. Then this comes up on the screen. Never coming here again...

[William Kucharski]

At least it looks to be in focus, which is pretty good for an AMC.

[Marcel Birgelen]

So I go out to the local AMC that's now about 2-1/2 years old. I walk into auditorium 12 and was met by a huge screen, probably 50 feet wide. Then this comes up on the screen. Never coming here again...

They must have known you were coming, what other reason for them would be to put up a framing chart? They were begging you to fix it for them, but only too afraid to ask.

[Rusty Gordon]

I assume the lenses don't zoom like my home projector. Did they buy the wrong lens? Is the screen curved or masked to look like it is by some kind of deliberate keystone capability?

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I assume the lenses don't zoom like my home projector. Did they buy the wrong lens? Is the screen curved or masked to look like it is by some kind of deliberate keystone capability?

I think they moved the old crap (Sony) fron from the original theater and are making do with what they have. It's pretty pathetic! The place reeks of cheap, cheap, cheap. Am glad I snuck my own.snacks in. Also No visible surrounds, nor did I hear any surround channel. The movie was decent, but would like to sew it again in an actual movie theater.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

They must have known you were coming, what other reason for them would be to put up a framing chart? They were begging you to fix it for them, but only too afraid to ask.

Well, the manager runs the booth. He is probably not allowed to adjust anything. There was also no extreme high frequencies. Even Regal does a better job.Anyway, that test pattern is same size as the image

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

At least it looks to be in focus, which is pretty good for an AMC.

Was a touch out of focus and color fringing from poor convergence.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I assume the lenses don't zoom like my home projector. Did they buy the wrong lens? Is the screen curved or masked to look like it is by some kind of deliberate keystone capability?

Rusty,
It's a curved screen. The front end is pretty nice. But the nice stops there. Even the bathroom toilets have corroded pipes. Next time I will seek out either a Regal or Cinemark. I think there is one of those down on Bell Road near Old Hickory.

[Mitchell Dvoskin]

AMC sucks on so many fronts around here in northern NJ, I try to avoid them whenever possible.

A few years ago I was on line for popcorn at AMC. The line was about 20 customers long, and there was only one server working. The line was not moving because whenever a paid Stubs member wander into the reserved for Stubs line, the one server took them ahead of everyone else. I eventually got out of line and have never bought concessions at AMC since. I now bring my own. AMC’s policy of letting paid Stubs members cut in front of the concession line, rather than have a dedicated server for them, is unacceptable and cost them a concession customer forever.

AMC runs theatres the way AMC used to build cars. I guess that AMC Theatres are trying to be what AMC is to automobiles, out of business.

The almost new Cinemark at the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne NJ is probably the nicest theatre in the area, but the lack of screen masking screams out “Stay home, this is just a big television”.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

Well, there were 7 people in that room including us. I took my.own.snacks to, and am glad I did! The manager came into the auditorium a bit before the show to power on the booth. He saw me drinking Coke out of a bottle but said nothing.
1. The Pre-show sucks.
2.15 trailers is way too many.
3. The flush valves on the toilets are gross.
4. All parking is on the west end of the theater, but the entrance is south central.
5 There were only two people working concessions and scanning tickets, or phone.
6. There were no surrounds I could see, or hear, in a room with a 50 foot plus screen.
7. Really annoying LED ceiling lights that create a lot of glare, and I saw no egress lighting, step lighting, or aisle lighting.except an exit sign on each side of the room.
8. Piece of junk Sony projector that could not fill the screen.

This was Room 12 at the Bellevue, TN AMC which is not even three years old.

[Bobby Henderson]

Presentation quality at our local AMC (a former Carmike) here in Lawton is pass-able, but not great. The bigger problem with this theater is lack of maintenance on lots of other things. My last visit to the theater, to watch the re-make of Dune on the IMAX branded screen, I noticed some of the seats in my row had noticeable damage to them. Certain customers get a kick out of vandalizing seat cushions and arm rests. Other features in the building are showing noticeable wear and tear. The exterior signs need service work. This theater location opened just six years ago, but it's starting to look a lot older than that. The Carmike chain was well known for being cheap in all kinds of bad ways, but it sure seems like AMC is pushing the cheapness to whole new low levels.

[Don Furr]

The last commercial theatre we went to (over 2 years ago) was an AMC rebranded Carmike in Temecula, Ca. and it was totally a disaster. Huge curved screen and the picture was dim and the picture didn't even come close to fitting the screen.
The left screen speaker was DOA. The concession stand was poorly designed and one of the serve yourself drink machines wasn't working. The AMC's in Georgia we use to attend were pretty good back in the early 2000's.

[John Thomas]

FYI -- the Vista pattern is a DCP. So just because you see it on screen doesn't mean it's coming from a Sony. And since you mentioned convergence issues it was more likely to be a DLP.

[Martin Brooks]

Were you more upset that there was a framing chart up or that they might have been using a Sony projector? Frankly, I'd rather see a framing chart than a dumb (and too loud) pre-show.

In NYC, I actually think the AMC Lincoln Square and the AMC Empire 25 do a pretty decent job, especially in the larger auditoriums. The AMC 34th street isn't terrible either. There are some auditoriums at the E25 that need seats replaced and I can't stand small auditoriums/screens in any case, but I do like the fact that both of those theaters don't have lounge seating on most of the screens. Most of the screens at the Lincoln Square happen to have really excellent sound.

The Regal E-Walk across the street from the E25 was once a decent theater, but they renovated it with lounge seating and it now has much lower capacity. It originally had almost 3300 seats and now it has under 1400.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

FYI -- the Vista pattern is a DCP. So just because you see it on screen doesn't mean it's coming from a Sony. And since you mentioned convergence issues it was more likely to be a DLP.

No, it was for sure a Sony. I could see enough of it through the port to tell... As cheap as ANC is, they likely moved all the gear from the old theater that was less than a mile away, to the new one. .The subs were pretty impressive, but there were no surrounds and I could tell the speakers were JBL 4675's The previews were deafening, all 15 of them. Who the hell runs 15 previews??? So apparently they either have no automation controlling sound level, or they just don't care. I think both actually. Oh, and LED ceiling lights that created an awful glare.