This was a toss up between two and three stars - too bad there isn't a 2.5. This is our family's cinema of choice because of relative proximity to where we live. Now that Oneal Lane is no longer a psychotic mess it's a whole lot easier to access than it once was, but it's still pretty much one way in and one way out which is a logistical nightmare on a busy night.
Anyway, the reasons I felt moved to review it at all are three-fold and all I guess in a way reflect that I'm part of a different generation - an older generation - that had different expectations. Not to "date" myself, but when I was a kid I saw Star Wars for 50 cents at a cinema down in Tigerland that no longer exists - that's how old I am.
So this review is basically technologically and culturally oriented.
1) Outside of the enterance stand three automated machines from which one may purchase tickets without waiting in line. None, not a single one, of these machines was working today.
2) When we walked in I noticed a change at the concessions counter. Standing beside the counter on one end were two large dispensers for carbonated beverages - the sort with a touchscreen that allow you to pick from an overabundance of selections to fill your cup.
Now, IN THEORY, one would expect that this would actually speed up the line at the counter whilst we wait for popcorn and Juji Fruits, but the reality is that you still have to stand in line just to buy a cup.
It sort of reminds me of the olden days when I studied Industrial Organizational Psychology and time and motion "efficiency" studies were all the rage. I would suppose an organization as large as AMC actually did do some sort of study before making this change, but the reality is that the ONLY time saved is for the people behind the counter who take your money and give you the cup.
You and I, the customers, still have to a) stand in line to buy our cup, and then b) stand in a different line to fill it at one of the two available beverage stations.
Presumably they save time and money, but you and I get to stand in two lines instead of one.
3) Maybe those of you under the age of 30 or so don't realize it, but there was a time when you didn't go into a theatre and watch commercials for cars and phone and whatever AND THEN watch previews, then you got the movie.
Now again, one can only presume there's a financial component to this entire business model. Today I watched commercials for the new Lincoln SUV, a car I wouldn't spend that sort of money on even if I could afford it, and a host of other commercials before I was ALLOWED to watch the previews and the movies that together with my partner we had spent near $20 in order to see.
It's sort of like imagining commercials on Pay Per View or a rented DVD (something I'm sure someone out there is considering even as I type). The idea that I'm paying a premium price to watch commercial advertising just sort of really pisses me off. Call me old fashioned, but if I wanted to be bombarded by commercials I'd just stay home and watch broadcast television.
All in all it's an ok cinema - nothing particularly "grand" about it - nothing particularly inspiring. But at the end of the day, overutillization of technology and the overtly "commercial" abuse of a "captive audience" which is paying an ever-increasing price for ENTERTAINMENT and not freaking commercials, or to stand in lines for the profits and convenience of the corporations who run these places well...
If the movie going experience becomes much more expensive or too much more depersonalized, then frankly we're going to junk our old analog (yes we still don't have or need HD or bluray) televison and go out and buy a really huge wall-sized SHDTV and say "screw it" to the theatre industry all-together.
I changed my mind - 2 stars is all they get.
When the experience that is being sold is ALL about service and entertainment then I will give the cinema industry as a whole a good rethink. Until that day however, it's time for we as consumers to stand up and say that while filming movies may be the "Entertainment Industry," the delivery of films to the movie going public is a "SERVICE INDUSTRY!"
If a cinema multiplex cannot differentiate itself by content and the quality of the service then they're all just pretty much the same.... "Meh." Either they will realize that fallilng ticket sales are the result of losing sight of the fact that the experiential nature of going to see a movie isn't just about seeing the film but about the experience one has in the doing, or we'll all just wait for it to come out on bluray.
When you can spend a couple of grand on a 6 foot wide television that looks just like being there and a sound system that'll blow you away, what is it really that they're selling?
Standing in line?
Edit: Just saw the news Monday night and ticket sales are down at cinemas by a revord 44% from all time lows for the 4th of July weekend. What's that tell you? read more