AMC A-List & other theater subscriptions (1 Viewer)

[benbess]

Something that from my pov is useful about the AMC A-list app is that you can see how many seats have been sold for each showing. I've had my Pfizer booster, but I want to avoid big crowds. For instance, the imax Spiderman shows were close to sold out, but at my 3D showing on opening night of the same movie the theater was about 90% empty—plus I sat in third row, which was pretty far away from everyone else.

The new Matrix movie opens in a few days, and the imax showing is similarly almost sold out. But there's a showing with on-screen captions that when I got my A-list ticket a few minutes ago was completely empty. I'm sure some seats will be sold, which is again why got my ticket in the third row.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Something that from my pov is useful about the AMC A-list app is that you can see how many seats have been sold for each showing. I've had my Pfizer booster, but I want to avoid big crowds. For instance, the imax Spiderman shows were close to sold out, but at my 3D showing on opening night of the same movie the theater was about 90% empty—plus I sat in third row, which was pretty far away from everyone else.

The new Matrix movie opens in a few days, and the imax showing is similarly almost sold out. But there's a showing with on-screen captions that when I got my A-list ticket a few minutes ago was completely empty. I'm sure some seats will be sold, which is again why got my ticket in the third row.

Yes, this is helpful. You can assess crowds and move to another seat - or another screen - if it's too packed for your liking!

When I got my IMAX AMC Spidey ticket for tomorrow, I was literally the 1st one to do so. Looks like the room is about 1/3 sold right now.

My Thursday "Matrix" screening looks about 60% right now. I'll still probably go, but I might change my mind.

 

[benbess]

My A-list movie today was A Journal For Jordan, which was directed by Denzel Washington. I liked it more than I thought I would. My rating: A-

 

[steve jaros]

My A-List Report for 2021

I saw 119 movies via A-List in 2021, at a savings of $889 off the regular ticketed price at the time of reservation, not including tax or any service fees and after deducting the $276 I paid A-List in monthly fees.

I really took advantage of premium formats. I saw 25 films in IMAX, 26 in Dolby Cinema and 7 in 3D. That's almost half of the bookings in premium format.

Additionally, I benefited from Fandango as well. I book my A-List via Fandango, and for every four bookings you get a $5 reward that can be applied towards the purchase of a movie ticket. I cashed in 29 of those in 2021, and as essentially all of my Fandango bookings are for A-List, that's another $145 in savings tied to A-List, albeit indirectly. But I am a big fan of doing A-List via Fandango. It has paid off for me, literally.

It was an amazing year on A-List, despite the virus!

 

[Chris Will]

Well, I think I regret subscribing to A-List again. I thought things were improving and a local theater manager implied to me that later show times were returning soon. I have only use my A-list 3 times since signing back up on December 9th and not once in that last 2 weeks. My 2 AMCs show nothing past 7:30/7:45 which is too early for me, I don't like bailing on my family before they go to sleep. I was always a 9:30 or later viewer. Plus, they are not showing the smaller movies that interest me or they come and go so fast. House of Gucci only shows at 3:30 everyday and I'm at work.

This sucks because now I'm on the hook for 2 more months and I doubt I'll use it at all.

Not to mention that 2 of the 3 movies I have seen have had some kind of problem that caused me to have to speak to an employee to correct the issue. The theaters have been a mess and just in bad shape, half the urinals in all the restrooms are out of order. I understand that they are short staffed but, if you can't offer a quality product to your customers then just keep the doors closed. It feels like not any maintenance or repair work has been done since the start of the pandemic.

It sucks living in a small market because AMC just doesn't pay much attention to our theaters and not enough people are visiting to justify longer hours (that just my guess). I want to go to the movies but, I need my later show times back. Just show me how to push play on these digital projectors and send everyone else home, I'll be fine.

 

[benbess]

Compared to Cinemark, which is the chain with the best theaters in our town, our AMC is a distant second when it comes to quality. The Cinemark theaters have reclining seats, excellent sound systems, and are very well maintained, while the AMC has old-fashioned fixed seats, and the restrooms are less than ideal.

But I've gotten used to seeing all the movies I want for somewhere around $2 per movie. I probably wouldn't see many superhero movies, horror movies, drama movies, B-movies, etc. if I had to pay $10-15 each for them, but for around two bucks each I get to see them all. I wish AMC would reach for the standards that Cinemark has set. Unfortunately, it seems like a case of you get what you pay for.

I do have the Cinemark app, which for $10 a month gives you one movie a month, compared to the A-list which gives a dozen or so movies a month for $20. When I feel like a special experience I used my Cinemark credit.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

The few times I’ve been out at the movies this past year, setting aside when I went into the big city to see Bond and Dune in IMAX, have been at a local suburban theater now owned by an AMC. It was originally opened around 1990 as a Cineplex Odeon, and retains the same six auditorium configuration it had then. When Cineplex mostly disappeared, it went independent in the aughts until 35mm prints stopped being produced. I don’t think the independent owners had installed digital projectors and once the film prints started going away that was it for them. It was then taken over by AMC, who kept the internal layout but refurbished the interior with new recliner seats and digital projectors.

On the positive side, the place has been impeccably clean every time I’ve visited in the pandemic era, and the staff has always complied with whatever the safety regulations of the moment were. The recliners are comfy and I’m sure most of the time, going from 300 seats to 75 seats per room doesn’t really limit their audience because it’s not a crowded location 99% of the time. Even with the Spider-Man boom, which is the busiest I’ve ever seen it there since I was a kid at their initial opening, you could get a single seat the last minute or a pair if you bought earlier in the day.

On the downside, when they did the refurb, they removed the masking for the screens so everything is shown on 1.85 screens, letterboxed if necessary. They used to have perfect masking when I was a kid but that system fell into disrepair over the years so it probably wasn’t salvageable. But the downside of the masking and curtain system was that it took up on a lot of real estate on the wall which make the screen sizes even smaller. When AMC added new screens without the masking, they did at least go the full length of each wall so they got the biggest possible screen size you could physically get in each of those small rooms. At the end of the day, that probably makes the bigger impact.

They have cut a lot of showtimes. Over the holidays it seemed pretty much like the old days on weekdays (first showing around noon, last showing around 9:30), but it looks like they’re mostly doing a 4pm and a 7pm in the coming weeks which don’t really fit my schedule.

It’s not the biggest or flashiest or most prestigious AMC I’ve been to but within the limitations built into the place, it’s been run nicely the times I’ve went.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Malcolm R]

Take a new, clean plastic trash bag with you and keep emptying your bucket and refilling.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

For A-listers, this deal is only worthwhile if you get the Cameo Combo on that day.

A-List already gives you a free upgrade from "regular" to "large" popcorn - and the large comes with free refills anyway.

 

[Malcolm R]

For A-listers, this deal is only worthwhile if you get the Cameo Combo on that day.

A-List already gives you a free upgrade from "regular" to "large" popcorn - and the large comes with free refills anyway.

Unlimited refills? No AMC around here, but some theaters allow a single refill on some sizes. But only one.

 

[benbess]

My A-list movie today was the animated Poupelle of Chimney Town, which we decided to see in Japanese with English subtitles. There was only one other person in the theater with us. My daughter and I both liked this movie a lot. I rate it an A-.

 

[TravisR]

A-List already gives you a free upgrade from "regular" to "large" popcorn - and the large comes with free refills anyway.

I think they've recently changed it to one refill for members of Stubs or A-List. That being said, I'm sure it's not tough to find an employee who isn't an asshole, doesn't know, doesn't care or hates the company and will refill it as many times as you want.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Unlimited refills? No AMC around here, but some theaters allow a single refill on some sizes. But only one.

I think they've recently changed it to one refill for members of Stubs or A-List. That being said, I'm sure it's not tough to find an employee who isn't an asshole, doesn't know, doesn't care or hates the company and will refill it as many times as you want.

Okay, I'll defer to you guys that large popcorns are 1 refill only.

I hardly ever get a large popcorn - I go Cameo - and I only ever get a refill of the large as I'm leaving.

Even that if just to "top it off", as I barely make a dent in a large popcorn.

That's a huge tub of popcorn! I know some people polish it off in one setting, but I think that's insane!

The notion someone would want two refills or more in one visit boggles my mind.

Yeah, I know people share... 3 full tubs of popcorn is still an insane amount, even if shared!

 

[TravisR]

Okay, I'll defer to you guys that large popcorns are 1 refill only.

I hardly ever get a large popcorn - I go Cameo - and I only ever get a refill of the large as I'm leaving.

Even that if just to "top it off", as I barely make a dent in a large popcorn.

That's a huge tub of popcorn! I know some people polish it off in one setting, but I think that's insane!

The notion someone would want two refills or more in one visit boggles my mind.

Yeah, I know people share... 3 full tubs of popcorn is still an insane amount, even if shared!

The very rare times that I get popcorn, I find the cameo size leaves me wanting more but the regular size is just right if I hadn't eaten yet. I think I ate a whole large popcorn once when I got it as a free b-day month thing and I didn't feel a need to get a refill.

That time that I saw the Star Wars seven movie marathon, the only thing I ate that day was popcorn because they sold Star Wars popcorn tins with unlimited refills.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Some times they'll mark the bottom of the bucket with an "X" to curtail more than one refill per bucket (amongst the theater concession staff).

 

[Colin Jacobson]

The very rare times that I get popcorn, I find the cameo size leaves me wanting more but the regular size is just right if I hadn't eaten yet. I think I ate a whole large popcorn once when I got it as a free b-day month thing and I didn't feel a need to get a refill.

I find the Cameo to be the perfect size - if completely filled, that is.

99% of the time, the employees dump popcorn in the bag in a way that leaves lots of empty space. The bag is superficially full but when you pat the bag and the popcorn "settles", there's always room for more.

Sometimes it's a little more, sometimes it's a lot. I've had Cameo bags that were barely half-full after they "settled"!

I always do the Oliver Twist thing and ask for more - they're usually fine with it, though every once in a while, you get an employee who declares "we're not supposed to do this!"

I want to respond "if you filled the bag the first time, you wouldn't have to do this!" but I restrain myself!

 

[benbess]

Since I saw almost all of my movies through A-list this past year, and I'm not seeing a thread for favorite movies of 2021, here are my top 25 movies for the year just past. I thought it turned out to be a good year for movies.

West Side Story: A+
Nightmare Alley: A
Dune: A
The Power of the Dog: A
Belfast: A
The Tragedy of Macbeth: A
Skyfall: A-
Raya and Last Dragon: A-
Luca: A-
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: A-
Poupelle of Chimney Town: A-
The Night House: A-
Eternals: A-
The Courier: A-
Respect: A-
Benedetta: A-
Demon Slayer: A-
In the Heights: A-
The Green Knight: A-
Joe Bell: A-
A Journal for Jourdan: A-
The Card Counter: A-
House of Gucci: B+
12 Mighty Orphans: B+
The Eyes of Tammy Faye: B+

Honorable mention: Don't Look Up: B+, which unfortunately might continue to resonate for years to come.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Tino]

Opening FEBRUARY 25 for those interested.