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Author
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Topic: Saddest/most depressing theatre experience
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Steven Rood
New Member
Posts: 25
From: Los Angeles, CA
Registered: Dec 2004
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posted December 28, 2005 06:54 PM
What's yours?
While visiting my folks in Delray Beach Florida, i went to see Harry Potter at the UA theatre on Congress Street in Boynton Beach:
United Artists Theatres
Movies 9 at Boynton Beach
244 N Congress Ave
(561) 736-5770
It must have been the most depressing theatre i've been to in a long time or possibly ever.
Went to see a 7:15p showing on a Tuesday night and i was one of 5 people in the theatre. Now i'll admit that HP had been out for a bit and it was a Tuesday, but i think i counted maybe, maybe 20 other people in the building, the WHOLE building, not just my movie theatre. I got there a little early and was able to look in the other 8 theaters and saw them just about empty.
The concession area had 1 girl chatting on a cell phone behind the counter and making popcorn. The other 2/3rds of the concessions was bare and dark. They had a few old arcade games in the lobby, nothing current.
When i walked into the movie theatre to get my seat, i was immediately hit with that smell you get when you check into one of those independently owned motels off the freeway. You know, the room is clean, but it has that sterile, cleaning solution aroma. It was very depressing. You know they tried to make the place nice like the more expensive places, but they over do it.
The speakers behind the screen were blown out so any underlying music played during the film sounded muddy.
And of course, the screen had a scratch or tear in the center of the screen which just added to the experience.
I know the UA is an old theatre but i've been in lots of old theatres and i've never felt as depressed as i did when i sat down in the bumpy flat seats. (I tried several, hoping to find one with the foam not desintergrated, but no luck).
I just felt bad for the cinema.
Stevo
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Mark Campbell
Member
Posts: 437
From: Seattle, WA
Registered: Oct 2004
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posted January 05, 2006 07:46 AM
1. As a kid going to a re-release of Star Wars at the old Narrows theatre in Tacoma, WA and having the print break during the opening crawl.
2. Seeing Star Wars Episodes I, II, III and wondering what happened to the magic.
3. Seeing X-Men 2 at the Loews Cineplex Broadway in Santa Monica. Those Cineplex Odeon painted grey walls and dimmed strip lights around the auditorium do wonders for reflecting light a making the screen seem hazy during presentation. Might as well just leave all the lights on.
4. Having paid good money to see Batman and Robin, Pearl Harbor, Beverly Hills Cop III, Superman IV, Jaws: the Revenge, The Rock, and Speed 2!!!
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Christopher Crouch
Member
Posts: 292
From: Anaheim, CA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted March 02, 2006 04:03 AM
Not so much negative theatre going experiences, but sad for personal reasons:
Anytime I visit the AMC Fullerton 20 (hardly ever these days), it's a sad experience. My first management position was at this location, when it was a ten plex, and I have many fond memories. Unfortunately, shortly after the expansion to twenty, the original theatre (the complex consists of seperate, parallel structures, the orginal ten and 97' stadium addition) became known as the "bad" or "crappy" side by patrons and AMC allowed the non stadium side to decline.
Seeing the original theatre neglected and shunned is quite depressing for me, as I recall the days when it was a popular and first rate operation. The last time I attended a film there, I sat with a handful of disgruntled customers, who wished they were on the stadium side, in a dingy auditorium that had a strong unpleasant odor and heavily scratched print. I couldn't help but remember that same auditorium hosting sold out showings, for the likes of "Twister" and "Independance Day", under much more pleasant circumstances.
Equally sad, the first two theatres I worked at as a staff member are now a vacant shell and parking lot. Nothing quite like parking your car on the former site of countless teenage memories.
I'm no sure which is more depressing, seeing my theatre past erased or seeing it a shadow of what it once was.
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![[Shrug]](graemlins/shrug.gif)
saddly that's life.
