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Topic: Theater Review: Cinemark Century Federal Way 16
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Dave Stambaugh
New Member
Posts: 37
From: Eugene, OR
Registered: Feb 2003
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posted July 30, 2007 08:30 PM
When Cinemark 17 opened here in 1999 (actually in neighboring Springfield), it had many presentation-related problems. Dirty film, especially trailers and rolling stock, was the rule. The sound systems were not tuned very well and lacking.
The booth is based on the "Christie Package" of that era. They were about evenly split between DTS and Dolby Digital. (One of the DTS houses has been converted to Christie DLP with Real D capability.)
Over time, they've greatly improved their presentation quality, especially the digital sound. The sound is MUCH more dynamic and balanced now, really quite good sometimes. Image quality is generally pretty good and they're able to run prints for many weeks without scratching them and with minimal accumulation of dirt. They ran a print of the first "Lord of the Rings" movie for months and it looked pretty much like new at the end of the run (I saw it).
I will say though that their analog sound has been abysmal since Day 1 and has not improved. Apparently getting those Christies to put out decent non-warbling analog sound has not been a priority.
One thing about Cinemark that you should know is their corporate office DOES pass along customer comments to the General Manager for the specific theater (possibly also the District Manager -- anyone know?). If you fill out one of their online comment cards, you will probably receive a reply from the GM. This doesn't guaranty they will do anything about your complaint (indeed a GM may not be empowered to fix every problem, since for example Cinemark forbids the use of Film-Guard film cleaner in its booths for a very silly political reason). But they do reply.
All in all the Cinemark here is a pretty decent place to see a movie most of the time. It could be much worse. BTW I expect it's serviced by the same tech who handles Medford.
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Todd Erwin
Member
Posts: 68
From: Newport Beach, CA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted August 02, 2007 01:04 PM
Dave - Cinemark has not been very good at replying to comments submitted on their website regarding problems encountered at both of their Orange County, CA locations. I always make it a point to complete a customer survey online everytime I visit a particular cinema, be it Century/Cinemark, Regal, or AMC.
Regal almost always responds, usually by phone, and as pointed out, the complaint is usually out of the GM's hands (my complaints are usually about cropping issues on a fixed 2:1 screen), but the GM feels obligated to provide free passes and promises to fix the issue (yeah, right).
Century was very good at responding, and even sent me several free passes for being a returning customer at Bella Terra during its first 6 months, despite the (minor) problems I experienced at that theatre. Now, ever since Cinemark took over, I rarely, if ever, get a response or see an improvement.
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![[Wink]](wink.gif)
