AMC Movie Theater 16

I’ve been here several times and never really had any negatives till now. We pre-​bought our Star Wars tickets and showed up early to get some seats. Well, rest-​assured, as a wise Unilocaler once said, «it’s dead as fried chicken in here.» Lol my hubs!
So my big beef is that the screen wasn’t working until 9:35 when our showtime was 9:30. Not sure what that was all about, but at least we didn’t have to go complain and miss part of the movie! We could hear lots of trailers and commercials we would have love to have seen, but no such luck.
Obviously this wasn’t a big deal as far as reviews go, but the place was also full of trash from previous patrons. Seating is decently comfortable with ability to remove middle armrests, and theaters are big with stadium seating. Overall, I’ll keep going here because it’s convenient right off I12 and pretty much the same caliber as most there theaters in Baton Rouge anyway.

Had an Awesome time there with my friends and the staff for The Star Wars Marathon! Drove ALL the way from Houston and I Will Never forget the Amazing time that I had!

This is not the closet cinema to where we live yet thus is the one I frequent the most so I guess it receives 4 stars — it has what I seek – ease of entrance, plenty of showtimes, comfortable seating, good sound and good screens — -everything else is not really relevant to me. Having said that the workers are polite, and the AMC rewards program is essentially a 10% off program which are 2 more positives here. I think the bathrooms are fine although there have been occasions when they were not as clean as I would have preferred. Concession prices are what they are. It is interesting to note now butter is self serve for the popcorn which I prefer. I have only tried the fancy self serve carbonated coke machines a few times but I think that is good for the consumer. Popcorn is average which is why I need butter. The rest of the attractions here — not sure as I have not used

Went to see a movie last night. This is the second time I’ve been here since it changed from Rave to AMC. In my opinion the cleanliness and upkeep of this theatre has been in decline over the last couple of years. I really don’t have any complaints about the service. The new coke machines in the lobby were a nice addition, although 1 of the 4 of them was not working when we went and 1 was out if ice. I believe more attention to detail (ice being out, bathroom cleanliness, etc) would go a long way to improving the experience here. I probably will continue to return because it is the closest theatre to me, but if it continues to decline I will not.

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 4^th of July weekend. What’s that tell you?