4 ms·

It's interesting how people are looking for very different experiences at the cinema. I haven't tried the Alamo Drafthouse in SF yet, but I am generally not a f

by baddox 7y ago

It's interesting how people are looking for very different experiences at the cinema. I haven't tried the Alamo Drafthouse in SF yet, but I am generally not a fan of the hip cinemas. The food and drink is generally a huge distraction during the movies, and the seating and screen technology is usually not a top concern. I really just want the best screen and nice seats, and sad as it may be, it's really just the big cineplex chains that deliver on that. As far as movie curation goes, that's certainly a weakness of the big chains, but at least in SF I have been shocked at the variety of foreign/indie/classic films that show up at the AMC and Cinemark if you pay attention to showtimes.

blhack 7y ago
The drinks at Alamo aren’t distracting like at a dinner theater. And that isn’t the allure anyway. The people who run Alamo have concentrated so hard on customer experience that it’s almost embarrassing to the other theaters. 1) Nobody takes your ticket. Buy it online and walk directly to your seat. 2) no advertisements for liposuction of real estate before the movie starts. The media playing while you wait is interesting clips that are relevant to the movie you are about to watch. When I saw “hackers” there, it was a bunch of hilarious old computer ads from the 90s, music videos of the soundtrack, etc. 3) if you talk, text, or arrive late you get kicked out. People follow this rule. 4) There might be some alternative revenue stream[1] but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like you exchange money for a ticket to a movie. Honestly Alamo feel less hip, and more like it’s run by cranky old cinema buffs that want you to shut up and pay attention during the movie. It’s like a theater for adults. [1] at other theaters it feels like they don’t care about you buying a ticket, and the ticket is really just an excuse to sell you extremely expensive popcorn.
- baddox 7y ago
  Those things are all good ideas, but they honestly don't bother me much. Perhaps SF is just a fairly savvy/respectful cinema audience, but I've very rarely had any distracting audience members. The advertisements and preroll clips are obnoxious, of course, but with reserved seating you can know when to show up to avoid most of it. And so it really just comes back to the audio/visual tech and the seating, and the local AMC and Cinemark are far and away the best in that regard.
  - anderber 7y ago
    Just to add to the comments above you, all of the Alamo Drafthouses I've been to have been the best screen and audio I've been to. I've frequented chains and independent theaters. But I should point out that I don't live in a city as big as SF, so it's just one man's opinion. Your AMC and Cinemark might just be better.
    - baddox 7y ago
      AMC Metreon is pretty top notch. It has the largest-format true IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and all the seats have been recently replaced so that even the base model theater has nice recliners. The Cinemark at the Westfield Mall also has fairly recent new seats, and their XD screens are quite nice. So yes, I'm spoiled, but I've honestly never even given much thought about attending a showing at the Alamo Drafthouse because I'm fairly sure it can't compete.
      - anderber 7y ago
        That sounds amazing, and I'm jealous. The closest Alamo Drafthouse to me (Twin Cities) has one of their new Big Show screens which I'm dying to see: https://drafthouse.com/twin-cities/the-big-show https://drafthouse.com/twin-cities/the-big-show
    - goatherders 7y ago
      The ones in Austin (where the company is based) are old movie theaters with old screens that are small. I don't mind, because other parts of the experience are better, but ALamo Village for example may as well be a theater from 1984.
      - jayvius 7y ago
        The Alamo Village location is an old theater, but the other five (soon to be six) Austin locations have all been built in the last 10 years or so.
  - beefalo 7y ago

by baddox 7y ago

blhack 7y ago

The drinks at Alamo aren’t distracting like at a dinner theater. And that isn’t the allure anyway. The people who run Alamo have concentrated so hard on customer experience that it’s almost embarrassing to the other theaters. 1) Nobody takes your ticket. Buy it online and walk directly to your seat. 2) no advertisements for liposuction of real estate before the movie starts. The media playing while you wait is interesting clips that are relevant to the movie you are about to watch. When I saw “hackers” there, it was a bunch of hilarious old computer ads from the 90s, music videos of the soundtrack, etc. 3) if you talk, text, or arrive late you get kicked out. People follow this rule. 4) There might be some alternative revenue stream[1] but it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like you exchange money for a ticket to a movie. Honestly Alamo feel less hip, and more like it’s run by cranky old cinema buffs that want you to shut up and pay attention during the movie. It’s like a theater for adults. [1] at other theaters it feels like they don’t care about you buying a ticket, and the ticket is really just an excuse to sell you extremely expensive popcorn.

baddox 7y ago
Those things are all good ideas, but they honestly don't bother me much. Perhaps SF is just a fairly savvy/respectful cinema audience, but I've very rarely had any distracting audience members. The advertisements and preroll clips are obnoxious, of course, but with reserved seating you can know when to show up to avoid most of it. And so it really just comes back to the audio/visual tech and the seating, and the local AMC and Cinemark are far and away the best in that regard.
- anderber 7y ago
  Just to add to the comments above you, all of the Alamo Drafthouses I've been to have been the best screen and audio I've been to. I've frequented chains and independent theaters. But I should point out that I don't live in a city as big as SF, so it's just one man's opinion. Your AMC and Cinemark might just be better.
  - baddox 7y ago
    AMC Metreon is pretty top notch. It has the largest-format true IMAX, Dolby Cinema, and all the seats have been recently replaced so that even the base model theater has nice recliners. The Cinemark at the Westfield Mall also has fairly recent new seats, and their XD screens are quite nice. So yes, I'm spoiled, but I've honestly never even given much thought about attending a showing at the Alamo Drafthouse because I'm fairly sure it can't compete.
    - anderber 7y ago
      That sounds amazing, and I'm jealous. The closest Alamo Drafthouse to me (Twin Cities) has one of their new Big Show screens which I'm dying to see: https://drafthouse.com/twin-cities/the-big-show https://drafthouse.com/twin-cities/the-big-show
  - goatherders 7y ago
    The ones in Austin (where the company is based) are old movie theaters with old screens that are small. I don't mind, because other parts of the experience are better, but ALamo Village for example may as well be a theater from 1984.
    - jayvius 7y ago
      The Alamo Village location is an old theater, but the other five (soon to be six) Austin locations have all been built in the last 10 years or so.
- beefalo 7y ago