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Author Topic: AMC sucks...the song. David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 07-16-2006 08:26 PM                        When someone says "[insert name of large chain here] Sucks" it has to be taken with a grain of salt. Some chains are operating sub-par theatres they acquired through mergers or acquisitions so maybe they should get some slack in those specific cases. At better theatres, it comes down to the people who work there and their local & regional management. Some are good, some are not so good. There are bad Regals out there, but lucky for me I have a good one in this town. If a well-equipped theatre is doing a crappy job, blame it on bad management.  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-16-2006 08:36 PM                     David put this pretty well. Indeed you can have two identical multiplex buildings, and one can be very good with good people who care running it, and you can have the other identical one suck beyond belief if they have lazy retards running it.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-16-2006 10:34 PM                     Since AMC took over the Loew's theater here the overall booth operation has gotten alot better and the booth is now spotless. Machines are also kept spotless. The employees also seem to be happier. Mark  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-16-2006 10:49 PM                     The tech who services my theatre is an ex-AMC tech (worked there for 20 or so years) and he knows what he is doing and is easy to get along with. I've worked with some other AMC people and had similiar results. I'm from the Columbus, OH area and have always enjoyed going to the AMC Lennox 24 and Easton 30. I can't remember ever seeing a scratch or having other presentation problems there. These are the 2 busiest theatres in Central Ohio.  |  IP: Logged Donna Siegwart Film Handler Posts: 63 From: Houston, TX Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-16-2006 11:49 PM                        AMC, OC here, it truthfully depends on the 'theatre', not all AMCs are bad, I think my theatre needs to be more strict in booth. And hopefully we will get a new booth manager. I have seen some great presentations from AMCs if they keep up their booth well, it just seems some buildings skip out on that and focus on other, less important things.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-17-2006 06:00 AM                     One of my fellow projectionists made up a funny tune about Carmike that was set to the music of Credence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon On The Rise" when I worked there in 1995. The lyrics of the chorus went something like: Don't work at Carmike Cause it's bound to take your life And you only make 4.25 Many of the employees at the time were jaded about only making minimum wage and not getting a raise after being there for several years. Not to mention they were still full of teenage anger and rebellion.  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 07-17-2006 03:52 PM                     quote: Matt Fields I'm from the Columbus, OH area and have always enjoyed going to the AMC Lennox 24 and Easton 30. I used to work with the GM from Lennox. From what he has told me, the tech for that area is pretty strict compared to most, so he makes sure his theaters always look good. The tech at the time, about 3 years ago, was Steve Smiley. Don't know about now. The only problem with having a good projection operation at AMC is that you cannot overcome the terrible design flaws of the theater. You can do the best with what you are given, but sometimes that is not enough. I used to have this dickhead VP come in and always say that my presentation sucked because the sound wasn't as good as the brand new theater that just opened up . They had all JBL speackers, all dolby 650s and QSC DCA amps. I have all EV speakers, two dolby DA20a, two DTS units (one was broken) and the rest was sdds dfrps wahtever 2000 systems. So essentially we had 24 or so analog screens. The only control I had over the sound was to change the volume and keep the optics clean, but that didn't matter to this dickhead. Anything beyond that all I was allowed to do was call the tech. Of course when they overload the guy with 200 screens to take care of he spends most of his time doing emergency calls and not tuning sound and the like. So yeah, AMC is alright,but some people make it kinda sucky. I've also found that the big dogs don't care how bad your film presentation is as long as your digital ads look great.  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 07-17-2006 04:16 PM                     Chris, Was it Steve Smiley, or George Smiley? Maybe they are related?I have worked with George on a few different occasions. Rick  |  IP: Logged Chris Hipp Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1462 From: Mesquite, Tx (east of Dallas) Registered: Jul 2003 posted 07-17-2006 04:34 PM                     actually, it may have been Chris Smiley. I actually can't remember the first name now. Please don't confuse him with that hate spewing racist turd tavis smiley.  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 07-17-2006 04:45 PM                     dont know Tavis  |  IP: Logged Brad Miller Administrator Posts: 17775 From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall) Registered: May 99 posted 07-17-2006 05:59 PM                     I can vouch for Chris' work at the AMC Mesquite 30. His film handling and onscreen presentation was the reason why I stole him from there. When he was there, that theater had hands down the best AMC presentation I have ever seen by a very long shot, and was far above and beyond what that same theater was producing onscreen before he got there. I viewed a movie there some months later on opening night and it was scratched, the volume was waaaaaaay too low, the picture was shaking, etc. It sucked. Personnel is everything!  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-17-2006 06:19 PM                     quote: I viewed a movie there some months later on opening night and it was scratched, the volume was waaaaaaay too low, the picture was shaking, etc. It sucked. Personnel is everything! Brad, you must be joking. The ONLY thing that's important is how few people I can get to run my 56 screen Godzilla-plex and how little I can pay them to do it. 'We seem to be paying some of our employees an AWFUL lot of money' - Mortimer Duke 'No getting past the old minimum wage, Mortimer' - Louis Winthorpe III TRADING PLACES - 1983  |  IP: Logged Mark Lensenmayer Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1605 From: Upper Arlington, OH Registered: Sep 1999 posted 07-17-2006 10:16 PM                     Regarding the Columbus AMC Theatres... Back in the Olden Days, AMC had some pretty bad things going on. But, with the construction of the Lennox and Easton, I have never seen a bad presentation at either location. Even the old Dublin 18 does a pretty good job with some non-stadium rooms. Presentation is really quite good around here, with Marcus, Rave, AMC doing excellent work. The local independent Drexel also does a nice job. Only Cinemark/Starplex and Regal are lacking.  |  IP: Logged Matt Fields Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 545 From: Ohio, United States Registered: Jun 2005 posted 07-17-2006 11:21 PM                     Smiley helped install a couple of screens for me about five years ago. I think it is Chris Smiley. He's a nice guy. His former boss, Forrest Doan, is a freind of mine and still services my theatre. As far as Columbus theatres go, I generally agree with Mark even though I haven't been to the Rave yet, but I used to work at the Drexel East in the late 90's, and just thought the presentation was okay, mainly because of the sound. The sound systems in the two smaller houses sucked. We did take pretty good care of the prints though. - Matt  |  IP: Logged Brian Hogan Expert Film Handler Posts: 119 From: Charlotte, North Carolina, USA Registered: Jul 2001 posted 07-18-2006 01:44 AM                     holy crap, matt, you're a friend of forrest's? i havn't talked to him or chris for AGES! what a small world, eh? one of the last times i hung out with both of them was when the eastland 8 closed down years back. good 'ole multi's i agree that the way the buildings are designed these days seems to make for some problems. problems that are always unique to each site. thats why its always interesting to check out different complexes and see how things are done there  |  IP: Logged

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