This is topic Braintree 10, Braintree MA-YOU SUCK!! in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-02-2000, 08:53 PM:
First of all you bastards can't get your film (Time Code) tore down fast enough so we don't get it until 1:35 for a 1:30 show, thanks 
. On top of that the leaders are masking taped on, you used a random mix of yellow, zebra, and clear splicing tape, and you makred your reels with shoe polish AND yellow tape. You didn't even bother to put the paper bands back on, just stuffed them in the can. Thanks for nothing.
Posted by George Roher (Member # 91) on 06-02-2000, 10:31 PM:
Isn't Braintree a General Enema theatre?
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-03-2000, 02:44 AM:
Reject the print and absolutely refuse to play it. Have a dark screen...no money for the studio! When that theater gets the bill from the studio, they will learn. Otherwise, nothing and I do mean absolutely NOTHING will be done.
Posted by Kevin Crawford (Member # 469) on 06-03-2000, 03:51 AM:
Yes, it is a General Enema theatre. But before you get too upset with them, it might just be someone from floor staff doing the film work there.
That is if they are going the non union route back East as they are doing out West, the union guy might not even be doing film work any more. I work for GC in California, and I only have 25 hours a week. I pretty much demand that I do the film work so that I don't have to correct other people's mistakes.
I know that other GC managers out here are surprised that noone else at my theatre knows how to do film work
Posted by Tom Ferreira (Member # 70) on 06-03-2000, 07:06 AM:
At one time GCC Braintree was home to most of the private screenings for bookers and the like in New England. I can't imagine they'd have projectionists who are that careless...
I worked for GCC back in 1990, so when the Braintree cinema opened, my wife and I were invited to a reception at the facility about two weeks before it was open to the public. At that time, it was a state of the art facility. I can't imagine how they even stay in business now, with Hoyts Randolph cinema about ten minutes away-all stadium, all digital.
At one time, General Cinema OWNED New England, now they fail to even make an impact-whatever happened to the facility in The Fenway?
Posted by Trevor Bailey (Member # 75) on 06-03-2000, 08:51 AM:
Randolph is a National Amusement theater. The Hoyts that was supposed to be built in Stoughton (about .25 mi. from the NA Randolph near Sears and BJ's) never got off the ground once National Amusements started their project.The GCC in the old Sears building in the Fenway area is under construction now. Supposedly opening this summer.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-03-2000, 01:04 PM:
Getting my manager to reject the print on the grounds of masking tape and shitty splices? A snowball has a better chance in hell. Do it myself you say? I already went behind his back and ordered a replacement reel for a movie another idiot at our theatre destroyed, I want to keep my job you know and doing something like that a second time probably wouldn't go over well.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-03-2000, 10:47 PM:
Oh, and I watched some parts of it too. There are horizontal yellow scratches all over the print. Big ones that go all away across the screen .
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-03-2000, 11:36 PM:
Tom - just be glad that Regal and AMC haven't yet invaded the northeast US...
Posted by Tom Ferreira (Member # 70) on 06-04-2000, 06:56 AM:
From everything I've heard about Randolph(what made me think that was Hoyts?) and the renovations in Seekonk, Revere, and Warwick, it would appear that Sumner Redstone is looking to control all of New England. When you think of it, who has the money to compete with him? Hey, at least they're giving people the ameneties they want. GCC is living in the 80's, at least in this area.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 06-04-2000, 07:35 AM:
I haven't been to the new NA in Randolph, but I will mention that National Amusements has its share of "dumps" as well: the NA Circle Cinema in Brookline and the NA Showcase Dedham come to mind--both feature the worst in late '70s/early '80s multiplex design, with their long, narrow auditoria, extremely minimalist design with no curtains or any attempt to make the interior attractive, and oversized lobbies. The Showcase Woburn was recently "upgraded" to compete with the GCC Burlington 10; of course, though, they spent all the money on improving the lobby and concession stand and barely touched the auditoria themselves.
Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 06-04-2000, 08:20 PM:
I know I'm just opening myself up for a n attack... BUUUT --- What's so wrong with masking tape? Wouldn't you rather have an idication that a popcorn kid broke down the movie or would you rather be fooled by having them splice the leader on? 
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-04-2000, 10:44 PM:
Masking tape leaves a nasty residue after a day's worth of sitting. Add the heat of a hot exchange to that and by the time the next fellow gets the print, he must cut off several frames to rid himself of the sticky goo that would almost certainly cause a brain wrap. Masking tape simply cannot be cleaned off very satisfactorily. Also, many kids overlap the film several frames to a foot when they tape the leaders back on and cause the film to fold over leaving a nice crease.
Posted by Frank Rapisardi (Member # 435) on 06-06-2000, 05:26 AM:
NA(National Amusements.)The company is aggressively replacing,rebuilding,expanding all over the world!National Amusements is the parent company of Viacom.They own almost everything!CBS.t.v,Paramount Pictures,Showtime and the Movie Channel,Nickalodian t.v. Paramount theme parks,Blockbuster Video and the list goes on and on.Who can compete against them!They have VERY DEEP POCKETS! When they build or remodel theaters;it's usually done only because of coming competition.In Methuen Ma.;Loews is building a 20 plex.So Lawrence Ma;just 5 miles away now has been remodeled.In Randolph Ma.Showcase build a beauty.Hoyts was going to build near them but backed out.Rumor is NA gave the town of Randolph a gift of $350,000 to do whatever they wanted with it.(SOUNDS LIKE A BRIBE TO ME!) but it workrd.Within two weeks they had their permits.Dedham,The Circle,The Allston cinemas will never be replaced unless someone else comes in with grand plans to build,The Revere Showcase is now 20 screens.This came about because of the coming General Cinema in the Sears building.So comments about National Amusements are correct.They soon will own not every major theater in the Norteast,but rater everything all over the world having to do with the entertainment business!P.S.Sumner Redstone(Gemstone) has left the running of the cinema division up to his daughter Shari.------------------
Posted by Trevor Bailey (Member # 75) on 06-06-2000, 03:37 PM:
Deep pockets indeed. You can see it for yourself just by walking into the lobby in Revere. 27" flat panel displays playing music videos...food court with just about every type of fast food...neon all over the walls...and what about that 20 foot wide Ben Hur poster (pretty scary when your lobby decorations are bigger than some chains screens). And in the booth, EX in every house...just in case there are more than a half dozen films a year with EX encoding.
Posted by George Roher (Member # 91) on 06-06-2000, 04:08 PM:
Does National Amusements use their "deep pockets" to employ decent projectionists? I am not very familiar with the company.
Posted by Frank Rapisardi (Member # 435) on 06-07-2000, 04:21 AM:
National Amusements does not usually have regular projectionists.All their managers are TRAINED to do this!!! Great job!!! Saw "THE BEACH" shot in scope ,first 10 minutes were shown flat.Really a great job!It's not about presentation anymore.It's only about MONEY !------------------
Posted by Marty Hacker (Member # 485) on 06-07-2000, 11:24 AM:
http://www.famousplayersmovies.com/ Check out this site if you want to see what NA also involves itself with. It builds probably the most interesting, beautiful, $$$ theaters anywhere in the world and they do go the THX route as well. Famous Players is an outstanding movie theater company which definately helps disprove that BIG MONEY can do somethings right. I believe its is the solid people behind Famous Players and not its money. Their slogan is "Gran Ecran, Gran Son, Gran eppitate!" Check em out and be impressed.
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 06-07-2000, 11:39 AM:
Aren't Famous Players and National Amusements both part of Viacom?
Posted by Trevor Bailey (Member # 75) on 06-07-2000, 11:45 AM:
My comments were only concerning the amount they put into their lobby "presentation".However, Revere is a full time union house.
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-07-2000, 12:17 PM:
Yes both are part of ViaCom
Famous Players has been in a very proactive union busting mode for several years and the level of performance has shown the loss of skilled operators
Some people now call them Shamless players
Posted by Scott D. Neff (Member # 185) on 06-07-2000, 12:17 PM:
From the pics I could get off the Famous Players site --- IICK-ICKK-ICK.Those Silver City things look like a Rugrat puked all over the place. Did Cinemark's old architect go work for Famous Players???
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 06-07-2000, 01:10 PM:
The design of there theatres is very good
all 1.85:1 pictures are approximately 58" wide and in a complex they have half side and half common width to common height picture.
All theatres are designed to THX requirements and in some complexes all are certified in others only a percentage are
The soundsystems are all EV Stage speakers with JBL surrounds, CP500D with MX3000 amps
Sitelines are very good and the picture fills the field of vision
The background noise curves is usually well under NC25 and almost no bleedthrough
All simplex/strong equipment
Posted by Christopher K. Williams (Member # 418) on 06-07-2000, 01:25 PM:
Yeah, Scott, I agree! Their buildings look like they belong on the Cartoon Network...too cluttered and busy.I'd rather work in a building like the UA MacArthur or one of the old ACT III designs.
Posted by Frank Rapisardi (Member # 435) on 06-09-2000, 08:11 AM:
National Amusements is the parent company of Viacom.But somehow their cinemas are a privately held company.I really don't understand this one! Famous Players is part of Viacom.You can buy stock in Viacom but not National Amusements(ODD!) How can National Amusements(a so-called private,family owned company)oun Viacom,yet Viacom doesn't own National Amusements???------------------
Posted by Jody Urbati (Member # 507) on 06-19-2000, 08:58 AM:
Dear Dustin,
You must be one of those folks who walks on his hands because you talk out your ass. I am one of the 3 union projectionists (2 as of Sept.1999) that work the Braintree General Cinema booth. Did it ever occur to you that the prints may go to other places before they are sent to you? Obviously not. We don't even own a can of shoe polish. You should channel that outrage of yours towards the loss of hours and jobs that
projectionists are experiencing all over the map.
Your union sister,
Jody
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-19-2000, 01:08 PM:
My apologies Jody. The shippng label said Braintree 10. I assumed that meant the last theatre. If they didn't need the shipping label-which would be the logical conclusion if they sent it to another theatre between our two destinations-then why even put it on in the first place? Oh well, if your registered at Film-Tech there is not way you could have done the injustices to this print-ie shoepolish, splice marking tape, excessive scratching, masking tape, etc.Agian, I'm sorry.
Posted by Carl King (Member # 398) on 06-19-2000, 01:29 PM:
when you get prints that are poorly handled try finding out where the print came from. Then just send a letter of complaint to the projectionist responsible. If someone recieves enough letters like this I'd bet he/she would start taking better care of their prints.
Posted by Dustin Mitchell (Member # 372) on 06-19-2000, 01:45 PM:
Carl,I thought I was doing that. I thought the print had come from Braintree, at least that's what the shipping labels indicated. Apparently I was wrong. Since I no longer have the movie, and I can't remember the print number, it is a lost cause for now.
Posted by Jody Urbati (Member # 507) on 06-23-2000, 08:05 AM:
Dear Dustin,
Thank you for the apology. All and all I find this refreshingly amusing. We also deal with similar problems. That's the nature of the game. Prints do take "mystery tours" at times. How about the crappy plastic reels they come in on?! Warped, cracked, split in two and generally useless.
Keep smiling,
Jody