David F.
Yelp
Came here to see Everything Everywhere All At Once. It was my second viewing of the film in theaters, but this was my first time back to this theater since it was originally an Arclight before the pandemic hit. I'd been excited to not only revisit this wonderful film, but to also be back in my local theater. A lot has changed since, though, and to have to report my rather underwhelming experience is not one I'd like to put lightly.
Firstly, I'm not sure a lot of people realize that the theater has even been re-opened. I didn't even know about it until a neighbor had to told me. The lack of advertising or inaccessibility is evident from the front with little to no signage and then inside, which felt empty and inelegant. It retains the Arclight's digital board (sans clock), but it has stripped away any sense of character in the decor and ambience, feeling less like a theater and more like a chain hotel's conference hall. The workers were very cordial, but given how empty the place was, it came off like an effort to please in a time of boredom while the clock (which was, again, no longer there) ticked by.
It's hard to tell exactly what was retrofitted and what wasn't when stepping into the showroom. The theater used to be 12 screens, now reduced to 6, and you could see the hall cordoned off by a wall with double-doors and what looked like security. Not sure what is to be expected there, now given the smaller size, it certainly felt like the showroom we were in was smaller, too. Looking at showtimes for all films, it appeared as though each auditorium were of roughly the same seating and arrangements, so it's possible that some rooms were reduced.
I was never too keen on the seats Arclight had, but it appeared that the cushioned seats were the same as well. The differences now stemmed to the presentation: Dolby Atmos system with speakers lined throughout the auditorium and an LED-panel screen. No projection. In fact, one of the rear speakers was literally built in front of the projection box window, so they didn't bother to cover that up.
Though the concept of a LED-panel screen makes for potentially a brighter and crisper image, there are a host of other issues that were experienced during our screening. One top left panel was notably brighter than the rest of the screen, meaning there was an incorrect calibration. A second panel in the bottom right was flickering in pitch black moments, meaning there was some connectivity issue. Having thankfully seen the movie before and knowing how frenetic it's visuals are, these were not all that noticeable, but perhaps because I had seen the movie before, I was focused on these portions of the screen knowing that the image was being compromised. On top of that, the lack of projection also established an uncanny sense of being in a theater and watching a Blu-ray on a big television screen, rather than seeing the glow from the back as the images appeared, when you knew you were definitely seeing a movie in a theater.
Additionally, either it is the fault of the studio who submitted their version of the film or the theater for its projection, but the Dolby Atmos system was very underutilized. There's a ton of amazing sound work in this film, and it was disproportionately front-loaded with moments of sibilance and lack of bass and surround sound. It's hard to justify the advertisement of Dolby Atmos when the theater appeared to showcase it like a soundbar.
I'm happy that a theater has been re-opened close to me, but if you're going to be paying hard-earned money to watch a movie, you might have a safer bet on value and presentation by driving a few miles to an AMC or Landmark. Knowing that this is a theater owned/operated by Amazon, I'm hoping I don't have to come to the conclusion that they're treating this like any one of their many businesses, one that they are not familiar with but think they can run and can do it on the cheap. Based on this experience, though, that might be the case.
