Cinema Nova — Attraction in Melbourne

MICE, MICE & MICE! I've hesitated long in writing this review. I have been a fan of cinema nova for many years. I love their selection of non-hollywood movies and so I go there at least once every week or fortnight. In Nova you've got the more educated, cultured and mature-age patrons in comparison with Hoyts patrons (for example) who for the large part are of younger age groups. I also love the fact that they have small theaters with large comfy seats. What drove me to write this review, however, are the increasing sightings of mice in cinema theaters! It's becoming absolutely intolerable! Disgusting! A few months ago I saw one black mouse running in the theater before the show started. I told one of the staff members immediately; she was so cool about it and said "well, you're not the first to see mice in the cinema and you won't be the last". She explained that they could do nothing about it and offered to return my ticket. Last Sunday I was watching a beautiful film in Cinema 15. My experience was entirely spoilt by the sight of four mice of different colours and sizes running all around between the seats of patrons! It was awful! I had to lift my legs all the time during the film and I could not concentrate at all. I cannot believe they serve food in those theaters! This is very unclean, very unhygienic, and further encourages the presence of these pests! I spoke to one of the managers this afternoon, before posting this review, who explained that they have been hiring a pest control company for long, but that the problem has not been solved. I suggested that they close the cinema for a month or so until the problem is solved or change the pest control company altogether. I have the impression that the higher management is not so serious about tackling this problem. This is sad because I am one of the people who are keen on cinema nova continuing. But the situation as it is now does not seem to be promising. This place needs a fundamental cleaning job. If the management of nova does not change its attitude to this problem then it is not difficult to see that we'll soon lose such a beautiful cinematic experience at an excellent location in Melbourne. Please do...

The horrible and overwhelming smell of popcorn which seemed to adorn every nook, cranny and urinal of the Nova is one of many unfortunate memories that, as a miserable collection, have lodged in my brain as a result of celebrating the 45th anniversary of 'Alien'. This was no '4k' cinematic experience that I had expected. The print looked very much its age and the soundstage (such as it was) was so inferior to the original theatrical release that a younger audience would have it that audiences in 1979 enjoyed the use of a single speaker. The small (by that I mean 11 rows in total) theatre was insufficient to convey an atmosphere that actually relied on a very large screen. Even worse was the very silly and everso wanky conversation that preceded the main attraction: two film directors - one, the protagonist of the film we had paid to see - and the other, the director of the latest in the franchise. The resulting mess of an introduction to the franchise told us nothing those very familiar didn't already know. And for the uninitiated, well, their experience was perfectly ruined. The last word, perfectly summing up this awful experience, was left to Ridley Scott. Asked if he had anything to say to the audience, Scott replied simply but with a great deal of self-aggrandisement: "NO". In 45 years I'll celebrate Alien at home on my 200inch TV with 20 speakers. At least my toilet won't smell of popcorn.

Update to Nova's response: "still grousing" because I sent them an email two weeks ago without a response. Odd how some take criticism so personally; odd how they are so defensive. This old retail nonsense that if no-one else complains then I must be wrong is far too predictable to take seriously. I stand by my review and totally reject Nova's flaccid and insincere...

Really dissatisfied with customer service, usually enjoy coming to Nova for every movie I want to see. Got a voucher for the movie Priscilla, called ahead and was told to send an email with the voucher code to pre-book tickets. Tried to do so but was told via return email that they could not verify the voucher. Responded asking another follow up question and received no response at all. Walked in to Nova to try and pre-book tickets for a session later that week with my voucher. Staff member, seemingly the duty manager, was really rude in response. I appreciate they might have been having a bad day. I was told that sessions weren’t yet available which I completely understand. I said OK, can you please verify the voucher now and take a note of my details so I can call up and book tomorrow. I had wasted a lot of time trying to redeem this voucher already and I wanted to avoid a scenario where I rock up on the day, with a friend, to a session and try redeem the voucher for seats and it’s fully booked out. The duty manager had no flexibility and would not allow this, telling me it’s too “messy” and couldn’t be done. I would normally not write a review like this because I understand sometimes businesses have rules I might deem impracticable but might have to be that way for reasons I don’t understand (financial or whatever) but the staff member was incredibly short and snappy with me. I am feeling quite frustrated at having supported Nova for years now. Would have been frustrated but understanding if this staff member had just been a bit nicer to me. Please note the other more junior staff member serving at the front counter was polite. It was not particularly busy (maybe 4 customers in line) so I don’t understand...