Movies Janesville XL — Attraction in Janesville

Movies 16 is still disappointing even after they revamped everything. The picture quality is excellent, but just about everything else was a bit lacking. We were in theater 1, which was one of their theaters that was fully upgraded.

The popcorn today was stale. I think it was probably just left over from yesterday. We wanted to try some of their new hot food. We ordered a cheeseburger, a slice of pizza, and some fries. When they were looking for fries, they realized they didn't have any, so they offered us mozzarella sticks instead. I do not recommend getting anything besides popcorn and candy if you're close to showtime. It all was very slow. They seem to only have one oven where they cook everything, so if you're trying to get a meal for a family, it's going to take a while. The pizza was pretty good. It's obviously just a frozen pizza, but it's a good quality one. The burgers were disappointing. They have a very limited option for toppings (ketchup, mustard, and mayo). It wasn't very good. I'd rather go to any fast food place to get a burger for cheaper. The mozzarella sticks were extremely pale and did not look appetizing. They tasted ok, but I'd be better off buying frozen and heating them up at home. And again, each item came out one at a time because they only have one place to cook them.

The new recliners were fine. They weren't the most comfortable, and I'd say most other theaters are better. Whoever designs the recliners for theaters needs to do a better job though. Having the buttons on the inside of the recliner is a terrible design (not the theater's fault in this case, but still annoying). My phone in my pocket kept hitting the buttons and adjusting the seat whenever I shifted. They are an improvement from the broken manual recliners, but still not great. The picture quality was excellent. It was crystal clear and you can definitely tell that they improved upon the projectors. The audio was fine. It wasn't anything special, and I think my system at home is better. This could be because of the movie (Inside Out 2), but I'm not sure. I think we'd need to see a movie with more action to get a better feel of the audio.

The theater itself seems somewhat unsafe. The first row of the seats behind the aisle in the middle have very little floor space and no guard rail or anything. It seems like a major fall hazard. In fact, there was a woman in our theater that was walking down the steps and fell because of the unsafe steps in the theater. I'm not sure if they thought about safety at all when they were updating the theaters.

All in all, I can't recommend this theater still. They've made significant changes, but not all of them are for the better. We were excited to check out the changes, but we were very disappointed after actually seeing them. There are at least a half dozen theaters within a 45 minute drive that I would rather go to, including the...

OMG! This place is a dump! Went and saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with my family tonight and was completely disappointed. The owners of this theater must be greasy money grubbers that don't give a bit about providing a good customer experience.

Here are my standout criticisms:

They turned the brightness on the projector down. I am actually going to report them to Warner Bros. because I know movie studios take that pretty seriously. Movie theaters turn down brightness to save money on replacing bulbs and Movies 10 ruined this special effects laden movie by making it dim looking. This is just crappy. I paid full price for 5 people plus the ridiculously priced (higher than other theaters) concessions but these triangles (A holes) gave me the discount treatment to save a buck on a light bulb.

The seats are actually narrower than the seats in coach on Aeroméxico! I am 5'10” and weigh 190. I'm not exactly Andre the freaking giant but when I sit down both of my elbows have to sit on the arm rests so my hands get to keep on bumping into me $5.25 cup of soda for the whole movie! I get they want to maximize revenue per showing but this is unbelievable! How do these guys look at themselves in the mirror? Don't they want to sell tickets for tubolards? I mean this is Janesville Wisconsin isn't it?

We sat in the front row because that's where the kids like to sit. We always do and normally, it ain't that bad. These guys though... I was sitting so close I could see the stains on the screen where other people spit loogies from their seats in earlier shows. I mean if I had tripped after getting stuck on the sticky floor I'd have gone right through to the other side of the screen. They got about 3 rows too many in this theater. Again -we paid full price but this is worse than one of those dollar theaters where you watch movie that just came out on DVD.

So in summary, do not go to this movie theater. These people do not deserve the business and as long as they can keep taking it in because people don't want to drive to one of the many decent theaters in the area - they won't do anything about it. When you pay full price you deserve the movie to look like it was intended to look, you should be able to sit in chairs big enough for both of your butt cheeks and a little extra even, and the seats shouldn't be crammed into the theater so tight that you have to smell the hairspray of the old lady with the beehive that is sitting in front of you. I promise you - if you choose to ignore my advice, you will be...

NEWCOMERS BE WARNED! You may need to arrive up to 30 minutes before your showing starts, EVEN IF YOU RESERVED SEATS AHEAD OF TIME! To elaborate: Today my fiancé and I took my little brothers to see wicked. We reserved our seats online the night before and I received an email confirmation which I have attached. You can see that it clearly says “proceed directly to the ticket podium and scan barcode to use your contactless tickets. Similarly, if you purchased any food or beverages, skip the concession lines and scan your barcode at the Express Pickup counter…” We arrived about 10 minutes early with this expectation. When we arrived, we were faced with 2 lines that spanned from the concession stand all the way to the entrance. There was no signage, and definitely no “ticket podium” or “express pickup” at all so we got in line. I watched another group walk in, head directly to the Red Carpet Lounge, and ask the worker where they go to scan their barcodes. Listening in, I heard the worker tell them that they would still have to wait in these lines. Evidently, whether you are purchasing tickets, concessions, or have already reserved tickets, every person coming in would have to wait in these lines. Obviously this is not the most efficient option, and normally I would not mind waiting in a line. However, given the verbiage of the confirmation email, my expectations were set differently. It didn’t help that these long lines were not moving quickly whatsoever. After waiting 25 minutes just to get our tickets and food, we got into the theater and had already missed the first 10-12 minutes of the movie. I found this incredibly frustrating and given the situation, bordering on false advertisement. I find it important to mention that people who frequently go to this theater may already be aware of this, but this was my first time seeing a movie at this theater since the “upgrades.” I grew up in Edgerton and Movies 16 was always the closest option, and I distinctly remember there being ticket podiums separate from the concession stand. Now that I live in Stoughton and Madison is closer, I honestly only purchased tickets at Movies 16 because all the other showings at the theaters in Madison were nearly sold out. Other than this, I have no complaints about our experience. The ticket prices are great, the dolby atmos sound was wonderful, and the recliners were comfortable. Maybe If the email wasn’t so misleading, if there was a disclaimer on the website, or really any other communication about what to expect, I wouldn’t be so...