Marcus Sycamore Cinema — Local services in Iowa City

Very poor experience with this location in terms of product and service. Run down and audio quality painfully loud but only on certain sounds as if something was wrong with speakers. Requested a lower volume twice and those sounds were still was too loud to tolerate. We left before previews ended and requested tickets for another visit, but manager Parnell said they would have to refund to original payment (Fandango). He then apparently input our confirmation number into system and he stated he tried to refund, but he stated that the refund was already completed through Fandango. My daughter (whom we are visiting for a few weeks) had purchased the tickets for us but she was in a different movie, so I couldn't confirm the refund in the app, but Parnell showed me a screen to confirm the refund and I took a photo. When my daughter got home, she checked the app and no refund had come through. I called this Marcus location back and seemed to be getting the run around - the night manager indicated it was never even possible for them to refund to Fandango because they were a 3rd party. Fine, but that's very different than what I understood from the information provided by the day manager. When I asked what could be done to get the refund, I was told I they could take a message to talk to the day manager again. I felt that was already futile since it hadn't been productive when he had the opportunity. I was told the only other option was that I could submit a message on the website. Wow. What a time sink. I'm not going to chase them anymore. I'll have to dispute with Fandango or with credit card company. Would have been nicer if they had just simply and kindly given me something to return at another time (and an updated location), as I originally politely requested, to avoid all the hassle. Besides the disappointing service, I think this location is definitely overpriced when you can get more comfortable seats and far superior audio quality at the...

I feel scammed. I’ve already been twice in Sycamore, and I went to Coral Ridge too, hoping it wouldn’t be the same as here, but unfortunately, it’s the same in all of them. The projection is awful. First, because they don’t activate Dolby, they turn off the speakers on both sides and surrounding, and you only listens the movie through the speakers behind the screen, with poor sound, low volume, and a complete loss of all the sound design work and soundtrack that goes into major productions like Marvel films — which, coincidentally, are the three I’ve watched in these theaters. It’s disheartening to barely hear the dialogue and miss out on all the music and effects that make going to the movies magical. It’s incomprehensible how this is done systematically in these theaters. Honestly, it’s something worth filing a complaint about. But even worse is the projection quality itself. I’d bet anything that the projector bulbs are worn out. All three times I’ve been here, I’ve watched films that — based on trailers seen in other theaters and clips on YouTube — have rich, precise, and stunning color grading… yet here, with these faulty projectors, everything looks dull, flat, with zero contrast, washed-out blacks, and completely lifeless colors. It’s abominable. It broke my heart to pay $15 just to suffer through this mess — but even more painful was the feeling that they ruined what should’ve been a spectacular experience. I will never go to a Marcus Theatre again in my life.
And i’m not surprised about that in this 3 times I was practically alone in...

We've been viewing movies here for years and the staff has never been very kind. Mostly teenagers/young adults that would rather be buried in their phones than be doing what they are paid to do. We're finally rating/posting because our latest visit was extremely hot, everyone was sweating and commenting on the temperature and when we said something about it too a staff member the young man simply stated that the air was on all the way (even though it obviously wasn't on at all) and he didn't even apologize or say that he would let management know. At our previous visit, there was something up in the ceiling squeaking and rattling during the entire movie. But mainly, I was out of town for business a week prior and saw the same movie at a different theater. I thought the movie was great and my wife wanted to see it so I had no problem seeing it again...All these years viewing movies at this theater and I never realized how horrible the picture quality and sound quality was until now, due to my viewing of the same movie a week prior at the other theater. They leave the wall lights on now, which is terrible for low-light scenes, and the lack of color/vividness is astonishing. After seeing/hearing how much better movies are at another theater, I doubt we'll be returning to this one. On the positive side, they have money-saving deals like $5 Tuesdays, early bird specials, and a rewards program. And the popcorn is good and fresh 90%...