AMC Chenal 9 — Local services in Little Rock

I went to the IMAX to see Oppenheimer. We bought our tickets in advance, but still had to wait in the ticket purchase line to scan our ticket. We came about 30 minutes before start time, so it worked out okay, and the ticket seller told us we need to wait in the lobby because they're still cleaning the theater. We did for several minutes, but the realized others were going on, so we checked it out, and there was no one cleaning. Not sure how we were supposed to know when to go in.

When we came in, the seats were all looking really rough. The fabric had worn through, they had various levels of floppiness and didn't all come back up. One of the armrests that should have had a cup holder on my seat had apparently broken of, and they just wrapped the metal bar that remained in electrical tape. That said, the seat wasn't terribly uncomfortable.

The movie preroll didn't have any sound to it. Not a huge loss for me, but if you're going to have a preroll, you should have the sound. When the previews came on, they had two projectors the didn't line up on, making it hard to look at. After a few previews, a viewer in the theater went and told a staff member, who at first said it wasn't a problem, but eventually agreed to check on it, and the problem was soon resolved. The previews that did work well were long horror film teasers, and while it may not be an issue for some, I'm not at all interested in that style of film and found it disturbing. Seems like a strange choice for this movie, but that's just me.

For the movie itself, I found it to be really loud, as did those around me. I enjoy feeling the bass, but this was loud enough that I had to plug my ears. But the vocal channels were too quiet, and I struggled with hearing the dialogue. Often times I heard people around me asking "what did he say?" There was also problems when anyone opened the door to the theater, because there aren't double doors or a curve in the entrance to the room, so it shines daylight into the screen.

All that said, the movie looked really good on the giant screen, the theater was clean, and I think the sound system is nice if it was configured correctly. I almost gave it 2 stars, but all those things, while annoying, didn't totally ruin my experience, so I left it with 3 stars. I...

Lie-Max. Don't let them steal your money! I left a review earlier about how Inception looked terrible on the Imax. I emailed Dickinson and they responded directly to me and admited that while they did originally have real Imax projection, they have now REMOVED THE IMAX PROJECTOR. Instead they now use 2k digital projectors in the "Imax" theater; that's the SAME projectors at the Rave and every other theater (except for Breckenridge, which uses 4k projectors, more on that below). And it looks worse than a normal theater because it looks stretched and you can see each of the pixels, the screen is too large and too close for a 2k projector, you may as well be watching a dvd at home because this looks worse than a Bluray! They removed the Imax projector to save money, but they are STILL charging full Imax prices. Do not give these liars your money! ANY other theater has the same digital projectors and looks better than this, you will feel ripped off if you go to this Lie-Max. (see my review of the Rave [not very] "Extreme" as well, it is the same projection as Lie-Max with many of the same problems, it is too large and blown up and it looks like crap, but they still charge 2$ more for it! Breckenridge 4k projectors are better than the Rave Extreme screen and the Lie-Max!!!) Breckenridge theater has all 4k projectors since upgrading and they look stunningly GORGEOUS, the detail and clarity are just fantastic; and the sound is correctly balanced and plenty loud too! I only go to Breckenridge now! *Note that the new McCain theater set to open in Oct2012 is a Regal, like Breckenridge, and it will have all 4k projectors including a grande screen which should be better than the Rave's Extreme screen AND the...

Worst movie going experience I've had. Serve your own fountain drinks which are mostly soda water, serve yourself candy, butter your own popcorn, napkins which are almost Kleenex. The self serve areas were littered, and covered with butter and spilt beverage. No ushers. The lady in the box office was sprawled on the counter, scanned the ticket from my smartphone and then sent us to the wrong auditorium. 40 minutes later we decided to check our confirm and discovered her error. When we went to the box office, there was no one there. Almost 10 minutes later the same lady showed up and said she would have to call a manager to refund our money. The "manager" showed up shortly along with two more people (where had they all gone?). The "manager" called for another "manager". After my explanation that we had missed the 7:35 movie, she took out a sheet and told me that was confused because there was no 7:35 Star Wars....My bad. It was 7:30! Then she unfolded her paper again to try to see if we could attend a later movie... I REPEATED that I just wanted my money back and leave. She complained that I was being aggressive and she didn't appreciate it because she "just got here". Then she said that she might not be able to give me my money back because.....wait for it.....THE MOVIE HAD BEEN ON TOO LONG! She processed my credit card for the refund then informed me that it might take up to 35 days for the credit to appear on my card and if it didn't, I should give them a call. If you want your evening ruined, go to...