Comments on: The Big Screen in Great Falls

By: Pointer Men's Basketball

Pointer Men's Basketball — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 11:49:16 +0000

Maybe you should make changes to the page name The Big Screen in Great Falls | Greater Falls! to something more generic for your blog post you write. I loved the post nevertheless.

By: LaughingMan

LaughingMan — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:23:01 +0000

Am I an ‘expert’ in theater management? No, but I have been in many different types of theaters, from small towns in Sanders County, to the Carmike and IMAX theaters around Seattle, WA. I won’t blame JUST the theater, but there’s a lot to be desired with the movie-going experience here in Great Falls.

The cost of food and drinks is ABSURD, especially for the giant boxes of candy that are 80% air and cardboard, and the stale popcorn that tastes like packing-peanuts in olive oil.

If the staff is not physically absent, then they usually are mentally. But I can’t complain too much about them because I never see any other employees outside of the ticket-booth attendant, the ticket-tearer-upper, and the one or two kids manning the snack shack. God forbid I actually see a cleaning crew or a few ushers.

Walking through the rows of seats is an adventure in itself; navigating around the sticky puddles of spilled pop from the previous night is like transversing a minefield while wearing clown shoes. So you manage to keep your shoes clean only to finally plop into a seat and feel something seeping into your right buttcheek. Very classy.

But I honestly blame the whole condition of the theater on THE MOVIE GOERS. Theaters are losing money and can’t afford to hire/train employees or keep up maintenance because fewer people are actually going to theaters nowadays. Why do people choose to ‘wait for the DVD’ or download films? Because of all of the morons you have to watch the movie with.

I can’t stand going to see movies mostly because of all the people around me ruin the experience. Every time I try to see a movie there’s always guys explaining the plot to their brain-dead girlfriends, people Riffing the movie in the back row, and the stupid asses who have to text and/or Twitter in the middle of a film so that all four of their friends can know: “I AM @ TEH MOVIEZ! NEED 2 BUY MILK ON WAY HOME.”

Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll wait for the DVD or download a video-capture from the internet. Then I can enjoy a movie in the comfort and cost-effectiveness of my own home, rather than spend $20 to ruin clothing, be miserable, and lose even more of my faith in humanity.

Sincerely,
Someone who spent last night reading “A Catcher in the Rye”

By: doug

doug — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:41:15 +0000

I am dissapointed that none of the coming attractions are posted even though the carmike 10 website says they are. the concession stand is a joke as a person has to stand in unbelievably long lines to get the extremely over priced concessions that they sell. two people working at the concession stands is ridiculous. there are two sides and only one is open. the employees seem to want to be somewhere else all of the time and the theaters themselves are dirty and the floors feel as though they were mopped with the spilled pop. the list goes on and on.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:33:08 +0000

I almost never go. Too many people texting all through the movie…

By: ajtooley

ajtooley — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:44:58 +0000

Courtney, the Carmike here has digital projection, not the old platter system (I used to be a projectionist back in the late cretaceous period and had the great fun of running those things). It’s closer to having a row of DVD players. In any case, that’s not what I’m talking about. If, for whatever reason, they’ve started a movie late, they should adjust whatever supercomputer they have running their lobby sign. But they don’t. They simply offer platitudes about how it’s not their fault it’s wrong. And on an individual basis it isn’t their fault; it’s an institutional failure on the part of Carmike’s regional and national management in not training their employees to do everything in their power to make sure a scheduled event begins on schedule, and to make sure that mistakes are anomalous, not par for the course.

Another Carmike anecdote: a few years back when the other theaters were still open, I noticed that some small holes in the walls at one of them had actually been repaired, but that the filling didn’t quite match the paint. No big deal, but something about it looked really weird, so I took a closer look at what they’d used to repair the holes. Yep, it was toothpaste.

By: Jim Rohrich

Jim Rohrich — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:50:37 +0000

- Tim P

I’ve seen a couple of guys in their early 30s working there… appear to be some sort
of management. I haven’t seen them at every movie I’ve been too.

By: Tim P

Tim P — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:43:17 +0000

Has anyone actually ever seen an adult working for Carmike? It seems like the kids that work there have no manager direction on customer service….if there is an adult working there, he/she is hiding out in the back somewhere.

By: Jim Rohrich

Jim Rohrich — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:33:02 +0000

My son and I go to a lot of movies. The theater in town is horrible.
My wife, son and I recently went to Billings for the weekend and went
to the new Carmike theater there (Shiloh Crossing 14). If you want to
see a tent pole studio movie (for instance; the upcoming Avatar)…
I highly recommend you plan a trip to Billings and see the movie there.
I’m going to Helena for the next film I really want to see (Cinemark
Theater). A note… the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz is this
year, and Warner Brothers? is going to re-release the movie to select
theaters across the nation. Helena, believe it or not, is going to show
the movie at the Cinemark. The movie has been completely remastered
(picture, sound, etc). It’s showing on Sept. 23rd at 7:00.

By: david

david — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:54:21 +0000

Good point, K3v72. That is one of the reasons that I so rarely venture forth to the movie theatre. 99% of all movies are not “big-screen worthy” and can be watched on TV with no degradation of the experience.

But for some movies – Tarantino, Iron Man, a few others – initial viewing just can’t be beat on a big screen.

Thankfully, I’m a movie snob and don’t have to endure the movie-going experience very often

By: K3v72

K3v72 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:41:56 +0000

Why do people continue to go when the experience is so bad? Yes it is the only theater in town, but you can always wait for the DVD, go to another town, or even wait until it airs on cable. When you start to effect their bottom line, things will change.
I have also been told at one time by a Carmike employee that if you have a complaint about your experience and you express it before half of the movie is over, they will refund your ticket.