TCL Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
6925 Hollywood Boulevard,
Los Angeles,
CA
90028
161 people
favorited this theater
Showing 951 - 975 of 1,682 comments
A retraction and my apologies to Brad: This week I saw “I Love You Phillip Morris” and “The Black Swan” in two different lower level auditoriums at Arclight Hollywood. The sound, presentation and comfort was everything you claimed. At 64 I am losing some hearing and fairly frequently miss dialogue at other theaters; however, at the Arclight I heard virtually every word of dialogue!
In the future I will visit the Hollywood and Sherman Oaks locations for hard to find movies. I hadn’t eaten, so the chicken sausage baguette at the concession counter was a welcome change from hotdogs and the Illy coffee was good. P.S. The Beverly has excellent Starbucks and the Silent Movie Thater the best coffee of all to go with their gourmet cupcakes.
So you are saying the full vertical height of the screen was not used? In that case, I would assume the movie was projected from some sort of LCD projector off of a DVD or Blu-Ray, and that format would be the fault of the program’s organizers, not the ArcLight.
Chas: At least half the Dome screen was not used. I’ve seen 1940s movies at the Aero, Egyptian,Beverlyand Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer that had more screen width than what “Bullitt” was projected. The movie was lost in the Dome’s dimensions.
Bullitt was shot at 1.85:1 so it would not fill a Cinemascope/Panavison type screen. Most theaters would mask off the unused part of the screen.
I am not taking about the Dome. I’m taking about the adjacent 14 screens. It is always flawless in my opinion. The Dome itself I prefer not to patronize because I do feel it is not always a great presentation; my visits are always at the Arclight screens.
Brad, the night of the Steve McQueen tribute at ArcLight Dome, the presentation was NOT flawless. Clips did not appear on cue and the organizers said this was the first time they ever had problems.
Also, I’m not sure why the movie “Bullitt” was projected only in the middle of the screen. I’m sure at the Chinese it would have been given the full screen effect.
My last film at the Vista was “There will be Blood” and presentation and sound were flawless and comparable to the Chinese and Arclight.
The Film is the thing, but also is the presentation. AMC does not come close(in my opinion) to what Arclight (or the Village, Bruin, Chinese for that matter) do as far as the sight and sound presenation of a film. AMC is concerned only about provinding a room with seats for the cattle. But I guess I am pickier than most people. I’d rather pay the $15.00 and not have endless ads, people texting and talking, an out of focus picture and so-so sound. I must have Toscanini’s ear because the Arclight Hollywood has the purest sound of any theatre in L.A. It is flawless.
I have been to the Vista many times. Went when it was a Landmark theatre in early 80’s, a bargain theatre in the late 80’s and a first run theatre in the late 1990’s. But since I’d rather patronize the Arclight, Village, Chinese, Bruin I do not go to the Vista theses days. I also went to the Los Feliz back in the 1980’s when it was a nice single screen.
“Unless you are a projectionist or have Toscanini’s ear, almost all theaters have acceptable presentation and sound.” — dctrig, you must be the luckiest regular theatergoer alive… While the other locations you cited—Burbank and the Vista—generally have solid presentation, I would contend that there is SOME presentation problem at least 20% of the time I see 35mm film in greater Los Angeles. In other areas—I split my time between LA and San Diego—that number approaches 50%.
I attended the midnight screening of “Faster” last night at the Chinese. Normally I take Metro from N Hollywood, but because the movie got out about 2AM I drove the seven miles and parked in the Hollywood & Highland garage-what a bargain, $2 for 4 hours with Mann parking validation.
Can’t believe there were only 20 of us in the audience! Today the L A Times has a “Faster” movie flier which hopefully will help. The Cirque du Soleil show opening at the Kodak next summer should also help business.
Brad, sorry but the FILM is the main thing. Unless you are a projectionist or have Toscanini’s ear, almost all theaters have acceptable presentation and sound. Personally, I love AMC Burbank: 30 movies, free parking, $6 senior Tuesday and $6 for all first movie on Saturday.
You need to visit the Vista for its awesome interior and history.
I rave about Arclight because of the presentation. For a multiplex it is quite exatraordinary; the sightliness, sound, and comfort are outstanding. Trust me, I hate multiplexes and the AMC approach of seats and a screen in a room, AMC singlehandingly has ruined film exhibition. I’ve never had a bad experience at Arclight Hollywood, and gladly pay the $12.50 of $15.00 to see a film there.
On the flipside, I saddens me what Mann is doing with the Chinese. It deserves to have better bookings and is still one of the Best theatres in LA. Saying that, I still support the Bruin and my all time favorite theatre the Village in Westwood when I can. It really makes me happy to see Regency show how much they care. They are doing a fantastic job and I hope them much success.
Thanks for the great photo. I caught the 10:30PM showing last Friday of “Skyline”, which had very little advertising. The audience of about 80 was actually larger han a few other movies I’ve seen at Grauman’s in the last few months. I never get tired of gawking at the well-maintained beauty of the interior.
I’ll take the Chinese over ArcLight any day. Mann gives me a $9 senior rate, $11.50 for 3D, while the Cinerama Dome gouged me for $18 this past Sunday for “Megamind.” And the upkeep on the Dome is only fair.
Contrast that with the El Capitan, where I only paid $10 for Disney’s A Christmas Carol 3D". Plus, I got a bell bracelet and the live Wurlitzer organist. Kudos also to Regency: I bought my $9 ticket online to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie at the Bruin and was only charged a 50 cent fee. Both the Bruin and Village are sold out!
Why do people rave about the overpriced Arclight? For anywhere from $5.50 to $9.50 one can see the latest movies at the awesome Vista, right near the Metro subway stop.
Trivia note: A relative of Sid Grauman presented a program at the Silent Movie Theater this past Wednesday.
Walter Grauman, 88, directed countless TV episodes, as a Google search will show. A Route 66 episode featured Sessue Hayakawa-we only saw excerpts but it looked well done. Also, a 1920 Hayakawa movie “The Devil’s Claim”, was on the program.
A few weeks ago I was there and they said they were getting Due Date when I asked. Poster was up in a few places. But I guess they overbooked with the AFI fest ans Saw.
I’m not so sure I’d call it “snagged,” Brad. The Chinese will be using Grauman’s + two more theaters for AFI Fest that week. They just couldn’t swing DUE DATE with SAW 3D already taking up two screens.
Chinese NOT GETTING Due Date on 11/5. Arclight snagged it from Mann.
Sunday night the Chinese was closed for a private screening of what an exiting patron told me was a “ski-skateboard movie” (whatever that is).
It was fun standing in line with my umbrella to get into the 7PM show at the El Capitan. I haven’t stood in line in the rain since my Chicago film going days in the ‘70s.
What Brad said…
Here’s a photo from Oct. 2009
Graumans- Nothing Dies With Blue Skies.com
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Mann is just letting the theatre coast until someone else takes it over. The Mann chain is as good as dead. I’ll see Due Date in Westwood and support Regency Theatres.
When I was about 9 years old, I was taken to see “The Robe' at the Chinese. Being an organ nut even then, I walked down the aisle to look at the console, which was covered with a dust cloth. It was at the east side of the pit, not in the center. It was ebonized and had dragons painted on either side of the horseshoe.
Probably about the same time, the tall, decorative metal lanterns that used to flank the proscenium were removed, as the bass from the sound system caused them to rattle. Alas, the cable from the console to the organ chamber on the roof ran inside of one of the lanterns, and t was cut when they were removed.
Incidentally, the 32' octave of the Diaphone was not with the organ on the roof, it was behind the decorative "box” seating on the west side of the auditorium. It wasn’t removed with the organ and I wonder if it is still there?
One can still see the organ chamber on the roof, that bumps out from the south side of the stage house. It must have been very hot in there during the summer.
Those who heard the organ when it was played say the sound was a bit distant due to the tone chute arrangement that brought the sound from the chamber to the center of the grille work around the chandelier.
Mann blew it again: the two top grossing movies of the weekend, “Red” and “Jackass 3D”, had their red carpet premieres at the Chinese last Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, but opened elsewhere.
At least my beloved Bruin hit a homerun with “Jackass 3D.” I caught the 10:10PM show on Saturday with 400 other patrons. Considering there were six shows on Saturday the attendance was phenomenal.
A major problem with the Chinese is that Mann has no interest in catering to the hardcore moviegoer anymore. Frankly, I don’t want the knuckleheads milling around Hollywood Blvd to start buying tickets to the Chinese. The tourists can’t (and won’t) keep the Chinese afloat. I want Mann to start utilizing the Chinese as a competitor to Arclight Hollywood and The El Capitan (which is what it really is). Mann’s so busy trying to get out of the movie business that their only plan of attack is to pull in a few stragglers off the street. They’re just lazy now and it’s the reason they’re on the ropes with the Chinese. They need to look at what makes the El Capitan, the Dome and the additional Arclight theaters so appealing to locals that the locals will travel from all over the metro area and the Valley to see films there. I’ve already got my midnight tickets to Tron at the El Capitan on the 16th of December. The Chinese has become more of an impulse buy. I’ll see something there now, but I probably won’t decide until the day (often times because they won’t even tell you what’s playing there until a few days beforehand). With Due Date, I’ll probably hit that over at the Village because the Chinese will probably end up being about 70% tourists who had nothing better to do. Mann has been working hard to relinquish the Chinese’s ‘event’ identity.It’s sad because I love the Chinese, but I no longer love “going” to the Chinese.