We plebs in middle-class America have to settle for the AMC cinema-plex - which I went to yester day in the late afternoon. It was like a bad Sci-Fi nightmare of a future dyspotia. Buried in a multi-story open mall courtyard accessible by open air tiered walkways. A blizzard of multi-colored neon signs and symbols suspended from every wall, overhead, and window, a din of echoing voices in a jam packed isles, incomprehensible directions, and lots of bumping, dodging, and the like to get to the ticket office (after negotiating a multi-level parking garage without any spaces and bumper to bumper crawling).
And of course one has to ride escalators to the top of the plex to find the main movie entrance, only to discover that the ticket office is on the floor below. Once the ticket office is located, the lines are endless and so one might choose the automated ticket machines where the lines are shorter - only to discover two of the three machines don't work. And the one that does work has inscrutable instructions, non-responsive touch screens, and various loops and drop-outs. Then if you do manage to find what you wanted, it says "sold out", and if its not sold out you get a seating chart that shows only row A, far left side has two seats...good luck picking them though as the touch screen doesn't seem to recognize anything less than the hefty swing of a ball peen hammer on the icon.
Once inside you find the huge snack food counter to discover the one thing you wanted not cooked (hot dogs), no cardboard trays to carry your bag of stale popcorn (not buttered, that's at the butter station), and a cup (you have to locate a drink dispensing machine elsewhere and serve yourself ). If you then forget to look at your ticket, thinking what is playing in each theater will be posted prominently- nope, it ain't...its all numbered, so you best always have your ticket out (while carrying your various food items) to check each theater number...that is, if you don't find your self in the wrong wing on the OPPOSITE side of the building.
Once in and seated, its packed. Not a single seat left. The movie was boring (Vice) propoganda, the a/c marginal, and you cursed yourself for not just staying home. Between ticket, snacks, parking fees, and misc you've wasted 5 hours and 50 bucks.
My friend and I swore never again.