Jeff O.
Yelp
This AMC has had 3.5 stars for as long as I can remember, and I feel like very few businesses capture the range of personalities, preferences and priorities on Yelp than those with 3.5 stars, especially if they've been operating for many years and have hundreds of reviews.
Even within the 3.5-star rating realm, a large and decades-old multiplex offers an unusually fascinating slice of cultural anthropology, collecting disparate and evolving attitudes and expectations regarding one of the most universally popular forms of entertainment.
Skim reviews from the past year or two, for example, and you'll find dramatically different ratings for what seem to be the same experience: Seeing a movie and eating some popcorn in a simple theater. Some people think that's exactly what they paid for, and others expect more of Manhattan moviegoing in the 2020s and in the age of Alamo Drafthouse-style hospitality.
Similarly, there are glowing reviews that mention the cavernous IMAX theater boasting a 100-foot screen and the newer Dolby theater boasting huge luxury recliners that jostle patrons in sync with the most thunderous moments of the state-of-the-art audio. There are also brutal reviews that dismiss the IMAX and Dolby offerings as little more than two bright spots in an irredeemably archaic cineplex.
Unlike a lot of 3.5-star businesses, I generally don't feel that anyone is right or wrong about their ratings here. If someone expects a leather chair or a craft beer while watching a movie at a big theater chain, I guess that's a valid opinion. And if someone really sees a mouse scurrying around somewhere, or was really treated terribly by employees, I'm not going to say that a 1-star review is unreasonable.
But I will say that I live four blocks from this AMC, and I've been coming here for 12 years, and I've been getting my money's worth out of my A-List membership for as long as it's existed, and I've never encountered vermin or a single rude remark from any staff member. For a Broadway theater, the place is remarkably clean imo, and the employees are not just courteous and helpful but sometimes actually cool as hell.
On top of all that basic stuff, this is a flagship NYC cinema, and so they're always having red carpet premieres (even on back-to-back nights earlier this month) and special Q&A events where you get to talk with superstar actors and directors after seeing a flick (a few that come to mind are Regina King, Barry Jenkins, Brendan Fraser and Bradley Cooper).
I also adore the decor, which includes towering murals and elaborate ornamentation, e.g., faux Hollywood palm trees and theater entrances with sphinxes and pharaohs and other old-school movie palace details.
And finally, the range of films is terrific, encompassing all the blockbusters plus a steady diet of borderline-arthouse fare.
So yeah, whatever it says about my personality, preferences and priorities, I'm giving this AMC two thumbs up and a very enthusiastic five stars.