When you see 70 movies a year, you have to keep track of what you've seen. It helps jog the memory; it's good for compiling end-of-year lists and handicapping Oscars. And it also helps me in this venture: exposing the increasingly unbearable conditions of film exhibition in the Charlottesville area.
We moviegoers are living at the mercy of the despicable Regal Cinemas, home of paltry selection, faulty equipment, negligent employees and indifferent management.
Almost all of the movies I took in this fall at the two first-run Regal Cinemas multiplexes in town, the Seminole Square 4 and the Downtown Mall 6, had some sort of problem with projection or sound, most of which were not corrected even after complaints to employees or management.
The older Seminole has never been reliable, but the downturn that really made me question the way Regal Cinemas operates in the Charlottesville area was the Downtown Mall's. And after speaking to Pam Snyder, who was the general manager of the Downtown Mall theater from April 1997 until last June - an oddly coincidental time of departure, considering the theater got noticeably worse last fall - my concerns were compounded.
Snyder did a tip-top job as general manager: The employees treated the customers pleasantly, the technical equipment stayed in good shape and projection went off with hardly a hitch. Furthermore, in several conversations with Snyder during her term, I found that she had a genuine concern for providing the community with the best viewing experiences possible.
I was distressed to find out last July that Snyder was no longer the general manager. Although I heard rumors that she was forced out, Snyder said in an interview that she left of her own volition.
Officially, Snyder said her reasons for leaving Regal Cinemas were "very long hours and not enough compensation," but before long she was voicing a multitude of dissatisfactions with her former employer.
"They make it very difficult for general managers to operate," she said.
Snyder recalled that someone from the Regal Cinemas' district office, whom she declined to name, once criticized her for being "too nice."
Since leaving the theater, Snyder has noticed the downturn in conditions.
"It seemed that every time I went, there was a problem," she said.
But she attributed the decline of the Downtown Mall theater not to anyone in particular, but instead to what she called the "corporate mentality" of Regal Cinemas.
"They're putting young, upwardly mobile people in positions that they are not ready for, and they don't take care of their general managers who try to do a good job for them," Snyder said.
Please stand by, we are having technical difficulties
In the interview, I recounted to Snyder several of the problems I have experienced at Regal Cinemas since she left. "American Beauty" was projected onto the wrong-size screen and was not framed properly. I informed the manager; nothing changed. When I saw "Ride With the Devil," I remarked to an employee who walked up the aisle soon after the film began that the volume was too low. Not only was this simple problem not fixed, but a ventilation system cut on periodically and made the film even harder to hear.
The first time I attempted to see "Magnolia," I was informed by a sign on the ticket window that "there will be no 9:00 screening of 'Magnolia.'" No further explanation was given. When I finally did see it, I had to ask the manager to fix the framing; I could see the bottom of the frame bleeding onto the top. Thankfully, he listened.
Others were not so lucky. Kara Hightower, a Charlottesville resident and Piedmont Community College student who saw "Magnolia" on opening night, said the movie jumped out of frame twice, with what should have been at the bottom half of the screen occupying the top, and vice versa. Each time, Hightower said, the problem took about five minutes to correct. "We were getting really frustrated," she said.
What clinched my opinion that the Downtown Mall had gone downhill, though, occurred last October, when I saw "Being John Malkovich." Ten minutes before the end, the film simply stopped. Fourth-year College student Adam Popp, OFFScreen president and my viewing companion that night, went to inform the manager.
"I assumed the manager already knew what had happened. I went into the lobby, and a man who I presumed to be the manager came out from behind the concession stand, and he was completely oblivious," Popp said. "If I hadn't gone out there, we would've been sitting in the theater for who knows how long."
Even so, it was another 10 minutes before the film began again.
Management should be held accountable
The current general manager of the Regal Cinemas Downtown Mall 6, who in a brief interview would only give his first name, said he was not permitted to comment about any problems at the theater and referred all questions to his district manager, Phil Zacheretti.
Zacheretti could not be reached for comment.
Both Snyder and Ian Mitchell, a projectionist under Snyder who left the Downtown Mall soon after she did - he now works at the Jefferson Theater - said the Downtown Mall is on its third general manager since Snyder left.
When I told Snyder about some of the difficulties myself and others have experienced, she conceded that "projection is very difficult."
But Snyder did not shy away from faulting her successors.
"A lot of things can go wrong, but they can be fixed very quickly," she said. "It takes a strong general manager and assistant general manager to really pay attention to detail, and if there's a problem, that's where the problem is. I would never start a film and just walk away, but it seems like that's what's happening now."
Snyder said she would often stay up until 3 or 4 a.m. to pre-screen the new movies that arrived to prevent potential problems. She said that if employees were still doing this now, one particularly bad viewing experience of hers could have been avoided.
"'The Green Mile' jumped out of frame two or three times on opening night - that shouldn't have happened," she said. "They're just not paying attention. It's very irritating to me.
"I really enjoyed my customers down at the Mall, and I did everything I could to make sure they were taken care of," Snyder added. "They're hiring and moving up people so fast that they're not learning that."
Selection suffering as well
Under Snyder, the Downtown Mall was not just a place where you could be virtually sure of seeing a movie without incident. It was also a haven for variety, bringing big-budget studio productions as well as lower-budget, arthouse films that Vinegar Hill Theater could not accommodate. Under-publicized films would often sneak onto the Downtown Mall's screens for brief runs: I caught "Deconstructing Harry," "Two Girls and a Guy," "Velvet Goldmine" and "Little Voice," among others.
Along with the deteriorating viewing conditions this fall, this splendid variety also seems to have diminished.
Snyder said she doesn't know why this has happened. Choosing films is not the responsibility of the general manager. This task falls to the head buyer for the region, who operates out of Regal Cinemas' corporate office. But Snyder said she often discussed smaller films that might thrive at the Downtown Mall.
"I didn't have a lot of say-so [on what films came to the theater], but I had a good rapport with the head buyer. I talked to him about getting those films in," she said.
The Charlottesville area has experienced a squeeze since Carmike Cinemas decided to close the decrepit Terrace Triple this summer. As a result, the Carmike Cinema 6 in the Albemarle Square shopping center - easily the most reliable place in Charlottesville to see a movie since Snyder's departure - has had to hold onto films that it may have previously shipped to the Terrace.
Meanwhile, Vinegar Hill Theater, a first-run arthouse where technical foul-ups are rare, only has one screen and often has to hold films that are attracting large audiences for several weeks, while others pass it by.
Problems elsewhere
Regal Cinemas' Seminole Square multiplex has done nothing to pick up the slack, and its consistent technical difficulties are the most egregious in town. Movies are often out of focus, and sound appears to be a particular problem.
Third-year College student Mark Ulrich recounted a particularly bad experience at an opening-weekend screening of "The Messenger" in November.
Ulrich, a former projectionist at Newcomb Hall Theater, said from the outset, "they were having major problems with their sound, [which was] turned into a high-pitched whine, but they didn't stop the trailers and fix the problem until at least one full trailer had completed and the audience was literally yelling at the screen for mercy.
"Then the actual movie started, which was no treat because a few seconds before and after every reel change [about every 20 minutes], the whining returned and the screen literally went blank," Ulrich added.
When I saw "Sleepy Hollow" the next week, it was badly out of focus for the first 15 minutes, and the sound cut off during a crucial exchange of dialogue. A few weeks later, I tried to see "Toy Story 2" in the same auditorium and was forced to leave and get a refund when the sound went out more or less entirely.
I haven't been back to the Seminole since, but fourth-year Nursing student Mary Katherine Arthur, who saw "Down to You" on opening night, Jan. 21, said for five climactic minutes of the film, the image became so blurry and dark that it was impossible to see.
The general manager of the Seminole refused to give his name and declined to comment.
And for those of you who may think the problems with Regal Cinemas are localized, I am here to dash your hopes. In my hometown of Fredericksburg, Va., Regal owns three of four first-run multiplexes, and the conditions are just as deplorable.
Of many problem-ridden screenings, two stick out the most. Over last Fall Break, I saw "Fight Club" at home; it was out of focus and the digital surround sound kept cutting out, leaving only the inadequate speakers behind the screen. And when I saw "Magnolia" in the same auditorium nearly three months later, the surround sound still hadn't been fixed!
By Winter Break, I had basically given up complaining about movies I saw at home. I would not recommend seeing "End of Days" even under optimal conditions, but I had to review it, and saw it in Fredericksburg over Thanksgiving Break. The second time I went to complain that it was badly out of focus, an employee informed me that "in some of the theaters, the focus is as good as it gets."
What to do?
The attitude that shoddy viewing conditions are good enough appears pervasive. And it's not just among theater employees - viewers share the blame. For whatever reason, we seem to have been conditioned to accept that the people who show us our movies don't know what they're doing: Indifferent employees have spawned apathetic viewers. Not enough people are willing to get up and complain. We prefer to stake our $7 on an unattractive wager.
I understand that because I see so many movies, I'm hypersensitive to problems that others just don't notice. And with the popularity of video, I know plenty of people just don't care about image quality or even seeing movies in their correct aspect ratio.
By the same token, very few people are willing to boycott theaters and wait for movies to hit Blockbuster. It is to this majority that I speak. Call the managers. Voice your concerns. Tell them about that movie you saw two months ago that you could hardly see or hear. When we pay $7 for a ticket, we deserve to see films the way they are meant to be seen, and it is the responsibility of theater managers to perform this none-too-difficult task.
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