Quad Cinema
34 W. 13th Street,
New York,
NY
10011
34 W. 13th Street,
New York,
NY
10011
24 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 104 comments
I haven’t experienced a similar situtation, nyc6655, but my best advice would be to contact the management of the Quad and complain about what you’ve experienced and seen happen to others. The office number is 212.255.2243. Best of luck…
QUAD CINEMA OUTRAGE:
While the Quad undeniably offers great movies, it is not as gracious with its customers.
Ticket takers at the theater frequently engage in making ticket holders tear their own tickets in half if in any way the tickets have left the ticket holders hand, such as if it becomes wet or is dropped on the ground. This has happened to me, and I have seen it happen to others, including elderly patrons.
While this may sound trivial, I have seen the ticket takers laugh in doing so, and it is clear that they take personal delight in this practice. It is rude and quite shocking.
I would like to hear from anyone else with similar experiences. Thank you.
Interesting , thanks for the info.
The quarter moon you are seeing is actually a reflection from the subwoofer driver. I should have painted it when I replaced the screen last year. As far as the picture not being centered, they probably didn’t adjust the masking right. All the aspect ratios for all 4 screens are correct. We are one of the few theaters around that actually have the proper lenses and plates for all 4 aspect ratios.
Oh and one other thing. The screen in Quad #2 has a “quarter moon” slit near the center that is visible whenever there is a bright image on the screen. It’s somewhat distracting and the screen should be repaired or replaced.
I was there today after 3 years. The seat was less confining (I lost 10 pounds). The popcorn was good but paled in comparison to the Angelika. The picture image was too wide for the screen , or wasn’t centered. That said , $11 for a ticket and $6 for a large popcorn was very reasonable….
Recently, the Quad was one of the few theatres to run Uwe Boll’s Postal. This was because AMC and Regal refused to show it. Boll must have paid them a lot of money to run it.
Suspiciously defensive? LMAO. I just find it funny that people blame “theater policy” on their own lateness. I was only telling you to give it another try because it is a good theater to see a movie at. I’m not worries about everyone loving the theater. Enough people do. I just find your reasoning lame, that’s all.
You’re awfully defensive about the Quad, RCDTJ. Suspiciously defensive. Life’s too short. Not everyone’s going to love the place as you do. Let’s move on.
Having worked at an art house myself, I know that a New York art house crowd is VERY temperamental, they get annoyed at the least little thing. But it really is distracting in small auditoriums like these to have people wandering around in the aisle, their eyes not yet adjusted to the dark, hunting for seats, particularly if the film is subtitled and someone already seated has their view blocked, even momentarily. An independent operator can set up common sense policies like this easier than a chain theatre, where every letter or phone call to the public relations dept. causes them to go apoplectic.
I personally could care less if you came to this theater or not. Just don’t make it seem like it’s the theaters fault because you could not get there on time. The policies are here for a reason. People don’t like being interuppted by customers coming in 20 minutes after the movie starts looking for a seat.
Even the best-intentioned policies can be wrong-headed when applied bureaucratically and unnecessarily. It’s called common sense.
I do defend the management’s right to apply its rules no matter the circumstances and mine to patronize other moviehouses instead.
It’s a shame you don’t try it again. You are missing a very good movie experience. As far as the policy goes, they are the same policies that keep it a well kept, well running theater.
I gave up on the Quad many years ago after two failed efforts to gain admission in one NYC visit. I had to squeeze as many films into each day as possible, and because the Quad was not near my hotel nor any of the other theaters on my long agenda, I had to go there when I could squeeze it in, subway round trip included.
The show times were/are tight enough that one would be able to see a film from middle to middle and sit through the interval without an inordinate waste of time.
I was trying to catch a documentary the Quad was playing that week and in both trips to the theater was detained in transit just enough to miss the start of the feature. I was denied entry because of house policy.
The second trip was on my last afternoon in NYC. Again, “You can’t go in; we have a policy,” etc.
I asked to see the manager and pleaded my case to her without discourtesy. She repeated, inflexibly, what the cashier already had told me.
I had been there many times before, always purchasing concessions as well as tickets.
The irony is that the theater was dead on both of these weekday afternoons. No question of that. Those in charge dug in their heels on a house policy that made little sense in the special circumstances of slow weekday afternoons, without another patron in sight and weak grosses reported later that week.
I never again patronized the theater on future visits.
For the record, I’m also surprised to find Lincoln Plaza lumped in with the Quad and the Angelika. The Lincoln Plaza lacks some amenities, too, but I’ve always found it to be a clear cut above the others and never encounted any difficulties in my dozens of visits there.
Strange booking at the Quad:
In 1986, they showed the Invaders From Mars remake.
I only went to the Quad Cinema once, in 1991, to see the documentary HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILM MAKER’S APOCOLYPSE. Man, I though the screens at the Angelika were small! This was thumbnail!
In the early 80s, when I was in college in Brooklyn, they ran a Hitchcock series here that I will never forget. Remember, college film clubs and small theaters like this were the ONLY way to see the classics before video/vcrs became standard. The Quad will always have a special place in my heart for this reason. Fantastic memories—I can’t imagine finding fault with the place!
Thankyou Gena2. Everything you said is true, except for the closing part. This theater will be around for a long time.
one of my favorite cinemas in all of manhattan. yes, it’s cramped. yes, the promo running before the show has not been changed in 12 years. but that’s all part of the retro charm. very well-maintained. offers the best of the old (check out the 70s architecture on the sign itself) and the new (Starbucks coffee in concessions). absolutely essential, so it will probably close soon because every good theater worth anything closes in the city eventually.
i was there today for the first time in 31 years , the place has been done over but the individual cinemas are pretty much the same. if i recall correctly , even back then the floors in the cinemas were slanted for an early stadium seating effect. the popcorn was fresh if a bit salty. one thing , i am 5'9 and 180 pounds , and i barely fit in my seat comfortably. i’m not sure a large person would find the seating adequate…
I don’t hear any more complaints from people here than I do from larger theaters. On the contrary, people like this theater because of the fact that it is a small well maintained theater. The equipment in the booth is top notch, state of the art stuff. The presentation (sound, picture, etc..) is better than a lot of larger plexes. If you don’t like the place than don’t go. This place is in no danger of closing anytime in my lifetime.
The problem with the Quad, Lincoln Plaza and Angelica is the buildings they occupy were not intended to be theatres. So when converted they had to squeeze auditoriums in between pre-existing support columns and floors could not be properly raked. Engineering-wise, reconfiguring the structural members of the buildings could have been done, but it would have been hugely expensive, and surely beyond the means of the independent operators who originally developed these theatres.
I totally agree with you!
RCDTJ: This pit does business for the same reason the DREADFUL Angelika and Lincoln Plaza do…they book movies you can’t see anywhere else. And, speaking for myself, just like with the Angelika and Lincoln Plaza, if this is my only option, I’d rather not see the movie.
I worked at the Bleeker in the ‘70s and went to the Quad on my days off!