The Tivoli is a special theater, giant one screen with amazing art and architecture. I saw only one film there, but it truly is a treasure. In the Chicago suburbs there are many theaters which look like the Tivoli from the outsite, but have long since been sliced and diced into shoebox sized auditoriums, the Tivoli has retained is spectacular interior in tact.
Do yourself a favor, if you are interested in classic theaters, go see something at the Tivoli.
The Meteron is to some extend a souless multiplex, but as far as it goes, it’s probably the best souless multiplex in the world. The theater features DLP projectors on some screens, and every screen is THX certified. Even among THX auditoriums The Metreon has outstanding sound.
The Metreon draws strong crowds on opening days, leading to a pleasant movie going experience of enthusiastic fans.
I was fortunate enough to see Star Wars Episode III opening day at the Village, it was the best movie going experience of my life. The DLP screen as gigantic, bright, and clear. The THX sound is the among the best I’ve ever heard (perhaps outclassed by Seattle’s Cinerama and San Francisco’s Metreon).
The audience participation was great, the auditorium is large, ornate and classy.
While in Seattle, it is definately worth a special trip to the Cinerama, regardless what is playing.
The single screen, THX certified auditorium sports the best sound I’ve ever heard in any theater ever, including Chicago’s McClurg Court, LAs Village, and San Franciscos Metreon.
The theater primarily uses its massive flat screen, however for annual festivals they take that screen down, and assemble the (even more) massive curved cinerama screen, and show cinerama 3 projector format films, and 70MM films on the curved screen. I was fortunate enough to see Lawrence of Arabia in that format, it was spectacular.
The Cinerama was an early adopter of DLP technology, however they no longer project movies in DLP (as of Spring 05). Rumor has it that they recieved their DLP projector on loan from Boeing (I can confirm Boeing manufactured the Cineramas DLP projector), but that it was unreliable, and the resolution was pixelated on Cineramas massive screen.
It’s quite sad that this theater closed. I haven’t lived in Chicago since 1996, but made several trips to McClurg since then to see particular films. Today a friend of mine visiting Chicago and asked where a good theater was, without delay I responded McClurg Court, only to discover it is out of business.
I saw the rerelease of Star Wars there, when it was one of a handful of THX auditoriums in Chicago, the level of excitement and crowd participation was awesome. When Star Wars Episode I and II came out, McClurg court was the only DLP projection, THX certified auditorium in Chicago.
The main auditorium had a somwhat unusual oval shape, seemingly wider than it was deep.
I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon there on new years eve 2000, sadly the theater was even then falling into disrepair. The screen and sound were still good, but the seats were threadbare, and the auditorium dirty.
The Yorktown 6 was one of the few theaters near Chicago to feature THX certified auditoriums. It’s two primary auditoriums were large and spectacular by multiplex standards. I recall particularly seeing The Rock there in one of the THX auditoriums, and the rerelease of The Empire Strikes Back.
The rebuilt Yorktown 18 still offers THX auditoriums, which is still quite rare around Chicago. The Premium theater is quite nice, the seats are huge and in a auditorium configuration. The screen is small, but of the correct size for the premium auditorium, which is also small.
The Tivoli is a special theater, giant one screen with amazing art and architecture. I saw only one film there, but it truly is a treasure. In the Chicago suburbs there are many theaters which look like the Tivoli from the outsite, but have long since been sliced and diced into shoebox sized auditoriums, the Tivoli has retained is spectacular interior in tact.
Do yourself a favor, if you are interested in classic theaters, go see something at the Tivoli.
The Meteron is to some extend a souless multiplex, but as far as it goes, it’s probably the best souless multiplex in the world. The theater features DLP projectors on some screens, and every screen is THX certified. Even among THX auditoriums The Metreon has outstanding sound.
The Metreon draws strong crowds on opening days, leading to a pleasant movie going experience of enthusiastic fans.
I was fortunate enough to see Star Wars Episode III opening day at the Village, it was the best movie going experience of my life. The DLP screen as gigantic, bright, and clear. The THX sound is the among the best I’ve ever heard (perhaps outclassed by Seattle’s Cinerama and San Francisco’s Metreon).
The audience participation was great, the auditorium is large, ornate and classy.
While in Seattle, it is definately worth a special trip to the Cinerama, regardless what is playing.
The single screen, THX certified auditorium sports the best sound I’ve ever heard in any theater ever, including Chicago’s McClurg Court, LAs Village, and San Franciscos Metreon.
The theater primarily uses its massive flat screen, however for annual festivals they take that screen down, and assemble the (even more) massive curved cinerama screen, and show cinerama 3 projector format films, and 70MM films on the curved screen. I was fortunate enough to see Lawrence of Arabia in that format, it was spectacular.
The Cinerama was an early adopter of DLP technology, however they no longer project movies in DLP (as of Spring 05). Rumor has it that they recieved their DLP projector on loan from Boeing (I can confirm Boeing manufactured the Cineramas DLP projector), but that it was unreliable, and the resolution was pixelated on Cineramas massive screen.
It’s quite sad that this theater closed. I haven’t lived in Chicago since 1996, but made several trips to McClurg since then to see particular films. Today a friend of mine visiting Chicago and asked where a good theater was, without delay I responded McClurg Court, only to discover it is out of business.
I saw the rerelease of Star Wars there, when it was one of a handful of THX auditoriums in Chicago, the level of excitement and crowd participation was awesome. When Star Wars Episode I and II came out, McClurg court was the only DLP projection, THX certified auditorium in Chicago.
The main auditorium had a somwhat unusual oval shape, seemingly wider than it was deep.
I saw Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon there on new years eve 2000, sadly the theater was even then falling into disrepair. The screen and sound were still good, but the seats were threadbare, and the auditorium dirty.
The Yorktown 6 was one of the few theaters near Chicago to feature THX certified auditoriums. It’s two primary auditoriums were large and spectacular by multiplex standards. I recall particularly seeing The Rock there in one of the THX auditoriums, and the rerelease of The Empire Strikes Back.
The rebuilt Yorktown 18 still offers THX auditoriums, which is still quite rare around Chicago. The Premium theater is quite nice, the seats are huge and in a auditorium configuration. The screen is small, but of the correct size for the premium auditorium, which is also small.