Posts by Gregory Green32

And this is just the icing on the cake...

Today, an abbreviated version of the letter is being published in The New York Times...

It finally made it into The New York Times !!!!!!

With that, this whole topic is essentially wrapped up. Anything else that could happen following this moves beyond the realm of probability and the typical American experience—for instance, a situation like this is unlikely to ever surface again..

I want to thank you all for the interest and for following along... until the next topic comes up...

👋

Vincent van Gogh said:Come on, quit nitpicking over nothing. The movie is over three hours long; why are you all obsessing over a few measly minutes?

🙂

ruggedstag84 said:What’s even worse than that is how AMC Theatres treated one particular film buff. This guy was absolutely disgusted by their conduct and sent them a series of emails demanding an explanation—an email thread that eventually landed as a Letter to the editor in The New York Times. They just stay silent. They couldn't care less about his anger or the fact that he feels cheated. Basic human decency dictates that you at least offer an apology to someone you’ve screwed over, whether you did it intentionally or not. And don't even get me started on basic business ethics.

I appreciate you bringing this up..
The reason I embarked on this whole Quixotic crusade wasn't actually about those twenty minutes of footage. I caught those during a second viewing, and honestly, I'll probably watch them another hundred times on AT&T. It was about someone finally speaking up. Someone needed to point out that we're being played. Unfortunately, this isn't just isolated to Return of the king; it’s a systemic issue in our society. We have people who have become conditioned to be ripped off and just stay quiet, hoping things will improve next time. More importantly, it's about the fact that they are often the only ones noticing, yet if they stay silent, they fear they won't be taken seriously...

So, that was my motivation. As for this specific situation, tomorrow or by the end of the week at the latest, Hrvoje and the crew over at AMC Theatres will see that same letter appearing in The Los Angeles Times. At least, that’s what the editors at The Los Angeles Times promised me...

I'm not holding my breath for an apology, but I suppose I managed to make a dent in something...

Richard Hernandez13 said:Gregory Green32, it’s great that The New York Times published a Letter to the editor -> but I honestly worry this might be more about special interest lobbying than actually caring about moviegoers or service quality. The New York Times is generally known for its "independence" and "objectivity." 😢 [/B]

I just received an email from The Los Angeles Times asking to jump on a call, so you'll likely hear updates on what's happening very soon... 😎

For those who might have missed it, the letter was published in The New York Times, right in the Letters to the Editor section...

The Letter in The New York Times 👍

I'm expecting a reaction to this...

300 views on this post... not bad at all...
I suppose there's a certain level of satisfaction in seeing that. It feels like a win, because now we can all be a bit more mindful about these kinds of things—and similar issues—to make sure they don't happen again...

That’s precisely why I turned to you all for suggestions. It seems there isn't a clear precedent for the situation I've found myself in. So far, I’ve reached out via email to a whole string of major newspapers following some advice, though I'm still waiting to see if anyone actually decides to run the story. It’s certainly telling, though, that nobody at AMC Theatres has bothered to reply to the email I sent them a few days ago.

After scanning through the last few posts here, I’m honestly at a loss. It’s hard to wrap my head around how "they" handle any kind of issue—just complete silence. It seems like nobody feels even the slightest obligation to offer an apology for these setbacks, let alone actually step up and do something meaningful to fix them.
It also leaves me wondering: what leverage do we actually have as dissatisfied customers? Beyond just boycotting their AMC Theatres locations, what else can we realistically do?

So far, this email—this whole letter, really—has made its way out of this forum and landed straight in the inboxes at Hollywood and Total Film. It’s almost funny watching them compete to see who can write the most glowing tribute to AMC Theatres, acting as if they own the place or as if Hrvoje himself were running the show. It makes me wonder, though... will any of this actually see the light of day in print?
Beyond that, I find myself wondering if I—or perhaps my children, down the road—will ever live to see a response from such distinguished gentlemen...

Just bumping this thread back to the top since we’re heading into day four, and I still haven't heard a single word back from AMC Theatres...

I feel compelled to write this out—not really for my own sake, but for anyone else who has experienced this or might encounter it without even realizing it. I’m hoping that by speaking up, we can prevent this kind of thing from happening again.
The issue concerns a screening of "Return of the King" at AMC Theatres. I attended the January 2nd showing in Theater 10, starting at 10:50 PM, alongside about 200 other people. Aside from the fact that the ticket cost $11—which feels like Blitz is simply capitalizing on the massive demand for this film—there was the matter of the timing. The presentation (or rather, the previews, which seem to be a special privilege reserved only for Blitz releases) started 15 minutes late because a single(!) employee had to clean the entire theater by herself. To make matters worse, after failing to even wash her hands, she began checking tickets while literally holding people back with both hands(!?) because the crowd was already getting restless from the wait. I suppose that's just what you get with a late-night showing; everyone is in a hurry, right?
However, the real issue occurred halfway through the movie. Specifically, right as Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas passed through the mountain pass, a message appeared on the screen announcing a 20-minute intermission. The break lasted about 25 minutes, but since it was the final screening of the night, I didn't think much of it. The plot resumed with Frodo's encounter with Shelob. It felt suspicious immediately, but I didn't dwell on it until the credits rolled and I realized that, in my estimation, I had missed about 10 to 15 minutes of the actual film.
On January 6th, I went to see the film again, this time in New York City, where they show it without any intermissions. When the movie reached the exact moment where the intermission message appeared during my previous AMC Theatres viewing, my shock—and I might use a stronger word if I weren't being polite—was endless. A series of scenes followed that were completely absent from the AMC Theatres screening. By my estimate, those missing scenes totaled about 17 to 20 minutes!!! It was as if the movie continued to play behind the scenes while the intermission message sat frozen on the screen!!!
As soon as I got home, I sent an email via the AMC Theatres website. Finding the contact info is a chore; it's buried under a section titled "Join Us(!?)", as if that's the only reason anyone would ever want to reach out. In the message, I asked for an explanation and requested some form of compensation for the loss.
Naturally, a day passes and there is no response. I suspect they ignored me because I didn't express a desire to "join them" in their email, so they never even bothered to read it. I am now considering sending that same email to the esteemed Mr. Krstulović, though I would prefer to include the names of the other "lucky" individuals in that theater who paid $11 only to be cheated out of 20 minutes of the movie...
So, there you have it. That is my experience with the "premier American multiplex," where I was likely the first, the last, and certainly the last person to ever step foot in that theater again...

Five years ago, amidst a sea of recycled cinematic tropes, something truly fresh finally emerged. It didn't really matter whether the science held up or not; what mattered was that it was a film that left you feeling fulfilled. When we walked out of the theater, there wasn't that lingering sense of emptiness, that longing for $8.25 (or maybe just a desperate need for a new Broadway ticket—$9.75!?) or that immediate sense of being forgotten the second the house lights flickered on.

Once word got out that two more "sequels" were coming (that’s the trendy buzzword in Hollywood lately—a TRILOGY), we were all practically counting down the days to see how the threads would be pulled together, depending on which fan theory you happened to subscribe to.

Then the first "sequel" arrived, and the sobering reality set in...
Even then, we tried to comfort ourselves. We told ourselves, "Hey, it's just the middle chapter; it doesn't need a beginning or an end." We drew comparisons to *The Two Towers*, insisting the situation was identical, though deep down, we feared exactly what ended up happening last Wednesday...

The third installment was the final nail in the coffin for our hopes and theories regarding what that masterpiece from five years ago could become. What we were left with was nothing more than a stripped-down, mega-popcorn-coke blockbuster. Its primary goals seemed to be showcasing a fifteen-minute highway demolition derby (in part two) and a loud, messy battle for Zion (in part three). Haven't we had enough of those? I have to ask those who argue that special effects are a valid reason to praise this series: since when did spectacle become the sole merit of a film?

And the story? The narrative devolved into some quasi-religious fable about a savior who completes his mission and ascends to legend. As the series progressed, it drifted further away from substance, relying on clunky, cringeworthy dialogue that even a mediocre daytime soap opera wouldn't touch—lines like, "Your eyes, Neo... actually, never mind," or "Thank you for everything, wherever you may be..." and so on.

It feels foolish to list the other flaws, because this post would easily outlast the flimsy scripts of the two sequels combined. But between the absurdity of introducing supposedly vital characters in the second film only for them to vanish without explanation in the third, the depiction of a beautiful sunny day on a "destroyed" Earth, and that pathetic five-minute death scene for the most unlikable character in cinema history ten years ago—not to mention those lines that feel like they were penned by a third-rate novelist—the takeaway is clear. That's the exact mood I had leaving the theater at 1:00 AM this past Saturday: pure disappointment and muttered comments like, "...we should have gone somewhere else," or "...I know, but hey, the soundtrack is good, right?"... and so forth.

As the saying goes, it seems those of us who watched the original *Matrix* had far more profound ideas about how to develop and conclude this saga than the people actually making it, who were clearly preoccupied with simply recouping their investment.
It also becomes glaringly obvious why *Matrix* was released globally all at once. It's clear that even the creators realized the film might only "survive" its initial opening weekend before the word gets out and it sinks rapidly.

That's all from me, a very disillusioned fan...