Best local theaters?

[Paul S.]

Rosebud, 6823 W. North Ave

You can get food and beer before and during the movie. My wife and I went there to see Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King. Man...

Matt

Thats what Heather and I saw there, too.

[Mark Strube]

I'm surprised nobody here has mentioned the Wildwood Theatres Capitol Cinemas. Nothing but great experiences there. Here's my reasons for this being (almost) the only theater I go to:

1) Price - $5.50 before 5:30, $8.00 after. Around $1 or more cheaper than most all      other local theaters that I've been to.

2) Picture & Sound - 9 screens with DTS, 2 screens with Dolby Digital, 1 screen with SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). Also, I've never had picture quality issues there, the projectors always seem to actually be aimed & focused correctly (knock on wood). However, take note, their SDDS screen is quite loud.

3) Previews - the last movie I saw there had 3 movie previews, and then the movie. That's it. No television ads, no annoying animations telling you to buy dippin' dots. (Of course there's the slides before the movie, but that doesn't bother me.)

3) Food - free refills on any size popcorn or soda, and some people have said they have the best tasting popcorn in the area. I myself am no popcorn connoseur so I can't confirm.

4) Seating - their chairs don't get uncomfortable after an hour. Marcus theaters have terribly uncomfortable chairs in my opinion, and Mayfair is only a bit better, but these chairs are very padded, and even the back part reclines a bit - extremely comfortable.

UPDATE: The surround sound on the SDDS screen is just fine, it must've been the movie or I wasn't paying attention. However, it is very loud, so be prepared for that.

Capitol Cinemas
1275 Capitol Drive
Pewaukee, WI
(262) 695-2400
http://www.wildwoodtheatres.com/custompage.asp?pg=capitol

[Mark Strube]

UPDATE: The surround sound on the SDDS screen is just fine... either The Island just had bad sound design or I wasn't paying attention.

[Mark Strube]

Another very nice theater I've found recently... the Showtime Cinema in Franklin. I believe it's less than 2 years old.

1) Picture & Sound - 8 screens with DTS, 4 screens with Dolby Digital. Picture is perfectly focused (a lot more than I can say for Marcus theatres), sound is properly calibrated, and of course the DTS is especially impressive. (As opposed to Dolby Digital or SDDS which is played off the film and prone to glitches, DTS is played off of a disc.)

2) Previews - The same thing as Capitol Cinemas, about 3 movie previews, and that's it.

3) Seating - This is my favorite part. These are the largest, most comfortable seats I've ever sat in at a theater. Even if it's a full house, you'll never be scrunched, these seats are huge.

The ticket price is your standard Marcus-type fee, and I haven't had any food there yet so I can't comment on that. I definitely highly recommend this place, especially if you live near!! I live 25 minutes away in Elm Grove but I'm still considering going there all the time just because it's so much nicer.

Showtime Cinema
8910 S. 102nd Street
(just West of Hwy 100 on Loomis Rd.)
Franklin, WI 53132
http://www.bigscreen.com/Marquee.php?theater=8626

[Mark Strube]

Where abouts on North is the Rosebud located?  That is a rather novel idea.  I think that is something that the larger theatre chains should consider doing with at least one room of their mega-plexes.  Remodel it into a casual dining restraunt with a theatre screen.  All dining and food orders to be taking 20 to 30 minutes before show time.  All orders served just before or during previews.  Then sit back and enjoy a good meal and a movie.  A new twist to the old phrase, going out to dinner and taking in a show.

You might want to check out the Fox Bay Cinema Grill in Whitefish Bay. You just described exactly what they do, except there it's more full meals than the Rosebud offers.

http://www.foxbaycinemagrill.com/

[borghe]

Capital Cinema is all we went to for a while (back in the late 90's). We saw Star Wars SE there. It used to have the second largest screen in the area and was the only theater at the time with digital sound regularly (and still one of only two theaters that regularly show SDDS and DTS movies).

Westown Ultrascreen IMHO is the best. 35MM can more than handle being projected 75' wide, and being the typical movie only lasts 1-2 weeks on the screen, you usually never end up with excessively worn prints to exaggerate blemishes. But the bottom line is THAT is why I go to the theater. For an experience considerably bigger than I could ever get at home.

Ridge is probably the nicest complex in the area. Just a great job all the way round. If something isn't playing at the Ultrascreen I'll go to the Ridge and see it.

I don't go to Capital Cinema anymore just because of how far it is now. If I lived closer to it than Ridge though I would go there instead without question.

As for the Rosebud, the screen and sound IMHO are pretty low quality, not to mention I disagree with what the owner pulled on the land covenant for the building. The entire reason everyone has gotten that theater for as cheap as they have is because of the stipulation on the land convenant. He basically got the theater for cheap, broke the convenant, and then played David vs. Goliath at town hall. Pretty crappy if you ask me.

[Mark Strube]

Capital Cinema is all we went to for a while (back in the late 90's). We saw Star Wars SE there. It used to have the second largest screen in the area and was the only theater at the time with digital sound regularly (and still one of only two theaters that regularly show SDDS and DTS movies).

Can someone tell me why NOWHERE on Marcus's site, the Bigscreen site, or at the actual theater, it mentions the TYPE of sound system on their screens? (AMC doesn't either.) It just says "digital sound." The UltraScreen used to play the DTS logo before some of their movies, but they never do that anymore... which leads me to wonder. Why not say what type of sound is in their auditoriums? They do it for Capitol & Showtime cinemas. Why wouldn't the big name companies do it? Is it not true Dolby Digital or DTS? Certainly doesn't sound like it on most of their screens anyway.

I will probably still see some things on the UltraScreen, but that's it. And then I'm putting up with their higher ticket prices (compared to Capitol), seats that aren't as comfortable, the higher probability of technical issues, and way too many previews.

I've only been to the Ridge a few times but from what I've seen they have the same issues with picture & sound quality as Westown/Westpoint. Also, everytime I've gone I seemed to have the bad luck of annoying idiotic audience members who don't know how to be quiet. Probably just the luck of the draw, but I won't be going back there.

[kevbeck122]

I've seen Dolby Digital EX signs at the Menomonee Falls theater.  I thought Marcus used to list the type of sound they were using, but I guess not now.

I should catch a movie at Capital in between classes while I'm out there.  It never seems busy, so I always just assumed it wasn't that great of a theater.

[Mark Strube]

I should catch a movie at Capital in between classes while I'm out there.  It never seems busy, so I always just assumed it wasn't that great of a theater.

Let me know how you like it!

[Joseph S]

I've only been to the Ridge a few times but from what I've seen they have the same issues with picture & sound quality as Westown/Westpoint.

You're not alone. Out of focus, defective projectors, and poor projection is all I get when I go there. Ridge is the absolute worst in quality control I have seen so far.

Will check out the Showtime theater and Capitol as well. Too bad they don't have many films or are running multiple screens with the same garbage. At this point, I've been sticking primarily with Cuban's Oriental and AMC. Showtime and Capitol are both about as close as Ridge for me.

[Mark Strube]

Will check out the Showtime theater and Capitol as well. Too bad they don't have many films or are running multiple screens with the same garbage. At this point, I've been sticking primarily with Cuban's Oriental and AMC. Showtime and Capitol are both about as close as Ridge for me.

Awesome... be sure to post your feedback after you go!!

[Mark Strube]

I had my 21st birthday party at the Rosebud this past Saturday... their midnight movie Office Space.

The food was good, the setting is awesome, giant comfortable chairs, a nice crowd of people... I'm glad I chose to do that for my birthday.

My one gripe... the movie was clearly being played off of a DVD onto a computer projector they have mounted on the ceiling... and it wasn't even progressive - I could see "S-video" on the screen right before the movie started. I understand for a smaller theater it could be hard to get the film etc etc... but when you go to a movie theater that's kind of expected. I hear all the time about theaters requesting and getting their hands on prints of older movies, it's not that difficult. Also, the sound was so low you could barely hear what people were saying... a few people went back to complain and so they raised the volume... that's another thing - the sound. It was just standard stereo, all on the surround channels. So even when people were talking, it was all around you. I realize it is a bigger undertaking to set these things up in a theater... but I could've set up a better DVD presentation in my bedroom. That's kind of dissapointing.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a cool place to go to for a unique experience... but their whole movie presentation aspect could be improved greatly.

I'm assuming when you watch a newer movie there it's actually played off of film and the sound is closer to being correctly set up?

[StarvingForHDTV]

If you like the place and want to go back, talk to the manager and tell him/her that they need to properly use their equipment.  It shouldn't take a genius to get surround sound and progressive going.  Maybe they need to hire a new setup person, or have one of us train that person......

[lori]

Another vote for Showtime Cinema in Franklin.

Why?  Because they have Diet Coke {glug}

You can't get that at Marcus.

[kjnorman]

You might want to check out the Fox Bay Cinema Grill in Whitefish Bay. You just described exactly what they do, except there it's more full meals than the Rosebud offers.

http://www.foxbaycinemagrill.com/

My wife has been there twice (we live just a five minute walk from the place) however she would not recommend it.  The food is terrible and its noisy and people get in your way.  Its mainly a resturant (with poor food) than just happens to have a cinema screen.

I hate to knock something that is local but it is definately not a place for serious movie viewing.