For literally no reason other than that I enjoy going to new cinemas and seeing what they’re all doing, I’m embarking on a very vaguely defined project to attend a screening at every theater within a 90 minute drive. It just happens that one of the theaters on my list was showing Jojo Rabbit, a film I’ve been especially excited for (and is amazing and terrifying and sweet, but that will be another post). So, here’s the first!

Theater: Buckland Hills 18  (Cinemark chain)

Location: Manchester, CT

Screens: 18 screens (1 IMAX)

To start off with a major chain theater is a bit of a bummer, but that’s the world we live in. Many of the theaters in this project will inevitably be owned by the likes of Cinemark or Regal or some major corporate entity. There will be a few independent or small, locally owned cinemas, but this ain’t it.

You can tell right from the moment you walk in that this is corporate. It’s a massive theater, with a ticket booth to the right, a concession stand with basic snacks straight on, and another concession stand just off to the left with bigger meal-type food. You can get pizzas, burgers, pretzels, and all manner of legitimately cooked or baked goods there. The set up is a little overwhelming, as the usher tears your ticket just after the bigger concession stand. They’re pretty good at remembering who has already been in, but it is slightly awkward to have to leave the roped off entrance to get bigger snacks if you want them. (From an employee perspective, it has to be hell for the usher to have to keep tabs on everyone, especially with things so sprawled out.)

Not in the mood for fast food or movie snacks? Or, are you there particularly early for your feature? Well, just next to one of the snack bars is a literal bar and lounge! There, you can have a beer (though it was unclear if you could take it into the theaters – no signage really existed, and I didn’t spend any time in the lounge). It would be generous to call it a “bistro,” but the type of food served there was discernibly fancier than the Pizza Hut pizzas and whatnot at the snack bar.

The theaters are spread out in your typical cineplex style: long hallways to the left and right that feel like they never end. It will always be surreal to attend a movie and feel like you’re at an airport. This is a Cinemark theater in which every screening room has their “luxury seating” available. Large, leather seats that recline shockingly far back. I tend to sit sort of near the back of the theater, but with the amount it dips backwards, it might actually be nice to sit nearer the front! Each seat has a tray for all your concessions. It really gives it the feeling of watching a movie at home on your recliner. Or at least, it would if it weren’t at a rather dry, corporate chain.

Buckland Hills is also one of, if not the, only theaters in the area to have some houses equipped with D-Box seats. These insanely priced seats (for a matinee, it will cost you $20) apparently vibrate and rock to the movie, supposedly to give audiences a more immersive experience. That doesn’t sound like a very good time, and certainly isn’t worth the price of admission to me. There was a “test seat” in the lobby, so you could get a sample, but it’s software was malfunctioning, so I didn’t get to try it out.

The picture and audio quality was totally fine. In the age of digital cinema, these things largely remain consistent throughout a movie’s run. You can experience things like freezing or glitching, but those things don’t really affect the overall image and audio quality. No issues occurred while I was there, but that isn’t something I feel like is worth blaming the theater itself for anyway. (Digital cinema is still kind of unwieldy.) If anything, the volume for the feature could have stood to be a little louder: we kept hearing some of the action scenes in the theater next door playing Terminator: Dark Fate. Overall, it was a totally fine movie-going experience.

As an employee of a theater, though, I also tend to view my experiences through the lens of what it might be for the staff. The design of the lobby feels like hell. Massive amounts of space allows for easier crowd control, but having concessions spread out at two different stands can only make it annoying and tricky for my comrade popcorn slingers. For example, I ordered a soda, some Buncha Crunch, and some pretzel bites, as all were listed on their menu. The concessionaire was only able to get me those first two items, as the pretzel bites were at the other concession stand. It just makes it kind of difficult. There is also a huge row of POS terminals that has to make it overwhelming for staff. Granted, there were a ton of folks working, but I can’t imagine how awful that must be to manage on a particularly busy night, or the holiday season.

It’s a neat theater experience, to be sure, but it also feels stale as a result of being so corporate. The pizzas are literally PizzaHut, so everything has corporate-cross promotions. Everyone loves a good, reclining seat, but otherwise, Buckland Hills 18 + IMAX isn’t doing anything particularly compelling as a theater. It is a corporate chain, after all. Probably not worth the trek to Connecticut unless you want to experience those D-Box seats, or an IMAX screening proper (which is a bit interesting that this Cinemark has IMAX rather than the Cinemark-specific competitor, XD).

It’s an effective place to see a movie, and the real benefit of such a gigantic theater is the sheer number of screening rooms. There is a surprisingly wide array of films to choose from, from your typical Hollywood blockbusters to your indie flicks to even Hindi films. It’s fun to experience the leather reclining seats. It’s also cool to see the lounge where you can get a drink. Still, it’s largely just your typical cinema chain experience.

Rating (out of 5 stars): 4 stars