When you saw a movie in a movie theater, how was the experience? Was the sound excellent, popcorn tasty, and staff friendly? Or were the seats uncomfortable and the bathrooms a mess?

Some theaters have comment cards that you can fill out, but sometimes, you're never quite sure if they're actually being read, and you have no idea if you were the only person to notice the things you did.

That's changed now with a new feature we released this year called Theater Comments! Every reader on The BigScreen Cinema Guide has the ability to leave comments about their experience for everyone to see. Using a simple ratings system, you have the chance to brag about the theaters doing it right, and to warn others about those that aren't as good as they should be.

Example of Theater Comments Ratings Form

This feature allows our readers the ability to comment on their experiences at movie theaters. You can rate theaters as Excellent, Good, OK, Poor, and Unacceptable on characteristics such as:

• Picture Quality
  Was the picture in focus? Was there an excessive amount of the picture projected onto the masking material?
• Sound Quality
  How did the movie sound? Were all the channels working? Did it cut out from time to time?
• Staff Friendliness/Knowledge/Helpfulness
  Did you feel welcome? Did the staff smile and seem happy to see you? If you had any questions or concerns, were they handled to your satisfaction?
• Condition of theater (seats, bathrooms, lobby, etc.)
  Were the bathrooms clean? Was there ripped carpeting or broken seats that haven't been fixed? Did the exterior of the building and the parking lot seem inviting?
• Overall experience
  How was your overall movie-going experience? Did the movie start on time, or were there lots of commercials and/or delays?

Example of Theater Comments Display

Our hope is that this will give our readers a voice about their experiences when going to the movies, and to provide our readers with valuable information about they can expect when attending a movie theater. A free-form comment area also provides a way to expand upon the areas above, to talk about how much time there was between the advertised start time and when the movie really started, and any other useful information that they would like to convey to other readers.

Theater Comments are part of the information we provide for every theater, so to find them for any theater, just find that theater in The Marquee, and click on "Reader Comments" in the sidebar.

One reader found that the Great Escape Gravois Bluffs Stadium Cinema in Fenton, Missouri did a great job at showing movies, and didn't hesitate to give them excellent marks across the board! For an example of a negative experience, take a look at this one for the Dickinson Northrock 14 in Wichita, Kansas. There's a case where the reader's expectations definitely weren't met!

With just one comment in each of these situations, there's no way to know if this was an isolated case, which is why getting as many comments from our readers as possible makes the feature more useful.

Please consider going to the Theater Comments page for the theaters you've attended recently, and leave a few comments about your experiences! Just go to The Marquee, find the theater you want, and then look for "Theater Comments" in the sidebar.

Thanks!