AMC Loews Kips Bay 15

So far this is one of the more clean and spacious theater I found in the area with mostly friendly attendants but also one of the most expensive. Star Wars Imax ran around $ 22/​ticket, regular $ 15. Technically, matinée should be half price for shows before noon. BUT, there is hardly any show before noon. There might be one show at 7 or 8AM, then the rest starts at 12:30 regular price. There is not enough goodwill to be found… Thumbs down for business practice!

We used to come to this theater very often until the theater near us got assigned recliner seats.
We went Friday night and we will never return. The seats are broker and the theater if filthy.
The backs of the seats in front of us had drippings of old food stains… disgusting.
The bathrooms weren’t bad but this theater is dated and we won’t return unless it’s updated and clean.

Love going to the movies, not so much in love with this theater. Staff was a bit rude and it was on the dirtier side. That being said, I came to sit in the dark and watch a movie so once I got into the theater, I did just that. Mission accomplished.

Awesome Theatre I love going to this theatre when I can’t drive out to Westchester, because it is least populated, very clean and the screens are super clear. Oh trust I’ve been to movie theaters where the screens are fuzzy and even one where someone wrote graffiti at the bottom. This theatre has none of those issues. I live on the Westside of Manhattan and will gladly troop it over to this theatre to avoid chaos.

I love this theater. It’s hardly ever crowded. Box office and concession stand lines are never too long. The best time to go is for the matinée. I would give it 5 stars but I was served a pretty nasty hot dog once so…

I saw Stars Wars here. I was impressed with how organized everything. I came the Sunday after opening day and there were still mobs of people trying to see the movie. They set up lines around the whole place for the different show times (some even outside). Our group reserved tickets and showed up an hour early. We did not run into any problems which made our experience pleasant. The only thing that was confusing was that they ripped our tickets before we reached the theater. I think they should have stressed to keep your tickets out and ready because they checked them again when we reached the theater entrance.

So, Santa likes to gift me those AMC Movie Passes in my stocking every year, despite there being zero AMC theaters in Brooklyn, and the whole charade may or may not be a thinly veiled (and frankly terrible) conspiracy concocted by my mother to get me to return to suburbia more often. Also, after further investigation of the gift tags, Santa and my mother have the same exact handwriting. Weird.
Anyway, at one point, I’d stockpiled quite the stack of passes and decided it might make sense to hit up some AMCs in other boroughs, and given this here location was playing a certain movie I wanted to see at the time, I made the voyage to that amorphous area known as Midtown East /​Murray Hill /​Kips Bay. Now, I live nowhere near this theater, and it’s not convenient for me at all. Yet, I’ve been willingly making the trek here semi-​frequently since that first fateful visit, even after burning through Santa’s passes and using my own well-​earned dough.
The truth of the matter is that the typical movie-​going experience in New York City is pretty awful.* The dirty, incompetent, hoodrat-​packed theaters well outweigh the clean, capable, civil ones. Thankfully, AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 is the latter. This should make this place way more popular than it is, but in reality, it’s almost always half-​empty, which in a city this size, can be a godsend. The individual theaters are huge, with a nice stadium seating set-​up, to the point you’d seriously expect a middle-​of-​nowhere parking lot to be greeting you when you walk outside rather than a noisy, taxi-​filled 2^nd Ave. Also, the audio is not nearly as ear-​splittingly loud here, but the room temperature is also way warmer than most, so I guess that’s some sort of pro/​con combo that cancels each other out.
The downside for me personally is that, as great of a theater as this is, it’s still a hike. The neighborhood, of course, is best known for former Big Ten sorority sisters’ starter apartments, so my business being here has certainly dwindled over the years. But hey, if this is your area, know you’ve got a good thing going with this here AMC. In the meantime, I’ll keep collecting Movie Passes from Santa and using your hood for my movie-​viewing pleasure, thankyouverymuch.
*This, of course, plays into my Santa/​Mom conspiracy about the suburbs, where such residential areas admittedly do have superior movie-​going experiences. But I digress.

The Good:
This theater is pretty clean, compared to other theaters I’ve been to. It’s pretty spacious too — there’s a large lobby area and snack counter. I came in to see Sherlock: the Abominable Bride (only showing for two days in select theaters). So of course we ended up in one of the larger theaters. Stadium seating, and ample leg space. I also really like their ticket machines!
The Eh:
— The theater was a little too warm for me. Not that I was sweating, but I was just uncomfortable enough to not enjoy the movie fully.
— Is it me or is the screen small?
— The sound quality was pretty good, but I wish that it could’ve been a bit louder.

Excerpt from my blog
Now I used to like matinees at the old St. Marks on a rainy day. Two blocks away… two bucks… and two movies? What’s not to like? This was before the days of VCR’s and video rentals. If you wanted to see a movie unedited and uninterrupted, you had to got to a theater! Totally different reality!
Anyway…and back to the present (couldn’t resist), I figured there might be some matinée deals at AMC I could check out on their site. That would be the way to go! Lower prices? Thinner crowds? Sign me up! As it turns out, there are!
The first thing I discovered about modern movie-​going is that the matinée has morphed into the morning show. Yes, you can go half price ($ 7.50)…but only if the movie begins before noon. That didn’t seem to be a hardship for me. I mean… I leave to go hiking at 8 AM.
Next step: Find a film which will be more appealing visually on a big screen than at home. On that sole criterion, I chose THE HATEFUL EIGHT. From the previews, I could see it was shot on location in the Rockies. Cool! Back to the mountains virtually — if not in reality.
This morning I awoke with an excellent night’s sleep and decided to ride up to 32^nd Street for the virginal gift card movie-​going adventure. And I’m sorry to say that it paled in comparison to a mountain hike on a sunny day.
As far as the crowds go… there were no crowds. I mean… really none. Besides me, there were 5 other people in the theater. So far so good. But the next thing that struck me was how loud the sound was. Like too loud! I covered my head with my hoodie to dampen the racket and at times, covered my left ear when the auditory onslaught got painful.
Then…the previews. Oy! Really loud… almost all action-oriented…and mostly, movies I wouldn’t see for free! The 10 o’clock show I’d arrived on time for actually began at 10:30! That’s a half hour of my life I’ll never get back.
For most of the movie (which takes place during a blizzard), the sound of whistling winds permeated the theater, which went perfectly with the climate in the room, about a brisk 63 degrees in my estimation. I kept my hoodie up and wore my jacket like a blanket for the entire show.
The quality of the movie itself is secondary to the actual movie-​going experience for the purposes of this review. On balance, I did not enjoy the experiment. The sound was too loud and the theater too cold to offset the benefits of viewing on a big screen. Had I attended at night during a peak time, I’m sure I would have disliked the scene that much more.
With $ 32.50 left on the card, I imagine I’ll wait until such time as I want to impress a girl who actually wants to attend a movie with me to use the remainder. And that may never happen.
But still, I’m glad I went if for no other reason than to write about the trip on my blog. Small compensation for three uncomfortable hours. Whatever! I gave it a shot — and with an open mind. That’s what counts. I’m ready for the next adventure.

Full-​service theater, missing the service.
In an industry in which movie tickets themselves are almost loss-​leaders, it would behoove a movie theater to push their concession snacks as much as possible. Unfortunately, on two marquee visits (opening weeks of the new Bond and Star Wars flicks), popcorn lines snaked through the lobby as only two of four snack registers were manned. Ultimately, cut my losses and returned to the theater to catch the previews.
Stadium seating is reasonably elevated as to avoid obstructed views. However, seat padding and recline travel are essentially that of Delta Airlines. Passable, but not exactly up to snuff compared to the more luxurious screens uptown.
Tip: $ 7.50 matinée tickets are a bargain.

This place needs a makeover. It smells of urine and the floors are sticky and the seats are raggedy. The customer service is A1. The staff is so helpful and friendly. I just wish for it to be nicer in there. Perhaps some lazy boys kinda like AMC in Menlo park has. Turn it into a dine in theatre. Manhattan needs one badly. The pops corn was fresh and my soda was crisp. The bathrooms were so clean which I loved!!! It’s rare finding clean bathrooms in this city. I want to give it 4 starts instead of 5… But your staff is just so amazing that I just couldn’t do it.

Do not go to IMAX there.
Saw my second IMAX movie there today and once again, underwhelmed.
Last time, MI, sound wasn’t synced properly, not in focus and not loud.
Today, Star Wars, clear but volume was so low.
Never had this problem at RPX or other IMAX theaters in the city.

My family has spent a lot of time at this theater over the years. The last time I went to take in a movie on a weekday some rude people talked through the whole thing. Wasted over $ 7.00 for a early show. I still need to see the movie.
Yes, I asked them if they were going to talk through the whole movie. They responded by whispering through the rest of the movie. I was the only one in the theater beside the two of them. I gave up!
Guess I’m just meant to be in the comfort of my home watching movies. When it comes out on DVD I’ll get it on Netflix!
Beware of weekday matinees at this location. The locals are old and rude. They don’t come to watch the movie. They come to socialize, eat popcorn and slurp drinks!

This theater is definitely a bit antiquated and needs some updating, especially how the seats lean back, but the screens and sound seemed fine. There is an old Hollywood feel to it.
I came here to see the Hunger Games, and it was decent. You get tickets on the first level, while most theaters and the concession are on the second floor. Pretty much your standard movie experience.
The biggest CON is lack of reserved seating, so if it’s the 5^th week of release, it’s good. But unless you want to risk getting a back corner seat, I’d stick with reserved seating theaters.

I absolutely prefer to come here oppose to some of the other locations like 14^th, 34^th, and 42^nd. I feel those other locations have too many unscrupulous characters there. This location is clean and I never had a bitter experience with the patrons. I feel like this location has like 10% hoodlomic folks versus like 40% at the mentioned locations.

#1: it’s pretty ridiculous this theater as well as any other ones in NYC don’t do reserved seating already like the rest of the CIVILIZED world.
#2: This theater is abnormally hot, everything is old.
#3: the staff is nice

This theater is never busy which is great. I think this theater caters to those who lives around the area, so your older folks, families and ME!
What they do have:
Stadium seating
Chill crowds (not many rambunctious teenagers from my experiences)
Relaxed staff (could usually bring in Starbucks without having to «hid» it with my sweater)
Major pictures usually shown here (Star Wars, Hunger games, you name it)
Bathrooms are relatively clean (there is one in the back that is always empty)
Ticket counter is downstairs (usually can bypass all the crowd if you bought your tickets ahead of time)
Cons:
Stale popcorn (its usually just sitting there and I hardly see any fresh ones being made)
Location (pretty far east, really only accessible via walking or bus)

This is my favorite movie theater in Manhattan and my go-​to spot for a movie night with the girls. The place is huge and never overpacked. Even if it is packed, buy your tickets online and quickly print it at the kiosks in front — who buys tickets at the theater anymore?
They have IMAX and the rooms are big. Bathrooms are usually clean. Lots of bars and restaurants nearby. I’ll give them 5 stars when they get the reclining leather seats that other AMC theaters have gotten already!

One of my favorite theaters in the city. It is also in a less touristy area so less foot congestion. It has an IMAX theater and stadium seating which is always a must. Great place for dates or groups of friends as there are plenty of nice bars and restaurants on the next avenue over.
Definitely one of the better AMCs available with a cleaner feel.

*** Comfortable seating, Friendly staff, Clean bathrooms! ***
Love this location. It’s very easy to get to; it is conveniently located near the subway station. In addition, the staff was very friendly. Highly recommend of the many AMC locations in NYC.