Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 & IMAX
- Good for Kids: Yes
14 Reviews for Edwards Irvine Spectrum 21 & IMAX
i guess i have to give it an a-ok rating because it's close to my place. but parking here always suck. and the people that FREQUENT (teenagers with too much, oc blondes, oc cougars etc.) suck as well. i used to work retail at the spectrum so...i know the customers pretty well. any hoot. it's way the hell too expensive. i understand the ticket prices, i guess it's priced as whole nation wide. but COME ON. do you have to charge so much for damn popcorn and drinks. the if i hear you can upgrade to a larger size for fifty cents one more time i'm going scream but still come see movies there but sneak in stuff in my HUGE purse. (which i have by the way).
.is a soul sucking circus, but the seats are pretty comfortable.
Oh yeah, IRONMAN ROCKS!
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As far as theaters go, this one is ok. It's your typical run of the mill larger theater. There's nothing too special about it. For the size of it you would think they would have more stalls in the bathrooms. I've seen theaters half this size with twice more stalls in the bathroom.
However, I don't think we really go to the movies for the pissing facilities, so let's talk about the theaters. They are alright. Some are pretty big, but most are alright size, more on the small size. Make sure to buy your ticket for your movie early and give yourself plenty of time to grab a good seat before the movie. Also, the center arm rests are fixed which sort of sucks. The seats themselves are comfortable enough. I do appreciate that all the theaters (even the small ones) have stadium seating.
I just don't think this theater is anything special. I am also not a fan of the crowds at the spectrum and at this theater. Any movie you go to, any time, on any night, is usually pretty busy. This one is also pricey at $11.50 a ticket. I only go here if I can buy a "special" ticket before I go or have a coupon from the Entertainment Book or else it is a little too expensive for my blood.
I need the $17 to purchase the #1 Combo special (1 large popcorn and two medium drinks). Their medium drinks are pretty big! I can never finish it! It's about 32 oz. The large popcorn also comes with a refill and its an Edwards theater so it's in a tub (bless you Edwards for the larges in tubs!). Although, I will admit I felt a little popcorn impotent last time I was here. I barely finished half the popcorn, so sad.
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I like the location and convenience of this movie theater. If there is a movie in wide release that you want to see, you can pretty much be guaranteed it will be showing at the Spectrum. The theaters and restrooms are clean, and I like that they have the automated ticket machines in front of the theater so you don't have to wait in line for the box office or you can buy tickets for advance screenings. You can purchase tickets on Fandango with a $1 service fee per ticket, but since I live so close to the Spectrum, I can get my tickets from the machine and not pay a service fee.
That's what I had done for last night's showing of Spirit of the Marathon. www.marathonmovie.com. It was playing here and in a few other Southland theaters one-night only, so I bought my tickets from the machine last month when I came for another movie. They also show operas from the Met in HD live on certain days.
I only wish they had a few screens dedicated for indie and foreign movies, but at least they show those at the Edwards University in Irvine. Otherwise, I think this is a great movie theater.
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i'm not a movie theater person. they can get expensive, i don't see a movie unless i REALLY want to see it. this weekend was the case. there are only a handful of theaters i'll go to, this being the only one in irvine that i will go to.
first of all... $11.50 for a movie ticket?! you gotta be kidding me! luckily my boyfriend gets specially priced tickets that are like $8 each. anyhow... we went here saturday night to see 'forbidden kingdom'.
the popcorn was super fresh. i love those combos at the concession stand. we got the medium drink medium popcorn combo. for $10.50 we got a pretty decent sized bag of popcorn (ok, way more than i thought) and a "medium" drink that i could've sworn is supposed to be large. i like to bring my own bottled water to the movies, and i didn't even have to drink it. 'cause the drink was huge. haha. about 10 mins. before the movie, a worker came out in with a portable concession stand. something i'd never seen before. ahhh... i love how edwards caters to the lazy. it's really not that hard to walk 2 mins. to the real concession stand!
the seats are pretty comfy, and you do have to get there a little early to find a seat on opening weekend. right before the movie started, the screen froze for like 5 mins. which was weird, but funny. sound is good and the screen widens. pretty cool if you ask me. you can't hear the movie in the theater next door, which i find really annoying at other theaters. i didn't use the restroom, but my boyfriend said it was pretty clean.
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Best time to go:
Sunday afternoon when raining.
We had excellent seats that reclined and had movable arm rests. This was in one of the IMAX theaters, so maybe they made these theaters extra fancy. Although we had to walk over the river and through the wood to find our theater (13), it was worth it. The Sunday afternoon crowd at "U23D" was a mix of parents with or without kids, middle aged fans, and us. This was by far the most quiet and polite movie audience I've experienced in a long time. Our strategy of attacking movies during non-peak times seems to be paying off.
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The armrests between the seats are fixed in place.
So much for your game plan, rico suave.
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I've been here twice for movies 300 and spider man 3. Twice on IMAX and i have to say the experience is simply astounding.
The story of movie 300 was not as entertaining as its trailer make it out to be but the cinematography and the wardrobe/costumes was sooo amazing that watching it in IMAX defined it to perfection. I would love to see LOTR and all other movies with amazing cinematography here.
Can't wait to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on IMAX!!!!
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The theater is amazing. Stadium seating and they have special showings you won't find elsewhere such as DLP projection (no film so no graininess) and, of course, IMAX. I've yet to see an IMAX showing but the DLP quality was amazing when I saw "Live Free or Die Hard."
Only problem is its in the Spectrum and costs a bit more than your average theater (14 for imax tickets, 10.50 for general admission). We were originally going to see Transformers early on a Friday evening but they had people standing in line already for the 11pm showing that was more than 6 hours away. We drove 10 minutes to another Edwards and bought tickets for the next showing.
When we went to see the DLP showing of the two week-old "Live Free or Die Hard," the theater was packed 20 minutes prior to the start of the movie and they didn't have any video on the screen prior to the previews (not a bad thing necessarily).
In any case, the place is good but only for that movie you absolutely need to see on a really big screen or in perfect digital quality. Otherwise just catch a movie at a less crowded theater.
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I like going to this cinema for new releases. Get here 30-40 minutes early as you will have to go to at least the 3rd floor of the parking structure for a spot and then wait in line for another 10 minutes. They have a few of the Fandango automated tellers but the lines are still there for some reason!
The imax theatre here is awesome. I saw a 3d animated film and just recently 300. Get here extra early for these shows as it pays to be in the middle of this theatre.
All in all, this is a very clean, comfortable, enjoyable place to see a film.
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A large-ish cinema showing all the new releases. We wanted to catch a new release which wasn't showing at any cinema closer to where we live so we came here. The person selling the ticket pissed me off. She just seemed so dis-interested. I had one of those Regal Cards but was looking for it, fishing through my purse, but she just threw my tickets to me and then started to fiddle with other stuff.
What do you expect when you hire extremely young people to work at a job they really don't give a shit about. I'm glad I went in the afternoon because it would've been even worse if I had to wait in line forever and then have to face that kind of customer service.
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I've only been to the IMAX theatre here. The stadium seating and the huge IMAX flat screen is amazing. The movie Extreme which chronicles Big Wave Surfing, Alaskan Outback Snowboarding, and other sports was fantastic. If you want to know what surfing a 60ft wave looks like, the IMAX theatre will give it to you an almost real life representation. Take any big screen theatre and multiply it by 2-3x and you'll get the experience here.
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A nice theater with a huge selection of movies. It's not cheap, but movies are expensive these days anyway.
They've always got the newest releases and it's a clean, roomy theater to enjoy a big screen flick.
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really great theater. I only go to this one, cause I figure if your going to pay $10 to watch a movie, better get your money's worth. plus IMAX is great too. I saw Charlie & the Chocolate Factory... my mouth had never watered so much.
BEWARE!!
If you plan on going to an opening show, like SAW III or The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D. Plan on waiting in line..for a LOOONG time. I did both this weekend..and smart me forgot to bring a jacket..and we saw late showings..which means i FROZE my ass off.
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