Austen Groff
Jul 2026
★★★★★
So I went to see the Odyssey yesterday because I heard it was filmed with a special camera that was 65mm and it was being screened in 70mm so when I saw the Coolidge Corner Theater was screening it in 70mm, I decided to check out a new theater. There's no assigned seats, so we decided to get there early. The theater is really nice, very old school. They have a small concession counter, they serve alcohol, they got reasonably sized and priced popcorn as far as movies go, and the popcorn wasn't to salty. Plus they got a small selection of candy. The line moved fast and they made sure to get everyone through before starting the movie. The staff did great. Now getting into the theater, the screen is fairly small in comparison to big movie theaters, so when we sat in the back row we realized we were too far away. We find closer seats, they're cramped and out of courteousy I only use the arm rest I share with my fiánce. Then all the theater goes come in and people are scrambling for seats but there are attendants that find people places to sit. So we're all sat for the movie, the person ahead of us had rampant B.O. it was almost impressive how bad and lingering the smell of that person was. Now there's nothing the theater can do about this, so I can't blame them, but it did sour the experience. Next a group of seniors sit behind us, the woman behind me is short, I am 6 ft tall, so she asks me to switch seats, now if I switch with my girlfriend, I'm blocking someone else, and she could have just as easily switched with that person but I could see that would be a problem too. So now I gotta scoot down in my seat. I tell her I'm comfortable like this (for a 3 hour movie it's gonna be a problem.) So I sit like that the whole movie, the guy ahead of me (possibly the stinky guy) does not crouch down so now I'm missing part of the screen, and I have to lean forward to stretch throughout the movie. I will say, despite the small size the chairs are comfortable, but you have to be strategic about the chair you pick. Maybe if they had a sign suggesting tall people either sit in the back or on the sides, I don't know how else to fix that issue without a complete overhaul. So then the movie starts and there is decor above the screen that really fit with the Odyssey theme, so that was really cool, almost like seeing a play. Now the way this movie was filmed was aimed to capture the dialogue better, but I don't think the speaker system is surround sound, so the sound quality was not top of the line, but it wasn't really an issue throughout most of the movie. The beginning had a lot of quieter parts which were a bit of an issue to understand. I will say I did really enjoy the movie despite the theater set up, but I'm not sure if I'd go back to that theater, and if I did, I'd be very strategic about picking my seat. The staff was fantastic, and the theater had charm but you run into some issues with the logistics.