The UltraAVX Experience...

 
Thanks to Cloud AdAgents and Cineplex Entertainment, last weekend myself and 8 other Edmonton twitter friends had the chance to experience the new UltraAVX Cinema in South Edmonton Commons.

The UltraAVX theatre experience offers you a chance to reserve your seats, a feature I'm a huge fan of and certainly took advantage of. This involved me going to the Customer Service desk where a very helpful agent showed me a seat layout of the new theatre and helped me to choose the exact seats I wanted. Once I had made my selection he gave me my tickets with the row and seat numbers on it, just like a concert. When the group of us returned later that night for the movie there was no line ups and we went directly into the theatre and found our seats. I really liked that when everyone went to grab food there was none of the typical anxiety involved with having to protect seats or try to make a jacket stretch over as many chairs as possible. This in itself might have been enough to impress me, but the theatre has more to offer than that.

The first thing we noticed when we got to our seats was the seat - like individual rocking armchairs that allowed plenty of leg room to get comfortable and lean back if you'd like. I really liked the mobility of the chair. In addition, each row of seats is positioned high enough that your view isn't obstructed regardless of where you're sitting or how tall the person in front of you is. I can honestly say that I haven't had as comfortable an experience watching a movie in a regular theatre, but then this isn't a regular theatre.

UltraAVX features a large format wall to wall movie screen, allowing for a great image from wherever the vantage point (although I wouldn't suggest sitting too close to the front or on the extreme sides). The theatre boasts dolby digital surround sound which made me feel immersed within the sound which was a neat experience. I didn't feel like the sound was coming at me like some other theatres I've been in although it wasn't as loud as an IMAX theatre. There may have been a better movie choice to showcase this sound experience (we saw Secretariat) but I quite enjoyed it nonetheless. All in all it seems to me that this is how movies should be experienced.  

I was impressed enough with the UltraAVX experience that I can't wait to go back. For me, the 15.75 per adult ticket price (11.99 child/senior) is worth it just for the convenience of selecting your desired seats before hand (in the past I've waited hours in line ups hoping to get the seats I wanted), but the quality of the experience is now something that I am looking forward to, especially for the more anticipated movie releases (like Harry Potter). Maybe it's not for every movie experience, but I'll certainly be back!    

You can find an UltraAVX theatre in both the Cineplex Odeon North Edmonton and Cineplex Odeon South Edmonton Cinemas. 

Also, read Brittney's review here, and John's here.  They're awesome!