1545 E Cheyenne Mountain Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80906
Phone: (719) 576-5082 ~Review by Leaf McGowan/Thomas Baurley ~
An enormous and fancy high-capacity stadium-like seating theater complex with reclining and assigned seats. Always an enjoyable experience and one of my favorite theaters to visit. Luckily for the healthier junk-food-minded, there is a cafe where you can get food that takes a little longer to make, your Starbucks addiction, ice cream on a cone, milkshakes, and what-not. There is also a bar, but unfortunately, it’s part of the concession-maze screw-up (wasn’t always like that). The theater possesses a Hollywood charm, great rich extravagant decor, and film, you really are placed into movie-land with this experience. The staff is friendly and goes out of their way to help you. Free refills on large popcorns and drinks, and with the rewards program, not too hard to build up 75 points to get $2 off of them. They always have a great array of films and newly released blockbusters. Also one of the few theaters in town that has morning matinees. Every Tuesday it’s less than $6 a ticket. The hands-down best theater in Colorado Springs. Rating: 5 stars out of 5 (2018) (formerly was 4.75 out of 5 because of the concession maze which they fixed) [Concessions maze is awkward and an all-out failure – that would be the worst part of the theater. (They did away with this former monstrosity, thanks to complaints from patrons – Thank you!)]
If you would like to contact the author about this review, need a re-review, would like to advertise on this page, or have information to add, please contact us at technogypsie@gmail.com.
Moviepass saw a resurrection and I joyfullly jumped back into it when they returned the Winter of 2022. I got a premiere invite to rejoin. The company was back under the control of its original founders and seemed to be moving in the right direction. At first, movies were plentiful, I was able to use my credits/points, and for $20/month I averaged 5-6 movies. But that didn’t last long the 96 credits I got a month seemed to be used up quicker and quicker … as movies started to average costing 36 credits each (even for matinees averaging 22-36 credits per movie) so it was really working out to only seeing 3 movies a month for $20. Not really cost effective. Now somehow, especially if you book the tickets online with their online booking credit usage, it averages to two movies a month – that’s like $10 a movie. No thanks. They still have technological glitches and times when the card wouldn’t work. At least they had reasonable wait time to get in touch with tech support, however after missing parts of movies while in the lobby on the phone with tech support it just got frustrating. So as of today, May 30th, 2024 – I quit moviepass. I used almost the last of my credits to see a really stupid movie at Regal (“In a Violent Nature.) It wasn’t a great sendoff. How fitting. I wish the company well, but they’ve got to change their model “again”. On top of it, the grandiose documentary “Movie Pass, Movie Crash” just came out on HBOMax. Well done. Answered alot of questions I had about the Moviepass experience. I still however, don’t know how their model allows them to make any money (maybe not until now that they’ve outpriced movie usage/credits) or how they ever did. Goodbye Moviepass! Rating: 2 stars out of 5 (5/30/2024)
UPDATE: 2022-2023
Moviepass is back and spectacularly 5 stars! I was invited to join again in Winter of 2022 and have been nothing more than extremely impressed. $20/month and so far have been able to see 6-7 movies a month for $20. It has worked at every theater so far – from the small downtown artsy theater to the big blockbuster AMC or Regal. I love it! You still have to be at the theater to check in, then it preloads the ticket funds onto the credit card it gives you, you can swipe and pay at the ticket counter or the self-service kiosks, choose your seat, and head in. Completely awesome. I still don’t know how this company makes any money. It’s crazy.
HISTORY:
Long ago, this was “By far the most amazing and spectacular deal that oddly very few know about” (as I had promoted when it was considered “golden”), and was the fantastical premiere entertainment pass known as “Movie Pass”. The way it used to operate was quite simple – you subscribe at Moviepass.com for $9.95 a month and in 8-10 days you’ll receive a beautiful credit card called “Movie Pass”. You download the app and when you want to go to any of the 6,000+ movie theaters in America, you drive up, log into the app, select your movie time, then go to either stand in line at the ticket booth or use the kiosk, select the movie, your seats if applicable, and use the card to pay for the movie. When you registered using the app, Moviepass uploaded the exact ticket price to the card, and you are set to go. It used to be that “You can go to one movie every day as long as your subscription is active.” (2019: This is no longer true) In 2017-2018 I couldn’t express more how amazing this offer was to my friends. I would say “Hurry now as you never know how long it’ll run”. Well, that clock finally ticked no more. The only problem at that time with the program is you couldn’t get the pass in the mail quick enough! Now it is riddled with problems and on its way out. Rating: 1 star out of 5 Formerly Rating: 5 stars out of 5 (Winter 2017/Spring 2018) :: So far, I’ve used it twice – seeing “Paddington Bear 2” and “The Commuter” – no snags whatsoever. In fact, originally wanted to see Jumanji and by the time i got through the line to the ticket agent, it sold out, and was able to instantly just pay for Paddington Bear with it so I could see with my son. 1/15/18.
UPDATE: Around February / March 2018 – Movie Pass began starting to force movie-goers to photograph their tickets after purchase which became a severe annoyance and hassle. This ticket verification is a major pain. Then in April 2018, they are restricting the ability to see a movie more than once de-valuing the deal. Still a discount, just not as good. Dropping their rating from a 5 out of 5 to a 4 out of 5.
Late June, early July Movie Pass began restricting first run/premiere movies and threatened a surcharge for those viewing them. This never really fully sunk in. The company continuously developed ways for viewers not to get the full promise they offered in the beginning. It also became harder to log in and out to change accounts if you and your family have multiple cards working on one phone, and sometimes the theater listings won’t load up.
On July 27th, 2018 Movie Pass ran out of money stranding thousands of movie-goers from seeing their promised films. The company had to take out a multi-million dollar loan to keep going. They were back up in 24 hours. They had to make some changes, including limiting customers to only 3 free movies per month (standard, not a new release) with a $3-5 dollar discount on additional movies. This caused the service to drop to a rating of 2 stars out of 5.
January 2019: I canceled my movie pass around August 2018. I do not recommend it and see it as a complete waste of money. Their limitations on what you can see and when make it a rip-off now. I predict this company shutting its doors soon. Get out while you can. I have replaced it with the incredible competitor replacement, which I couldn’t recommend more ecstatically, the AMC A-LIST. It’s a guarantee A-List is better than Movie Pass. In fact A-List this week announced it just hit over 17 Million members.
Bad Mom’s Christmas ~ Rated R. Nov. 1, 2017. ~
Directed by Jon Lucas, Scott Moore, Actor/resses: Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, Susan Sarandon, and more. Review by Leaf McGowan/Thomas Baurley ~
It’s that time of year when expectation on parents comes to a collapsing point, and this tale depicts the challenges and expectations for holiday planning with the age-old assumption it falls entirely on the mom’s shoulders. (Since I’m a single dad, I’ve never experienced this phenomenon) So the under-appreciated and overburdened moms break down this particular Christmas, especially as their moms arrive on the scene earlier than expected for Christmas event planning. Amy, Kiki, and Carla on a girl’s night out decide to rebel against the cookie-cutter expectations and not being reliable for the expected fantastic holiday they feel is expected of them by not only their moms, their kids, and husbands for two them (Carla is a single mom). It is an action-packed party-driven rebellion of mom’s flick with lots of laughs, humor, and fun. It was good fun. Spin-off sequel to “Bad Moms”. Rating: 3 stars out of 5
If you would like to contact the author about this review, need a re-review, would like to advertise on this page, or have information to add, please contact us at technogypsie@gmail.com.
Comes the world when global warming has created such a grand crisis that all nations had to join forces to fight natural catastrophes. Building a space station with thousands of satellites used to control the weather, the nicknamed “Dutch Boy” system is just about to be passed off to the United Nations from the USA. A fight to maintain control of the protector now turned weapon, destruction of cities and countries, and targeting world dominance, the greedy, ugly, and soul smashing villain goes all out to get what they want. It’s left up to the creator to figure out what’s going on. Emblazoned within a family relationship and struggle, the binds of blood save the day, but not before hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, deep freezes, and heat waves devastate the planet. Will the earth survive? Rated: 4 stars out of 5Reviewed by Leaf McGowan, 10/22/17
A great father/son film with a continued repetitive family history of an urban teen who comes to visit his father at their cabin in the mountains only to end in tragedy. The youth, separated from his dad due to divorce, comes to visit his father for a great hunt. Putting away technology, his father helps him re-learn survival skills and the great hunt. They pulled a tag for a moose that his dad was tracking. A run-in with Grizzlies, a hunting accident, leaves the teen to carry his dad down the mountain – walking out of a nightmare. A grand tale of survival, thrilling, and edge-of-your-seat moments. Rating: 4 out of 5
Fast action female version of James Bond (Charlize Theron) – attractive, stunning, and deadly takes on an impossible M6 mission getting a spy list that her former spy lover died for covering all the active agents in the West. Fast cars and deadly blasts, martial arts, and brawls all in the heart of the moment that the Berlin Wall was coming down. Spectacular authentic 80’s soundtrack and a great portrayal of the era. Reviewed 5 stars out of 5
Please help fund our research project and publication of our book “Offerings of the Naiads: Holy Wells and Sacred Springs in Western Culture” by our Founders.
Starring: Directed By: Robert Stromberg, Written by Linda Woolverton, Charles Perrault, and others. Starring: Angelina Jolie as Maleficent, Elle Fanning as Aurora, Sharlto Copley as Stefan, Lesley Manville as Flittle, Imelda Staunton as Knotgrass, Juno Temple as Thistlewit, and many others. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587310/..
I’m really digging the fact that Walt Disney and other major film companies are starting to get on track with depicting fairy tales with “real faeries” as is becoming the artsy trend these days in media, film, and music. They were golden with how they manifested Snow White and the Huntsman I didn’t think the film wizards could do any better with the classics – wrong was I. “Maleficent” is in that tradition, embedded deep into the faerie realms and the struggles between humans and the fae, following true folklore about faeries and iron, and much of historical folklore as accurate as they could go. It is the classic retelling (and most probable more authentic of the Sleeping Beauty myth if there was one in history). A young powerful faerie girl well respected in Faerieland as “Maleficent” goes and befriends a young human mortal who stumbled into the protected realms. They begin a long childhood friendship which leads up to the guise of “true love” only to meet the ever-told fate between fae and humans that humans will always cross the fae. This throws Maleficent into darkness after she loses her wings and seeks revenge on the wrongdoer. She curses his child into a “sleeping beauty” enchantment that not even she could break, only to be broken by a kiss of true love – which she believed did not exist. As time passes she falls for the young cursed one only to despair that she couldn’t break the curse she cast. Battles between the humans and the magical folk build up high action and turmoil leaving you on the edge of your seat. Ents, Dryads, Pixies, Elves, Dragons, and other magical folk animate your imagination as maleficent finds her way back to the fate of her beautiful wings. Just how I would have imagined “Sleeping Beauty”. Rating: 5 stars out of 5 [rating:5]
Carrie(2013) ~ Rated R. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1939659/ ** Drama/Horror * Released: October 18, 2013, * Director: Kimberly Peirce. Writers: Lawrence D. Cohen, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Starring: Julianne Moore as Margaret White; Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie White; Gabriella Wilde as Sue Snell; Portia Doubleday as Chris Hargensen; Alex Russell as Billy Nolan; Zoë Belkin as Tina; Ansel Elgort as Tommy Ross; Samantha Weinstein as Heather, and may more. *
The Classic Stephen King horror story about a shy Fundamentalist Christian raised girl who was never taught about puberty, humiliated over her period in the girl’s gym locker room, at the same time when discovering her telekinetic powers. She’s pushed too far by the school bullies and unleashes a firestorm of revenge and destruction much to the horror and shame of her teacher/counselor and mother. It’s hard to beat the first film, and the second re-make was fantastic in my eyes, but this 3rd remake still held its own charm and excitement. As I’m a big fan of the supernatural, it was well done. The 1974 novel by Stephen King of course is the best version of them all as is all of his books compared to the movies made about them. Chloë Grace Moretz playing Carrie is no Sissie Spacek comparison, but in her own right did a magnificent and sexy role. I’m still torn between the characters of the first film and this third for the others outside of Carrie, but Julianne Moore as Carrie’s mom was a fabulous choice as she’s always has been a favorite actress of mine. The prayer closet was well done but some of the school scenes were lacking luster. I did enjoy the fact Carrie delved deeply into researching her powers rather than stumbling around cluelessly with them. I didn’t care for the delivery scene for the opening, but the pregnancy at the end was an intriguing twist. – [Rating:4] Rating 4 stars out of 5.
Are you making a movie with a Tibetan or Nepal theme? Or an avid movie-goer that loves films along this subject matter? A great resource of authentic gifts, spiritual items, and decor to gift that ambiance you’re seeking can be found at Silver Sky Imports: http://www.silverskyimports.com/. They have the largest collection of Tibetan singing bowls in the world. They are the largest supplier of handmade gifts from the Himalayas in the world. Give them a visit and take a look around their site. Impressive …
