Somerville Theatre

Reviews 5

CR

Cristina Ruiz

Where else can you enjoy a cheap flick in a 1914 theater with a pint in your hand? The Somerville Theatre is so Davis for me. A little rough around the edges but completely fun and endearing. Definitely the most affordable movie theater in the area. And they have snax! Popcorn and Richardsons ice cream. And they have alcohol! $5 beer and wine. Thats literally all I need to survive. The main theater is impressive with a stage and balcony. You really get the old-school theater vibe, which feels oddly rebellious while watching a contemporary sure-to-be classic like Springbreakers. Sitting in the balcony is a unique vantage point thats worth doing once, but it did kind of throw me off since I wasnt used to watching a movie from above. The theater also hosts different non-flickular events. For example, I watched a dance performance on stage during Davis ArtBeat and The Slutcracker seems to be a popular way to get people in the holiday spirit. Every Thursday night, they host a comedy show in the small downstairs theater for just $5! Its a mix of improv and stand-up, a mix of good and bad, but always cheap and entertaining. Dont forget that beer makes everything better. And dont leave without a peek inside the museum of bad art (MOBA)! Every ticket gets you access to this downstairs gallery of truly horrible - and comical - creations. Make sure to come early for popular movies since there can be long lines or get sold out. Make sure to pace yourself with the beer since peeing every half an hour during the movie can be distracting for those around you. But most importantly, make sure to support the Somerville Theatre! Ice cream, alcohol, and cheap entertainment in a funky environment... truly all the best aspects of Somerville can be found here.

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IU

Iulia Gheorghita

I have conflicting feelings about this theater. The movie selection is good and the staff is nice, in my experience. Their website says "We pride ourselves at the Somerville Theatre on our low ticket prices and concession prices that are less than the other theaters in the Boston area." Despite this, I find the prices to be about the same as the prices at the Kendall Square Cinema (I think $10 versus $11 for adults at night). Moreover, Kendall Square Cinema has a student discount on weekdays I believe, whereas the Somerville Theatre has no student discount. The concession prices are also about the same at both - but again, I wouldnt call $6.75 for a large popcorn a low price (at Somerville Theatre). But, the main reason I will be going to Kendall Square Cinema in the future is that the Somerville Theatre is loud. I went to see the film "Moonlight" here on a Friday night and I was sitting towards the back of the theater. I could hear loud talking coming from outside the theater throughout the entire film - and I mean I could hear full conversations. This was so disturbing, especially since this film is particularly quiet. If I spend $10 to see a movie, the least I would expect is to be able to listen and watch it in relative quiet. Indeed, whats the point of silencing phones and not talking inside the theater? I did not notice this problem so much with the other two films I saw here, but I was sitting much closer to the screen. I would suggest that they do some soundproofing, or at least put up some signs requesting that people not talk right next to the theater door.

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LE

Leslie Medeiros

Went to see the Hateful Eight special 70mm showing with my boyfriend who lives out of town and got there 15 minutes prior to curtain thinking it would be enough time. The line was completely wrapped along the sidewalk. It went fairly quickly, but it was very confusing trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. There were no signs and the only people working were the ones inside taking tickets. The food and drink are pretty expensive, but no worse than any chain movie theatre. It started late because of the crowds and confusion getting inside. A man came out and I think he introduced the show, but he did not have a microphone so I couldnt hear what he said. Someone overdosed in the row behind me and instead of stopping the film so that emergency crew could effectively get to this person, they kept the film running. It was so dark, they nearly dropped the stretcher trying to get this person down the stairs. I completely missed the first hour of the film, as did the entire section I was in. While I realize this unfortunate event was entirely out of the theaters control, I feel they handled it very poorly. It would have been less disruptive to simply pause the film in between chapters, raise the lights and quickly get the person to an ambulance. We received ticket vouchers for another showing at the theatre, but because my boyfriend lives out of town, we will not get to go back and see the film in this format again. It was a very chaotic and uncomfortable experience from start to finish, probably will not be going back any time soon.

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JA

Jared Noel

Has the old movie theater feel which can be good but seating and screen size in some of the theaters can seem a bit lack luster. Also had an experience where I asked for a 7:30 showing and was given tickets for a later showing (buying the tickets 1.5 hours in advance knowing the show would sell out) when we got back to the theater after grabbing some good before the showing and walked in and got our tickets ripped and sat down in the theater is when I realized they have me tickets for the showing at 9:45 which I wasnt going to wait around for. It was still half an hour before the event and I decided to go let them know so they would know to switch the tickets and didnt overbook the theater. When I told them what happened they told me the movie was sold out and that was why I was given 9:45 tickets. I explained I bought the tickets over an hour ago and they still just told me there was nothing they could do but give me a refund for my ticket since it was sold out. Disappointing after waiting for the movie for 1.5 hours and showing up first to the theater and getting the best seats before being told we couldnt even see the movie.

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SA

Savage Botadra

I as well as my other cousins were planning on going to the Mueseam of Bad Art but when we got to the street, we asked around and found out that it was actually located in the basement of this theatre. So, we went to the theatre and the doors were not opening but then we noticed a knob on the door. So, naturally, we opened it. As soon as we did so we were confronted by and unkind man at the door claiming repeatedly that it was "Common sense" that we were not to enter when it was closed. We then reponded that we didnt mean any trouble, we only wanted to go to the museum that we found out was in the basement. He then proceeded to walk out the door, pointed to the sign and guestered like a monkey to the small sign that said closed and consistently commented on our so called lack of common sense despite the fact that he had forgotten to lock the door and he rudely dismissed us. We regret that we could not go to the museum because of this misfortune event that we have never wanted to step foot here again.

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