| Product: |
abccinemas.co.uk |
| Date: |
01/11/00 (70 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Looks nice, Detailed, Choice of Basic, Normal and Flash
Disadvantages: Irrelevant information that could be found elsewhere, Doesn't look like it's going to last for very long
If you have any ABC cinemas in or around you area then you might want to check their website to see if they're showing anything you that you may like.
The first thing you'll see is a choice of entering a Flash, Normal or Basic. I find this a good option because those who still have slow 28.8 modems (who I really pity) can click the Basic option and still be able to access the website. Though I doubt many will have to enter the Basic site! The Flash site is VERY classy and nice with a few extra sound effects. It does take a tiny bit longer to load than the others. It's not too bad though. If you're in a rush I suggest the entering the Normal site. There isn't any major difference between the two. Flash just looks like a polished and enhanced version while Normal is adequate enough for those who don't want to mess about.
Presentation is not bad, with a huge ABC logo that greets you upon arrival. Once in you can click the big grey button highlighted as 'your cinema' to find your closest ABC cinema. A map of the UK appears on the Flash and Normal sites listing where all ABC cinemas are. So it's just a case of finding where you live! When you do find the cinema you're looking for you're greeted with a page displaying the movies that they're showing and at what times they're being shown. There's also the price of tickets, telephone number (for bookings), how many seats the cinema has and where the cinema is (in case you've never been there before). As well as the show times for the current week, you can check next week's times too. The site is usually updated every Tuesday should you wish to the times for next week. If you want you can also download some trailers from here too (though I'd normally go to a dedicated trailer site). You can also check up on release dates for future films and read the latest movie news as well as enter a competition.
There's some a handy lin
ks page that lists the home pages for most of the major movie studios such as Fox and Universal. They even have links to other related pages such as Empire Online, and Film World. Oddly enough they have a Star Bios links page which has a list of major movie actors and actresses. You can click the name and you're given a picture of the star and the movies they've been in. And that's it. You're better of going to The Internet Movie Database if you're looking for more in depth details about movie starts. Another waste of space (that you can find better elsewhere) is the reviews section which aren't reviews at all. They just list a few movies, give a brief synopsis about them, and you can give them a vote out of 100%. They have a database of movies too, should you wish to vote and read a short synopsis about them. For some reason they have Shrek in their database, but not The Mummy Returns. Go figure.
There is the option of e-mailing them too, but when mailing them about if they'd show a certain movie I never received a reply.
On the whole it's a nicely laid out website and also very detailed. It also uses the colour red a lot! It does its job if you're after showtimes for a movie, and maybe a few trailers or pieces of news. But that's all that's worthy of praise.
Update:
Since the ABC cinemas are slowly being converted to Odeon, this site is now only applies to the 30 (or less) ABC cinemas that are still open. But with some undergoing refurbishment (basically undergoing a change to Odeon), I have a feeling that this site won't be around for long.
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