Best and worst cinemas in Melbourne?

I think the cinemas at Victoria Gardens are fantastic. If you can catch a cinema session with the balcony (I think cinema 1 has the balcony) its great...with enormous bass :)

Best "private" cinemas are by far Gold Class at Crown. Just make sure you don't get tickets in the front row! Best standard are Northland's Cinemax screens. Biggest screens and best sound. Personally I find Victoria Gardens Hoyts lacking in the visuals. (I seem to always get the out of focus movies)

I am also looking forward to the new Doncaster Shoppingtown Village Cinemas which will have Gold Class.

Actually AJ, i'd agree with you re: Victoria Gardens having kick ass cinema's. I used to like Village @ CC, but now i never go there and have started going to Victoria Gardens.

For more arty-farty cinema's, i also think the cinema's at Lygon Street are pretty good too. Only crap thing with them is that they take cash only *GAG* .. hello Lygon cinema's... this is the fraking 21st century where cash is bollox and card is the way to pay for things. (there's also a border's downstairs from those cinema's, so u can read mags while waiting for movies .. nice 1).

oohhh.....I forgot to mention Rivoli Cinemas in Camberwell Junction. I love the old skool grandiose feel of them.

They also play a good range of arty farty movies, so you get the best of both worlds.

Hoyts at Melbourne Central hands down...although I still prefer my 52inch LCD :)

Myers spot on!!

My 60 panasonic and PS3 Blu-ray baby is the only cinema I will ever need. I pity my neighbors though with the noise.

I generally prefer the "non-commercial" cinemas so my favourites are:
1. the Westgarth on High Street, Northcote. Beautiful mosaic floors and looks like an old theatre converted to cinemas.
2. the Como on Chapel St/Toorak Rd, South Yarra. Wonderfully clean!
3. Nova on Lygon St, Carlton just because they are my local. Pretty clean but yes they only take cash!!
4. the Rivoli.

The Worst:
1. Greater Union on Russell St, Melb CBD and
2. Village, Jam Factory - they have MICE!!! Gross

Nova is great, I love the way each room has a theme - a velvet room a wooden room etc and they always have really interesting films and events! The Sun Theatre in Yarravile is also really good, a really cool art deco building where you can sip a beer whilst taking in a movie.

Greater Union on Russell St is a huge dissapointment. As a kid I remember it was the best cinema in Melbourne and one of the first with big screens and digital sound. But the seats! You really feel like you are sitting on concrete. Now I must say it has been at least 5 years since I have been - hopefully they have done an upgrade, the competition is now leaps ahead.

Avoid the Hoyts cinemas at Greensborough. We saw a movie on what would be the smallest screen I have ever seen. It literally felt like watching a movie on a flatscreen at home. We were seated half way down ( I felt sorry for the people down the back!). At $20 a ticket I expect better these days, its not difficult to upgrade your screen sizes. There was plenty of room to go bigger.

Greater Union Cinemas in the Melbourne CBD are now demolished. (some would say about time!). Worst seats of all time.

Best cinemas in Melbourne:
1. The Rivoli Camberwell- Beautiful big old cinema. Plus you can now buy wine and salted caramel choc tops at the candy bar.
2. Palace Westgarth- old world charm.
3. Palace Balwyn- another pretty decent sized old cinema.
4. Cinema Nova Carlton- the best for arthouse movies & food.
5. Fountain Gate Village gold class- some of the newest/nicest gold class cinemas.

and the worst:
1. Jam factory Chapel St- a bit run down and have seen better days.
2. The Kino Cinemas Collins St- tiny screens.
3. Victoria Gardens Hoyts- messy bathrooms.

Depends on what you define as best.

I used to live in Canterbury so know the Rivoli very well. If you want the biggest screens Rivoli is not that great.

If you want the biggest screens try Crown Casino VMAX screens - they also have some of the best sound if you are into that thing. For movies in IMAX see them at Carlton/Melbourne Museum. Incredible.

Gold Class at Crown or Westfield Doncaster Gold Class would be the most comfortable.

Avoid - Greensborough Hoyts - I saw a movie on what looked like a 100 inch screen with seating all on the same level so you couldnt see in front of the next person.

I really like Cinema Nova in Carlton. It has a nice comfortable feeling to it. I feel a bit at home.
Crown in Southbank is really nice. Very large. I got a little lost one time trying to find the washroom.

I've watch a few movies at The Penny Black in Brunswick! That was pretty neat. They lay out couches and beanbag chairs.
I've also heard great things about the Rooftopp Cinema in the CBD.

My favourite cinemas in Melbourne are independent and show a wider variety of films outside the normal hollywood releases. In particular the Sun Theatre is well-worth a visit to the inner west located in the heart of Yarraville Village.
Favourite Cinemas

1. Sun Theatre Yarraville
www.suntheatre.com.au

2. Cinema Nova
www.cinemanova.com.au

3. The Astor Theatre
www.astortheatre.net.au

4. Classic Cinema
www.classiccinemas.com.au

5. Palace Westgarth Cinemas
www.palacecinemas.com.au/cinemas/westgarth

Out in the suburbs I always have to go to: Village - Doncaster. It was the first time I went to see gold class and it was great. I suggest this cinema definitely if you live around the area.