Love the Varsity! Perfect theater for Ashland. Excellent programming. The independent films are much better than the mainstream ones.

Theatre is disappointing because the sound of the movie next door bleeds through the walls. I won't be back. read more

Gayle and I still remember seeing "The Lives of Others" upstairs at the Varsity. And since my last review, we recall a few Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF)-related viewing and a few feature films. Last Sunday, we were here for Twister at Screen #5 (outside and around to the side). This was after an afternoon performance of Lizard Boy at OSF. It was a fun and relatively mindless film, accented by bottled water and good and overprices popcorn. Seating was comfortable, a bathroom was near, and the folks working here were friendly and helpful. read more

This is a small town theatre that is always clean with a decent little menu, vintage art deco interior and cozy little theatres.

We went to see Naked Gun at the Varsity theater. I ordered tickets at their website online so I just showed my ticket number for entrance. The popcorn was fresh and buttery, the seats were comfortable and the staff was friendly and accommodating. It was a very fun matinee! read more

Saw the Naked Gun when our Shakespeare Festival performance was canceled. Showing was in a small theater accessed through the alley. Seats were a little cramped, but it really only mattered because it was sort of a packed house- which made the experience far better since it was a comedy. Tuesday bargain ticket prices were great, popcorn was fresh, Junior Mints were refrigerated- would absolutely visit again. read more

Thank you for keeping a small town movie theater going. The Varsity is not fancy or comfortable but it is affordable at $7.50 for a matinee. The theater was so old they had to open up a side door for us to get to our screening. The small theater was almost full for a two month old movie, Astroid City. Varsity has support in Ashland. read more

Varsity Theatre - Front - Cinema Near Me - Ashland, Oregon

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It's the only theatre in town so we go, but we badly miss the other theatre this company had. This one is always dirty and seats are very uncomfortable. The screens are small and sound isn't very good. We highly recommend do not go to any show that ends after dark as some theaters are only accessible form the dark side alley. It's very scary exiting at night and are often homeless people that wait outside to solicit people leaving. read more

Too bad I can only give five stars. This little gem is one of the many small town features of Ashland. Easy in and out, and there are bars and restaurants within a few hundred yards. Price is right, the munchies are fine, the movie experience is like I remember when I was a kid. OK, maybe the tickets aren't a quarter anymore, but still... read more

This used to be a worthwhile theater simply because it offered more options to the area. It has been run down for a long time, the noise reaching you from outside the theater is very bad, but the selection of films used to make up for that. After the other Ashland theater closed, the selection dropped. It's hard to blame them, but they picked up all the best selling movies and lost everything that made this theater unique. Arthouse theater no more. You'll catch more interesting screenings at Cinemark. read more

Stay away from any film in Theater #3. There was an incredibly distracting black mark dead-center of the screen that ruined the movie.

The dam advertisements DRIVE ME CRAZY!!! Either do trailers or do nothing. It's Bull Shit!!!!!!!!!!!

For a 8oz soda $5.25. No refill. Ticket $7. Enough said. Decent theater. Netflix if you can. read more

11/25/18. Kind of an odd layout. Purchase tickets at main entrance then go outside to enter from the theatre showing the feature from the side door. The one tiny bathroom was just enough for the 8 of us in the theatre. Heaven forbid if the 50+- seat theatre were to be full. All in all not bad for an older venue. read more

Varsity Theatre - Cinema Near Me - Ashland, Oregon

Very cool little spot. In a nice area. The employees were super nice. Drove out to see 'You Were Never Really Here' Parking was easy. They have all the indie flicks playing here that you can't see elsewhere. I've only been once and I'm really looking forward to coming back. Fancy local treats at the concessions stand. I'll be back. read more

Ok, so the movie projectors aren't the best, it's a bit dinky, and the sound quality isn't very very high, but the atmosphere of the movie theatre is nostalgic and brings you back to a time when the movies were really something special. While the Varsity does play some block busters, most of their films are more indie, foreign, and almost always rank in the 85%+ of Rotten Tomatoes rankings. This is a very sweet place for a date and is almost never full, so no waiting in lines. read more

When given the choice between the Varsity and Tinseltown, I always choose Varsity. Their movie selection tends to be much more to my tastes. However, I wish the staff exhibited the same loyalty to the customers that go out of their way to support this local landmark. Unfortunately, they seem to be running on a skeleton crew at the moment, and a somewhat careless skeleton crew at that. Their pre-show advertisements have always been lacking in variety when compared to their Tinseltown counterparts, but lately, the staff hasn't even bothered to play the video portion of ads. They let the advertisements cycle through, over and over, with only the audio playing. I know if I were a business spending money on advertising with Coming Attractions, I would be incredibly disappointed. Many of the ads fail to make sense without the accompanying video segments. Get it together, Varsity! We're on you're team, but you're making it pretty difficult to root for you! read more

There aren't nearly enough of these types of theatres around anymore! When it's nothing but multiplexes with screen after screen of complete garbage, it's nice to know that the retro moviehouse can still manage. In the cultural wasteland of southern Oregon, Ashland's Varsity Theatre is often the only place to catch an independent film. This is your only option for a long way -- it's either Portland or San Francisco otherwise. As you may expect, it's a very tiny theatre. Only about 10 rows or about 30 seats. If you're used to the vast expanses of the mutliplexes, you're not going to find them here. What's nice about that is that people will patronize this theatre, so you don't have the nearly-empty houses you'll frequently find at the theatres in Medford and White City. Plus you can't go wrong with the classic theatre marquee and entrance. As an aside -- it was amusing to me the previous Yelper's annoyance with the staff not playing the "Coming Attractions" commercials. This happened too last weekend and I LOVED it. I hate the "Coming Attractions!" read more

Not my favorite theatre, but it was quaint and perfectly placed in the middle of downtown Ashland. A nice place for the independent film festival - unfortunately we were in the 4 or 5 theatre which meant we had to travel outside to the back. We also had to wait for a little, and luckily it wasn't raining. read more

When the sound goes out during the screening of "The Artist", are you wrong to complain? Well, it went out twice during the matinee we saw, and it stayed off for minutes each time until an audience member went to the lobby to get assistance. Is everything so automated that the staff doesn't wake itself into consciousness when starting the film or reels change (do they change reels any more?)? Is the Varsity's equipment so poor that the sound routinely cuts out? Whatever. The missing sound was only a mildly disrupting distraction, but it made the theater feel seedy. The Varsity has always had a nice, small-town feel, and I've enjoyed the amateur ads for local businesses that run before the films. The ticket purchasing is laid back, the refreshment stand retro (with upscale, Ashland-perfect extras), and the theaters comfortable but not pristine. But, no sound and no staff noticed? Made me wonder if the place is on a downward slide. read more

The theater was reconfigured into several small theaters. The screens are small, the chair arms lose comfort to the cup holders and the second floor has lots of stairs. The theater specializes in "art" or independent movies and hosts film festivals twice a year. If the movie is available for home viewing, I generally prefer that to going here. read more

The theatre experience left me wanting. The small water was almost $5 and the pop-corn was stone cold. Check in with pre-purchased ticket was done at the concession stand, delaying those just after food. If I 'really' want to see the movie I might go again but I will not recommend the place. read more

Very disappointed- took my 97 year old mom to movies to escape the heat and they never told us the air conditioner was broken. My mom felt horrible from heat and it was too dark to help her leave. They never notified us before the movie and afterwards never offered rain check or apologized only one person with long blond hair helped us and face mom some water. Won't be going back there! read more

This little theatre is a gem. We just saw Before Midnight with Ethan Hawke and it was outstanding. The dialog was as real as if these people were sitting in your living room. If you are in the area be sure to catch it. You won't see this film anywhere except at theatres like the Varsity. read more

This is a funky gem of a movie house, and we are very lucky to have an "Art Film House" like this in such a small town as Ashland. Yeah, a couple of the screens are dinky, but overall I love The Varsity (warts & all). Our town would not be the same without it! read more

My fella & I went to see a viewing of 'The Hero' at this theater only to be told the 4:20 showing was 79 degrees in the theater. He works days on end fixing AC units in the valley (in the heat/sun). Thanks Varsity, but no thanks,. We drove from Eagle Point. You don't even monitor this site. read more

It was nice to catch a movie we've been wanting to see on a Saturday afternoon. It wasn't crowded, it was a sweet little venue, and the price was great ($6.50). Comfy seats. They play great indy films it seems so I support it. read more

This theatre would get a 5 star rating if one were only considering the old-school feel of the moviehouse & the selection of films shown there. While you can occasionally catch a decent film at the Cinemark stadium seated theatre up in Medford, the is always a good chance of finding a more indie, off-beat, art house, or foreign film at The Varsity. They also get a big thumbs-up for their relatively recent (2008) remodel of the 2 small theaters in back. Prior to that remodel, I would choose to completely skip a film if it was playing in the back, where the sound was atrocious and the seats were no better than sitting (for 90+ minutes) on a jagged rock at the edge of your favorite river. However, the sound difficulties that people have complained about in some of the reviews is a definite problem, which brings my rating down to the 3 star level. I (too) have experienced the films that are not turned up loud enough, and also the difficulties in trying to find someone to correct the problem. But the #1 sound problem has more to do with the fact that the volume can NOT be turned up to the levels of enjoyable movie-watching. Why? Because the wall that they built to split the main theater into two was cheaply constructed, and even with volumes at NORMAL levels you can usually hear the gunfire or the explosions from the adjacent theater, which is extremely distracting if you're watching a calm quiet film. Instead of sacrificing some seats and constructing a thicker, well-insulated wall, they went thin and cheap. The moviegoing experience can be completely ruined, depending on what is playing next door, if you are in one of the 2 main theaters. Very sketchy: a good remodel of this part of the Varsity would help tremendously. read more

We are so lucky to have the Varsity Theatre in Ashland. It's a sweet vintage theater and the only place to see thoughtful movies in this area. read more

This place sucks, DIRTY, couldn't break a $100 bill? WTF? movie started at 5:05 so that they could get the higher movie ticket price! SLEEZY! read more

No one has reviewed this wonderful theatre?? Five stars for sentiment and history. This is an old movie theatre (not a movie palace like the Grand Lake or the other grand ones) like the Cerrito, the Parkway, the Albany or the Oaks) and I love it. It has been divided into smaller theatres, some in the original theatre and some down the alley in the back, but they're separated well and each one is comfortable. Over the years we've been able to see films we haven't had time to at home. I won't go into them all, but I remember sobbing in the bathroom after "The Bridges of Madison County". Don't give me any shit--it was much better than the book and I loved it! So yesterday we went to see "Mama Mia!" We both wanted to see it, we both enjoyed it on the stage, we know Pierce Brosnan can't sing and we LOVED it! For what it is, it's wonderful. This isn't "Tosca" or "Les Miserables" or "Evita" or even "Phantom of the Opera". This is ABBA, people, and it's fun! Defensive? Who, me? Anyway, it was a terrific way to spend the afternoon and beat the heat. read more

I love this theater! If you want comfy seats, big screens, speakers that drive you out of the place Do Not come here!!!! This is an old school theater that plays films you never see at the big box theaters! It is quaint and wonderful! read more