That’s the thing–this one did. So I went outside to call management after it was clear the second phone call was no fluke and that the asshole was actually planning to have a conversation. Then I sat back down and waited for management to come talk to him (and even felt pleased when he took the 3rd call, because he seemed more BUSTABLE! then)–but they never did. Had he kept on, I would have complained again.
Like someone else noted, going to a movie for us involves getting a babysitter (because yeah, I leave my kid at home!) so pulling the plug on a movie is a hard go, even they’re offering passes to come back (which they will do–I’ve left and complained before).
As I also said before, a few years back in my town a patron was assulted after asking a fellow movie-goer to be quiet. And at an artsier movie, to boot! It was the Triplets to Belleville, not exactly attracting a boisterous, youthful, settle-it-with-your-fists kind of crowd. It’s made me extremely reluctant about confronting someone myself.
What generally works for us is to go to movies at 3PM.
I know this sounds like" Morty Seinfeld" and his neighbors in Boca, but the “early bird” is definitely cheaper and, for some reason–even during summer vacation–
there are few,if any, obnoxious teen/tweens/whatever throwing crap or using cellphones at those shows.
Nor do negligent parents of babies and toddlers–not even welfare moms on check day-- tend to attend movies at that time.( And, no, please don’t think that I think that ALL welfare moms are negligent, but the % of young moms hanging around together mid-afternoon in restaurants that serve alcohol while the kids run wild DOES go up at the beginning of the month when welfare and/or child support comes in.)
This is one of the few perks of working graveyard shift. 3PM movies fit my sleep schedule of getting to bed soon after getting home, sleeping til 1-1:30, and staying up til 5:30-6 PM before getting another 3-31/2 hours sleep.
Another good time to go is last show on Wednesday or Thursday–almost nobody attends movies then. Again a dubious perk of my job since my “weekend” starts 7AM Wednesday and end 11PM Friday.
If I worked “normal” hours, I’d have to nap as soon as I got home on a Wednesday or Thursday to compensate for sleep lost later attending a last show.
For the vast majority who work day shift M-F or for those who work nights in small towns that don’t show matinees, it sucks to have to tailor one’s schedule to work around assholes.
Have you ever smelled spilled entrails? Kinda ruins your appetite for your own popcorn.
Easier to just build the taser into the chair and wire it into the AC circuit. Add control panels to all the armrests. Then when there are five or six complaints about a particular seat, ZOT!
The people I can do without. I’d much rather sit in an empty theatre.
But there is definitely a value in seeing a flick on the big screen that you just can’t get at home no matter how big your TV is or how kick ass your home theatre set up may be.
I too would pay a premium for comfy seats (we used to have a theatre around here that had recliners! At the regular price! But it closed. ) But what I would really pay for would be for no idiots and no kids (which I consider anyone under 35 )
The screen size I will grant you— I can’t imagine under what circumstances I would ever have a cinema-sized screen in my house, regardless of advances in technology or my personal wealth— but I find it wryly amusing when theater representatives and aficionados cling to the “communal experience” straw as one of the last remaining “pros” for going to the movies vs. watching at home.
Personally, I consider the “couple hundred other people” just as much a negative factor in the experience as the skyrocketing ticket prices and perenially ridiculous cost of concessions. If it were a couple of hundred of my own friends (let’s say in a parallel universe where I had that many), that would be one thing. Instead it’s about as convincing as telling me that sleeping in my own comfortable bed at home, I will miss out on the cameraderie I would get from sleeping on the sidewalk of some busy urban street.
There are too many fricking assholes in movies nowadays…
My friend and I went to see Blades of Glory and there was this kid who was probably about a year or two younger than me [I’m 14]. He was on HIS DAMN IPOD the whole time!!! I could hear it blasting out of his earbuds and I was like, DUDE I’m trying to watch the movie! Why are you even here if you want to listen to your freaking iPod? This is not the Wizard of Oz where if you play music from the beginning weird little coincidences occur! SO SHUT THE HELL UP WITH THE FREAKING MUSIC!!!
But, it gets better…his cell phone rang [not vibrated, RANG] and he PICKED IT UP and ANSWERED IT and HAD A CONVERSATION ALL IN THE COMFORT OF HIS MOVIE THEATER SEAT!!!
14, huh? And your ticked at a, what, 12 year old? My old man used to say you know you’re truly an adult when kids piss you off just because they’re kids.
Wait until you’re 47. Your scope of observation will expand and you’ll realize that people don’t just suck sometimes, some people suck ALL THE TIME!
Hee. My brother was bitching about one of his co-workers who doesn’t do shit and is buds with the boss and my bro says he wants a new job where this won’t happen. Bro has worked at the same place as his only job all these years and won’t believe there’ll be someone else like that EVERYWHERE!
I’m not trying to convince you of anything. If you don’t feel that energy feedback from being in a crowd, all enjoying the same thing, then you don’t get it.
When I see a scary movie or a comedy in a full theater (or, e.g. one of the Lord of the Rings movies), and the audience is into it, and feeding off itself, it creates a vibe that – by definition – is unattainable at home. It’s the best value for an entertainment dollar there is.
Of COURSE sitting next some tardo with a cell phone has the complete opposite effect. That’s why you have to be choosy. That’s probably also why that kind of thing (cell phones and kids) piss me off more than the average movie goer – because I enjoy a good crowd more than most folks.
I went to a rock concert last night. You know what would be nice. . .if people weren’t walking in front of me, and I could see the stage better, and get a beer quicker, and take a piss quicker, but how much fun would that be to go see a band and have 20 people all spread out across a lawn?
I don’t often agree with Trunk, but here’s one of the times.
When we went to see Hitchhiker’s, it was obvious that everyone in the theatre were open-minded fans of the series. And it did make it more enjoyable.
Same thing for LOTR I & II. (III was a different matter, for the first time ever causing me to yell, or rather hiss, at another moviegoer. This asshole kept talking during all the quiet scenes and actually laughed when Frodo was stung by Shelob.)
Also when we went to see Borat the audience was TOTALLY into it and comedy especially is good when you have 100 people around you also uproariously laughing.
I wonder whether this is a regional thing… because “people in movie theaters are so rude these days!” is such a truism that I can’t imagine people are just making it up, but at the same time I go to a fair number of movies, often big blockbusters on opening weekend, and almost never have a problem at all.
Clearly, yet another awesome advantage of living in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I’m from the SF Bay Area too and see on average 1-2 movies/week, and I rarely ever run into any problems. Of course, where you see the film, what time, what day of the week, and where you sit are all factors, but I really can’t even remember the last film that my experience was “ruined” by a fellow filmgoer.
If you’re ever in the neighborhood, make a point to see a movie in Atlanta on a weekend night. You may have a very different experience from what you’re used to.
The flaw is that while you are TMing, you’re doing the same thing that you are probably complaining about - the bright light on the screen of your cellphone is annoying the hell out of people around you.
The people who are talking on cellphones and texting in movies are the same ones whose parents inconsiderately took them to movies when they were too little (as in the OP). The idea that “I am the most important person in the world, and I should be allowed to do what I want, when I want” is taught to them by the actions of parents such as the ones in the OP.
One reason why screaming ill-behaving kids whose parents are of the “cult of the child” and refuse to parent are so annoying. It’s not so much that they’re kids being kids, and that it’s no big deal. It’s the attitude behind WHY those kids are acting up and why the parents refuse to take responsibility or accountability for their kids and their own actions.
Then the kids, who’ve been raised in an overly permissive atmosphere of being worshipped and/or ignored, grow up and continue to behave badly in public (and in private too I’m reasonably sure) and have the “Emporer of the World” syndrome.
You say “don’t get it” like there’s something to “get.” It’s not an esoteric concept, like understanding cubism. Some people enjoy being in a room full of people, some of whom, statistically, are bound to be annoying, inconsiderate fuckheads. It doesn’t happen every time, but it does happen often. Some of us don’t. What’s to “get”? It’s a matter of temperament. I’m not saying you’re wrong to enjoy it, but it’s not that I don’t get it. It’s that I find it more annoying than you do, or have a lower threshold or something.
The best value for an entertainment dollar there is? I couldn’t possibly agree less. Movies cost $10, and if you’re crazy enough to buy food and drink, a lot more than that. I think Netflix, for $10/month, lets me see 6+ movies per month in the comfort of my own home, with whatever snacks I want and no line for the bathroom. The only fuckhead I have to deal with here is me. Much greater entertainment value for the same $10. Again, YMMV.
What? Be choosy how? There’s one multiplex in my town. One. I choose my showing but other than that, there isn’t a whole lot of choice to be had.
Are you kidding me? If I could see Roger Waters in front of a 20 person audience, that would be much, much fun. Better yet, here in my living room, playing just to me and and a select audience of my best friends. Who wouldn’t? I could live without hundreds of people singing along off-key to “Wish You Were Here.”
Obviously misanthropy is making Netflix a ton of money these days, eh?
You’re right, of course. Superman (the first one) was one of the best movies I ever saw because of the audience. They were true fans waiting to be entertained. At the first scene where you finally saw Superman in the Fortress of Solitude fly off in full costume, I swear the entire audience erupted in cheers and a standing ovation. I think this is the kind of thing you might be talking about.
Count me in on the quit-going-to-the-movies-cause-of-the-morons team. The only films I’ve seen on the big screens during the 21th century was the LOTR trilogy (and Minority Report for some reason).
I’m pretty sure the last one I saw was Brokeback Mountain with a friend I don’t get to see much. I’d be perfectly happy if our next gathering consisted of a coffee drink, however.
I really don’t miss the movies much at all, what with Netflix and Blockbuster. Rubystreak made some excellent points. It’s about the convenience, the comfort level, the ability to pause and get up and not miss anything, and it has nothing at all to do with misanthropy.
But it closed. 
) But what I would really pay for would be for no idiots and no kids (which I consider anyone under 35 
)