Yep. Went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory last night - excellent. The theater was largely empty (it’s great seeing movies on weeknights!). SpouseO and I got there early, and so picked out good seats. Another group came, and sat right in front of us - in an empty theater. Bad form. A second group came, and sat right behind us - again, in a mostly empty theater. Very bad form.
I don’t mind the talking, so much, especially from children in a kid’s movie, but geez! When it’s empty, give me my space! Please!
I don’t see why sitting close to you in an uncrowded theater was incorrect. All patrons were presumably trying to get a good viewing angle, and probably where you sat was good. So the others sat close not to annoy you but to get the same viewing angle.
They get in my personal space, and us Canadians take that mighty seriously. See, if the theatre is empty, my personal space expands to about 10 feet around me. As fellow Canadians, they know that.
I just got back from seeing March of the Penguins today, and I had a slightly different experience than most of the others here. There were, of course, some kids there, but they were actually pretty well-behaved. The only potential troublecausing noisemaker, though he was sitting right next to me, was quickly removed from the theater before we were even five minutes into the movie. So the kids were alright.
What I want to lodge my complaint about is, for lack of a better term, old people. I would estimate that at least two-thirds of the audience was over 60, if not more. This did not really suprise me. I had brought along my 91-year-old grandmother for exactly the reason that Penguins looked like the perfect movie for her and her demographic. What I did not expect, however, was that every couple of minutes, I’d hear a comment like “well would you look at that” or “that’s amazing” from somewhere behind me.
At a movie like this, you have to be a little lenient. If there are cute penguins on the screen, the audience is going to make “isn’t he so cute” noises. I can tolerate that. It may just be my bad luck that the elderly are less inclined to go “ooooh” and giggle and instead speak in complete sentences about how impressed they are by it all. I almost think I’d rather be in a theater full of kids, because at least their parents will be telling them to shush.
Theaters actually do this? If any theater employee ever had the nerve to check my coat pockets or the purse of someone I was with for “outside” food, I would turn around, demand my money back, and never set foot in that theater—or any theater in the same chain—again.
A few years ago, a woman wrote in to either “Dear Abby” or “Ann Landers” to pit a theater that wouldn’t let her bring sugar-free candy in for her diabetic daughter (they, of course, had no such candy available at their concession counter). She wasn’t searched, but told the manager on duty what she was doing because she wanted to be honest and not sneak something in. Some people…
[QUOTE=MidnightRadio]
Theaters actually do this? If any theater employee ever had the nerve to check my coat pockets or the purse of someone I was with for “outside” food, I would turn around, demand my money back, and never set foot in that theater—or any theater in the same chain—again.
[QUOTE]
Ditto for me. Before I go to movies, I routinely stop at the gas station next door to the theatre and load up on candy bars for me and the kids. I’m okay with this, morally speaking, because if it came down to it we’d forego the snacks entirely before I’d pay $3.75 for a candy bar. So it’s not like they’re losing a sale.
We do usually purchase from the theatre a mammoth sized drink ($4.75) and popcorn ($4.95) to share, only because when you divide the cost by 2 or 4 people it’s not that outrageously priced.
If I was ever searched, they’d never see me again at that theatre.
I’ve had my bad experiences with noisy kids in movie theatres. I usually wait for a movie to be out for a few weeks before I go see it. However, some movies I MUST see right away on opening weekend. I am quite a tolerable and patient person, but I do have my limits. I did walk out on a showing of Spiderman because there was almost a whole row of young boys (ages 5-10) who were making the worst racket and the parents (?) who were sitting with them did absolutly NOTHING to quiet them. Guess they thought they were at home in their living room and were completely oblivious to the audience.
There’s a little theatre near my place that actually has a printed sign on the front door that says “NO OUTSIDE FOOD OR WATER.”
It’s the “OR WATER” that does it for me. I honestly can’t imagine how anyone can bring themselves to walk past that sign to give these venal jerks their custom. It beggars belief.
The cinema I go to will let you bring in outside water - if you purchase a cup. It boggles the mind. You’re not allowed to bring in any drinks in a bottle at all, you have to get one of their stupid, leaky cups. Never mind that a bottle won’t spill if you accidentally knock it over, thus saving on cleaning for their staff. You still have to have a cup.
The signs at this cinema say ‘no hot food’ (or they did last time I looked). I don’t know if they’d really stop you taking in chips or chocolate or something. But I carry a backpack in lieu of a handbag, and I’ve not been searched yet.
Yesterday afternoon, I went with my mom and my sister to see a matinee showing of Must Love Dogs. We got in there early, and immediately a woman with a very little boy (age 3 or so) come in and sit immediately behind us. My mom starts to have a conniption because, when we were little, she had a strict policy that we didn’t get to see anything but Disney flicks or other kid fare in the theaters. Her attitude is that little kids shouldn’t be brought to other films because they get bored and start throwing a fit or talking.
During the slide show before the movie, the kid asks questions about every single freakin’ thing that goes up on the screen. My mom started freaking out and muttering things like, “Shut up, kid!” in a not-so-quiet tone. I kept telling her to hush up, because nobody’s quiet during the slide show anyway.
When the previews started, the kid was still yapping, so I turned around to his mom and said this:
The woman got up and moved to a part of the theater where there were no other people. My mom was positively shaking, trying to hold in her laughter.
I think it’s kind of creepy when people do this. I could be wrong but it just seems to be that it’s natural human nature to put some space between you and strangers if you have the choice, so when someone sits right next to you in a nearly empty theater, imho, it’s not at all rude or abnormal to move.
Gee, Imagine that, parents taking little kids to a Disney movie. I took my 3-year-old little girl to see Fantasia on a weekday matinee. She loved it. She loved the whole thing. She quietly asked probably a good dozen question during a 75-minute movie. Nothing in it terrified her.
The couple that sat down in front of us complained part way through the movie.
I reminded them it was a Disney movie and a matinee. If he wanted a quiet theater please sit elsewhere or go to a movie at night.
So apparently I’m a jerk by your standards.
Get this through your heads. If it Disney and rated G and a matinee, there will be little kids.
Little kids are not perfectly quiet. We’re lucky if there are 6 G rated movies a year that don’t make adults cringe while watching.
So please don’t ruin a movie we are happy to take our kids to.
I haven’t seen the penguin movie, but they are advertising it for families and little kids. I’ve heard, “Your daughter would love this movie because she loves animal planet”. BTW, she is now 8 and would only whisper during it but my 5 year old son, might ask a few questions.
Try catching a late showing if you are that annoyed by young kids.
Now as far as PG-13 and above movies, yes kids, teens and adults please SHUT UP. There’s a movie on.
People do bring kids to very late showings, too. They deserve to be shot.
Heh. I work at a theater. We get a sort-of comission on the stuff we sell at the concession stand. I love the people who buy a medium sized popcorn ($4.45 +tax) for every one of their six darling little brats. We don’t really care if people bring food in, so I just feel guilty when I sell bottles of water for $3.45 a pop, though.
I’d like to take this moment to thank the parents of the kids who sat next to me when I went to see Revenge of the Sith. Mrs. Magill and I went in shifts, as Fang is still a little young to see movies with us.
I selected my seat (3rd row - center), and I was waiting for the movie to start, enjoying my popcorn. Along came about three kids, ages 6-10, and they then take the seats next to me. “Crap,” I thought, “three unattended kids - there goes my movie.” The parents showed up and passed out the popcorn, with the kids laughing and playing the whole time.
As soon as the lights went down, the kids settled down in their seats, and were quiet the whole movie.
Too bad they all got out of Dodge before I had a chance to thank the parents for teaching the kids movie theater etiquette.