Maybe I’m getting old, but I simply just can’t remember the last time I went to a movie without a group of teenagers ruining it.
The latest example is Harry Potter, where a stupid little girl kept hugging her stupid little boyfriend and whimpering “awww” in a stupid little baby voice every time something bad happened in the movie. Seriously, “awww” every 3 minutes in the most rehearsed little girl baby tone you can imagine is even WORSE than it sounds. Her stupid boyfriend made comments about “yellow fever!” every time Cho was on the screen. When they finally kissed, their stupid friend shouted “YEAH! HE’S NOT GAY!” which sent the whole stupid group into fits of laughter that basically just got them warmed up.
On their way out when the movie was over, the biggest perpetrator walked backwards out of the theater, commenting “guys, it wasn’t really that good.” No shit, fuckers!
Do you think movie theaters will ever take some action to solve problems like this? I head about a system that would put buttons next to peoples’ seats that they could push to alert the theater if someone was acting like a jackass, but who would come? More stupid teenagers, because that’s who works at movie theaters. It’s lose-lose. I guess I’m just waiting for the DVD releases from now on. Its time to admit defeat.
These kinds of things make me want to build my own home theater system. Now a movie has to be one I really want to see to get me to the theater. It just isn’t worth dealing with the creeps and paying outlandish prices for the concessions.
Back in my day, we used to patrol the theatres on a regular basis. I don’t know why that’s not done anymore.
FWIW, in the past few months, I’ve been to 6 movies, and not one was ruined by rude people. Yes, there was one whimpering baby, but the movie was loud emough to drown it out. And there was one cellphone blue ray of death, but that was for maybe one minute.
If you’re think I went to the types of movies that don’t attract teens, here is what I’ve seen. It’s about as diverse as it gets:
Music and Lyrics
Blades of Glory
Disturbia
Bug
Transformers
Sicko
I’m in Boston. And as a former usher and theatre manager, I can attest that there are, indeed, rude people here. I just haven’t had to deal with many lately.
I went and saw Transformers recently but only because I knew the movie would drown out the talkers.
Other than that, I absolutely refuse to go to the movies at all. See, I love horror and suspense movies, but everyone seems to think that any silence in the movie is there for them to hold a discussion. Lord help me, a woman behind me once advised a character on screen “not to go in there.”
Now I have a 42" hi-def plasma screen and 5.1 digital surround system, and I watch my movies at home.
My girlfreind and I go to the “repetoire” or “second run” indie cinemas. Mostly die-hard film lovers go there. These kind of theatres aren’t even on the radar f the noisey-dickhead crowds because these are the theatres that show subtitled movies somestimes (Thehorror!)
If there’s something we really want to see on the big screen, we know it’ll hit one of the second-run cinemas. So we’ll get to see Potter on the big screen eventually, just not in the first month or two of release.
We used to have a second run theater like that, and pretty close to my house, too. It’s gone now, and I don’t think any more theaters like it exist around here.
Oh, they got it out in the theatre plenty as well. You can’t get much more rude than gunshot wounds, child with a bleeding head wound, and “officer down.”
OK, maybe that’s not so much rude as it is criminally violent.
I don’t want to the discussion to get sidetracked, but I also thought it irresponsible to let this asshole remark slide by without comment. So fuck you.
Word. We go only for movies that really benefit from the big screen experience (Harry Potter, LOTR, etc.), and our favorite time to go is the last late show on Sunday nights, several weeks after release. A lot of the time there are no more than ten people in the theater, and so far they’ve all been pretty quiet.
I gave up on theaters long ago, for reasons previously stated.
Movie theaters represent a slice of Americana long past, but some people insist on clinging to it, hoping for some sublime experience that never happens.
It’s now on par with going to a laundromat. Once you can afford your own machines, and have a place to put them, you no longer need to go there.
Theaters are tacky, and a crummy place to take a date, unless you’re still in high school. Multi-plexes are the worst, with tiny screens and bad sound.
A big part of any allure that still remains has nothing to do with the movie, but rather just “being there” for opening night. “Yeah, I saw Spiderman last night! Oh, you haven’t seen it yet?”
People swallow weeks of hype, see a bad movie, but like to be able to tell their friends “Oh, yeah, I was there”.
Kind of like lining up for hours at a store to buy an iPhone. Being there amongst fellow dweebs is an important part of the whole experience. How many iPhone buyers would have been satisfied to get it delivered to their front door by UPS, where no one would see them?
Ummm, no. Part of the allure is seeing a film before it can be accidentally spoiled, true, but moreover, I do not wish to spend thousands of dollars on a system that will only partially replicate the look and feel of watching an epic movie on the big screen.
Which is why I never sit anywhere further back than the front section. Which is also why the movie is ruined for me by talkers: might as well just wait til DVD.
I’m getting really annoyed at seeing this attitude on the boards. You can almost set your watch by some asshole saying “The only reason people do ________ is to impress other people.” What a sad little life you must lead if that’s the only motivation you can see in people. Has ever occurred to you that maybe people do certain things because they like to? Obviously not.
The reason I’ve been going to movies lately is because my social life has been wanting, and movies are a way of gettign me out of the house. And watching something like Transformers on my 13" TV is just not the same. I LIKE sitting in a movie theatre. I LIKE the huge screen. I LIKE stale popcorn. And I ask you, just who do you think I’m trying to impress by going out alone and then coming back to my lonely apartment?
Since I didn’t call you out by name, I don’t understand how my personal opinion can be such a bother to you, unless there are raw nerves in the equation.
Our city has a 10 PM curfew for people under 18 and they hardcore enforce it in the shopping centers where the theaters are. The kids will be lined up on the curb at 10 PM, until their parents come to pick them up. The theater will not sell tickets to kids for shows after 10PM.
Does your city have any kind of similar curfew? You could go to the later shows and then point out the laws to the theater if they continue to let kids in.
