do you splice hardcore pornography into Disney movies . . . Tyler?
Maybe I was a little harsh on you, but I’ve seen that attitude many many times over the years. You were just the millionth motorist to go over the Brooklyn Bridge, so you won the prize.
Perhaps you could have qualified your claims, and used a smaller brush.
For the record, none of my friends are status seekers. We’ve long ago outgrown that shit.
This response boggles me every time I see it.
Poster A: “Blanket statement applies to everyone”
Poster B: “Blanket statement does not necessarily apply to everyone. Anecdotal example provided.”
Poster A: “Blanket statement was not applied to Poster B personally, but must apply, as Poster B argued counter to it. Attribute imagined over-reaction of Poster B to hitting close to the mark for the win.”
I’m going to assume tdn will show up shortly to explain further that his example was only one of many possible reasons people could have to go to the movies, which you may counter using some other logical fallacy.
Yeah. That.
Vegas has what I can only describe as the most poorly enforced underage curfew of all time. Midnight releases for movies are literally 90% full of kids breaking curfew.
Wow. Your city has bigger problems than movie talkers. It has assholes determining its public policy.
Sounds like Shangri-La to me. Where the hell are you, Diosa?
Ive been luck enough to invest in a home theatre system and it’s worth every penny.
Seeing that movies run about $8 a person nowdays it’s actually cheaper to buy the DVD for $15 when it’s released. It’s even cheaper to rent it.
I haven’t seen Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, or Pirates 3 yet but I’m looking forward to seeing them this fall-winter.
On the rare ocassion I get out of work early on a Friday I may try to pick up a matinee with a smaller crowd but even that can be tough. I saw DieHard 3 that way. I was the first in the theatre and took a seat. Then a couple comes in and sits directly in front of me and start blabbing. So I get up and move. Then a guy comes in and sits right behind me crunching his candy wrappers. So I move again.
Lucky there was only 10 people in there that I could get away from any noise.
Still half of them had to get up during the movie to go take a piss.
Also a few weeks ago my friends dragged me out to see Room 1408 on opening night. Lucky I wan’t too interested in seriously watching this film. The teenage girl next to me had the habit of reading out loud any word that happened to be on the screen. “Don’t stay in room 1408” she says when the postcard appears.
And then at the jump moments the macho teen boys had to yell “oh yeah” and people would applaud. A regular 3-ring circus that place was.
I look forward to seeing “300” by myself in a la-z-boy when it comes out on July 31st.
We saw *Pirates: World’s End * about a month ago, well after its premiere.
Behind us was a family with a son whose bladder was the size of a thimble. His mom must have taken him to the bathroom about four times, knocking into our seats every time. (She did apologize as soon as she’d done it.)
In front of us was another family, with kids (IMHO) too young to sit through such a long movie. They giggled, they fidgeted, they had to go pee, and then they started playing with some toy that made a loud repeated popping sound until their father made them stop.
I am dreading going to see Order of the Phoenix, but I know Ivygirl will give me no peace until we go see it.
Are there any VIP type theatres in your area? Toronto has Varsity VIP, where it’s about $20 per person, but you get very comfy chairs, waiters bring you popcorn, and the people are there to watch the damn movie.
Not that I know of. And we don’t have the funds to shell out $80 for the four of us to see a movie. (Yes, yes, I know, you get what you pay for, but that’s a bit pricey for a few hours’ entertainment.)
Now, if it were just two of us…
You know, it’s true that we don’t go to the movies very much these days (we’re lazy and we have Netflix and it’s a lot of work to get around to going to the movies) but when we do go, I’ve never had the kind of massive problems people are always complaining about. Once in my life, I’ve gotten up and found an usher to speak to some obnoxious people. That’s it. Are people really more polite in the South? I’ve never seen, for example, somebody have a cell phone conversation during a movie. (Then again, a lot of the movies we do see in the theaters wouldn’t be very interesting to teenagers. The last thing I saw was Ratatouille, though, which was neatly problem free.)
I go to the theatre almost every Saturday afternoon! I have never had the slightest problem with people misbehaving in the manner of which you wrote! I am sorry that you have had such bad experiences. I love going out to the movies!
Wha…? There’s actually a theater left that has an actual projectionist up there in the booth? Around here, it’s more like someone comes in to assemble the print on the platter, then efter that, it’s up to someone at the concession stand to press the start button.
And yes, I much prefer seeing movies at home. We average one or two visits to the theater a year because it’s insanely expensive ($9.75!) and the projection quality is uniformly lousy. Whether it’s a misadjusted lamp housing causing bright and dark spots, or blatant lack of focus, I’d rather wait and watch it at home on the 50" plasma. Even standard-def looks better than most theaters. The era of showmanship and caring about the presentation is gone.
<checks projectionist off the list of mythical creatures…now I just need to find an honest politician and a unicorn>
I know, having city wide curfews so minor children aren’t wandering the streets at night is totally unreasonable. Those fuckers!
Guess what? I’m 21, meaning not all that long ago I was one of those wee little assholes wandering the shopping centers with my stupid friends in slutty clothes and being what I now consider to be annoying little snots. I survived and turned out just fine. While the curfew pissed me off when I was 15, now that I’m an adult I understand why it’s in place- both for the other patrons AND for the safety of the kids.
Bakersfield. I know, it’s like the one plus side of living here.
The number of films I see in the theater annually numbers in the 3 digits, and I can say the number of genuinely troublesome disruptions I run into (that aren’t solved by a single well-placed “Shhhh!”), I can count on the fingers of one hand.
Do I usually wait a week or two if it’s an enormously huge film I choose to see? Do I deliberately sit near the front, where fewer people congregate? Do I choose to go to the movies or the theaters that teenagers are generally less likely to attend? Do I prefer to go on weeknights instead of weekends?
The answer to all these questions is Yes. Which is why, when someone asks, “Is going to the theater a significantly better viewing experience than watching it at your home?”, my answer is always Yes as well. I feel bad for people who seem to run into problems regularly (probably due to both regional and logistical factors), but it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a universal truism about the movie-going experience. Not by a long shot.
Part of me yearns for the days when theaters still made their ushers wear those little trained monkey jackets and bellboy hats. I think it made them crankier, and thus that much more eager for an excuse to take out their humiliation on unruly movie patrons. “Bow down before the power of my flashlight, Jor-El! BOW DOWN!” These days, it seems like theaters only employ enough staff to mind the concession booths on any given night. Theaters take note: people who are interested in seeing movies free of laser pointers and food fights aren’t going to return to buy more of your awe-inspiringly overpriced nachos.
I think the moviegoing experience is affected first by the location of the theater-- there’s a theater right next door to me, but I prefer to drive to another theater several miles away to see a film because the nearer one attracts both the mall and university crowds, who are a lot rowdier in my opinion-- and also by when you go to see the film. The first week of a summer blockbuster attracts the groups for whom moviegoing is just another opportunity for socialization, so you get a lot more talkers. After that, things settle down and the audiences are a lot more attentive.
I rarely go to the movies anymore. I try not to go within a week of the opening. Spiderman 3 killed me having to wait (hubby was away for the first 2 weeks it was out!) so I tend to not have much of this crap happen when I go to the movies. I will get up and get a manager to remove shit like that, though, if need be.
Once, we went to see a movie with my (then 12 year old) daughter and (then 5 year old) son – there were a couple of kids doing whip-its in the row behind us. Being the old druggie I am, I knew exactly what they were doing without turning around. My daughter commented on “what is that sound?!” That’s all it took – she did not need to be exposed to that crap if I could help it. I stood up, walked out to the lobby, asked for a manager, told them what was going on and when he hemmed and hawed acting like he was afraid to kick the kids out, I offered to call the police and let them know that he was knowingly allowing minors to do illegal activities in his establishment. The kids were walked out within minutes.
While what you dealt with was certainly not illegal, it still would warrant at the very least a word to the management.
I did read that many theatres now offer a small pager-like device to patrons with which they can send a message to the management in the event of such asshattery. Meh…this is the dumbing down of the world. Welcome to the End Days.
I quote myself from this thread.
Ah! Well, nevermind.