I can’t remember the last time anyone ruined a movie for me. Between the speakers blasting away at high volume and possible hearing loss on my part, I usually just hear the movie.
Huh. Maybe you’re not old enough. 
In theory it’s a good idea; why should I have to miss some of the movie to go find management? But (1) it will give off the same glare the cell phones do and (2) yeah, it’s open to a lot of abuse.
Thank you, Ponder Stibbons for posting what I was thinking. I went to Ratatouille last week and my head almost imploded from the high volume.
The incredibly high volume and intense deep bass most movies blast out combine to make my heart pound unpleasantly from the resulting adrenaline. I know this is intentional on the part of the moviemakers, as it creates an emotional response, but damn. It’s starting to become the last straw to drive me out of movie theaters.
Has the one on Tropicana and Pecos closed, finally?
The big thing I do to avoid idiots is go to EARLY showings – like 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. when possible. Most teenagers are still sleeping at that time.
If the curfew simply covered wandering the streets aimlessly, i might be on board. But you explicitly said that movie theaters won’t even sell tickets to kids for later shows, and they aren’t allowed in malls either.
But the fact that you [del]are[/del] were a stupid, slutty-dressing, annoying little snot doesn’t mean everyone else is like you. Unless there’s something i don’t know about Bakersfield.
Seriously, if the parents have approved, what’s the big fucking deal if some sixteen- and seventeen-year old kids want to see a movie after 10, or browse the stores in the mall? If some kids are doing illegal or dangerous or disruptive things, then deal with those kids; don’t treat all kids like criminals
I have no kids, have no intention of having kids, and find a lot of kids extremely annoying. But forcing all kids below the age of 18 to be indoors by 10 is no way to socialize them into proper civic behavior, and it basically teaches them that they can’t be trusted.
My dad got one of those a few weeks back! (Took him long enough; he’s been averaging 3-4 movies in-theatre a week for the last eight or ten years.) It had no LCD screen, just buttons. And no, he didn’t abuse it. (Of course, he is in his fifties, so perhaps that’s to be expected.) He actually didn’t feel the need to trigger the device, the time he had it.
For myself, it’s relatively rare for my theatre experience to be damaged by rude patrons (though it does occasionally happen). We mostly go to first-week saturday afternoon matinees, incidentally. The biggest threat is small children; teenager disruption is vanishingly rare.
Even with the relatively low incidence of disruption, I have found that I prefer to watch at home, though. 102" front projection screen, 5.0 surround, and two La-Z-Boy recliners. Going out to a movie has never been the same since. 
I can’t remember the last time I had a problem of these sorts while at a movie. Yesterday, over the past week or so, I was at a crowded afternoon screenings of Harry Potter and Ratatouille so I had plenty of kids, tweens & teens in the theater with me. Both were very pleasant experiences. I guess I’m just lucky.
When were you last in a multiplex?
Maybe they build multiplexes differently where I live or maybe you haven’t been in one in 20 years, but the ones they build now have huge screens and impressive sound.
I’ve had a few people talking near me at the movies but for the most part, the ear-splitting roar of the movie overwhelms any sound a human could make. They set the volume amazingly loud. Anyway, like many other posters, I just don’t see the rampant rudeness people claim is out there. Maybe some neighborhoods are shittier than others.
I saw Harry Potter on Thursday, we didn’t have a full theater but we had a family with a screaming baby. Seriously, a baby is not going to be watching the film, the loud noises will probably scare it and are you going to take it out of the theater when it screams so as not to ruin everyone else’s enjoyment? No, you aren’t so don’t take a baby to a film! I saw the family leaving the theater and the dad was carrying the baby and he said he “didn’t get that film”. I was very tempted to say that he should have stayed home with the baby then so we didn’t all have to listen to him scream.
As I read this, the devil on my shoulder is shouting “right on, brother! What right does the government have to restrict the movements of citizens who’ve done nothing wrong?”
But the angel on the other shoulder is whispering “it’s for the good of the community overall… besides, kids shouldn’t be out that late unsupervised, and they still have plenty of hours from dawn until 10 p.m. to saunter about, learn ‘civic behavior,’ and generally annoy the piss out of the rest of us.”
At least I think that’s right. To be honest, I always forget which is the devil and which the angel. They both offer pretty good arguments, really.
We say Harry Potter today at a 3:15 showing. There were a number of children in the theater and while a couple fussed at times, their parents shushed them. It was refreshing.
My latest movie horror show was when I saw a matinee showing of the new Die Hard movie last week. An obviously homeless man somehow managed to get into the movie and spent the first hour pacing up and down the aisle while mimicking the action on screen, complete with leg kicks and karate chops. Finally, several ushers appeared and escorted him out. That’s it; I’m through.
Haven’t had any problems in a long time but chose the movies and times carefully. I don’t see anything during the first week it’s out, and usually go to early movies (1140, 1230, 1430, etc.,) where young’uns aren’t likely to show up and prices are cheaper (usually $4.50 for an adult ticket).
We have really only one indie theater (Tower) and it’s always safe to attend.
I find that old people are even more annoying than teenagers: “Why do they have to use the f-word all the time?” “What’d he say?” “Who’s that?” All in loud voices, of course.
I’ll always love the big screen.
There was a restless toddler at the midnight Tuesday screening of OotP. When Snape said “Discipline your mind!” all I could think was “Discipline your child!” Seriously, who brings toddlers to a midnight movie?
The group of 9 or so teens seated by me were pretty well-behaved though.
Since I have the attention span of a gnat, going to the movies means the film has to be a big deal for me to go. I can’t believe I sat thru the LOTR movies without losing my mind. daHubby wants to see the new Harry Potter but I told him to go while I’m in Canada next week and I’ll wait for it to come out on DVD.
We had one incident with rude theater goers when the first MEN IN BLACK came out. As we were the only white couple in the theater, all of the other patrons took it upon themselves to make comments and say more than once that we needed to get out and go see the “white folks movie” next door.
Would you support a curfew preventing 10 year olds from being out unattended at midnight? If so, at what age would you reckon that the curfew should stop applying?
It happens to me, all the time. I’ll always “insist on clinging” to the theater experience. There’s nothing like it.
We have a kickass home theater system with a projector hung from the ceiling, a large screen (4’x7’ or something like that) and over 1500 DVDs. Still, I see well over 100 movies in the theater every year. I was in a movie mood and I saw four just yesterday; Talk To Me, Rescue Dawn, Sicko and Introducting The Dwights, all of which I liked very much. It was a wonderful, very satisfying day.
The theaters I go to are pretty good, with big screens and good sound. I do realize I’m lucky enough to live somewhere where I have a wide choice of theaters to attend.
The last major problem I remember having was when a woman sitting next to me was constantly checking her messages all during a showing of Mystic River (she stopped when I asked her politely to stop), and that was several years ago.
Like some of the other lucky people in this thread, the problems that people are complaining about are pretty much alien to me. I really feel sorry for you folks who are having your theater experience ruined by assholes. It’s such a shame. I can’t identify, but I feel for you all.
Maybe it’s not that I live in the wrong city, but that I’m watching the wrong movies. I can’t imagine Sicko being ruined by a group of teenage jackasses, like Harry Potter, Spider Man, and Transformers.
I go to movies all the time, and I can’t remember a time where a group of teenagers ruined it for me. I have reported a few dudes to the management, and if they don’t do anything, I demand to see the manager and want my money back plus. And I have got exactly that (10 passes plus coupons for sodas and popcorn).
And, sometimes I walk over and tell the perps to stop it myself.
If you do nothing, then you have no one to blame but yourself.
Wow, I swear I heard “Eye of the Tiger” in my head as I read that.