Ah, the Dope. Where a complaint about rude movie goers finds its way to divisive politics. Isn’t it time we all came together, held hands, and sang … wait, singing would kind of defeat the purpose. Let’s all bow our heads for a mome… wait, now I can’t see the screen. Shit, I need to text someone abo… crap.
SHUT UP! I’m TRYING to read the thread!
Reagan woulda shot the baby.
It’s not just kids/teenagers, and it’s not just the movies.
We were at the theater a couple of weeks ago. Curtain goes up, play starts, and the two middle-aged women in the row behind us kept nattering on about their shopping trip earlier in the day. It was only when I turned around and asked “are you going to yak during the entire play?” that they shut up.
That being said, no one should bring an infant into a movie theater. Ever. Either hire a sitter, or wait until the movie comes out on DVD.
Well how fucking nice for you. The onus shouldn’t be on patrons who actually do know how to conduct themselves to arrange their schedule around the habits of douchebags. *Your *BS philosophy seems to be that we should all shut up and suffer the assholes or, uh, I guess move to whatever wonderland you live in where the clientele is better :rolleyes:
So, if you didn’t have the luxury of theaters with competent management and desirable clientele you’d be perfectly happy never being able to have a pleasant movie experience again? Right.
The onus is on the theater setting and enforcing their rules, not some asshole who thinks it’s his place to set and enforce the rules himself.
I’m not against politely reminding people of what the rules may be, but yelling at other patrons as if you have some authority to do so is assholish behavior.
Complain to management. If they are unwilling or unable to satisfy your complaints go somewhere else. If there is nowhere else, looks like a perfect free market opportunity to open a theater that caters to people who dislike being disturbed. Don’t have the money or can’t make that happen maybe you should accept the free market isn’t a solution for everything.
If I didn’t have the luxury of nice theaters I’d make time to travel to one for the experience I’m looking for.
I like Broadway shows, the shows in Boston can be very good but just can’t get it done like Broadway. Sucks to live in MA for me, travel to NY I will do if that’s the experience I desire.
I might have to step out, too, because for some reason, this just cracks me right up.
Yeah, yeah, it’s grossly inappropriate, lip service, lip service, blah blah blah.
Depends on where and when you go. I know it’s insane, but I’ve seen 516 movies in the theater since Jan. 1, 2010 (that’s when I started keeping track movie-by-movie) and I rarely have any problems at all. A quick “shush” or staring pointedly at someone who’s looking at their cell phone screen does the trick those few times it’s necessary, but it’s so rarely necessary.
I’m the opposite. I sit in the very front row 98% of the time. The biggest problem I have is when latecomers to a “sold out” movie (sold out is in quotes because no movie is ever really sold out) have to sit in the front row against their will and bitch about being too close. Come on, arrive earlier or go ask for your money back or go see something else. I’m in the front by choice so STFU and quit acting as if everyone agrees with you.
If we’re bitching about movie theaters, FUCK YOU AMC! I had hundreds of points on my Moviewatcher card and you discontinued it, in favor of a bullshit thing called STUBS, where I’m supposed to PAY $12.00 a year to get “discounts” on popcorn and pop. First of all, fuck you in making me PAY to get rewards for paying to see a movie. Second, fuck you because I’m diabetic and CAN’T eat any of the consessions. Third, I loved the Moviewatcher program, really loved it. And now all my points are gone and there’s very little incentive to see a film at AMC anymore. I’m a Regal girl now, and will only go to AMC if there’s no other choice. (Not that they care or anything, but for as many movies as I see, not going to AMC is not insignificant)
And as long as I’m bitching, FUCK YOU 3D. More specifically, FUCK YOU theaters for charging extra for 3D. I won’t pay it. Well, I refuse to pay extra unless it has “Avatar” in the title, which leaves out everything else. Luckily the 3D frenzy seems to be dying down, maybe. The new POTC made most of its money from 2D. May that trend continue.
Regal Crown Club FTW! :: High Five ::
Oh yeah! I’ve already gotten a free ticket and that was just from going to their $6 Tuesday shows. The only Regal theater I go, City North 14, to used to be a Kerasotes (before that an AMC and before that a General Cinema). Years and years ago GC started a $6 Tuesday special, all movies, all showings (except for 3D) and each new owner has kept it up. I joined the Regal club just after they changed hands, only a few months ago. We don’t even go every Tuesday but I still got a free ticket. Regal rules.
Fucking tell me about it. My wife and I got a very rare break without the kids and saw a Chinese dance troupe. Some douchebag on the second row is texting the whole damn show. Dim stage, darkened audience, and Ms. I’mTheMostImportantPersonOnTheFuckingWorld is receiving and sending messages the whole night.
Until intermission when I told the manager that either they stop it or I will.
They did.
Fucking jerk.
I used to go to movies a lot, but advances in home entertainment technology have made it almost obsolete. Now, if I need justification for my severe misanthropy, I can do it from the comfort of my own home by watching “reality” shows on my big-screen HD TV!
Oh, and I could also use it to watch movies, I guess.
Texting and screaming one’s head off is considered “acceptable behavior in public for children” now? If they’re old enough to be texting I wouldn’t quite consider them kids…
A few weeks ago I went to a local show of Cabaret. They’d spent two years preparing it: the score needed to be adapted for the mostly-brass band, actors needed to be convinced (one of them later confirmed that a lot of the casting was along the lines of “ok, which of you guys dares French another dude in front of the whole village?”), etc. The show I attended was the second one of three. Before it started, the MC came out and said “yesterday we had a phone ring in the middle of one of the spoken sequences. If one rings today, I will come down and use it to play proctologist. Please do not make me do that. Thank you!” There was a sudden flurry of cellphone-closing tones - and it’s not as if the whole hall wasn’t papered with “no cellphones!” signs.
Sometimes yelling is too easy on them.
I was out for a girls night at a movie a couple of years ago, I don’t even recall what the movie was, but two women and 4 children sat down directly behind us. The two women sat together at one end the better to talk through the entire movie and the 4 children commenced kicking our seats.
We tried a couple of times to politely request they stop, then a couple of polite requests to the women and then just gave up and suffered through the movie.
Finally as the movie ended and we were standing to get our coats one of the women said something about going straight home and that’s when we struck. A loud animated conversation about the ice cream we were off to have set off a storm of whining that was (just this once) music to my ears. One of the women glared at me as we walked out of the theater and I leaned a little closer to say “Oh my it’s such a shame that payback is a complete bitch isn’t it?”
If you go to a kids’ movie, you do have to accept a certain amount of kids’ behavior. I’ve been taking the sprog to the movies since he was about two, and he knows how to behave, but sometimes he forgets to use his inside voice because he’s trying to talk over the loud audio and hasn’t yet learned that I can hear a whisper.
That being said, there is a line between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Screaming isn’t good, nor is running around. And adults should be able to keep a lid on the bad behavior of their kids, as well as their own.
This has not been my experience.
The jerks in movie theaters is one reason I’ve transitioned to trying to watch movies only at home or at the drive-in. The problem with the drive-in is that you’ve replaced one load of assholes with another. These are the ones who can’t figure out how to turn their headlights off, keep turning on their dome light, leave in the middle of the movie or decide to leave at intermission but wait until the second movie has started, pull in backwards and leave the hatch up blocking part of the screen, somehow keep setting off their car alarm while sitting in the car, and decide that their SUV or pickup or minivan should be right in the very front row.
I have not tried this yet, but I may have to. Here is my idea.
When someone starts talking or having a cell phone conversation, I will go an sit right next to them, dial a number and start talking louder than them, then ask them to be quiet, because…you know…I’m tying to make a call.
Think it would have any effect?
Some sanctimonious weenie like bootypermama there would probably say you are infringing on their civil liberties. Who are you to force your rules on them goddammit!!!
A couple years ago I had this guy take out his cell next to me and start texting. I leaned over and stared at his phone screen, watching what he was texting. He stopped and looked at me. I can’t remember exactly what I said, something like “You want everyone in the theater to know you’re texting, so I want to see what you’re writing that’s so important.” He put it away and I went back to looking at the screen.
I’ll never understand people who put up with these jerks and suffer in silence.