Musings of a movie-lover

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I went to see The Cell this evening with my free movie pass. I liked it. Didn’t think too hard on the logic, but the story was involving and the dream sequences were well done.

Someone came in and sat in my row about 30 minutes into the movie. How can people do that? If I miss any part of the movie, I would rather sacrifice the admission and try another time than try to pick it up late. The funny thing is, it really bothers me when other people come in late. I know it is not my concern, but somehow I feel they are not giving the movie-going experience the respect it deserves.

Likewise, there are people I know that can be watching a video and right in the middle they’ll start talking about their day, or asking questions about totally unrelated stuff. Even right in the middle of the climax! Thank goodness for pause buttons.

Back to theaters–I like sitting as close to the screen as possible. I feel more absorbed into the movie that way.

I would also rather a movie be too loud than not loud enough. Sometimes, the background is loud enough, but the vocal tracks (or theater speaker midranges) drop out too much dialogue.

Cell phones, beepers, crying babies, and running commentary? No comment necessary. :mad:

It’s gotten to the point that I should start closing my eyes during the trailers. They show all the surprises. Just saw one for Lost Souls. I already know when the boogy jumps out. And I hate rapid-fire editing.

I hate it when my feet stick to the floor.

Large Coke + free refill means I have to pee! Usually about 45 minutes into the movie. Hmmm, can I hold it or do I miss 3 minutes to run to the bathroom and back? Can’t miss the movie! Hold it, shift in seat, squeeze; ok all better for now. After movie, head for bathroom. I’m so clenched up it takes a few (painful) minutes for the muscles to relax and let the floodgates open.

More later, I’m sure…

2

Oooooo, running commentary. I hate that! Jophiel did that when we’d get videos weekly and usually it was a video I really liked or had been wanting to see and he was just watching it with me. And he’d get all bitchy cause I’d stop the movie, rewind it back and then play it again. Well, damnit, I couldn’t hear and I’m one of those people that likes to hear everything in a movie. Otherwise I just don’t feel like I’ve experienced the whole thing. So I agree completely with everything you said, dive.

3

According to one of my cinema profs at USC, the best seats in the house (any house) are fifth row center. I tend to agree, personally.

Talera: My favorite quote from that movie, “The creature wakes up after sleeping for 70 million years, and Godzilla kills it the next day” (or words to that effect)…

4

I also find it so infuriating when I am watching a movie at home and people just won’t shut up. Back in college, with all the roommates (5) coming and going with various associates in tow, this could be a nearly painful experience.

The first step is a glare, which is roundly ignored. Then comes the shushing, which only works for about two seconds. Then you have to stand up, wave your gun around and yell, “Will you and your moron friends please shut your damn mouths before I blow your teeth out the back of your head?!”

And then they look at you like you’re the asshole.

5

Teenagers at movies bug me. Not all of them. If they come to watch the movie, fine. But when they come in groups of 4-5 and are up & down the aisles and keep switching seats and giggling and passing messages to that other group of teenagers of the opposite sex. It is totally distracting. Go to a party or an arcade, but quit making a theater your social club.

[crotchety old man]How did these kids get into an R rated move anyway?[/crotchety old man]

6

Often, when watching a video at home (that I have seen and like) with friends, family, etc., I find myself drawing the other’s attention to the screen during important parts. “Hey, hey…watch this!” or “Did you catch what he said?” So many times, if I don’t do this, they end up missing an key part or plot point which helps the rest of the movie make sense. It’s like I have to hold their hands while watching.

Another peeve - watching movies with friends where the movie characters have accents (British, Australian) (or absence of an accent, as the case may be) :). My friends will get antsy because they can’t immediately understand the dialogue and then lose interest in a great movie. Spinal Tap and The Gods Must be Crazy come to mind.

sigh

7

Don’t you just love it when a movie can come along and just blow you away emotionally? I’m talking about stirring things inside you that you had never experienced before.

The first 15 minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark (heck, the whole movie).

After the first scene of Pulp Fiction (in the diner) then the opening credits with the title music. I knew I was in for a very special ride.

I cried like a baby at Forrest Gump. More than once, but especially toward the end when Forrest is talking to Jenny at her graveside and puts down the letter from their son. I was at the theater by myself, and rather than rubbing my eyes or otherwise admit that I was crying, I just let the tears stream off my face and into my lap. Waterfall city.

The only time I actually laughed myself off my chair was watching Airplane! I hit the floor of the movie theater and couldn’t breathe right for several minutes.

I’ve never seen Citizen Kane.

The last movie I paid twice to see in the theater was The Sixth Sense. The most paid repeat viewings was for Pulp Fiction.

From my home collection, I probably watch A Fish Called Wanda more often than any other movie.

I’m bad, I know–but I often bring a coke and a snack into the theater with me.

Didn’t you used to love it when you were a kid and you could stay through two or three showings of the same movie without them kicking you out? I saw Smokey and the Bandit, Young Frankenstein and several of the Pink Panther movies this way.

It would be good to have “teen-free” viewings every so often.

Fingernail clippers are very loud in a theater. Annoying, too.

8

I love my mother, but I can no longer watch movies or TV with her because she always asks me to explain what’s going on. (I sometimes wonder how she’s able to watch anything when I’m not there.) And while I’m explaining something, we miss what’s happening…

She’s always done this; it’s not new, it’s not because of her age (62). It’s just that I’ve finally had enough.

She’s also the type who’ll interrupt a movie with something she’s read in the paper or family gossip or…

You get the idea.

9

I don’t mind so much people entering late, as long as they sit the frak down. Instead, they wander around, looking for a seat, sometimes calling for a friend, and generally blocking our view.

This is, however, not as bad as people coming and sitting anywhere around my perimeter (front, behind, next to) when the theater has plenty of other seats to choose from. People who sit directly in front of me, in a 1/4 full theater, infuriate me.

10

I knew that Star Wars was going to be good even before the titles appeared – Lucas used the FULL 20th Century Fox fanfare (instead of just the opening bars, as 20th usually used). I knew then that here was someone who paid attention to details.

11

I am a movie freak, so is my brother, so the best times are when we go together.

About the seating issue- no shit, why must you sit in front of me when there are SO MANY other seats available? I am short, and invariably someone the size of Shaquille sits in front of me. Now I try to go to theatres that have stadium-style seating so I feel taller.

I love movies so much, if not for the new baby I’d go all the time. Edwards theater chain in CA must miss me, because they just declared bankruptcy. A shame, because if they have to close some theaters, I’m sure it will be the one’s where they now show only indie films. Figures.

I love a great brougue or burr (see “Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels”, etc) but can’t stand it when someone near me keeps asking “what did he say?” An especially huge problem every time Begbie opened his mouth in “Trainspotting.”

12

I adore my grandmother but she suffers from the same Ask-Questions-Through-The-Movie-Syndrome as jab1’s mom. I think it’s chronic.
What bugs me the most is when people bring their children to movies that are specifically not for children. I not talking about R-rated movies, just movies that they won’t get or apreciate.
For instance, I went to The Phantom Menace. After the first 15 min., a family came in and (thanks to my luck) sat down in front of me. Not only did they come in late, they were a family consisting of three children ages 7 and down. They whispered questions back and forth and argued over the snacks. I wanted to tell them not to bring their kids to a movie they won’t freaking understand. But I held my tongue. Sigh.

13

Yeah I share most of these peeves. But for me it has to be this friend of mines annoying habit. Im watching the matrix (I hadn’t seen it before) and tell him I haven’t seen it. Next thing I know there’sa running commentary on all the plot points, special effects etc. :confused: * Didn’t I just say this is the first time I watched this *
He did the same thing during the Sixth Sense, I swear I wanted to strangle him.

14

Weird audiences.

I went to see “High Frequency” with some friends. We like to get in early to get good seats so we ended up sitting for half an hour watching the rest of the audience file in. I swear to gawd, we were the only people under 65! After a while, we got worried, so one of us went out to make sure we had the right theatre. Sure enough, it was right. For the first half hour of the movie, the four of us cringed every time a character said “fuck” (which was about every 15 seconds), as we were surrounded by sweet little old ladies who look like our grandmothers. After the movie ended, we checked to see if there was some sort of senior special going on. Nope, just an odd demographic that day.

when we went to see “Sleepy Hollow”, I was amazed at the number of toddlers! Do these people have any clue? I guess some of them must have been thinking Disney. I’ll bet more than one set of parents had to stay away with the kiddies that night.

15

<hijack>
EJsGirl: I forget, was Edwards one of the “Bah, we don’t bother with student discounts” movie chains? If so, I hate to say it, but good riddance, $8 for a movie is an inane price with the number of theaters in LA. My personal favorite is the AMC on the 3rd Street Promenade. It’s almost hard to pay full price there even if you don’t have a student ID.
</hijack>

And a pet peeve of mine - small children being brought to late @$$ movies that, by rights, they shouldn’t be seeing anyway. For example, Friday night, 11:30 PM showing of The Matrix, a family with three children, all under the age of 10, all of them tired, grumpy, and talky. Only when the baby started crying were any of them taken out of the theater (and only the one crying, at that). I mean, geez, hire a babysitter or something…

16

The perfect place to sit in any theater isn’t necessarily a particular-numbered row. The ideal spot, in my book, is the center of the row where the screen completely fills your vision, yet you can see the whole screen without moving your head.

17

The neatest theater I ever patronized was the Arlington theater in Santa Barbara. I was 10 years old and we went to see Superman. This was one of those grand old theaters, one huge screen in an auditorium with balconies, curtains, and a large crystal chandelier. I doubt it is still around.

The smallest I’ve patronized was just last summer when Princess Mononoke came to one of the Odeon theaters in DC. The room was actually a wedge cut out of the lobby of some other establishment (hotel?). There were about 40 seats and the screen was suspended by wires. A tinier screen you could not imagine. The movie wasn’t all that great, either.

I remember going to see a movie when Earthquake was playing one screen over. They had some special rumble feature that made everything seem like it was shaking.

One time, I had to go tell the manager to turn the lights down in the auditorium. Somehow they forgot to dim the lights after the advertisements were through.

When I was in the Army, everyone stood at attention before the movie because the National Anthem would play. One time I hopped up so fast (Pavlovian conditioning at its best), my popcorn and coke ended up on the floor. Another time, right after the Anthem, I jumped into the aisle to hurry and get a coke before the movie started. I hit a slippery spot and fell flat on my face in front of 100+ GIs. Everyone, in unison: “AIRBORNE!” :o