Some time ago (25 years? 30?), my wife belonged to the Screen Actors Guild (We lived in New York, so she mostly did extra gigs and a few day roles). For a small fee, members could belong to a film club. Every two weeks we would go to a movie theater in the city and watch a movie. Most of the time we had no idea what movie was being shown. Furthermore, even when you found out the title, you had no idea what it was about as it very likely had not been released yet, so you got to watch the movie without any preconceptions. All kinds of movies were shown, blockbusters, foreign films, independent films. Sometimes the movies we saw never got released.
The theater was generally packed, but the audience tolerated no talking. They also stayed seated (and quiet) through the credits.
It was absolutely the best way to watch movies and I miss it. Are there any clubs out there that do things like this?
When you say the audience tolerated no talking; what do you mean? Would you get shushed? Would they kick you out? Could you have concessions? To answer your question; I don’t know if there are any clubs out there doing it; but there was a theater in Texas who kicked a patron out for texting during the move then turned her crazy voicemail rant into a PSA warning about cell usage. Movie theater turns angry phone message into funny PSA | Boing Boing
It was just hardcore shushing as far as I know. It never really went beyond that, although I expect that if complaints were filed the offender might have their membership revoked.
Mobile phones should be banned from any public venue. Period, end of sentence.
As far as I’m concerned, they’re like automobiles: Yes, they can make your life easier, but I still hate the damned things!
I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie in the US and people knew enough to keep their mouths shut and refrain from making any unnecessary noise. Probably 1966. (And back then, you could still smoke in the cinema. YIK! :mad: )
If the crowd is quiet and well-behaved, there is nothing better than watching a movie unfold on the big screen in a cinema. Otherwise, I prefer to sit in my darkened living room in front of a big-screen TV with an enormous bowl of popcorn (smothered in real butter) and some ice-cold Cokes.
I don’t know if I’d say it’s the best way to watch movies - seems a little random to be my primary method of watching movies. But I’d join a club like that if it was available. I like a wide variety of movie genres so I’d probably enjoy most of the selections.
Locally we have the Camera Cinema Club, which operates in more or less the same way. The curator has made pretty good selections for the showings I’ve attended. I enjoy experiencing the movie in itself without the influence of reviews, trailers or word of mouth.