Who here doesn't like movies?

[tanstaafl]

*Originally posted by Legomancer *
**I don’t go see many movies, because I hate going to the theater and most movies are utter crap. I value my time and money too much to waste either on barely passable “entertainment” when I could be doing something much more interesting to me. I don’t like watching TV much for the same reason - these things just don’t appeal to me.

On the other hand, I could happily spend hours playing a computer game. I can play Morrowind for four hours and not feel bad at all, yet if I watch two hours of TV I end up hating myself for it.**

That’s almost exactly my feelings too, including playing Morrowind. I think the difference is active vs passive entertainment. When you’re playing a computer game you’re having to think and react to what is going on. With TV you just sit and stare.

This causes more than its share of problems in the tanstaafl household. My wife loves TV. The TV is on constantly. She works out of the house and when I come home in the evenings the TV is already on and stays on until I come to bed. Usually she even has two sets on, the one in the family room and the one in our bedroom, so she can go from one room to the other without missing anything.

Then, on weekends, her idea of entertainment is to either go to a movie or to rent a bunch of movies to watch.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I do watch some TV and there are some movies that I want to see but it isn’t something I want to do all the time. Going back to my wife, I have seen her on numerous occasions look through the TV listings, announce that “there isn’t anything on”, then turn to some channel saying “this is the best there is”. If there isn’t anything on I’m interested in, I don’t look around to find something that I am the least unintersted in, I’ll go do something else. (Work on the computer, go hiking, walk the dogs, fiddle around with my camera equipment or something, anything to avoid just sitting around and watching something I really have no interest in. So, if Farscape is on, sure, I’ll watch. Just Shoot Me, well… I’ll find something else to do.

Of course, she then gets mad at me because I’m not spending time with her. (And she really gets upset at me playing games on the computer. A recent argument of hers was “You’re an adult and adults don’t play games, so you better grow up!”) I tried bringing my laptop into the room with her so I could run e-mail while she watched her show, but then she was still upset that I wasn’t watching “with her”. :rolleyes:

Sorry. Drifted off into MPSIMS territory there. To relate back to the OP, I feel the same way about going to the movies. Why should I spend time and money going to a movie that I really have no interest in?

My wife doesn’t see it that way. To her, watching TV or movies is a way to “do things together”. I disagree. Watching TV or going to a movie is a way to “not do things, together”. Yeah, you’re with someone but you really can’t interact with them, especially in a theatre. It’s just a way to fill up that awkward time between dinner and bed.

So, if there is a movie/TV show that I am interested in then sure, I’ll watch it. But, for an activity to simply pass the time there are quite a few other options that I can come up with.

[Equipoise]

*Originally posted by Legomancer *
**I don’t go see many movies, because I hate going to the theater and most movies are utter crap. **

Yes, but for every stinker, there’s a gem waiting to be discovered. People who only see crappy movies have only themselves to blame, for not doing a little research beforehand.

I came into this thread because I wanted to see how the “other half” lives. Frankly, you’re all aliens to me. I love, live, breathe movies. I inhale movies. Movies are my crack. Movies are my heroin. Movies are my obsession. Only good movies, of course. There are plenty of them, old and new. I love movie marathons, seeing 2, 3, 4 (or more) movies a day. The idea of not liking movies is as alien to me as the idea of not liking chocolate or starry summer nights or reading a good book. Deprivation of pure pleasure is a strange concept to me. Each to their own, yeah, but to deprive yourself of such delights that can be had, oy. I do not understand.

To get back to the OP, I can’t imagine anyone who likes movies enjoying going to a movie theater. …If you love movies, it seems to me that the last place you should be is in a theater

I can’t imagine anyone who loves movies NOT going to movie theaters. This year, I had seen all of the films nominated in the “Big 8” (Best Picture, Director, 4 Actor categories and 2 Writer categories) BEFORE the Academy Award nominations had come out. They were all worth seeing too. I can’t imagine waiting months to see films such as The Pianist, Far From Heaven, Frida, Adaptation and the others, when they’re playing just a few miles away from me. I do realize that many people can’t get out to the theater because of financial situations or children, but if you (not YOU) like movies and can get out to see them, you can always go during unusual times to minimise the idiot factor.

**I try to keep an open mind - to each his own and all that. But I am utterly amazed on Monday mornings when I come into the SDMB and see people talking about how bad a certain movie was when that movie is getting absolutely crap reviews. The idea of having to go see something on opening night, before there are any reviews of it just baffles me.
**

It baffles me too. I don’t know why crap movies do so well when there are always good movies playing, at least if you live in a decent-sized city. Woe to the poor people who live in podunk, with no or few decent movie theaters playing things other than the latest Hollywood blockbusters. I grew up in such a place. I’ll never go back, simply because of the movie theater situation.

I know people who only like live theater and hate movies, but I don’t understand it and I never will. It bites when people blame not liking movies on all the bad movies out there. There are good to great movies out there, from all eras, released in 1915 or released last week, worth seeing.
Btw, I also read a lot, so I don’t substitute one for the other. I even get a lot of reading done in movie theaters, waiting for the lights to go down.

[lel]

See, I don’t care if a movie is good or bad – I still just don’t like movies. They take too long, and once you’ve seen them once, there’s no need to see them again. I can’t handle movie references because I’ve never seen the movie.

I do relent on the DVD player, but only for the Simpsons DVDs. (Thanks for the reminder, Lissa!)

[UncleBeer]

I see very few movies myself. In fact, I can probably count on both hands the nubmer of times I’ve been to a movie theater in the past half-dozen years (Although I’m seeing more and more of them on DVD). I guess I’d rather flop on the couch and read something. Going to the theatre means I gotta be around all those oogy people. I hate people.

[Equipoise]

*Originally posted by lel *
**See, I don’t care if a movie is good or bad – I still just don’t like movies. They take too long, and once you’ve seen them once, there’s no need to see them again. I can’t handle movie references because I’ve never seen the movie.

I do relent on the DVD player, but only for the Simpsons DVDs. (Thanks for the reminder, Lissa!) **

Imagine:

See, I don’t care if a book is good or bad – I still just don’t like reading. It takes too long, and once you’ve read them once, there’s no need to read them again. I can’t handle literary references because I’ve never read the book.
If that horrifies you, then that’s what you’re sounding like to me. But then, maybe you don’t like books either. In which case, you’re a double alien to me.
UncleBeer, I agree, people suck, but when I’m at the movie theater (and I often go by myself), it’s all about the movie. People are tuned completely out.
I should get out of this thread. I’m among freaks of nature and it feels too weird.

[snac]

I see very few movies; if I do it is only because mrs. snac or one of the snackids has dragged me to it.

It has nothing to do with quality (or lack thereof) or expense or theater seats or other audience members.

What it DOES have to do with is that I’m not a very visual person. I’m especially bad at faces, so I have a lot of trouble figuring out who the characters are (“The guy in the jacket…is that the same one who was in the passenger seat of the car in the last scene?” “Is that his wife?”). I also have trouble orienting myself to scene changes, especially when they are abrupt or make use of flashback techniques or the like: “Where are they now?” I ask myself.

Sure, there are movies I have enjoyed, and some I have even followed mostly from beginning to end! But, face it: You add together enough "Where are they now"s and "Who IS that anyway"s, and you get not much enjoyment at the movies. Film just isn’t a way of telling a story that makes a lot of sense to me.

[lel]

*Originally posted by Equipoise *
**Imagine:

See, I don’t care if a book is good or bad – I still just don’t like reading. It takes too long, and once you’ve read them once, there’s no need to read them again. I can’t handle literary references because I’ve never read the book.
If that horrifies you, then that’s what you’re sounding like to me. But then, maybe you don’t like books either. In which case, you’re a double alien to me.**

Just making clear that the above restatement is not what I said originally. Now…

It doesn’t horrify me – if I didn’t like books, I’d happily say it. Being a lover of books, that does sound a bit alien to me.

UncleBeer, I agree, people suck, but when I’m at the movie theater (and I often go by myself), it’s all about the movie. People are tuned completely out.
I should get out of this thread. I’m among freaks of nature and it feels too weird.

That’s what almost everyone says when I tell them I don’t like movies and that they need not discuss movies around me because I won’t get it. I know I’m a freak of nature!

[plain_jane]

Yeay! I’m not the only one. I don’t own a video collection. I very rarely go to movies, and I don’t really like renting movies either. I don’t know the names or faces of actors and actresses, and I don’t know who directed what. I will never care how good an actor or director is.

I don’t have the patience to sit still for 2 hours and follow one single storyline. I mean, I can spend 2 hours online because I can get up, go make a coffee, and come back and do a number of things online all the while.

I don’t mind watching a movie on tv because the commercial breaks give me a break. I need it. Still, I usually don’t watch an entire movie. I usually trail off and end up doing something else three-quarters of the way through.