The self serve popcorn butter gives me the poops. Other than that I like going to a show.

Note, the babies at movies like star wars is a pain to deal with.

Yeah but you gotta admit that when a kid freaks out due to something onscreen that's pretty funny.

I go to the cinema to:

see a big FX laden spectacular on a massive screen

get caught up in the mass hysteria with the rest of the comic-book/SW/ST/HP/LOT/etc geeks on opening night

support the filmmaker with my ticket purchase (usually by going to see movies at the local art house)

I love going to the theater. Just can't match the gigantic screen with even the best home theater IMO.

Crowds can be annoying, but I minimize it by avoiding opening weekends and trying to go to weekday matinees or late night weekday showings as much as possible.

I go see the big flicks in the theater but I enjoy watching films at home much better, for all the reasons already mentioned.

In my theater, yes

I really love the cinema.

Not everyone has a lot of options, but may I suggest trying other local theatres? Even if a theatre is an hour away, if you only go a few times a year, finding the "perfect" theatre will be a great experience. Sadly, my perfect theatre, the Ritz Vorhees in New Jersey was sold. They didn't sell tickets to people under 16 and I've heard comments that the quality of everything was as close as you could get to the private screening rooms LA studios use.

If you're getting a lot of kids and cellphones, go during a schoolnight, or go to a very early matinee on the weekends (noonish), especially for adult fare. I think it also takes some tact to figure out if the theatre is crowded because there's nothing to do and a bunch of teenagers are showing up, or if people are going because they're genuinely excited. Opening night of any big film I usually don't find too many disinterested people.

I gave up going to the theatres about 3 years ago when I made the decision just to blind buy all my movies when they come out on DVD. The last time I went to the theater was last summer (06') when one of my Co-Workers wanted to go see Click & didn't want to wait ti'll it got released on DVD. It ended up costing about $50 total which is just crazy for 2 tickets, 2 popcorn and 2 drinks.
There is so many advantages to watching the movie in your home over watching it in a theater to me that when going to a theater it just feels like a waste of time. At home you can watch the movie whenever you want, turn up or down the volume as loud or quite as you want, you can pause the movie or even stop watching it if an emergency happens & you can watch it whenever the fuck you want cause you own the DVD forever.
With the theater you have to spend alot of money, listen to assholes talkin' on there cellphones or giggling to there stupid friends & waste money on gas going there and back to the theater.

So my answer is no the theater isn't a really great experience & I would tend to say its a pretty horrible experience now with the invention of DVDs I rarely have to go the the theaters and waste more money that I could be spending on DVDs.

I've seen a lot of impressive sites just recently (just got back from 3 weeks in Europe), and it was the greatest experience of my life, Michelangelo's David was awesome in the truest sense of the word, yet towards the end of that trip there were so many films I wanted to see and I just couldn't. I wound up catching POC 3 in Madrid, because there was no way I was waiting until home. I didn't even mind sitting in the front most seat. Now I'm not saying I would have rather stayed in good old New Jersey instead of travel all over, but there not exactly comparable things.

When the theatre experience is great, there aren't many things that beat that high. I'm a film junkie, what else can I say?

I still enjoy going to the movies, although not as much as I once did.

Years ago, I loved seeing a big ticket movie on opening weekend with a hot crowd. It made it more exciting.

I don't go as much anymore, maybe once every 5 or 6 weeks, and more during the summer. Rising costs are a factor. Even for a matinee, two tickets are about $20. I'll bring in my own snacks, but sometimes I'm in the mood for theater popcorn.

Go on a weeknight. Go a week or so after a movies release. Problem solved.

I couldn't put it any better.

This has been one of my more memorable filmgoing summers, and I think I've only seen 3 films since early May.

Being in Chicago, I don't have to pay any mind to the multiplexes.

It costs me and my wife $30 to see a movie after tix and split soda and popcorn. For this, we get to deal with a myriad of issues unless you luck out with a good audience (rare).

Since I've upgraded to HD and a 106" screen, I have little desire to see anything but big time event movies at the theater. I'm tired of the shit with expense, asshole crowds, asshole management, poor screen and sound conditions, matinees ending before THREE IN THE AFTERNOON, and just the general dealing with the hassle of movies.

Don't think this is lost on studios. In the VHS era, it was six months from END of theatrical run to cable, then another three to home video. Now, it could be as little as three months. I cannot believe that only 10 years ago, I could go to the movies for under $5, and I'm not even 30 yet. I'd much rather relax with a HD copy of my favorite movie for $15/mo from Netflix, a big screen, excellent sound and two happy dogs next to us.

Yeah, that's the thing. The technology is available to make your at home viewing experience pretty darn similar to a theater experience. Get yourself a big screen, and hell, it doesn't even have to be something TOO big. Just get yourself a semi-large widescreen TV, get the proper hardware to make the most out of your picture when viewing DVD's (upconverting player, sound system), and wallah, you have yourself your own home theater.

As said, it's actually more than thirty dollars for me when the wife and I go and then get something like nachos and a large soda. How much does it cost for me to watch a movie at home just four months later? The same film I can get on DVD for 14.99 or 15.99... and then I can watch it as many times as I want. It also helps beef up my DVD collection (even though it really needs to be scaled back). I went to the movies like every week last month, but that's because they were the summer blockbusters and I kinda wish I waited for even most of those.

But for most of the year, I wait until the DVD comes. I'll probably buy Ghost Rider since I didn't see it in the theater. Not that great of a movie? Perhaps it won't be, but at least I can OWN it for half the price it would cost me to see it in a theater.

Also, I very much prefer seeing actual film stock (16mm, 35mm, 70mm...) to the digital image. There's a richness (particularly for older films) that I don't get from DVDs.

I prefer theaters myself - even though I mostly watch dvds.

It's just that at home (even with HD dvds, great surround sound and a comfy couch), I am very easily distracted - from the phone, people dropping by, or even noticing something from the corner of my eye that needs cleaning - there's a great number of things to distract me from watching while at home.

But in the theaters, there's really nothing to distract me from the movie (I can even block out disruptive attendees, which isn't too common anyways), and I usually get caught up in a movie much more in the theater than I ever do at home.

And while HDdvd look and sound all snazzy on my hometheater set-up, it still doesn't compare to film projected onto a huge screen and the communal experience that can go along with that in a theater.

1) Crowded theatres only piss me off if the seating is not elevated or staggered properly, meaning that you can't see because of the melon on the dude in front of you.

2) Talking people and cell phones are my #1 and #2 most hated things in theatres. I'm typically the guy yelling at the first person I hear talking or the first cell phone I hear go off.

3) I still don't understand why people get so pissy about commercials or trailers before movies. They don't bother me one bit.

4) I don't buy concessions at the movie. My $50 is better spent elsewhere.

I was shocked to see how HD movies look from a quality projector onto a big screen, very film-like.

I must admit that I can't really relate to the whole theater going experience. People in this thread have talked about how they enjoy a movie more with a packed house, or at least a good crowd. But I'm not like that. When I go to the theaters I actually want less people there, and my enjoyment of the film is in no way affected by how many people are around me or their reactions to the film. Some people say a movie is funnier in a packed house. But I can't relate. Why is a movie funnier if my neighbor laughs? Either I find it funny or I do not. What some stranger thinks is irrelevant to me.

I'm not averse to going to the theater. I still went somewhat regularly until recently, and I'd generally go now given the oppurtunity. But I'm perfectly happy waiting for the DVD (or HD-DVD/Blu Ray now), and I don't go out of my way to go to the theater. And I haven't had many bad experiences at the theater either, but I just enjoy myself more in my home theater, which I think is pretty nice.

What sucks is if you want decent seats around here, you have to get there at least 30 minutes before the advertised showtime, which we all know is when they actually start the REAL trailers.

So for a half an hour we're subjected to the bullshit AMC Movie Watcher crap, where I am told I should join the National Guard, forced to sit through the sixth F***KING preview of Surf's Up I've seen in three months., etc., etc. I would love to be shown 40 minutes of straight trailers.

No doubt, the top of the line digital presentations can be, and have been, stunning. Ingmar Bergman's Saraband, shot digitally, and shown digitally at the director's orders, was an intriguing presentation. While it was very film-like (aided in part by the pastoral and static compositions), that digital 'veil' remained.

But it's part of the experience. I don't look down it.

If I had to use a word, I'd say that a real film presentation is warmer.

Of course, proper film presentations require an attentive and experienced presenter. Luckily, the venues I frequent have a good track record in this regard.

I still enjoy "event" films and seeing things that I absolutely can't live past the weekend without, but with the kind of home theater I've got, nothing earth-shattering mind you, I don't see the point in going everytime something that looks good comes out. I could have easily waited for PotC 3 to hit DVD and been a (relatively) happy man. Same with Spidey 3. It's a guaranteed loss of at least $20 each time I go to the theater. It's a guarantee of $0 each time I enjoy one at home and the major bonus is (obviously) no shit to put up with. Ever.

I'll never understand why people always add the price of concessions junk food and drinks to the price of going to the cinema.

Why do people HAVE to eat while watching a movie? I never buy that shit, and when I watch at home I also rarely eat anything as I want to focus on the movie.

So for me it runs $7-9.50 for a ticket, twice that if I'm paying for my g/f that time. More than reasonable for as much as I enjoy the experience.

Yes, a 100"+ screen in a home theater is great, but it can't match something like the Uptown theater in DC where the screen is 32' x 70'.

That's true man, but have you noticed that basically NONE of the seats are really "prime seats"? Although, I admit, none of the seats are necessarily bad either. You do have to factor in proportionality as well. Sure, that screen is huge, but I'm maybe 100 feet or more from it. I'm 10-15 feet from my 100" screen. It looks plenty big .

I do love the Uptown, that's where I saw Grindhouse.