Going to the movie theatre sucks
 

I went and saw Batman yesterday. First of all, the theatre was packed with assholes. Second, the framing was off on the picture, it was too low, boom mics weren't visible but I actually paid money for this. And third, the power went out in the theatre twice. They did say I could come back with my ticket to watch Batman again, however, going to the theatre just flat out sucks.

Going to the movie theater does not suck. Going to a crappy theater sucks. ;)

I paid $6.25 for a matinee (grrr...) yesterday afternoon for Batman Begins. I happened to see the film in one of said theater's biggest auditoriums and there were maybe only 20 people there. Everyone was polite and dead silent during the film, the 5.1 sound was fantastic, and there were zero problems with the projection. Everyone was pleased.

And then I went to CineVegas where I saw films projected digitally with a crowd that loves films. :)

20 people? [Napoleon Dynamite]Lucky![/Napoleon Dynamite]

If the framing is off, step outside and tell somebody. It only takes a second, and it beats watching the whole movie that way.

Yep. I love going to the theater.

Both the multiplexes near me are nice. Never had any problems with framing, sound etc.

And I try to mainly catch weekday matinees when there's usually no more than 20 people in the theater. If not I catch a late night showing and also usually have no problems with people talking or what not.

And both the theaters play their sound systems very loud so unless it's someone right next to you talking, or someone yelling, you're not going to hear them anyway.

Which is why I never catch movies on opening weekend. I give them a couple of weeks. Weeds out the fuckos.

Unless it's a Star Trek or Star Trek film, I can wait til the following week to check it out, the only problem with this is that the print tends to show a fair degree of wear the longer it runs. I too can't stomach the yahoos @ the movies but There really is nothing at all like the atmosphere you get when going to a great theater to see an even greater flick.

Agreed...wait a couple weeks, or take the day off and go to a matinee on a weekday. Evenings and weekends are when teens with nothing else to do and parents with young children who want to use the movie theater as their babysitter for two hours come out.

I've always thought someone should open a movie theater chain with a premium membership that was only open to "members". Rule 1: No one under 21 - EVER. Rule 2: No cell phones Rule 3: No Food in the theater at any time (drinks are permissible) Rule 4: You violate the rules or cause trouble, your membership card gets revoked for a year and you lose your membership fees. Yeah, I know...sounds like "Movie Nazi", but it would be nice for those of us who actually like to go to the theater and ENJOY the film...problem is, no chain could ever afford to do this and hope to stay open - since film rentals cost so much they NEED consessions and the regular business of those "fuckos" to stay open. I'm sure most theater owners don't like those lowlifes in the theater any more than the rest of us do. :)

I'd sign on in a heartbeat for that theater <b>Shannon Nutt</b>! But, can we atleast make an exception for popcorn?

FYI Most theaters will give you your money back when there are projection or crowd problems...IF you leave early in the showing. You can't wait until the movie's over.

Well, they said I could come back and watch Batman again. But still I have to watch it there.

I never have those kinds of problems when I go to the theater, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be caught dead going to a comic book movie. ;)

Ive had the opposite problem. If I wait too long, I go see something when some of the people in the theater have already seen it and dont mind talking or being asses in the theater.

I like seeing it with true fans since they will shut up during the movie.

We only have sucky theaters in my town that charge 6.75 for matinees (in the middle of BFE, Indiana) and of course I get to go see Batman with some guy who thinks that his 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter will appreciate it.

Your compasion .....
DDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDYYYYYYYYY! ....
weak.

eh, a theatre experience is just that. Expect a lot of assholes. Also remember that in their eyes, you are an asshole to them for your attitude. So it's a never ending cycle. :p

I generally know what area I'm going first. Don't go where you know people to be rude or not care about watching the film. Also go where you know the theatre going experience is the best possible.

If you have any problem with the video or audio in the movie, you can ask to talk to a manager at the theater about it.

Ok, ok.....listen to this experience.....

My girlfriend LOVES Harry Potter. So, her and a friend of ours went to stand in line for HP: POA on opening day. They got there 2 hours early and were first in line.

When they let us into the theater, the theater guy released the ropes and we all were off to the theater entrance.

Well, this fat chick and her 3 kids came from the corner (not in line) and started to walk in. The theater guy stood in front of her and said, "Maam, you cannot go in yet, you have to wait in line".

She just pushed forward and said "Come on kids, he cant stop us". Obviously, he just moved and let her walk in.

Well, we got good seats (being first in line). BUT, the lady sat in front of us AND was holding literally 2 rows of seats (maybe 20-30) for friends/family. I couldn't F***ing believe it!! It pissed me off soooooo bad.

I got up, walked out and told the guy who she confronted at first. The theater manager was standing there when I told him. His manager told him to go get her. When he walked back into the theater, her family/friends had sat down and she pointed at him and laughed (I assume she was laughing at him).

Anyways, they didnt do anything to her, but I HOPE that what goes around, comes around for her. Bitch.

Yes, but you have to sign a waiver agreeing to chew with your mouth closed. :)

Haha....when my girlfriend and I saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith the other day, there was a lady behind us....she decided to continually play with her popcorn bag by crinkling it. We gave her a dirty look and she stopped.

The dirty look works wonders sometimes.

I do the half-turned head look. Not making eye contact but let's them know you hear them. Also works good for church. :)

Theater experiences can suck if you are either at a crappy theater or see the movie with the wrong audience. In the case of Batman Begins and movies like it that rely on a niche audience more or less, I try to see it at the first showing or whichever one I know will be the die hard fans so they will respect what's going on and be quiet.

What really sucks about theater experiences IMO is having to sit through all of the commercials and previews they throw at you. This is what really makes me think about abandoning the movie theater altogether aside from movies I REALLY want to see once I finally get a widescreen TV.

FWIW, anyone else hate the Fanta Girls?

I've had some amazing experiences at the movies.

A hispanic couple lit up some cigarettes when I saw 'From Dusk Till Dawn'. I guess you can smoke in Mexico.

A black guy got up during 'American History X' and said "F*** this!" and threw his drink at the screen.

When I saw 'The Last Samurai', this big guy, not knowing how loud he was, after every other line of the movie had to let out a audible, "hmmm".

Can't tell you how many times people answered their cell phones and had a conversation during the movie.

I could go on...and on...

Saxon

Also known as "The White Man's Stare"

I probably only go about 8 times a year but I find it's generally worth it. Of course there are always SOME bad experiences.

One time I remember was when these kids were laughing and throwing stuff all around the theatre. A lot of people were yelling at them, but no one could really tell how old they were or stop them (it was near the end of the movie so no one bothered leaving to complain). When the lights went on I started cracking up -- they were these tiny 12 year olds or so. One of my friends called this overweight kid a 'fat shit', causing obvious emberassment. Yeah, it was a bit childish but at the time, he deserved it.

Edit: I could do without the commercials, but I like the previews.

Watched ROTS twice, only two times I've been to a theater in the past year or more. Both times I went very late at night, hoping for a smaller and less annoying crowd. First time was fantastic. Second time reminded me why I hate theaters and probably won't go back to one for another year.

Started out with two little girls running around, down aisles, and switching seats every 2 mins. Finally people told them to settle down as they paid good money for the tickets, so they left the theater, but not before yelling a bunch of nonsense on the way out (/golf clap to their parents for the fine job raising those monsters).

Then to the left and right of me were the food and drink noise makers. To the right(about 5 seats down) was Mr. Have to Shuffle and Crinkle the Paper Candy Bag Every 30 Seconds guy. To the left (again about 5 seats down) was Mr Slurp Every Last Drop of Soda form the Cup then Crunch on Ice guy. Of course once the ice ran low and was kinda stuck to the bottom of the cup, he just had to shake his cup around to free it.

Also in the very dark theater, there was the guy that felt he just had to whip out his cell phone about 10 times during the movie...I'm not sure which sun was captured to provide the backlight for his LCD, but it's pretty damn annoying to have a bright light at the bottom of your peripheral vision while trying to watch a movie.

And of course, no movie would be complete without the parents that bring their two young kids (I'd guess one was 3, the other 5) to a 11:30 pm movie. You could tell the rugrats were tired before the movie started, and it didn't get any better. I especially enjoyed the cough the youngest one had. Only took an hour for the dad to finally get off his ass and take the kid outside for a bit.

It's just simply amazing the way some people are totally obilivous to the fact others are around them while in a theater. Yay for fast DVD releases!

My worst experience was when I was hold a seat for my fiancee. She was in the bathroom. The theatre was packed. It just so happened that the seat next to my fiancee's was also empty, and from a quick look, it was probably the last two together in the place. People were pretty cool, but this one guy kept coming down the aisle with his girlfriend, even though I kept waving him off. He starts to take my jacket off the seat and I say "sorry man, this one's taken". And he glares at me. I say "unless you want to watch this movie out of the hole in your ass, you'll back the fuck off". He said "why do you have to be a dick, you know no one is sitting here". I took one step towards him and his girlfriend grabbed his arm and said "I don't want to sit here anyway". He wisely left.

I'm not violent at all. But that was ridiculous. It was clearly his attempt to try and bully me into giving up the seat, but he ran into someone who wasn't going to take it. My fiancee ended up taking forever (she had been talking on her cell) so of course since it's 10 minutes into the credits and the seats are still empty I go from hero to asshole (and I can hear the whispering from behind me). Eventually she comes back so I don't look so bad.

I was pretty keyed up after that so I completely hated the movie since I couldn't just relax. I told her that's the last time she goes to the bathroom before the movie. :)

I've told this one on the forum before, but at this one movie I was at, there was about 10 people in this huge theater. This guy answered his phone once, and was pretty quiet for about 30 seconds. I let it go. It rang again, and this time he talked for like 5 minutes pretty loudly. This one guy went up to him and looked like he asked him to stop. He put the phone away. Then a third time. This time the guy that asked him to stop came up to him, ripped the phone out of his hand and threw it against the concrete floor, shattering it. The phone guy got up and went "what the hell man!". Then the other dude started SCREAMING "ahhh, ahhh, ahhhh!!!" and dancing around. It was fucking hillarious. The phone guy left saying "I'm getting the manager!" (to say what, I was talking on my phone during the movie?). I couldn't stop laughing for about 30 minutes.

BTW, the crazy dude just went and sat back down in his seat. I turned around about five minutes later to see him munching on popcorn. Hillarious.

I went to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith last week. I loved the movie, but hated the theater experience. Five minutes of commercials, twenty minutes of trailers, and poor quality picture quality are just a few of the reasons why I try to wait for the DVD.

Saw Batman Begins last night, pretty good theater experience other than the sound going from dolby digital to tv screen audio about half way through the movie..that and the weird laughing guy who laughed at the strangest things. I mean, nothing anyone would find funny ever..guess he was stoned. At the end a few people behind me were dissing the movie for its changing the origins.

But I speak with passion when I say the seats suck. No where near comfortability.

As someone who came from Australia, I have been quite disappointed with the movie theatres in the US. My peeve is that in Australia, the majority of movie tickets sold at the box office or online have allocated seating - there is no need to arrive at the cinema arrive to get the best seats. I find having to sit inside the cinema watching a blank screen or ads to be a waste of time. With allocated seating, the time could be better spent having dinner or a drink, knowing that you can arrive in the cinema just before the movie starts without having to sit in the worst seats.

What does everyone else think?

Why can't movie theaters have cell phone jammers? It could even be where the phone would work in the lobby,but not the theater.

I just about spit out my lemonade reading that. Too funny.

That Steven Soderberg has the right idea, with his new distribution deal I can skip the theatre and hit up the DVD shelf the same day. I hope more directors follow suit.

They aren't oblivious at all - they're just f'ing *ssholes that don't give a sh*t. By the way, nice post... my favorite was Mr Slurp Every Last Drop of Soda form the Cup then Crunch on Ice guy :)

I hate the Master Card commercial where a family is moving and they leave the dog '' Buster '' behind, by mistake. The dog basically hitch-hikes his way back to them, and they're all happy. I had to put my dog to sleep a few months ago, so every time I go to the movies, they play it durring " The 20 ". That damn commercial makes me tear-up really bad. Damn you Master Card and Regal Cinemas !

Thankfully they've renovated an old theater and built a new one down the street. Both are now top-notch technically speaking. For the most part I've been pretty fortunate with other poeple...though I still remember the two guys next to me threatening each other during 'Powder'... "I'll tear your head off BOY!" "F-U!"

Went to see BB today with a small audience and the sound cranked, it was great!

I generally hit the theater about 15-20 times a year, and I'd say that of that 15-20 I only have about 1 or 2 theater experience that I would call bad. This year it was when I went to Limony Snickett and a young couple and their toddler sat next to me. He didn't cry or anything, but they got tired of holding him after a 30 minutes, and sat him down in the seat beside them (and me) at which time he proceeded to crawl up my arm. :rolleyes: His parents would grab him again, but soon get tired and put him back down and he'd crawl over in the seat with me again. I put up with that for about 30 minutes and getting more and more angry before I realized "What am I putting up with this for? We can just move down a few seats!" :lol:

But other than that, everything's been fine. Maybe I'm just lucky.

:lol: Oh man, that's some funny stuff. The American History X one is awesome too.

I saw ROTS twice this year, once at the midnight showing (which was excellent - no complaints), and cone at a 6-ish show (bad idea). Right at the beginning when Star Wars blared across the screen, some 3 or 4 year old kid directly behind my right ear started cheering "Yay! Yaaaay! Star Wars!", and throughout the whole movie it didn't stop. And he constantly kept asking questions to his dad "Where's Chewie?" "Where's Vader?" etc... I gave the Dad a dirty look, but he didn't do anything about his annoying kid. Eventually he wore himself out and was crying to go home until Anakin started burning and the kid started cheering again.

Batman Begins wasn't very good either. It was the midnight show and you think it'd great, but I was a little disappointed. The picture looked like crap, it flickered during big action scenes which took me completley out of the movie, and the whole theater smelled like urine :whofart:.

All this talk about waiting for the DVD doesn't sound too crazy anymore.

i like going to movie theaters. i just hate it when people behind me constantly kick the back of my seat, or put their feet up on my armrest. i don't know if it's just me but its rude and annoying. also i hate when people talk a ton during movies, having the need to comment on every piece of dialogue and action is lame.

gotta love artificial butter on movie theater popcorn.

This article was on the cover of my local newspaper this morning:

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2005061645

Most prefer viewing movies at home

Poll respondents cite convenience, bad films

LOS ANGELES — The parking’s easy and there are no lines at the concession stand: Most Americans would now rather watch films at home than in theaters, according to an AP-AOL poll. At the same time, almost half think movies are getting worse.

Hollywood is in the midst of its longest box-office slump in 20 years, and 2005 is shaping up as the worst year for movie attendance in nearly a decade if theater business continues at the same lackluster rate.

In the poll released Thursday, 73 percent of adults said they preferred watching movies at home on DVD, videotape or pay-per-view. With more than two-thirds also saying movie stars are poor role models — Russell Crowe’s phone-throwing being the latest example — it may take more than a blockbuster or two to reverse Hollywood’s slide.

Just 22 percent said they would rather see films in a theater, according to the poll conducted by Ipsos for The Associated Press and AOL News. One-fourth said they had not been to a movie theater in the past year.

“I just prefer to stay home and watch movies,’’ said Mark Gil, 34, a mortgage broker in Central Square, N.Y. “It’s cheaper. You can go rent a movie for three bucks. By the time you’re done at the movie theater with sodas and stuff, it’s 20 bucks.’’

Films are getting worse, said 47 percent in the AP-AOL poll. A third said they were getting better.

“I don’t like movies as much as I used to,’’ said Tracy Drane, 38, a computer-technology worker who lives outside Dallas. “I’m a fan of old musicals and old AMC channel stuff. I could watch movies without thinking I’m going to see people in bed together and a lot of cussing. It has gotten much worse.’’

Many of this year’s big films — “Kingdom of Heaven,’’ “The Honeymooners,’’ “XXX: State of the Union,’’ Crowe’s “Cinderella Man’’ — have fizzled.

Those in the poll were most likely to be fond of comedies, followed by dramas and action-adventure movies.

Some in Hollywood think the slump — 16 straight weekends of declining revenue compared to last year — is a momentary blip due to so-so movies. They maintain the box office will rebound when better films arrive.

Others view the slide as a sign that theaters are losing ground to home-entertainment options, particularly DVDs available just months after films debut in cinemas.

But the poll found that people who use DVDs, watch pay-per-view movies on cable, download movies from the Internet and play computer games actually go to movies in theaters more than people at the same income levels who don’t use those technologies. That suggests the technology may be complementing rather than competing with theatergoing. Eight in 10 in the poll said they use DVD players at home.

Through last weekend, Hollywood’s domestic revenues totaled $3.85 billion, down 6.4 percent from 2004. Factoring in higher ticket prices, the number of people who have gone to theaters is down 9 percent, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

If that pace holds through year’s end, admissions for 2005 would total 1.345 billion, the lowest since 1996.

The wild card from 2004 was Mel Gibson’s unexpected blockbuster, “The Passion of the Christ.’’ That film drew a huge Christian audience, many of them not regular movie-goers. Taking “The Passion’’ out of the mix, 2005 revenues would be up 2.9 percent over 2004, and ticket sales would be virtually unchanged.

While 2005 has produced its share of hits — among them the final “Star Wars’’ flick, the romance “Hitch’’ and the animated tales “Madagascar’’ and “Robots’’ — audiences have found Hollywood’s recent offerings generally humdrum.

“I think this slump is product-driven,’’ said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations. “That to me is a much less chilling problem than some sort of cultural shift in people’s moviegoing habits. A cultural shift takes longer than 16 weekends of down box office.’’

Box office revenues have been down every weekend since late February. “Batman Begins,’’ which opened Wednesday, could snap the streak this weekend. But if business is off again, Hollywood would match a 1985 downturn of 17 weekends, the longest recorded slump since analysts began keeping detailed box-office figures.

The 1985 slide came with similar dire predictions that movies on videocassette would devastate the theater business, Dergarabedian said. Box-office grosses were stagnant into the late 1980s, then rebounded strongly.

In the 1950s, some analysts foresaw the demise of movie theaters as people stayed home to watch television. While business plummeted from 4 billion or more admissions a year in Hollywood’s glory days, movies remained a prime entertainment choice.

“Going to the movies is a social event, like going to a football game, like going to the ballet, like going to a play,’’ said George Lucas, whose “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith’’ is this year’s biggest hit. “Something you do to be social with other people. I don’t think that’s ever going to go away.’’

From the early 1990s through 2002, box-office grosses climbed steadily as studios perfected their blockbuster marketing machines and cinema chains built new theaters with improved seating, sound systems and other amenities.

But ticket sales reached a modern peak of 1.63 billion in 2002 and have fallen since, down to 1.51 billion in 2004.

A handful of big hits could salvage Hollywood’s year. Still to come this summer are Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise’s “War of the Worlds,’’ Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’’ and the superhero adventure “Fantastic Four.’’

am i the only one who enjoys a raucous crowd at a theater?

i went to see deep blue sea in a packed theater and the audience helped make the movie fun. there were huge cheers for when

and in MI2 when tom cruise popped a front wheelie on his motorcycle prompted an 'aw hell' from someone in the audience. too funny.