bad day at the movies

[Athos_000]

DH and I rarely go to movies. When we do it is usually the last week the movie is running and the theatre is not so full.

In my frugal opinion its like this: for the cost of us to go out to a movie, we can buy one at the store and all the snacks we want and stay at home to watch it in our comfy house where there is no noise, no food being thrown, no phones ringing (or blinking/flashing lcd screens), nobody trying to crowd us, and nobody brushing past us to go in and out of their seats...

[Slartibartfast]

Ooh, I remember going to see "Star Wars" (the re-release, when they were milking every penny out of the movies) and ended up sitting behind a birthday part of eight-year-olds.  They must have all gotten a party bag with various candy in it, including Ring Pops (a big jewel-shaped hunk of hard candy on a plastic ring base, so you can wear it like a ring).  They loudly proclaimed a "Sticky War!"  Yes, that's right, everyone sucks on their ring pops until they're slimy and disgusting, then tries to smack each other and get sticky, gooey, and heavily-artificially-colored slime on each other's faces, clothing, and hair.  The mother and THE MOVIE THEATER EMPLOYEE who were "supervising" the party didn't do a thing about it, but I remember thinking that I would have been HORRIFIED to get my kid coming home with multicolor sticky streaks all over them.

[Lisbeth]

I hate going to the movies most of the time for just that reason.  People don't understand "No talking or making noise."

[NEDESAPIO]

The last "mainstream" movie I attended was GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK.  I didn't have any trouble there, because it was a weekday matinee; the only other people in the theater were an elderly couple.  I also went to see the the German film SOPHIE SCHOLL:  THE LAST DAYS, and the film was so riveting no one even thought of making noise.

But just the other evening I went to the AFI Theater, which shows films from all eras; I saw the Judy Garland/James Mason movie A STAR IS BORN.  Two seats away from me was an elderly woman with a young man. (I couldn't tell whether he was her caretaker or not -- he didn't look at all like he could have been related to her.)The man joined the elderly lady after the movie had started, and they spent the next ten or fifteen minutes talking together.  Luckily, Garland's voice was loud enough to drown them out -- almost.  Fortunately, they quieted down.

These same people who talk during movies at theaters probably talk during movies at home; they don't seem to understand the difference between a live showing and an at-home one.

Update:  It happened again -- twice in a week.  Yesterday I went back to the AFI to see EASTER PARADE (it's part of an all-Garland fest) and twenty minutes from the end of the movie a guy came in with a five or six year old boy.  First he held a loud cell-phone conversation, then he let his kid run around and talk loudly.  Why did he bother coming at all?

[sammycat]

My family is accumulating quite a collection of DVDs now since I refuse to go to the movies anymore.  For the price of one adult ticket (AUD$14 approx) I can buy a DVD, or even 2 if they are on special.  I figure even if I only watch it once it's still the same price as I'd pay in a theatre but the difference is I can actually HEAR it.  Often times the whole family will watch it or I can sell it on eBay afterwards.  Either way, it's a better alternative than going to the movies.  My kids' certainly get the value out of their DVDs as they seemingly watch them over and over about  a million times.

[Amanita]

Sticky war? Oh mother Isis, I think that's one of the most disgusting (and yet sort of funny) things I've read all night.
But no way would I want to sit next to it in a freaking theatre. Especially not while a Star Wars movie was playing.

I remember a guy on another forum I was on, when SW episode III came out. He was going on about how he was going to wait to see the movie because he "Didn't want to sit next to some wierdo with a lightsaber".
He then proceeded to call me down for dressing up for the movie, saying I proved his point exactly. My counter? At least the wierdo with the lightsaber is there to actually watch the movie. When the film starts, he or she will put away the lightsaber, sit down, shut up, and watch the darn movie, because that's what they came for. Would that guy sooner sit next to the relentlessly normal type who talks on a cell phone, throws food, or lets their kids wage a sticky war?

[Telmereth]

I don't understand why a lot of people seem to take leave of their senses when they go to the movies. Even when I was tiny, I knew that the cinema was somewhere to sit still, be quiet and behave. It's really not that hard!

I remember this one time, a friend of mine and I went to see The Two Towers at our local cinema. My poor friend, who isn't the most patient of people, got lumbered with this woman who she didn't even know asking her every ten seconds what was going on. And to make it worse the woman kept saying things like "oh you know so much about this! How many times must you have seen it?" and "goodness, do you have a season ticket for this cinema?"
I could tell my friend was about to explode, and I was contemplating some drastic action when completely out of the blue, a gentleman  behind us lent forward and said "excuse me, but if you really want to know what's going on, it might be a good idea to pay attention and stop bothering this young lady with your questions!"
I felt like shaking his hand. The lady seemed a bit miffed and said "alright, alright, we've not all seen it eleven hundred times!"

The last time I went to the cinema was to see Casino Royale. Everyone was pretty well behaved until a lady in the row in front needed the toilet and she asked the people in her row to let her out. I know this is annoying, but she moved quickly, quietly and didn't make a fuss. That is, until someone actually refused to let her pass! They had their feet right up against the seat in front, and were staring quite fixedly at the screen. What a way to turn an irritating but completely harmless situation into a crisis. It disrupted the film for five minutes more than it needed to!

There should be mugshots of the worst offenders in the ticket offices: "Do not sell tickets to this person"

[MerryRaven]

I really do believe that if the movie theater industry wants my dollars it had better provide a good atmosphere to watch it.  People really do not know how to behave in a theater anymore.

I went to Gosford Park in an upscale theater in the nearest big city and it was a totally different experience.  The seats were comfortable and the theater was clean. 

I know Gosford Park would not attract a rowdy crowd anyway, but even the lobby was sedate and lovely with lots of teens and kids going to other movies.  They had security guards and I was told they did not tolerate bad behavior.

I would pay extra to have that kind of experience. 

I think the last movie I went to was LOTR: Return of the King. 

[taralee]

Netflix is my lifesaver. You pay a monthly fee, and you get the movies sent to you in the mail. As many as you can watch (I can have 3 out at a time). I used to buy DVDs, but that got too expensive, and really, there are only so many movies that I want to watch multiple times. This is so much more convenient, and they have soooo many things that your average Blockbuster/Hollywood Video doesn't carry. I especially love how they carry TV shows on DVD.

But yeah -- the only movies I see in the theaters now are the ones I absolutely can't wait to see. Everything else I put on my queue on Netflix.

[housewife2k]

I think I have been to five movies, in a theater, in the last five years. I hit the drive in regularly in the summer months, otherwise Hubby and I have cable and an extensive DVD collection.

When I was pregnant with Oldest son, almost six years ago exactly, Excorsist was re-released into the theater. Even though I was largely pregnant at the time, I really wanted to go, so off we went, to get in the theatre, to get lovely seats, to have a couple and their three children sit behind us and next to us. Yes, the adults sat behind us and placed their 9,7,and6 year old daughters right next to me...at the EXCORSIST!!!!  I missed most of the movie because of these poor girls screaming, screaching and crying. I did my best to calm them down, and after their Dad YELLED at me for talking-when I was trying to get his six year old to stop sobbing, Hubby got an usher-who couldn't do anything, because technically, the girls were there with their parents.
Seriously, who bring their young children to horror movies, especially one with a very memorable, very graphic, very sexual scene!

[supernova]

Remember, if someone ruins your enjoyment of a movie, you can ask to have your ticket reimbursed.

If enough people do this, theatres start noticing and doing things about it.  But if no one speaks up, people just stop going and the cinema experience is lost to everyone.

     - saphie

[fklwmn]

then lo and behold.... THEY come.

You forgot the rest of that sentence.....because they always, ALWAYS SIT RIGHT BEHIND ME!!!  I don't care if the WHOLE theater is empty except me, they will ALWAYS pick the seats behind ME to sit in.  Grrrrrrrrr!

Dottyg, you just need to sit in the last row, then you'll be covered

[Gileswench]

And it's not just teenagers and people ignoring their kids, either!

I well remember when my mother and I went to a matinee of A Passage to India. We'd both been looking forward to the film for some time, and the theater was one that was often pretty sparsely attended in the afternoons. As it turned out, there were maybe two dozen people in the entire theater and I was the youngest one there.

Alas, two elderly women sat about three rows in front of us and did a running commentary at the tops of their lungs for the ENTIRE FILM. They must have been hard of hearing, but why did they think everyone - or anyone - needed comments like: Oh look, she's going to ride the elephant...no, I guess she's not?

I've never forgotten that one.

[LadyJaneinMD]

Remember, if someone ruins your enjoyment of a movie, you can ask to have your ticket reimbursed.

If enough people do this, theatres start noticing and doing things about it.  But if no one speaks up, people just stop going and the cinema experience is lost to everyone.

     - saphie

Exactly!  I've done just that.  I went to a matinee once where a bunch of young teens ran back and forth and played in the seats near the back.  It was just another inside playground to them.  I immediately went and talked with the manager and got my money back.

The last movie I went to see was Finding Nemo.  I'm a huge fan of Netflix and my nice private 32-inch television at home.  I get the snacks I want, and I can even watch the movie in my jammies!

[Cyndi]

I remember way back when my mom and I went to see Contact, some guy behind us fell asleep and snored through the whole movie. This wasn't some soft purring snores either. This guy sounded like a revving Harley! Could be he had narcolepsy or something, but geez that was annoying.