Movie Theater Rant

I'm a film buff so I go to a lot of movies. I think people relax WAY too much in theatres. Personally, I can't stand when people talk out loud throughout the movie. Recently, I had to tell a couple of teenagers to keep quiet and they just got worse. It ruined the experience for me. People act like they are in their own living room, and even then, they likely wouldn't behave the way they do.

I'm going to see a matinee of The Squid and the Whale today at a rep theatre, so I'm hoping it won't be as busy or as loud. Kids don't seem to be attracted to smaller theatres as they are to the megacinemas. From my own experience, I find teenagers to have the worst theatre etiquette.

i went to see starwars episode 3 twice. bothtimes, a group of motormouthed kids sat near me and refused to shut up. i'm at the point where i'd rather just buy the movies when they come out rather than having to put up with obnoxious people. the cats don't pelt me with popcorn, there arent any obnoxious people, and my floors are never sticky.

I agree with you and I'm mostly concerned about the poor example. We could have a whole thread about the effects of negligent parenting. Unfortunately (or fortunately) kids turn out bad in spite of good parenting (or good in spite of bad parenting). But setting a bad example sure can't do any good.

Movie going experiences have been negative all around, I see.
Here's my rant about it from a few weeks ago. Ruined movie
Theaters need to hire ushers who will check the theater every so often and eject the people who are being obnoxious. But they won't. They'd have to spend more money on employees and sacrifice a little bit of profit if they did that.
They know they have the only show in town. They know that we will pay WAY too much for our tickets, and snacks, and drinks, and keep coming back no matter how crappy the audience is. Unless you're really rich, where else can you see a movie on the big, wide screen with theater surround sound?

And have you ever noticed that EVERY theater in town charges the SAME amount for everything, even though they are all owned by different companies?

I won't and I don't. I haven't been in a movie theater in several years. I see the same movies; I just see them six months or so later on a much smaller screen in the quiet, comfort, and privacy of my own living room. And a video rents for less than a ticket these days. And the snacks are MUCH cheaper. The big screen and sound system are hardly missed. And my recliner is more comfortable than theater seats.

MOVIE THEATERS ARE DOOMED

I heard the on the news today about a new movie that's been released simultaneously on DVD and in theaters. And maybe even PPV, but I don't remember.

I HATE it when people do that. I always make a point of carrying my trash to the trash can on the way out. I would never leave my trash all over the theatre.

I do love going to the theatre, b/c I love the big screen and great sound. But people do make it very hard to enjoy! My pet peeves are the loud-mouths, but especially the people who kick all over the back of your seat! We have several new/revamped theatres in my home town, where there is more than enough leg room no matter how big/tall you are. Yet the last movie I saw over Christmas Break, my seat was continuosly being kicked/hit the entire movie. I would turn around as far as I could to let the person know I was feeling it, but never made a tiny bit of difference. In the theatres at home we do have ushers who come in at intervals, but rather than look for troublemakers like they are supposed to, they stand at the door and watch about 5-10 minutes of the movie before signing their paper and leaving again!

Yeah, the back of my chair got kicked today. And at least a dozen people came in (and talking, nonetheless) about 15 minutes into the movie! Bloody annoying.

Movie theater owners complain that pirated copies and DVDs are ruining the business, but perhaps they should take a closer look at whether they're offering an enjoyable experience for everybody by having and enforcing some rules?
We haven't been to the movies for a couple of years. It's cheaper, and more enjoyable, to watch the film on DVD in our own home. I think flat screen TVs and surround sound systems for the living room are going to be the final nail in the coffin. Even a lot of teenagers complain about movie theaters. It's by no means a "cheap date" anymore, and illegal downloads are still readily available.

I'm not sure why everyone thinks it's ok to trash theaters. I'm an oldie and I can remeber this being the practice back in the 60's when everyone seemed to be more into "Putting Litter In It's Place". For a long time, theaters didn't even provide trash receptacles. It was just considered the norm to leave your trash behind. I guess they figured if people would buy their high priced concessions that they'd sweep up after them. Odd, but true.

My biggest peeve is theaters now is CELL PHONES. The last time I went to a show it was in a stadium seating theater and the 20 somethings two rows down from us had their cell phones on text messaging through the whole show!! They probably thought it wasn't distracting but the light from their phones shone right up into my face, glinting off of my glasses. It got so bad I finally had to move. Now, why go to the show if you're just going to text all the way through it?? I just don't understand it.

We stopped going to movies a while ago. Mainly noise though. My BF lost some of his hearing when he was in the army, so any background noise is a problem for him. We either wait until everyone has seen it 50 times or for the DVD release.

But I agree, most of those people cleaning up the theatre are making minimum wage (at least around here). So you get paid crap to pick up other peoples crap. Are people that irresponsible???

Going along the idea, what drives me nuts are the people at the grocery stores that can't walk the 10 feet to put away their shopping cart. Instead they leave it floating in the parking lot waiting to smack someone's car.

While we don't have the high end plasma, big screen, we do have a pretty nice HD TV, and have had the surround sound for years. And while the movie theaters want the public to believe that it's all about illegal downloads and pirated movies, the fact is that I can wait - and there are so few movies coming out that I just HAVE to see on the big screen! - until it comes out on DVD and buy the movie for less than it would cost for the two of us to see it in a theater. Not including concessions. And I won't have to deal with the idiots in the theater. If someone starts yapping at me (which he does sometimes) or the kitties NEED my attention, I can pause the movie at home and not ruin my experience.

The theaters seem to care more about the $10 per ticket they are getting from the kids than the (a lot more) future dollars they could get from us adults if they would take a stand and remove the rude people. And obviously the parents who do bring their kids to movies aren't exactly training their kids to be good movie patrons...

I've also stopped going to the theatres, too, for the same reasons. Plus I hate sitting in a confined area for 2 hours, I just get way too sore. We usually wait for it to come out on DVD.
It has always bothered me how people are just so complacent about garbage. I could go off on a major rant about people & garbage, it can make me extremely angry how most people just don't care where they throw it. It's that whole out of sight out of mind mentality, it makes me sick.

One theatre I went too had sticky floors & seats, cockroaches, and broken seats, along with a torn movie screen! I never went back there.

I went to the cinema the other week, for the first time in ten years or more. Mainly I don't go because I can't bear the smell of popcorn! But also because of the noise & mess. I went this time to a local community cinema, in a converted little church building. It has 66 seats, and before the film starts the usherette comes out to ask if anyone needs an extra cushion! It was fantastic, and I'll definitely go back there again. Sound & picture were ace. We are lucky in that we have a choice of this little cinema (about 10 miles north of us), a bigger multi-screen in the local market town (about 10 miles south!) or another privately owned cinema about 15 miles away. None of the big chains will come to our area as it's too far away from a motorway I think!

Apparently I had an exceptional experience. My DF and I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia about 3 weeks ago - the 1st time we went to the movies in a loooooooooong time. We thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie was excellent, the theatre was clean. Other patrons were polite and quiet. The "big screen" is so much more intense than our 13" TV with phone interruptions, etc. It is a treat for us to go out. I really can't duplicate it in out living room.

As far as trash - yup - leaving it behind is very rude.

I would love to see drive-ins come back. Remember them?

We still have them here. One in the Denver area that I know of, still operating. The one in Ft. Collins is still there too.

They used to do this, at least in the theaters I used to go to when I was a teen. Well, this was in the big theater, not in the mega cinemas at the shopping centers or mall. I know this first had, because I and a few of my friends, were kicked out of a movie when I was a teen We were bored with the movie, not that we were bad kids. The movie was Saturday Night Fever. Whey on earth we went to see that, I will never know. Guess we were just bored to begin with or maybe we thougt it would have been a good movie to pick up girls, since it was just us 3 guys

I love movies, but I'm cheap. I only go to the theater if somebody else is paying my way. LOL Since I don't date much, that means I have seen about five movies in the theater in as many years.

I'm not the owner of some 'home theater' extravaganza, either. I have a 13-inch TV set and a cheapie VC player and a cheapie DVD player. But I would rather watch a movie on my little TV set in my apartment with my cats sacked out around me, where I can be in my jammies and eat whatever snacks I want, than pay almost ten bucks to sit in the dark with a bunch of rude pigs.

EDITED TO ADD that inexplicably, however, I love drive-ins if I'm with friends. But I happen to drive a big enough car that I wouldn't have my knees in my face for four hours. LOL

I love the drive-ins. In fact, I think I would rather see a movie there, than at an indoor theater. However, there seems to be less and less drive-ins around anymore. Living in the northern states, maybe there are less here, since the drive-ins can only be open for a few months out of the year.

most of the time, that's what i do. you can also pause the show to answer calls of nature! but i took my niece & nephew to see Narnia. & there are some movies that are just better on the big screen!

Drive-ins are a thing of the past for a number of reasons. I know a couple who opened one in the early 1950s, getting in on the rising trend, and sold the land about 15-20 years ago for beaucoup bucks. Back when they started their business, the land was out in the boonies and dirt cheap. Over the years, the city grew up around it and then encompassed it. The land values went up and the profits went down for several reasons:

Seeing a movie at a drive-in is fun, but if you're a movie purist, it's not the best choice. The picture will not be as good, for one thing, and if you're into special effects, you're better off at a cinema.

Cars are smaller now and not as comfortable to sit in for a double feature.

People aren't having bumper crops of kids anymore, so it's not so hard to scrounge up enough money to get them into a cinema. Back when four and five kids were common in a family, the drive-in, which let a carload in for one price, was a good deal.

Drive-ins always had to fight to get quality films to show. There's a reason why certain types of B-flicks are called "drive-in fodder." LOL

Drive-ins tended to be a family business, and as the owners got old enough to retire, they would sell the theater rather than handing it down. They'd ridden the crest of the craze and were ready to sell out and spend their golden years in comfort.

It's a shame, though. I have great memories of Mom and Dad packing the car and my brothers and I in our pajamas, going to see "Dumbo" or "Pinocchio" or whatever. LOL Those were the days.

I don't know what the Cinderella Twin is doing right, but they are doing something right. They run A movies within a week or two of release, double feature. It's $12/carload, unless it's one adult (+ child(ren)) then it's $9. Now I wanna go - but they don't open again until March.

http://www.cinderelladrivein.com/

aND they wonder why theater attendance is down. Duhhh

The last movie I went to see was Dukes of Hazard. I rarely go to the movies. The seats are to cramped and uncomfortable fro my 6'3 boyfriend, the temp is to cold for me since i am always cold anyways, the kids annoy me, everyone around me crunching on popcorn drives me insane, crying babies bother me, the loud mouths who yell at the screen bother me, not being able to see over the giant who always sits in front of me KILLS me, the prices are outrageous, everyones cells phones irritate me, I could go on but I think you all get the picture!

I had to sit and think a few moments to remember the last movie I saw in a theater! It was Disney's Aladdin at a midweek afternoon matinee. Only about 5 of us in the auditorium. Would love to see an IMAX production, but an illness last year makes sitting 2 hours without a bathroom break difficult.

And yes, I'm not fond of those folks who forget they are not at home and have to talk aloud like they do at home. I even hate that when they do it at home!