October 26, 2004

• Also, now that there are HDTVs and 5.1 surround sound, is it really worth it?
• If you don't want to be around people when you watch a movie, then you should stay home to watch one.
• I think both home theatre and the more public kind have their charms. If people get rude, that's what ushers are for. They or the manager will help out, exactly because they don't want people to stop going out to theatres. Even, so, I can sympathize because I wanted to swear theatres off after sitting behind a person in a crowded theatre who was intent on narrating the whole movie:

  No, at the AMC 24...No, that's the 12, this is the 24.
  
  Yeah, the one near that restaurant.
  
  No, not him, the cute one, yeah him, he's outside this empty house... ooh, here comes a big car. Pow! They tried to shoot him!

  So I also blame the "1 zillion minutes per month, free nights & weekends" cell phone plans! Who would narrate a movie if it cost $0.25/minute? :)
• Got me a movie I want you to know Slicing up eyeballs I want you to know ... wanna grow up to be a Debaser626
• 1. Go to matinees. It's cheaper, and there are fewer yahoos. My husband and I have been going to Sunday matinees every 2 weeks for over a year, and he and I both have an extremely low tolerance for assholism. But we love movies, and you just can't beat the big screen experience. 2. Go to arthouses. Go to see movies that you know the assholes won't be going to, like "Lost in Translation" and "Zatoichi". Up here in Winnipeg, we don't get any of the Afro-American stereotypes you mention - we have the middle-class whitebread stereotypes, laughing loudly and often at scenes that aren't funny, because they don't understand what's going on.
• Heh, Forks and I just had an interesting experience when we went to the ghetto theater in my neighborhood to see HERO. Besides the bad sound quality, and the shitty tracking on the picture, the usher nearly got into a fist fight with a couple of patrons. The balcony had been closed off, but two guys were sitting up there anyway. The usher asked them to move, and they became very pissy about it and started demanding their money back. Then they all left the theater, but soon the guys returned with the manager who let them sit in the balcony. At least this was before and not during the movie.
• Well I for one, would approve of them putting in cell phone blockers in the actual theaters, if you want to make/receive a call, simply step out to the lobby. Also, it could be perhaps NYers are just ruder than other citizens, but Matrix:Revolutions was the last straw for me. It had been 7 movies in a row where I got into arguments with fellow patrons. The ushers and manager only showed up one time, after the drunken idiot soiled himself.
• This isn't an answer to your questions, and maybe I am lucky, but I only go to my local repertory or "short run" cinema, The Bytown Cinema, where in general people are a lot more focussed on the film and respectful towards their neighbours (and a $9.50 annual membership gets you a $5.50 tickets for all films). They also run mini-festivals such as the best ads and animation. They can't afford to buy first-run films, of course, but even the blockbusters get there eventually, and they do buy many great films that never make it to the local cine-malls (small budget, foreign, controversial, etc.). Is there a theatre like that near you? You might have to wait a while to see the latest Hollywood offering but membership certainly has its privileges.
• I love going to movies, even with the yahoos. I do, however, resent the cost, particularly here in New York City. NO matinees at any of the theaters convenient to me. There are a few theaters in Queens and Brooklyn that have cheap nights or matinees, but the hassle counteracts the cost benefit. and yes cellphone use in the theater is a crime to contemtable to discuss. am I the only one uncomfortable with the raciscm inherent in something awful point number two? OK, I'll just keep quiet about it.
• I meant "too contemptable", FFS.
• am I the only one uncomfortable with the raciscm inherent in something awful point number two? Well, it made me a little squirmy, but stereotypical behavior exists, and it's hard to talk about it without addressing the stereotype, no?
• I go to the theater to or three times a month. I've never seen a single person use a cell phone during a movie, and frankly find it hard to believe that sort of thing ever happens.
• There is no movie yet made that is so compelling that I can't wait the 6 months for the DVD. rubs hands gleefully in anticipation of this weekiend's midnight Fes-only screening of the Dawn of the Dead remake, playing at the "Hitachi Theatre" near my couch
• Ha, I DID see a fist fight once. I forget what movie it was, but basically these kids, little ones, were dancing right underneath the screen. The usher repeatedly told them to sit down, but being 5, who listens? whoever they were with ended up talking trash to the usher and punched him. The usher scurried away. Next thing you know, lights come on, film stops, cops roll in....end of story.
• It amazes me how many people don't realize that they're not watching the movie in their own living room, where they can do whatever the hell they want. Jonathan Franzen wrote a good essay about this awhile back -- he called it something like "the disappearance of the public", IIRC. Personally, I don't go out to the movies that often, but not for that reason. For me it's just too damned expensive, and most movies aren't worth a $10 admission.
• Movies have definitely become ridiculous in NYC. If it's at all a popular movie you pretty much have to use something like Fandango to get tickets in advance, end up paying $12, and have to sit next to loud, obnoxious idiots. My solution has been primarily to go see movies at odd times on weekdays, especially in less-popular theaters. I've been known to skip out of work early and head up to East 28th street to catch matinees. Saw Kill Bill 2 there and was one of only 4 people in the theater. Definitely the way to go.
• dirtdirt - I was uncomfortable when I read that as well. Personally, I think everyone who talks to the screen should be drawn and quartered, regardless of race or ethnicity. In my recent theater forays, the most irritating parts have been the packs of 14 year olds who run from theater to theater because their parents dumped them off at the multiplex for the afternoon. Also young children in R rated movies, even if they don't make a sound, because they don't need to be subjected to that visual and auditory assault. I am only comforted when I think of the sleep those parents will lose soothing their terrified kids back to sleep after the inevitable nightmares.
• am I the only one uncomfortable with the raciscm inherent in something awful point number two? I too was put off by it but thought maybe I was alone in that.
• with few exceptions, I've pretty much given up on first-run showings. I'll wait for the $2 theater, where my wife and I can go out to a movie, get popcorn and drinks, and only pay $11 between us, instead of $30. and unlike the dollar theaters where I grew up, it seems to be less rowdy and packed with screaming kids of all ages there than the major multiplexes.
• I go to the theater to or three times a month. I've never seen a single person use a cell phone during a movie, and frankly find it hard to believe that sort of thing ever happens. I don't think there's much use for cell phones at adult cinemas. Hands being busy and such.
• Yeah, very few movies are worth $10. I generally wait until they come to my university a semester or two later for the bargain price of $1. What I find most offensive about movie theatres is the increasing popularity of advertisements in the hour-long prologue before the movie. Some of these adverts are beyond awful: they remind paying customers how much of a mortal sin it is to copy and distribute movies in violation of copyright. I have now started to arrive at the theatre about 45 minutes after the indicated start-time, even though I sometimes don't get good seats.
• First-run films are too damn expensive, and I'd rather give my cash to a good local band. Fortunately we live a few blocks from this. It was a huge deciding factor on where we bought a house. $3, stadium seating, real butter on the popcorn. It's got a strong neighborhood feel, and I've never heard anyone get noisy or obnoxious. I suspect any loudmouths would get frogmarched by the audience, if not the owners. If you can't find a good short-run theater, how about a local film society?
• Another vote for yay! matinee! -- It's cheaper, less crowded (except in bad weather), and really the only way a misanthope like me should dare to go to a mall-cinema. But I'm mostly able to avoid those anyway, since our town has two nice old art-houses, one of which has couches, and both of them tend to show the movies I'd really rather see.
• Also, if you luck out and get to watch your movie in an empty theater, you can take your pants off.
• um. I will be the lone voice of dissent (eek!) and say that I patronize my local movie theatre quite a bit. It's independent, but pays a variety of films (saw Shawn of the Dead on Sunday). It's $10, but it is NYC (Brooklyn, actually). It's around the corner from my house, the people who work there are nice, and it's filled with neighborhood people. Occasional annoyances, but on the whole, quite good. So, there are still some nice places left.
• You should just do like me and be a college perfesser. If I want to catch a flick, I just leave the office and go see it during the day when regular folks (or, as I like to call them, "The Dirty People") are at work. I pay $5 or $5.50, it's never crowded, and I'm back home before rush hour. During the school year, there's not even kids, mostly middle-aged folks who are nice and quiet. Did I mention getting summer off, and three weeks at Christmas? I knew those 287 years of grad school would be worth it...
• I haven't been to a movie since 2000 when I suffered through morons talking all the way through American Beauty. After that I vowed never to go to the movies again. Another reason I hate going to the movies is some jackass coming in late always tries to sit on me. For crying out loud, I'm over six feet tall and weigh 230 pounds, surely they see me.
• I was really, really hoping that somebody in the audience would get rowdy during What the Bleep Do We Know, people would yell at the screen, balloon to triple their normal weight directly in front of me, stage Rocky Horror style productions in the front of the theater, or an asteroid would strike, or something, because O God the pain. Ordinarily, not so much.
• am I the only one uncomfortable with the raciscm inherent in something awful point number two? Well, it made me a little squirmy, but stereotypical behavior exists, and it's hard to talk about it without addressing the stereotype, no? I'm pretty sure there are no African-Americans in the cinemas I usually go to, but there are no shortage of arseholes.
• Even _with_ a good dvd player and big TV I don't think I would watch a lot at home. There's something about paying $14 CAD to sit in a big crowded room with floors sticky from spilled popcorn and soda, surrounded by annoying people to watch 20 minutes of ads and trailers _before_ the movie.... I have to agree with the other comments - indie and repertoire cinemas are the solution. Another is to avoid opening night and always come five minutes late to avoid the worst of the ads.
• We've got the Alamo Drafthouse down here, which is movies the way Jehovah himself wanted us to see them - pizza, beer, and other food brought to you by quiet and patient waiters. They get first run movies plus a generous selection of revivals and art house films. I usually go catch the matinee. I stil haven't been through one of their butt-buster marathon movie sessions (people bring pillows to that one), but I hear it's a great time. Best of all, I've never seen a child on the premises.
• Alex Reynolds: heh, alright, you got me. nicola: You aren't the lone voice of dissent. I've made a couple posts of the same. Lots of people fail to realize that going out in public means there'll be other people around, and these people won't be gagged and handcuffed. The theater is a social place, not your private living room. Do you go to a sports bar and tell everyone to shut up, you're trying to watch a game? Do you go to the beach and tell everyone to be quiet so you can nap? When you go to a funny movie, there'll be people laughing. It's retarded to expect them not to. That's why they're there, to laugh. When you go a scary movie, people will jump and scream, that's why they're there. When you go to a cheesy movie, people will yell shit at the screen, that's why they're there. If you want to watch in stony silence, with your hands on your lap and your eyes front and center, that's fine. But don't expect the rest of the theater to be so emotionless.
• If you don't want to be around people when you watch a movie, then you should stay home to watch one. Um, some people don't like to be around RUDE people. I love sitting in packed movies, but the day the woman took her shoes off and put her stinky feet on my friend's armrest, I was a little put off. But I guess I shouldn't have complained. I was there to BE WITH people.
• Mr. Knickerbocker: No one's expecting people to sit in utter silence at a movie theater. Where did you get that idea? We're talking about common courtesy, about people not acting like utter retards out in public.
• I'm sorry but people that pay $10 for a movie deserve to have a crappy expereince. That is insane. I will also second the matine idea. I have seen everal movies on the day it opened at the first matine with only a handfull of people in the theater, meaning that I am sitting at home, already having seen the movie, while people are lined up outside to see it and pay more to do so!
• The experience of the big, huge-ass screen and the thundering sound still can't be replaced by any home system, unless you have your own THX-certified mini screening room. And while I still recall fondly the huge movie houses of my childhood, the stadium-style seating of most smaller, modern 'plexes help enjoying the film even more. And that's a shame, because it takes so little to ruin the magic: the idiots answering 'I'm at the movies, CAN'T SPEAK RIGHT NOW!!!!!', the unruly kids, the snickering comentators, not to mention the bumbling projectionists. In fact, that's been my main beef in a couple recent visits, some technical mishap that causes people to start hollering until someone runs out to find an employee. And while I can safely say I hate the rest of humanity as much as any other movie fan, there's that thrill involving an audience going breathless, or mesmerized, or crying out in laughter, or jumping out of their seats, that still makes one feel like it's a real, living movie.
• I patronize my local theatre 4 times a month on average. Usually pull a double header one Friday, which is a blast. Usually there aren't too many creeps and weirdos in the audience, though my viewing of Kill Bill 2 was nearly ruined by a little shite sitting in front of me who kept fake laughing throughout the entire thing. I was | | close to smashing my cell phone into the back of his head, but I thought that might have gotten a little out of hand.
• My theory is that this has mostly been caused by the video/dvd culture that people are growing up on. I am 34. When I was younger, I did not see movies more than a couple of times. They were in theatres. They came to HBO a year or two. They came to the networks a few years later. Now children watch their favorite DVD dozens -- if not hundreds -- of times. As teens, they watch the same movie over and over and over in their homes with their friends. They talk throughout the movie because they are with their friends. When they go into theatres, it follows that they talk during the movie because that is what they have become conditioned to do. It bothers me tremendously. Luckily, I go see movies that other people seem not to be too interested in. As such, I don't experience it as much as I am sure others do. I think that confronting those people and making a scene is the most useful way to combat that behavior, but I am not always in the mood to do so.
• And yes, if you can get away with it, sneaking out from office during lunch hour(s), erm, attending during matinees and other non-peak hours has quite a lot going for it. Almost empty places so you can find the seat you like, few annoyances... go with a friend, smuggle some tasty food: heaven. Hypothetical situation. No employees of ThePlaceFlagpoleWorksAt, Inc., have ever indulged in such corrupt practices. Ever.
• Read the comments in this thread about how to deal with the public. Killing, electronic implants, drawn and quartering, etc... These are supposed to be coming from the people with manners and common courtesy? It's the other people who are rude? pff According to what I see posted, it would seem near impossible to have a good movie-going experience. But I can't be that damn lucky, so it's seems more likely that people are either blowing things way out of proportion, or their projecting and/or manifesting these bad situations upon themselves. exampe: Someone forgets to shut off their cell phone. It rings twice before they manage to shut it off. I'm already upset at paying $9 for a crappy movie, and the $5 popcorn is covered with watery butter, so then I come home, get on the internets, and post about the guy who was talking on the phone the whole movie! And then he threw popcorn at me, and then he pulled out a gun, no a flamethrower! It was awful! Poor me. It's not concievable that these bad situations are in anyway common. I'm sure flukes happen once in a great while, but people are acting like they happen often. Go there expecting to have a bad time, and you probably will. Go there and dwell on negative shit, and you'll probably not enjoy the experience. Go there to have a good time, and you'll probably enjoy your movie, and you'll make the social experience better for everyone else, too.
• Lots of people fail to realize that going out in public means there'll be other people around, and these people won't be gagged and handcuffed. The theater is a social place, not your private living room. Do you go to a sports bar and tell everyone to shut up, you're trying to watch a game? WTF? You can't be serious. That's the stupidest worst analogy I've ever heard. Technically a sidewalk is a public place, correct? Well, tonight in my neighborhood they're having a candlelight vigil for a boy that was killed in a hit and run. Me and my friends were going to hang out on the corner and drink beer tonight, but I won't let a little thing like a vigil stop me. Oh, and don't worry, I won't forget to bring the boombox. After all, it's public space. There's a time and place for certain social behavior, regardless of your surroundings. I think the reason that the murder rate in America is so high has nothing to do with gun availability or video games. It's the sheer amount of rude, arrogant, inconsiderate assholes that drive people to snap and kill people. I do realize that there will be people around when I go out in "public" I just find myself praying that I don't run into assholes. Who, by the way, should be cuffed and gagged before we let them out. Use your inside voice Knickerbocker.
• Bunnies!
• exampe: Someone forgets to shut off their cell phone. It rings twice before they manage to shut it off. I'm already upset at paying $9 for a crappy movie, and the $5 popcorn is covered with watery butter, so then I come home, get on the internets, and post about the guy who was talking on the phone the whole movie! And then he threw popcorn at me, and then he pulled out a gun, no a flamethrower! It was awful! Poor me. You have no clue as to what you are talking about. If someone forgets to shut off their cell and it rings twice, that's fine. When someone answers their phone and says "Hold on, this is a really good part, let me call you back in 5 minutes." and then proceeds to CALL THE PERSON BACK 5 MINUTES LATER WHILE STILL IN THE THEATER, now it's go time! As far as you never having an issue with rude people at the movies, you're either very lucky, or part of the problem. "Stupid is as a stupid does."
• Kittens!
• *takes a deep breath* I like kittens
• I guess bunnies don't have the defusing potential that kittens have.
• Read the comments in this thread about how to deal with the public. Killing, electronic implants, drawn and quartering, etc... These are supposed to be coming from the people with manners and common courtesy? It's the other people who are rude? pff A certain amount of exaggeration is a common way to voice frustration, Mr. K ... or should I call you Mr. Troll?
• Sorry... was in the middle of a rant scroll, almost broke the wheel on my mouse :)... missed the bunnies...
• There are too many kittens. I don't know where to start. I'm still grouchy!
• *WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!*
• The seal looked at me! Urge to kill ... falling ...
• Mr. K ... or should I call you Mr. Troll? Oh for cripe's sake. We've got to stop throwing that word around. Knickerbocker has an insightful point, even if you don't like it.
• Maybe their love will help soothe this.
• If you two are trying to convince me that it's you who are the victims of other people's bad manners, you need to work on the presentation of your own manners first. But fine, you really want me to act like you're the victim, here you go: Movie watchers are out to get you, they hate you, they want you drawn and quartered and put into reducation camps. Here's all my sympathy. Have fun with it, because that's all I have left. I'm done.
• OK, so maybe "troll" was a bit extreme, but he does seem to be leaping to wild conclusions about what we were saying about the behavior of some people in public. It does have a tendency to derail a thread.
• If you two are trying to convince me that it's you who are the victims of other people's bad manners, you need to work on the presentation of your own manners first. I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I was just pointing out that you're obviously an ignorant assh... oooh kittens!
• I go to the movies on a weekly basis, and don't care about the ridiculous prices - I'd pay even more because I love to see the products of peoples' creativity and passion. Books and art and music rock my inner world, as well. I like the latest shows because I prefer cell phones to toddlers. Out here in suburbia, even a noon showing of Slutty Druggies Get Beheaded will have 20 little kids squirming and blabbering out of boredom/trauma. I won't go to movies at Shoreline anymore, because for some inane reason, every other row of seats reclines, which means that half the people get to lean back and hear the gape-mouthed popcorn eaters, and the other half get to be pissed off that they don't get to recline.
• I miss Drive-In theaters, sigh...
• I was going to say that drive-in movies are a great way to get out and get the big screen without the annoying people. If you have a good car stereo you'll have decent quality sound (that's if the theatre transmits the sound over a low-range radio frequency, like the one in Santa Cruz does). The drawbacks are cramped seating, but no worse than a normal movie theatre, really, and the occasional driver flashing their headlights either on the screen or in your eyes as they arrive or leave. That said, I've never had a truly unpleasant movie-theatre experience. Very few cellphones have rung around me and I've never heard someone have an actual conversation on their phone while in the theatre. When my son was but a few weeks old, we'd go to a special mother-baby movie screening, usually mid-morning when the normal punters weren't interested, and even that wasn't so bad. I've had one experience of being an asshole at the movies, when I went to a different movie theatre than usual for their babies-allowed screening, but because they were only a small theatre it was really just a matinee with lower prices for parents of kids. So there I was with a wriggling, squeaky 6-month-old and thinking it wasn't so bad because everyone else had their wriggling kids too, and some guy started yelling at me from the back row. I guess the ticket desk didn't bother telling the punters that babies would be at that particular screening.
• During one of the many times that I have been stranded in a city here in the UK due to the atrocious public transport, having many hours to kill, I went to see "Titanic" at a cinema in the centre of Birmingham. There were a *lot* of mobile phone idiots there, but the real corker was that a very large percentage of the audience left as the ship sunk. As far as they were concerned, that was the end of the film. Some people may say that they have a point of course. I admit it though, I enjoyed that film on the big screen, and shed a private tear ot two.
• The cell phone debate and general increase in (my perceived) rudeness of people, is perhaps best left for another thread, but I wanted to mention that I was a weekly moviegoer for many, many, years and rarely experienced a problem. I don't mind the kids so much, as long as it's a kid-appropriate movie. For instance, when I went to go see Toy Story 2, I was not incensed by kids talking and carrying on as kids do, it was fully expected that I would have to endure that, and I knew that certain things would arise which I normally would not tolerate. That said, I believe I mentioned earlier that I had 7 consecutive "problem movie nights." These problems ranged from the horrific: A drunk man screaming, carrying on and eventually defecating himself (he was wearing tan khakis, and the mgr. had the lights turned when they ejected him. ew.), the aforementioned "call you back in 5 min," to the less horrible, inane chatter: older woman: "What's he doing now?" older man:"For the last time, if you watch the movie you'll find out!!!" older woman:"ok, but oooh what's that for? what's he going to do with that?!" older man: *sit's in seething silence, along with everyone around him as the woman continues her commentary for the next hour* Perhaps I just have horrible luck, but in talking with several of my ex-movie going compatriots (the actual reason for this post), even they have noticed it's getting worse, slowly but surely our (initially 10+ people) movie "club" has dwindled to about 3 or 4 people, mostly due to audience behavior, with the increase in movie ticket price being the camel's straw. However, I just might try the Angelika or Cobble Hill Cinemas again (small indy/artsy type theaters).
• Chrid, you wuss.
• Problem with Drive-ins is people's headlights. Last time I went to one, half the movie was washed out by people's headlights.
• My heart will go on, goddamnit.
• The day the movie theatre died for me was seeing the Movie "Colors". The audience sat with on duty San Bernardino Sheriffs because of a previous drive by shooting at the theatre. Worse, our party had to ditch our beer because of them
• I gotta say that I'm pretty surprised at how normal of a thread (minus the bit of food-throwing up above) this has become... considering how racist the post is. Hey people, wake up, racial stereotypes aren't cool, and we shouldn't be posting them on our monkeyfilter, and we sure as hell SHOULD be calling them out when we find them. Debaser626: what the fuck? But then again, my biggest problem at theaters is when those Jews make all that noise trying to collect all the loose change on the floor in the middle of the show (what do they care? They own it all anyways....)
• I'm sorry if you found the author's off color humor in his article to be racist. 'nuff said... No point in getting any deeper into it. Not the point of the thread anyway.
• *waves at thomcatspike*
• I agree with the thing about black people and would further like to add that I hate having to dodge the chicken bones / watermelon rinds they toss behind themselves as they watch movies.
• ian would say, I concur. another reason I stay away from SA
• C'mon guys, Cabingirl has BUNNIES! Soft, fluffy bunnies! Think of bunnies and relax. I dislike the movie theatres because of the commercials. Usually, our theatres have 10-15 minutes of commercials, shown with the wrong lens so the Nascar Coke-drinkers and BodySpray shirtless dudes look all squashed and wide. So, for Sky Captain I get there 5, just 5 minutes late. And those lousy so-and-sos started the movie ON TIME! Arrgh! You can't win. /end rant.
• The thing I hate most about racial and ethnic stereotypes is when people live up to them. So if any of you reading this are members of a race or ethnic group, please don't do those things the rest of us expect you to. Many of us are trying our hardest not to be prejudiced and you're not helping out here at all. For example, I'm a mostly white straight male yet you'll never catch me dancing in public. Can't you show the same consideration? Thanks. Bless the local second-run theater. $4 matinees and a diverse and mostly well-behaved clientele. Plus popcorn with actual real butter on it not "Golden Flavor Syrup".
• Regarding "Golden Flavor Syrup"...a few months ago I was at a Giganto-plex theater standing in the concession line waiting to get a $9 soda and watched person after person pump gobs and gobs of whatever that butter substitute is supposed to be on their popcorn. Gobs and gobs and gobs...I was physically sickened.
• Wow lots of comments. I'll just throw in my vote for non-peak matinee shows - or at least non-weekend nights. I used to work near a theatre, and it was a wonderful way to sit out the Dallas rush hour (waiting until 7 cut about an hour off my commute - so I saw a film and "saved" an hour!) And mainly - the $5.00 tickets drew me. I like the cinema, but man - it costs the wife and I $18 now to go at night. We're on a tight budget, so paying that much can actually effect my enjoyment of a movie. The bastards here also charge an *extra* $2 per ticket if you want to buy them online, which means I either have to sacrifice my preferred method of purchase, or pay $22 for two movie tickets. The last film we saw in the theatre (Maria Full of Grace) was a good movie - but the thought of paying so much just nagged at the back of my mind. I guess the theatres have hit a price point that makes sense to them economically, but it's definitely to the point where it has driven me away.
• there's that thrill involving an audience going breathless, or mesmerized, or crying out in laughter, or jumping out of their seats, that still makes one feel like it's a real, living movie. Yes. That moment when the audience spontaneously erupts into applause after or even during a great movie is another one I enjoy. Sometimes I want other reacting people around me even if I've decided to go to a movie alone. I think, though, that I'm probably in the minority when it comes to liking it when people talk back to the screen. I miss going to the movies with my former roommate who would burst out with "Jesus!" at scary movies and once, "but she's only 15, you fool" during American Beauty. Reading this thread, I gather it was my civic duty to muffle her and that those kind of outbursts are at the mild end of the spectrum.
• Okay, here's one time when audience participation made a movie better. Y'know in Crouching Tiger, Hidden dragon, there's the fight early on when the older dude gets killed. He's hit by this flying metallic star thing which kinda imbeds itself in his forehead, right? But the star thing is kinda wiggling a little in the air. And the dude's got this "I am so dead" look in his face. And the hero dudes all gather around and they have this "you are so dead" sad faces. Ok, so when i saw the film, the theatre was packed and when the wiggling happened, one soul started laughing. And then a lot of us just broke up and laughed. It was a riot! Cuz it was really funny, just the timing of the laugh and the wiggly metal thing, and the sad you are so dead faces and... well, uh, guess you had to be there. Ahem.
• Berkeley Matinee @ Independance Day. My wife and a friend of ours attempt to watch this film in white bread, university-classroom silence. We had far less fun than the other several hundred African Americans who whooped and hollered and yelled their heads off and gave us leave to try some ourselves. Ethnic stereotypes my foot. Also, Something Awful is rather too much a hardcore satire site to get all cranky about on such a serious level. They're all like 18 there! Excuse the apparent contradictoriality, but lighten up! Eyes on the Prize!
• but lighten up! Honestly, you white supremacists never let it go ...
• drivingmenuts I wish they had one of those dinner and a movie places in Calgary. I've heard of them before and they always get me going "I Wish". I also miss drive ins. They used to have a four screen place not ten block from my house. I don't know if Canadians just have a finer sense of when to shut the lights off because of our cold weather or something but I never remember anyone shining their lights on the screen.
• The thing I hate most about racial and ethnic stereotypes is when people live up to them..... ...For example, I'm a mostly white straight male yet you'll never catch me dancing in public. Sigh. Exactly. That is the stereotype, you moron. And yes, the thing I do hate most about ethnic stereotypes is when people live up to them. Like those jews, when you see them running banks and newspapers, doesn't that just piss you off? Because, I mean, that's all they ever do. Can you not see the point?
• goblins was the first movie i really enjoyed at the theater. the theater was very old, and played the same soundtrack before every movie. you could judge how long you had before the movie actually started, and it often led to sign alongs. i still know all the words to that song "who's that doggy in the window". me, my brother and a great number of our mates were there, and were occuping our time in the usual fashion. rolling jawbreakers into the center speaker box. we choose our seats so we could improve our chances at this game. most jawbreakers would miss, and would roll back down into the seats, and most of these ended up at our feet. it was bedlam. shortly after the movie started a massive food fight began. it was a rather pitched battle, and fierce, shifting from food to basicly anything at hand. i got hit by a roll of tp, and i returned fire with all the filthy jawbreakers at my feet. all this started by an adult; my best friends father. i should note this was the only nice- interesting? - thing that man ever did. it doesn't make up for him chasing me around with a hatchet. (i did make fun of wresling. i was also all of nine years old) but it comes close. the movie ran through this without pause. this is/was the only theater in town. there usually was a good deal of yelling at the screen. many adults hated it, because they wouldn't be able to see movies like goblins without mayhem and such. the theater has since been renovated, and is much quieter, and someone could now enjoy hollywood tripe in peace. is it better? maybe. I'm sorry if you found the author's off color humor in his article to be racist. 'nuff said... No point in getting any deeper into it. Not the point of the thread anyway posted by Debaser626 at 10:31PM UTC on October 26 allow me to clearly state: your off "color humor" is racist. i don't find it that way, or believe it so. it is. you are racist. don't feel sorry someone "found" your statements that way. feel sorry you can't see the difference.