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I rarely go as we have a home theatre. But, took my teen-ager to see American Hustle during Christmas ~ and for the first time ever, found myself looking around at the crowded theatre and planning my exit strategy should things get dicey. I do live in a fairly big city. I didn't like that feeling at all. I'll probably stick to watching movies at home in the future.
And this was BEFORE the guy got killed for texting!
Should I let this thread die? Should I not post this as the last post was 3-odd days ago? I don't know, but here I go.
Someone mentioned how cell phones were turned off, as in right away, even before the movie started, they were apparently alluding to the FL Wesley shooting incident & people's behaviors since then. This is my response to that.
Again, I rarely go to theaters anymore anyway, but if anything, this only emboldens me to use my phone MORE during the previews--again, I stress the previews, as a backlash to that sort of stupidity. The point I made earlier is, to me, even more pronounced in light of that shooting--that is, people are WAY overreacting to cell phones, WAY overreacting, especially when you flip your lid over its usage during the PREVIEWS & feel compelled to follow a woman to the bathroom to get on her case about it, as happened in that case.
I mean, during the previews, so many people are coming & going anyway, between the late arrivals and the people getting up to get soda/popcorn, and having to go "excuse me, pardon me, thank you" while you have to move out of the way, someone texting is the least distracting thing in the world at that point. If such bothers you THAT much, to me the offender isn't the cell phone user, it's the one making a mountain out of a molehill.
Again, I stress--I am speaking of the PREVIEWS mostly, although I will go farther still and say that I am even referring to usage during the movie itself, so long as such usage is VERY BRIEF (I'm thinking 5-10 seconds, 1-2 times total) and the person still does things such as turn the brightness down and/or "shield" the screen.
Understand--while I somewhat don't see what the big deal is personally, enough people have stated of how the light is a "beacon" in such an environment that I can see their point with regards to such cases. That is, if you're thinking of using your phone during the movie, then don't do so in the same manner you would as if you're all at home alone, because you're not. The light is very bright in that dark of a room, to just whip it out & use it and to do so repeatedly like it's nothing does seem to be rude somewhat. I compare it to children noise in that such noises really bother me & others act like it's no big deal, but it really bothers me I don't care if it doesn't bother them, so therefore this is the reverse of that on my end and I (and others) are obligated to modify their behavior based on that.
However, to throw the mother of all fits over someone using their phone BRIEFLY and QUICKLY, and especially when they're using it during the previews--get over yourself, stop being so touchy. To compare this to the children scenario--as much as I hate noisy children, if someone's child started making fuss but it ended quickly either on its own from running its course or from the parents intervening, then frankly I need to let that go and not make a big deal out of it when it was so brief to start with, and ESPECIALLY if the parents intervened. To me, this occasion was that sort of thing.
Moreover, speaking of child noise, the victim had in fact hired a sitter, let's not forget that. He was doing what many of us admonish others to do, and all he was doing was touching base with his sitter during the previews before the movie itself started. That to me was a very reasonable thing for him to do, and NO reason for the shooter to go so bat-doo-doo crazy. People like that, even if they don't resort to shooting, to me they need to stay home as much as the noisy people do, because frankly their expectations are way out of reasonable proportions.
I have never been to a theater where a riot or a brawl has happened. That said, I only go to the movies 3 or 4 times a year. Why spend $10 to $15 on a movie ticket where some movie goers have no common courtesy to turn off their cell phones or so forth when I can watch a movie in the comfort of my own home?
If there is one thing I love about movie theater nowadays is they all have stadium seating. Growing up before most theater's had stadium seating, it was a nuisance to have some person in front of you blocking the screen.
I have never been to a theater where a riot or a brawl has happened. That said, I only go to the movies 3 or 4 times a year. Why spend $10 to $15 on a movie ticket where some movie goers have no common courtesy to turn off their cell phones or so forth when I can watch a movie in the comfort of my own home?
If there is one thing I love about movie theater nowadays is they all have stadium seating. Growing up before most theater's had stadium seating, it was a nuisance to have some person in front of you blocking the screen.
Oma gosh, I forgot about those days, that brings back such memories. Especially bad if you were a little kid stuck behind any tall people.
Oma gosh, I forgot about those days, that brings back such memories. Especially bad if you were a little kid stuck behind any tall people.
Growing up, when my parents took my brother and sisters to the movie theatre (which was not often), my dad would get upset if someone would sit in front of us. We would go when it was not as busy but I remember it would never fail that someone would sit down in front of us even though the theatre was not busy
Digging up an old thread, since reading this reminded me of why I don't go to movie theaters anymore. I used to a be a big movie theater fan, and used to sometimes go up to 2-3 times a week back in the 200X's.
However, in the past 5-7 years, I stopped going nearly as often - for various reasons:
-I hate crowds. Even the matinees are sometimes crowded.
-Expense - there is no way I am paying $15 for a ticket, when I can buy the Blu-ray for that much when it comes out about 3-4 months later.
-Unruly/rude movie patrons. I have been in theaters were people have talked incessantly, gotten up out of their seats numerous times, brought noisy children, etc. No thanks.
-Concerns with personal safety: After all the problems in the news re: violence/brawls happening in the movie theaters, there is no way I want to get caught up in something like that.
Going along with the above:
Also, my home video system is fairly good these days, so while it's not as good as seeing a film on a huge screen, it's still a nice viewing experience.
And:
In the past, a lot of more obscure/independent/foreign films that may have gotten limited release movie theatre play (depending on where you lived), but they didn't always make it to home video. However, these days, even the most obscure film will typically make it to DVD/Blu-ray.
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Especially bad if you were a little kid stuck behind any tall people.
