cinema rage (1 Viewer)

[Ken Chan]

Has there ever been a time in history when social commentators weren't saying this?

Right; so we're now more rude and selfish than ever. Is this a good thing?
I suppose some neo-puritan/fascist backlash could happen someday (e.g. The Handmaid's Tale), and commentators would be forced to agree that, by golly, we sure are more polite since. Of course in that case, the cure is worse than the disease.
I'd like to think that there is some middle ground, where people enjoy their freedoms with a little frickin' responsibility. But frankly, there's just this big chunk of the population that is too damn stupid.
//Ken

 

[Deborah*T]

Ken Said:

I suppose some neo-puritan/fascist backlash could happen someday (e.g. The Handmaid's Tale),

I only saw that quite recently. Scarey stuff. Really, it scared me more than most horror films I have seen.

 

[BarryR]

I don't go to movies much lately, but recently I went to see CHICAGO at a UA Stadium theater. To my shock the evening show was well regulated from the get-go; the crowd I was with weren't allowed in until the auditorium had been cleared and cleaned; the projection was flawless, and while the mostly older crowd (50+ in years mostly) were relatively subdued watching the film, it was very nice to have that instead of raucous, rude mayhem. Oh yeah, the design of the seats in this theater were really good too.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I remember going to see LOTR: TTT on the 2nd day out. Of course it was still full of LOTR fanatics, who thought there was nothing better to do but discuss The Two Towers/Return Of The King spoilers among each other. (I did not read the novels, and I tried to keep myself spoiler free. Thanks guys! I hope you choke on your popcorn next time you go to the movies)

Forgive me, but I have no sympathy. The books have been out for 50 years, if you haven't read them, it's your own fault. No one should watch a movie instead of reading the original book

 

[Patrick Sun]

Why? Some people prefer reading books, others prefer watching films/TV. Didn't realize there was a prerequisite for doing one before engaging in the other.

 

[Vickie_M]

Forgive me, but I have no sympathy. The books have been out for 50 years, if you haven't read them, it's your own fault. No one should watch a movie instead of reading the original book

and a whole bunch more. I HATE that attitude! Why do you assume everybody does or should have the same life and literary experiences as you do? New Tolkien fans are made and born every minute. Who are you to take someone to task for not having read the books before the movies came out? Unless you are of an age to where you bought each of the books, as they came out, and as soon as they were put on the shelf to be sold (or checked out), there was a period of time between when the books were published and when you read them. Why didn't you read them earlier????
Of all the elitist garbage Tolkien fans can spout, this is the one that really gets my goat. I just had a run-in with someone like you on another forum, because they gave away the ending, without warning, and rationalized it by saying EXACTLY what you just said. I had read the books, but other people in the thread (which wasn't and shouldn't have been a spoiler thread) hadn't. People were very angry and I was angry for them. That's just a lousy attitude toward people who are obviously enjoying Tolkien, even if it's via the movies. Many will go on, or have gone on, to read the books, like me. I went into the movie not knowing ANYTHING about the story. Except for brief forays into horror (via Stephen King) and science fiction, and a limited amount of other fiction, I spent most of my life scarfing up biographies, history books, textbooks, true-crime, and factual essays. I lived and breathed non-fiction from the time I was a kid. I always thought real life was more interesting on the page than made up lives (movies are a different story, though I've always loved documentaries). Other than "The Once and Future King," and a trilogy that a friend wrote, fantasy was never a part of my reading life.
Then I saw Fellowship. I was breathless, on the edge of my seat, not wanting to blink for fear of missing anything. Not knowing what was going to happen next was enthralling. When it was over, I had to know what was going to happen next, so I inhaled the 4 books (I'm including The Hobbit) after seeing the movie. Here was a whole new world that I hadn't known existed. Of course, I'd heard of it, but didn't know much more than the title. This attitude of "you should've read the books by now" is not only elitist, it's downright rude. EVERY FAN HAS A BEGINNING. Unless you're an ancient old fart, there are thousands of fans who had their beginnings before YOU DID. Would they be right to snif their noses at you?
I have no idea how old you are, but let's say you first read the books in 1970. The Hobbit was first published in 1937. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were released in 1954. The Return of the King came out in 1955. They would have been out for 33, 16 and 15 years. I guess you wouldn't deserve any sympathy if someone had spoiled the books for you, since it would have been your own fault for not reading them before then. Right? According to your logic, am I right?
This movie vs. book thing is lousy too. What's WRONG with someone seeing the movies before reading the books? The first movie got me to read the books, and judging by the bestseller lists, they're getting a lot of other people to read them too. The Bakshi and Rankin-Bass movies got a lot of people to read the books for the first time too. What's the difference?
I hate to lash out, but...well, to quote the movie Eowyn, "your words are poison."

 

[Tommy G]

Vickie, my wife is in the almost same exact situation as you described. She saw Fellowship and wanted to know what was next but not enough to read the books. She saw Towers and now she is finally reading the books and discovering for herself how much more satisfying it is. There are a few movies which have inspired book reading for me. I am not a Stephen King fan at all but I saw "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me" and absolutely loved both of those movies. I still have no desire to read Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption or Stand By Me. My golden rule is when in doubt....use spoilers. If you review a film without them on the IMDB, you get kicked off even if it is from a Shakespeare book. Just my $.02.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

EVERY FAN HAS A BEGINNING. Unless you're an ancient old fart, there are thousands of fans who had their beginnings before YOU DID. Would they be right to snif their noses at you?

But I also don't complain that they've spoiled me in a similar situation

 

[Ken Chan]

Scarey stuff. Really, it scared me more than most horror films I have seen.

Well, women do get the short end of the stick in The Handmaid's Tale. And unlike Freddy or Jason coming back for the Nth time, it is remotely feasible. Heck, here in the U.S., there must be hundreds, if not thousands of people that believe that vision is peachy-keen. Which is probably one of the reasons Atwood wrote the novel in the first place....

//Ken

 

[JamieD]

I don't, but there is nothing stopping anyone from picking up the novels and reading them. You can even get them for free at your local library!

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Sure there is. It takes much more than 3 hours to read Fellowship, for a start. Perhaps life gets in the way. Perhaps they can't even read.

Unabridged audio book, and I can read Fellowship of the Ring in roughly 3 hours, granted, I can also speedreed at approx 120 pages an hour.

Read a chapter a night before going to sleep, you'll finish the whole trilogy in less than a year

 

[Deborah*T]

it is remotely feasible. Heck, here in the U.S., there must be hundreds, if not thousands of people that believe that vision is peachy-keen. Which is probably one of the reasons Atwood wrote the novel in the first place....

I don't know why that scared me more than the rest of the book. Just came off pretty well in print.
Perhaps those people that annoy me in the cinemas can keep on talking. They can have their individuality and I will keep mine. Seems a whole lot better than a whole Big Brother thing.
Life of Brian:
Brian - "You are all individuals!"
Crowd - "We are all individuals!"
=*=

 

[Dean Kousoulas]

So tell me this. Let's say you never saw any of the Star Wars movies before, and kept yourself spoiler free you're whole life. Now you just watched Episode 1, and went to the theaters watch Episode 2. While waiting for the film to start, these 2 guys in front of you were discussing which episode had the best ending, and they completly spoiled the surpirse ending of Episode 5 for you. How would you feel then? Is it your fault that the movie has been out in 20 years and you never came around to watching it until now?

Dean

 

[JamieD]

I guess, to me.. it just seems courteous to avoid conversations about other movies/works related to a movie, especially while in a theater, unless you know everyone else knows what you do.

I mean, I'm a HUGE F. Scott Fitzgerald fan, and consider The Great Gatsby just as much of an essential read, if not more so (actually, more so) than LOTR. But I know many, if not forced, haven't read it. And therefore, if I went into a movie about it, I'd hold off until with others.

Oh and Jeff, my point was that they may not want to read/experience the book ahead of time, and if people were a bit more careful, they wouldn't have to simply to prevent spoilers(whether they should or not).

 

[Walter Kittel]

The Star Wars example is kind of poor, considering that the 'prequels' in and of themselves are spoilers for many of the surprises in the original trilogy.
I believe the key consideration for spoiler information is the time frame involved:
- If I went to The Sixth Sense three days after it opened theatrically and someone was present for their second viewing, and revealed the film's key twist, I would probably be upset.
- For something as popular as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings you're on your own. Don't expect people to keep the information to themselves when the works have been out there for literally decades.
- Walter.

 

[Sean Laughter]

There are some advantages to working in an IMAX theater In my case I work at the console which is actually located inside the theater (the prime viewing seat actually, though not the sweet spot for sound). Anyway, I've always had the dilemna of what to do with rowdy people since it causes a big distraction trying to kick them out too. What I usually end up doing is turing the movie sound down and getting on the PA and bringing about the dreaded peer pressure. A couple of weeks ago this school group came and filled half the theater (though there were other paying patrons not part of the group in the show) for Episode II. This smaller group of girls near the top row found EVERYTHING funny, laughing all the time through the first five minutes. I usually allow a segment of time in the beginning for the "IMAX virgins" to "oooh and ahhh" over the size of the screen, but this wasn't just that as it was the "high school, look at how cool we are because we think this is funny" laughter. I turned the sound down and got on the PA and said in my most stern voice, "There are other people not in your group that have paid to see this film, I'm sure they'd like to enjoy it, but if you continue being disruptive and rude I will have your entire group removed."
I hope the little whenches got an earful on the school bus ride back.
I was in the theater (to see FOTR if I remember correctly). I was sitting three seats down from this girl who was with her parents. Anyway, I could HEAR her kicking the seat in front of her, and judging by the guy sitting in it I thought that a rather risky affair . Well, it didn't take long. He finally whirled around and just yelled at the girl something like, "ARE YOU GONNA STOP KICKING MY CHAIR??!!" Or something like that. The father said something like, "Hey, she's just a little girl!" No sympathy from me, I don't need your kids subjected on me, and IMO, that girl was old enough to realize that kicking someone's chair is distracting. Luckily, this was all before the movie started so it wasn't a distraction.

 

[Vickie_M]

So tell me this. Let's say you never saw any of the Star Wars movies before, and kept yourself spoiler free you're whole life. Now you just watched Episode 1, and went to the theaters watch Episode 2. While waiting for the film to start, these 2 guys in front of you were discussing which episode had the best ending, and they completly spoiled the surpirse ending of Episode 5 for you. How would you feel then? Is it your fault that the movie has been out in 20 years and you never came around to watching it until now?

has been in countless TV shows and movies. LOTR has been around much longer, but even as beloved and much read it is, it isn't part of the everyday pop culture (rather, wasn't, until the movies) to the extent that everyone would know what happens near the end of ROTK. Just speaking for myself, I was a child of the 60's, was addicted to Top 40, watched so much TV that I was a walking TV Guide, plus, I read encyclopedias and Books of Knowledge for fun, and yet I made it to age 46 without actually knowing the story of LOTR (I thought some people had to go somewhere to get a ring for something, like the Holy Grail) and I only vaguely knew of "Frodo" and "Bilbo" because they were somewhat part of the culture, enough so that I'd heard of them, but I didn't know who (or what) they were.

LOTR seems to be one of those things that you would need to be *introduced* to, via friends or something else specific (such as the Bakshi movie) and not something that you'd be confronted with everywhere, like Star Wars references. It's all changed now, of course, with the movies. The next generation of kids will grow up in a world where Frodo is a commonly known character. "Hobbit" is no longer a foreign word. An elf is something more than a bunch of cartoon characters making cookies. Gandalf, Aragorn, Samwise Gamgee, Arwen, Rivendell, Lothlorien, Edoras, Helm's Deep (and soon, Shelob, Pelennor Fields, Witch King, and other names) are no longer vague and obscure. Even so, there will be a first time for each new generation of kids. A first time to watch the movies, a first time to read the books. Let's hope they're not spoiled by either pop culture references or resentful old farts who think they don't deserve surprises because they weren't born 60-70 years ago.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Is it your fault that the movie has been out in 20 years and you never came around to watching it until now?

Yup. I also would have gone out and gotten my hands on Episodes 4-6 before 1 came out, or I would have viewed them immediately afterwards.

 

[Vickie_M]

- For something as popular as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings you're on your own. Don't expect people to keep the information to themselves when the works have been out there for literally decades.

I think people should keep information to themselves if they're in public. Or at least, speak quieter. This need to blurt out spoilers in public, and this even more baffling need to justify why that's ok, is part of what this thread is about. Rude behaviour and the not caring that it's rude because, after all, you (not you you) are the center of the universe and all things revolve around you.

 

[Vickie_M]

Great IMAX story Sean! How cool to have your own microphone to embarrass idiots, what fun!

I haven't had that many problems though, nothing that a stern "SHHHH" didn't cure. My husband is a good cure for talker wannabes. He's a big old burly bear, as gentle and quiet and sweet and kind a man you could ever meet, but to look at him without knowing him, he looks like a Hell's Angel leader who'd love any excuse to stick a shiv in your ribcage. All it takes is a scowl from him and even the rowdiest moron shrinks down in their seat. He's very handy to have around.