Horrible movie experiences, part 2..... (1 Viewer)

[Inspector Hammer!]

Henry, your my hero! I wish I had the balls to say something like that!

It's so hard being a complete puss. :frowning:

 

[Joel C]

Actually, you never know when they guy is going to wait for you in the parking lot and stab you to death (I heard some horror stories in a similar thread). People are crazy these days.

 

[Kristian]

Well, the experience (and the film) was much better this time around. But it still wasn't perfect. The sound could've been more aggressive, for instance. And I really wish Kong had jumped out of the screen and devoured the two idiots behind me who laughed and talked during most of the non-action scenes, including the most pivotal line of the movie ("It wasn't the airplanes..."). Oh well... bring on the DVD.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Funny how there are so many experiences associated with Harry Potter IV. Mine too. I recently went to a discounted screening organised by a professional association I belong to, assuming that since it was a members' thing, that the audience would be mostly adults. Wrong. Evidently members had obtained tickets for their kids, other members' kids, whatever, and the place was chock-full of kids. In particular, behind us was a family of four (two kids, one of whom was maybe only 3). The entire time, this 3-yr old was kicking the chair my wife sat in, which annoyed her to no end. Glares back at the mother resulted I guess in some attempt to control the daughter, but every once in a while another kick would ensue.

Then came the "climactic part" you know, in the graveyard when Voldemort rises
Unsurprisingly, this was too much for said 3-yr old, who started crying.

Why don't parents properly research whether a movie is appropriate for their child? Sure, Harry Potter is perceived as a "kids' movie", but what age kid?

And over on the other side of the aisle, there was someone who had a hacking cough: like clockwork, every two minutes or so he had to "hack up" something. Sigh. :frowning:

 

[Lynda-Marie]

Agh, what a jerk! I am extremely suceptible to bronchitis, but I make sure I stock up on cough drops well before I go to the movies, "just in case". Sometimes I think it's allergies kicking in from the dust in the air that triggers my hairball removal reflex.

 

[MattHR]

I can't remember the movie, but a few years ago I was with a friend and his wife in a crowded theater. This major a**hole, a few rows down across the aisle, was talking very loudly on a cell phone and to the people he was with. This went on for quite some time, despite the fact that several other patrons were politely asking him to be quiet and "sssshhh". Well, my friend had had enough, so he got up and walked over to the scumbag, and in a voice loud enough for everyone in the theater to hear, said "Would you please explain to everyone in this theater why you are such an inconsiderate a**hole. Otherwise, I expect you to reimburse everyone here for their tickets and inconvenience. If you have some medical condition that causes your obnoxious behavior, please accept my apology. If not, SHUT THE F*** UP OR GET THE HELL OUT!!!"

Wow. I braced for a nasty confrontation, especially since my friend is not the least bit intimidating. Instead, the theater erupted into applause and cheers. Shouts of "You the man!" and "All right!" could be heard. The a**hole never uttered another sound, and he and his fellow goons quietly slipped out of the theater a few minutes later, followed by more applause.

I've wished I had the nerve to do the same on more than a few occasions. But as cited above, you never know what the person might do if confronted. There are just too many nutcases on the loose these days. I don't feel like being the subject of the evening news.

I always feel bad asking for a refund from the theater, since they are not the ones that directly caused the problem. I do wish they'd do a better job ensuring an enjoyable experience for all. I sure miss the old days when ushers actually "patrolled" the theaters and would actually remove trouble-makers and under-age kids from R-rated movies.

I don't go to movies very often for this reason. Every time I give in and go to a theater, someone will undoubtedly do something to irritate me, which reminds me, once again, why I don't go to the movies.

 

[willyTass]

L'AVENTURRA

 

[Leo Kerr]

It's times like these that I love (at least one aspect) of my job.

I work every other weekend, and therefore get off the Friday and Monday surrounding that weekend.

I haven't been to a movie on a weekend, or with a show-time starting after 12:30pm in years. And because of other things, I guess the only opening day/weekend films I've been to were the LotR films.

Most of the time I go, and this is to the cineplex that for the last two years or so has sold more tickets than most, if not all of the rest of theaters in the United States (Movico Egyptian in central MD), I'm at screenings with less than a dozen people.

Granted, when I saw SW:RotS on the first show on Monday, they still had the sound system set for a 525-person crowd, rather than the 20-people that was actually in the theater... (Seats are designed, I'm told, to have the acoustic absorption of 1/3 of a clothed human.)

Leo Kerr

 

[todd s]

I remember seeing Jurassic Park. And their was a guy with his 4-6 year old son. When the T-Rex was attacking this kid was terrified and started crying hysterically. His father started to yell at him to calm down. I felt so bad for this kid. You just see so many parents taking kids to inapproriate or late movies...because they either can't or won't get babysitting.


On a side note. I think the biggest cause for these problems. Is that the theaters don't have ushers being more proactive and supervising the theaters for troublemakers.

 

[Leo Kerr]

Er... Spirited Away. Didn't they see the PG rating? Didn't they wonder at all?

Is it really harder to be a parent today, or are 'current' parents really just clueless? (Not being a parent, I don't mean to insult the many good parents still out there..)

Leo

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Saw HP in a premium theatre: leather chairs free popcorn, no one under 21 admitted, and max capacity 60. Now THAT's the way to see a movie if you have to leave the friendly confines of your HT.

I will definitely see King Kong in the theater, either tonight or some weeknight next week. I find the best time to see these big attraction films are Monday or Tuesday night.

 

[Brook K]

During Traffic I sat by a hot Latina giving a handjob to her boyfriend. Distracting, but my reaction was really more of jealously than annoyance.

 

[Ryan L. Bisasky]

It wasn't horrible but amusing to me. I saw Elektra opening day, around 4 pm. theater's packed (well about 80% full.) and a black teenager sits next to me in the back. As soon as she sits down she asks me, "so whats this movie about?"
for rude obnoxious people, seeing the first scary movie on the second night with my brother and my father ( i was 16 when the movie came out, i'm 20 now) Some idiot teenage girl who apparently saw the movie already, told her firend sitting next to her starts giving away the jokes "now this part is gross"...)

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Sadly, Brook, that's one distraction that I can't make happen in my HT. :frowning:

 

[Scott Simonian]

I work for my dad who is a pediatrician. I talk to many parents everyday. Some new parents, some experienced.

Some people were meant to be parents and some just are cause of circumstances. I have seen 20 year old (my age) mothers that are cleary good mothers and will do a good job. Then there are the mothers/fathers with two to four kids. They have no idea what they are doing and I fear for the childrens future.

It is sad. It takes all kinds.

 

[willyTass]

Who's got the Latina's number?

 

[Steve Y]

Recently I went to see a (fairly serious) movie at a fairly isolated multiplex in Northern CA. I paid for my ticket then strolled over to the restroom before the movie started. A woman was holding the door open, which I found odd; inside the restroom a poor man was standing at the sink, water all over the floor, with reams of paper towels covering his body. He was screaming and moaning. The woman kept leaning her head into the bathroom as I did my business. "Are you done, Frank, are you done?"

I walked slowly across the lobby to my theater, and sure enough, the woman and her charge came bounding beside me and then ahead of me into the very same theater I was about to enter. Before they disappeared through the door, the woman leaned to "Frank" and said, "now don't scream through the whole movie this time, Frank."

Without having to think, I immediately turned around and walked into another theater, where they were showing the Wallace and Gromit movie, which I had wanted to see anyway. I sat down in the middle side section, in a place with very few people, and as the previews began a large family group wandered in, walking a very large dog. The family (of course) sat right next to me and the dog, who was very wet and very smelly, was "given" the seat next to me. It didn't have a "seeing-eye dog" identification; it just looked like a big wet family dog. It smelled like wet spaghetti and dead rat, and I could see bits of dog hair floating around in the air.

I stood up, apologized to the family for momentarily blocking the the previews, and walked all the way up to the back of the theater, where there were lots of empty chairs. Thirty seconds later a group of six teenagers creeped in at the bottom and then stomped quickly all the way up to the back, taking all the seats directly behind me and kicking my chair, hyperventilating, shouting, giggling, talking on their cell phones, and making a general ruckus.

I literally ran all the way to the front of the theater in the "neck pain" section, sat down in a heap, and enjoyed the rest of the movie without incident, though I did have a cramp for the next few days.

 

[BarryR]

I rarely go to a theater nowadays, but I'll see KING KONG perhaps next Monday. I'll report how it went.

A classic moment happened a dozen years ago when I saw JURASSIC PARK. I was in an aisle seat as the lights dimmed---just then a >baby carriage< gets parked next to me in the aisle! I then envision a squalling baby during the whole movie. Miraculously though the baby kept quiet the whole time!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

An man of asian origin translating the first thirty minutes of Titanic for his friend goes down as one of the most memorable examples of cinema misery.

That said, a taut "Will you fucking shut up!" from a few rows back did the trick.

During a showing of Star Trek Generations I actually left about 40 mins into the film due to the inordinate amount of eating noise and general porcine-type behaviour of the cretins sitting in the vicinity.

An afternoon viewing of A.I. - I had the cinema to myself! That is, until one chap came in just as the lights went down and sat a few rows behind. No problem. Then with about fifteen minutes to the end of the film - the emotional high point of the whole f**king thing I hear that oh-so familiar Nokia diddle-oohdoo-diddle-oohdoo tune. Not once, but twice. I was temtped to follow him out and spit on his car door handle.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I remember a Louie Anderson stand-up special when he said...

"I think that you should be allowed to shoot people like that, not to kill them perminantly, just for ten minutes."