I can't stand theaters.... (1 Viewer)

[Joe_Pinney]

You are not nuts. I have long believed that REAL ushers are needed in movie theatres again, with flashlights and a constant presence in the auditorium, not just bored, disinterested kids who sweep up after the movie's over.

 

[Joe_Pinney]

No, Ricardo, you're not too demanding. We don't pay good money to put up with obnoxious fellow patrons, we pay it to see the movie. If it's related to the movie, usually I don't have a problem with it (laughter, screams, various other reactions), but if it's disruptive and distracts me from the film (such as a guy kicking the back of my seat, or some idiot parent treating the theater like it's his own living room and letting his kids run around rampant in the aisles during the movie and having clear-voiced conversations with them about what they're going to eat when they get home), then I've got EVERY right to demand a quality viewing experience, because THAT IS WHAT I PAID FOR. I start off with an evil eye glance. Then a stern look of "shut up" without saying anything. Then an actual verbalization of "hey! keep it down!" Then a "shut the f*ck up, I didn't pay $8 bucks to listen you to talk on your damn cell phone" OR just a VERY loud, shouted "SHUUUUUUTTTT UUUUUUPPPPPP!!!!!!" (I did just that at a full showing of Flash Gordon back in 1980 when the audience of mostly other kids was making more noise than the movie, and believe you me, everyone shut up immediately, and when one kid started up again, another kid shushed him with "no, don't, that guy'll get mad again!" )If the audience still doesn't act civilized, I go get management. If I don't get the problem rectified IMMEDIATELY, I DEMAND a refund (and trust me, you do not want me irate at you if you are a manager - I can and do make quite a scene if I am given short shrift by people I give money to), and if I don't get a refund, I start breaking things (fortunately it's NEVER come even close to that point, but I am always prepared for it if it ever should).

For the most part, though, audiences just aren't quite as annoying to me as they seem to be for other folks. Sure, now and then there's an annoying chatter or a seat-kicker or the odd baby crying (which usually gets carried out), but while these can be distractions, a good 99% of the time I never have any issues. In fact, the biggest annoyance I have these days comes from the theatre staff more than from audiences - turning the lights up to MAXIMUM LUMINANCE once the credits roll, so that people don't trip over themselves on the mad rush to the parking lot. For years, I've just sat in my seat and watched the credits, but when the lights go up, THAT DISRUPTS MY VIEWING, AND THE MOVIE AIN'T OVER UNTIL THE MPAA RATING CARD SHOWS ON THE SCREEN, DAMMIT. I don't complain to management much about that, though, because it's relatively infrequent, but I do make a mental note of it, and try not to favor that particular theatre if I can avoid it.

 

[Paul.S]

Joe, can I put you on retainer as a movie-going companion/ass-kicker?

"Don't Mess With Texas," indeed.

Personal pet peeves of mine include guys who stand up basically in front of me to put on their jacket during the closing credits crawl. 'Can you freakin' wait 'til you're at least in the aisle to do that?'

Also, full-voiced conversations about the film within earshot of others who would like to watch the credits in peace like the rest of the movie. Sometimes the closing credits crawl score cue is what cements a significant component of my lasting impression of the picture (i.e., the "Some Measure Of Peace" cue from The Last Samurai) or is a reprise of many/all the themes I heard earlier in the film score and haven't heard since.

Also, the cell phone situation in L.A. borders on intolerable for me. Just the lack of manners/etiquette at restaurants and theaters in connection with people's use of their phone.

-p

P.S. - I'm enjoying your posts, Vickie.

 

[Joe_Pinney]

Heh heh, actually I was born and raised in Orange County, California. Only been in Texas since '99.

But sure, you can put me on retainer!

 

[Rob Gardiner]

My ex-roommate once used pepper spray on a fellow patron who laid his hands on him during an otherwise verbal altercation on the subject of making too much noise. I don't remember who started it, but the pepper spray certainly ended it. Unfortunately, that stuff forms a pretty big cloud and the entire theater cleared out. The victim ran down the block and was never heard from again. :b Fortunately, no one else was seriously exposed, no cops were called, and my buddy wasn't banned from the theater.

 

[Paul.S]

Rob G., re your post #135: daaaaaaaammmmn!


LOL.

 

[Paul.S]

(Duplicate post deleted. Please zap entirely if you wish, Admin.)

 

[Michael Hall]

I figured I should delete this because it could have come across as offensive to certain people. If anyone read it and was offended, I apologize.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Well I actually prefer the more action ride theme parks, like King's Dominion or Six Flags, but while I don't really like the long lines I bear with them on the ocassional visit, once every couple years.

 

[Rich H]

(I work in film - originally production, now post production).

It depends on what you mean by the grain is "supposed to be there." Although there are exceptions made for artistic reasons, on the whole grain is not really "supposed to be there" in a movie print. It is to a certain degree an unnavoidable element of film. But in fact, the lighting, cinematography and film printing processes are often done with supressing film grain in mind. (Which is one reason why labs have always been touting their finer grain high-speed films, as high speed film, used for shooting in lower lighting conditions, typically came at the cost of higher film grain).

The cinematographer generally doesn't want you viewing his work through film grain if it can be helped. Unfortunately each step of the printing process that duplicates the film adds grain (and can reduce dynamic range). There is more duplication between what is on the original negative and the final release prints than people likely imagine (including, but not always limited to, negatives, internegatives, interpositives, Master positives, duplicate negatives from those positives and finally release prints).

One of the banes of special effects in the old days was that they often worked by double exposing (or triple or more) more than one image within another. That necessitated additional printing process for each special effect. The problem was the more exposures (re-printing) needed for the effect, the more film grain was exacerbated.
Hence, whenever a special effect occured in a film the image was almost always more grainy. (Look at the old Ray Harryhausen films for an example...how the double exposed images of the men with the creature models were inevitable grainier than the rest of the live action footage).

One of the greatest benefits of digital effects, aside from what they can realize, is the banishing of extra printing processes, and hence of extra grain in FX shots.
Now you can fill a shot with as many space ships and lights as you want, combined with the live actors, and there is no tell-tale addition of grain. (Because all the FX are combined digitally in a computer, not by a duplicate printing process). We can thank that fact for the clarity we now enjoy in digital FX work (including, btw, even when they are using real miniature models combined with live action, because now those two images can be combined on a computer, rather than going through the grain-adding process of double-exposing them using film).

As to should grain be there in home theater. Well, if it was on the transfer (and often they like to minimize grain if possible), then it follows that the most accurate display would show it. Although it's a tough call because film grain is one of those things that can actually be exaggerated by some displays, particularly digital displays. Film grain can kind of drive some digital scaling nuts, so that you get film grain being poorly scaled, making the grain stand out more along with adding grain-like artifacts on top of film grain. So it can be tough to know precisely how much film grain, if it's on the transfer, you should actually be seeing.

Sorry for babbling on. That's all fer now.

BTW, I am definitely in the "Movies are best with a crowd at the theater" camp. It's funny how it can boil down to personality types. I love people and crowds. My friend is a fellow movie fanatic and we've gone to the movies together for many years. But he has become increasingly sensitive to distractions in movie theaters to the point of only ever seeing a movie in a matinee (when there is very little crowd) with his back against the wall near the corner. I'll sit through a movie utterly engrossed, meanwhile he'll be shifting uneasily, groaning about someone he can hear ten rows behind us. I feel sorry for him, but it's become rare for us to go to flicks together anymore because of his distaste for people in the audience.

Anyhoo...

 

[Lewis Besze]

It is seemed to be the norm for the majority of the posters here.Now if only women stayed home when they're in the "bithchy" mood..........

 

[Pete-D]

I don't agree that most movie screenings are like that. The majority probably go fine, and today with newer theaters being built all the time the sound/picture quality is probably better than its ever been as a whole.

A lot of you guys also seem to go to rural theaters or theaters outside of the city, so chances are you really can't speak for the experience that most people have when going to the movies.

So I really don't buy into the arguement too much.

I do agree with one thing though... theaters should have ushers that stay inside the theater for the entire show.

 

[Ricardo C]

Whole lotta "probably" and "chances are" in there, Pete. I don't care what the norm is. I care about what I experience. Vickie has great theater visits every single time? Well, great for her, but that doesn't help me.

On a more general note:

Several of the people who have posted in defense of the theatrical experience have done so very defensively, as if they were being attacked by those who don't have as high an opinion of commercial cinemas as they do. No one is begrudging you your habits and experiences. Stop taking someone's complaints as though they were a personal insult.

What I do has no bearing on what you do. If I think 99% of the theaters I've visited have had shit presentations and zoo animals for an audience, and prefer to watch films at home, how does that affect you? It doesn't. What is the problem??

 

[HorstenG]

After reading through this thread I'm delighted that I'm not dependent on the mood of a crowd to know if I'm having fun or not.

Cellphones and deadbeat parents keep me out of the theater these days, I don't miss it for a second.

Ernest, I've enjoyed reading many of your posts on this forum but this one:

"So some drunk guys show up and halfway during the film, they drop a bottle and it rolls from the back of the house all the way down the ramp. So? Isn't that a great story? Isn't that an experience? Isn't that why we go to the movies, for the experiences?"

...leaves me scratching my head. How are drunks & cellphones a great story to tell your grandkids? "Billy back in my day, we had drunk fratboys everywhere, they were yelling, vomiting on people, and thats the ways we liked our movies in the good old days. It was real movie magic that those sloshed louts provided"

Care to elaborate?

Furthermore, this line:

"That's a large part of the fun. That's the random experience of life. Films should be seen in a living environment, not in the sterile controlled environment of the home."

Movies are made in the most sterile, controlled environment possible. They use the phrase "Quiet on the set!" for a reason, loud interruptions will KILL a scene. Would you like to watch a heart-breaking death scene with a drunk guy and 3 kids running around in the back of the shot? Of course not! Why would you relish the same going on 20 feet away? My mind boggles!

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Horsten,

No one is defending rude, obnoxious behavior in the theater. What I appreciate is an audience that reacts appropriately to the film. Laughing at the funny parts, gasping at the scary bits, cheering at the triumphs. When the Star Wars SE was re-released in '97, the party next to me at the Seattle Cinerama was a family, and the seat next to me was occupied by a 5 year old girl. It has been many years since I've seen Star Wars through the eyes of a five year old. The little girl gasped in fear when the Jawas jumped out and zapped poor R2-D2. She was genuinely afraid for him. Now, her reaction was neither rude nor obnoxious. It was not out of place, and it distracted no one. But the little touches that make my Cinerama experience in '97 much more satisfying that what I will experience this September in the privacy of my own home.

 

[Nathan Eddy]

This is a fun thread. I can't believe people are getting upset and defensive at each other for expressing their opinions and experiences. Oh well.

The only two bad experiences I've had have both been during Titanic (yes, my wife was crazy about the movie). Once, an older man fell asleep next to us and started snoring loudly. Talk about a mood breaker! This was during the scene where Jack is shivering in the water. We even poked at him and got him to wake up, but he shortly fell back asleep and began snoring again. Who knows? Maybe his wife took him one too many times, too. Maybe it was his way of protesting.

The other time involved an Asian couple. The man kept speaking loudly (in their native language), and at first I just thought they were chatting, so I ignored it and hoped he'd stop soon. But as the movie continued and it didn't stop, I noticed a curious rhythm to his chatter: it went in time with the movie dialogue. It was then that I realized this guy was translating the damn film for his girl, and that he was going to be doing this for the entire 3+ hours!!! I turned around and told him to shut up. Several people around quietly clapped.

If you're not going to complain or do anyting about it when it happens, then it's pointless to complain about it here. If more people stood up for themselves, this would not be such a problem. Society needs to make it clear what is acceptable public behavior and what is not. Letting yourself be scared of a potential shoot-out in a crowded theater is just silly--and it lets the minority of deviants gain control and set the social norms. Band together, folks! Stand up for yourselves! Don't abandon the theaters to the hoodlums! You're just letting them control you if you do that.

But now, people getting upset about the credits being interrupted, that just floored me. I've always thought the people sitting there during the credits were too timid to fight their way through the crowd. I had no idea people actually read those things! If you're going to be that sensitive, maybe you should stay home.

 

[Ricardo C]

"Band together"? "Stand up for yourselves"? Do you picture 80s-style breakdancing posses when you say that?

Edited because I can.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Last night I saw Riddick and it was playing on both big screens at one of the local theatres that usually is consistant in the presentation and sound department.

Trailers start up, loud, lots of bass, everything was great. Riddick starts up and it is fairly quiet but wasn't sure. After watching a couple ships go overhead and it still being quiet I got suspicious. I didn't want to run out and complain because there was so much happening and I just hoped someone else would do it. About 25 minutes into the film I finally just left. During the big attack sequence it sounded like I was watching the movie through a sound dampened tunnel.

I went over to the next auditorium and just waited for the next showing and this time everything sounded 100x better. And what a difference it made too. I feel sorry for the folks that watched it with the sound screwed up like that and probably will never know and just think the movie's soundtrack sucked.

This has been more and more common lately though. The picture is pretty good no matter where I go, but the sound in auditoriums that I know have great sound can be all over the map. I just wish there was a way to always know if the sound is setup correctly. Can't go by the trailers, and I hate walking out trying to find someone that can make a difference and then they don't even fix it anyway. That is my biggest theatre complaint.

 

[Ricardo C]

I suppose you're right, Henry.

 

[Paul.S]

Nathan et al.:

I kinda enjoyed the second-to-the-last paragraph of your post #146 but IMO you contradict it somewhat in your concluding paragraph. You encourage people to make their displeasure known to those engaging in offending behaviors in theatres, but then you tell people who are "sensitive" about wanting to read the closing credits crawl that they should perhaps "stay home."

Indeed, "ociety needs to make it clear what is acceptable public behavior and what is not." I think it's entirely reasonable to want to enjoy a movie's end credits score cue and read the credits; to, in short, treat them as what they are: part of the film. Is it acceptable to you for people to chat away during opening credits?

I understand L.A. is a company town and my wanting to look for the names of friends/acquaintances who may have been in/worked on the film is perhaps less common elsewhere. But I'm sure many of us are, for instance, film score junkies. I like to take note, for instance, of who mixed the score. I also may want to learn who an actor is immediately instead of waiting until I get home to check IMDb. I also frequently have questions about what artist performed some song used as source music in a film.

Yes, some people do read credits. Many of us are part of this Forum.

-p