Bad movie theater experience tonight! (1 Viewer)

[ThomasC]

i guess it's a regional thing... i don't think i've ever seen a group of women walk in or out of a theater without some men with them...but then again, i don't really pay attention to that sort of thing much, seeing as the main purpose for me (and many others, i hope) of going to a movie theater is to zip my lips and see a movie...

 

[Brian Dobbs]

I too am beginning to think waiting for the DVD sounds like a good idea, although for some of the BIG films (LOTR, Star Wars, etc.) I'd still go.

but anyway.....I am jinxed. I created this thread because I had a bad movie experience. And for some reason I believe that may have jinxed myself for every future movie going experience I'll ever have. Let's just say, so far, so good....er.....bad.

I went to the movies a few days later, on Saturday night, to another (older) theater. I used my free passes to go see Austin Powers 3, and since my only choice was to see it at an older theater (of the same company, Crown), I was stuck with a few disadvantages. Needless to say, yet another bad movie experience in the same week!

First of all, the theater had regular seating, the kind where people's heads get in your way. And did they? Oh boy did they! 5 minutes before the previews get rolling a couple comes in and sits right in front of me and my girlfriend, and of course the guy has to be tall and of course his head pleasantly locates itself right in my direct line of sight. At this point I had 2 options. Strain my neck left or right for the duration of the movie, or get up and move somewhere else.........

So we moved somewhere else cause I wasn't in the mood to fight to see. We found seating with no one directly in front of us. As the movie starts rolling, I notice that the screen is wider than the actual picture. There was about 2-3 feet of unused screen space, while the extreme left side of the picture was curved inward slightly and out of focus. Almost looked like a big screen TV that needed a good color convergence correction. "Whatever", I thought to myself, it's a comedy, I'm not here for a great picture or sound so i'll let it slide.

HALFWAY! through the film a couple comes in and sits down right the heck in front of us and block my vision for the rest of the movie. Come on people! Is it really worth it to see half a film? I cannot begin to understand the logic of this people. There was even another theater showing the same movie that started a half hour later than ours did, so why the heck did they pick our earlier showing?!?!

And then the inevitable happened. Yes folks, the inevitable cell phone rang from where? The couple in front of us who came in halfway through the movie. Oh my god I couldn't believe this was happening.

To top it all off, someone a section to the right of us FARTS big time for the whole place to chuckle at and completely lose interest in the movie for a couple of seconds. No big deal, it was quite funny, but didn't he know any better than to squirt out an AFTER FART followup? Lord, one was enough!

Pray for me!

 

[Shad R]

My worst experience was when I saw the Bond flick "world is not enough" During the previews, the center speaker started popping. About 30 seconds after the movie started, the center went out completely. It was a Dolby Digital presentation, so you couldn't hear dailogue at all! It was kinda funny during the boat scene, because you could hear the rumble of the engine, and the water swishing through the surrounds, but you couldn't hear the boat! About five minutes later, the manager came in. He said something like "we are trying to fix the problem, but if you want a refund, you must go now, or you can stay and hope it gets fixed" What kind of crap is that? The ENTIRE theater got up and got a refund. That's the only time that theater has been that bad, though.

 

[John Wielgosz]

I've been on both ends of movie-going (General Cinema employee for four years, hourly manager/projectionist for two of them), and audience problems aside, sometimes s@%! just happens. Ask me about the night we had a bad static build-up in the booth which resulted in 'Titanic' coming to a halt EVERY TWENTY MINUTES. It was affecting our sister building as well (There were seven screens total, four inside a local mall, and three in a separate building across the parking lot). The other hourly manager called me up, it was her first week and she was literally in tears. All three of her houses were jamming and our union projectionist had gone home for the night. I trotted up and tried to restore them, to no avail. Many a refund/exchange ticket was given that night. The portion of the staff that had achieved drinking age (myself included) all retreated to a nearby TGI Fridays after work. We needed it...

I did my best to keep on maintenance, sound levels, focus, anything I could do to compete with the new United Artists that opened about 20 miles away in Scranton. I left in the fall of '98, massively burned out by changes in management and not wanting to face the upcoming 'Episode I' juggernaut, having just cursed my way through six straight months of 'Titanic'.

A year and a half later, a new Cinemark megaplex opened up nearby and promptly sank GC's business. To this day I have no idea why. (I went there on the first day and knew I was in trouble when I saw they were using masking tape on the booth glass to block off stray light. At GC, we used this little thing called an APERATURE PLATE people.)

I went there again (fool me twice...) to see 'O Brother Where Art Thou'. I knew it was in scope, but the screen was set for flat and so was the lens. The concession people marveled at my odd foreign tongue as I asked them to call the booth and switch to an anamorphic lens in theater twelve. (I figured it was better than a vague "The picture's all fouled up.")

 

[Dan_J_H.]

The movie "The Rock" had just started and I saw about ten or twenty people walk out of the exits next to the screen. I thought, what the hell. This does'nt seem to be a bad movie. Why don't these people give it a chance. I turned around and saw smoke coming out of the projector room holes. A split-second of fear stabbed at my stomach. I quickly realized there was no need to panic and walked out quietly as they finally announced the evacuation. I stood in the parking lot until the firetrucks arrived. I saw no smoke outside, so I assume they put the fire out. We got free movie passes in the parking lot.

 

[Shaun C]

Well, they could have someone stand in there until the movie gets going, like the first 5 minutes. Then those people, (all who were 'watching' the 3-4 movies starting at this time), could leave to do other stuff, or watch and make sure another one starts properly. One major problem is most of the 'ushers' at the theaters are too lazy. Instead of walking around, checking that movies are going OK, (yes most theaters now, someone can open the door, walk just a little ways into the auditorium, without disturbing the film, you usually can open the doors without the light from the lobby coming in), instead they are just standing around in the lobby, bullshitting with their friends. No work ethic.

 

[Jason Adams]

My worst experience in movie going was a few years ago seeing Payback. I saw it at the Linden Blvd Multiplex Theater, run by National Amusments in Brooklyn. (the GHETTOEST theater I have even been into. The guards carried GUNS for the first few months it was opened.) Well, anyway, we watched the previews and everything, until tradgedy struck. IT WAS THE WRONG MOVIE! It was the Prince of Egypt! And people were quite pissed. The manager came out and told us that the problem would be fixed...and it was. So, we had to go through the same previews and finally got to see Payback.
And another time in the same theater, we even had a guy smoking weed during Panic Room. It killed the suspence for me for a while. The guards did say they would cut the movie if he still kept on. And over time it seems to have developed a nausiating smell of rancid butter. :frowning: Even when I saw Die Another Day for the second time, there could be heard a popping noise for the trailers, and that little introductiory thing before the actual movie started looked horozontally compressed, like it was for Ben-Hur or something. And for the sound, it seemed like it was in mono, and blaringly loud analog mono is not a thing you want to hear. It seemed to have switched to DTS during the second half of the movie though.
And that's why I vow not to got to the Linden Multiplex ever again, although it is much closer. I have gone to the Court Street cinemas and experienced much better in picture and sound and smell. They have matinee prices, and with my free student metrocard is just excellent. And I forgot to mention that Linden's matinee prices end after 2 pm! :frowning:

 

[Karl F]

HALFWAY! through the film a couple comes in and sits down right the heck in front of us and block my vision for the rest of the movie. Come on people! Is it really worth it to see half a film? I cannot begin to understand the logic of this people. There was even another theater showing the same movie that started a half hour later than ours did, so why the heck did they pick our earlier showing?!?!

Maybe they spent the first half of the movie sitting behind someone else, then decided to move down to the seats in front of you?
Here's my story:
I'm watching Matewan a couple of years ago at the lil' arthouse theater with a friend. Behind us there's a click click click. Me and Stacy look at each other. Click click click. It's continuous. We do the sort of half turn, glaring thing that usually gives the other person a clue.
It's a middle aged woman.
Click click click.
She's knitting. With metal needles, even.
Click click click.
Finally, I turn around all the way, hold up my hands, and say, "Sorry, but --" and make a face. She seems to understand. I turn back around.
click click click.
Ah, she's trying to be QUIET. WHILE KNITTING.
I turn around again -- "Look, I can still hear you -- it's very annoying --"
And this is the best part of the story, and the hardest to share with you, because it's the look on her face and the way she half-throws up her hands, as if to say, "What do I have to do to get some knitting done around here?"
I think we ruined the theater experience for her.
--K

 

[John Geelan]

My two worst experiences are:

1. At Black Hawk Down about half-way into the movie they turn on the lights so 2 old ladies can be seated in the rear of the theater. This washes out the screen for the few that were in the theater (this was the opening first day matinee at 11AM).
Ok...so the lights go off for 15 minutes...the battle rages on screen.
Then the lights go back on so the 2 old ladies can leave the theater when they must have realized that this wasn't the Sandra Bullock movie that had come to see!

2. Once after we were seated and the previews were beginning during a movie the power went off. Blackout in Queens NY.
Damn...we got free passes for a future movie but my wife and I rarley get to go out and we were hoping to see the movie.

 

[Larry Sutliff]

My worst movie experience was seeing FOTR for the first time. The sound was out of synch from the death of Boromir until after Sam's speech to Frodo about not leaving him. The film was ruined for me, and it likely accounts for the fact that I never really connected with the movie until the DVD. The most emotional parts of the film ruined; you can never duplicate the experience of seeing a film for the first time.

Luckily my TTT viewing was near perfect, and I consider that to be the best film of the year.