Memorable movie theatre moments (1 Viewer)

[cinemiracle]

So many great memories on here. I certainly have mine as well.

But what I miss though is an age of "going to the movies" (or cinema as my grandmother says) that I never really got to experience. See, I never really saw an uniformed usher with a flashlight guiding people that arrived late to their seats or - more importantly - that maintained order during projection. You might ask me "why is that important?" Well, I tell you: I've noticed that going to the movies nowadays is nothing like going to the movies back when I was a kid. People don't seem to be properly educated these days - they speak during the movie, chew with their mouths open (I hate and despise the sound of people chewing popcorn with their mouths open), and - one of my biggest annoyances - people check or just use their smartphones during/throughout the movie, and that annoying blue glare disrupts the experience (it's much worse when it's someone sitting by my side or on the row right in front of me). I effing hate that and I can't understand why anyone would text during a movie. No usher ever told those people to behave. No one really cares. I've seen staff at Regal and AMC Theaters opening doors and sweeping floors after a session but I've never seen them doing much else. Last time I went to the theater was to see Parisite and the AC made trepidation noises - now besides people that don't know how to behave in a theater, there's also places in serious need of repairs. My friend told me that he had watched Iron Man 3 (!!!) in the same theater and the AC made that same noise. Unkept theaters... ugh.

While I agree that no home theater could ever replace the actual movie theater experience, I certainly don't appreciate impolite people spoiling my experience. Movie theaters need to get a grip, rethink their business model, go the extra mile to make "going to the movies" an experience again. And parents need to educate their kids as to how to behave in public spaces... especially movie theaters. I noticed that this "trend" of people misbehaving started in the early 2000s. I wonder if that's a result of the big blockbuster wave that has swept cinemas ever since. I love a superhero movie and all, but even a big budget movie allows you the chance to reflect and just admire what's on the screen. But people seem to be there just to be entertained and talk out loud when they're in a big group. Ugh. I certainly don't miss that. But my home theater won't ever be an IMAX

I had to wear a dinner suit for the evening sessions when I worked in cinemas during the sixties.

 

[dana martin]

During Blade Runner's Final Cut original Limited engagement, i was able to get a trip to NYC, the wife wanted to see family, and I was explaining that there was a Harrison Ford movie, that I wanted to see, She is not a fan of Science Fiction, so i just hyped it up as a "Harrison Ford Movie" the tickets are purchased , we find our way to the Ziegfeld in Manhattan, find our seats in the balcony. I can see her rolling her eyes, as the credits roll by on screen, as Edward J Olmos name appears, half of the crowd yelled ADAMA, and his first appearance onscreen, a few shouted "So Say We All". She looked at me and stated that we all must be some kind of cult.

by the end, not her favorite movie, but she was happy that I got to experience, seeing it on the big screen for that second time.

 

[SixOfTheRichest]

So very true but there are many reasons why I have not been to a cinema for a couple of years. It's just a pity that it is rarely possible today to have the cinema experience of yesteryear. There are many reasons that drive people away from the cinema experience today: brain-dead people on the mobiles ,talkers, noisy popcorn eaters ,15 minutes of commercials, patrons being served food and drinks at their seat .You come to see a film not have a banquet-eat before or after the movie. 70mm films projected onto cinemascope size screens, woeful digital projection quality (at least in the few cinemas that I saw a digital film.) There is absolutely no way that LAWRENCE OF ARABIA in 70mm and projected onto a 60 foot wide screen can ever hope to be replicated in a home cinema. I have seen 70mm projection in a home cinema and that was not good. My most woeful cinema experience was in NYC in 1967 when a commercial came up on the screen with John Wayne asking patrons to donate money to a charity and then having someone walking around the auditorium collecting donations.

The essence has been lost.

Food and drink are now the main part of the revenue for theatre operators, not an additional extra as rents and overheads are so high. That is why I won't go to the Gold Class style cinemas with their comfy chairs and small screens. May as well sit at home and watch it on a home theatre system.

 

[Guardyan]

I had to wear a dinner suit for the evening sessions when I worked in cinemas during the sixties.

That's often what my grandma talks about: both staff and patrons dressed to the nines.

While I don't necessarily think of formal wear as a necessity, I do dream about cinema etiquette. Please come back, cinema etiquette!

 

[Jeffrey D]

That's often what my grandma talks about: both staff and patrons dressed to the nines.

While I don't necessarily think of formal wear as a necessity, I do dream about cinema etiquette. Please come back, cinema etiquette!

Sad to say, and this may be a pessimistic view, but etiquette in general has vanished, and I don’t see it coming back.

 

[Guardyan]

I still vividly remember seeing "How The West Was Won" in Cinerama when it first came out (Plaza Theatre, Melbourne Australia). During the train wreck sequence everyone including me was either holding onto their seats or covering part of their eyes. It was so spectacular! When this "RailRoad" sequence finished, the whole audience gave a long round of excited applause and took several minutes to calm down. I knew one of the three projectionists and he said it happened all the time after this sequence. I have the BluRay with Smilebox, but there's just NOTHING like a live experience like this on the big Cinerama screen. (Pics from original program attached).

So nice of you to share that lovely program, Robert. Thank you so much. I love memorabilia. I save every playbill I get when going to the theater. Unfortunately programs were just not part of moviegoing experience anymore around the time I started going to the movies. Such a pity.

[...]

BATMAN (1989): Got tickets to the sneak preview night before opening day. Totally packed theater full of people hyped up from months of omnipresent marketing, a lack of superhero movies (can you believe it?!), and that special summer movie energy that used to build up in us back then. I felt like I'd won a golden ticket getting to be there that night. We were all keyed up and perfectly synced for what was the most thrilling experience I ever had with an audience.
[...]

I was a little kid, not a toddler but little, and still remember all the fuss about Batman. So much that I got sick when it actually premiered because I wanted so badly to see to see it! People that had already watched it, talked about it around me and that made me even more desperate to see it. I kept asking everyone in the family to take me but everyone was just so busy. One weekend there was a possibility that a relative would take me, but that ended up not happening. Result: I ended up having a fever. Can you believe? Next day my mom took me to the doctor - the fever was unusually high - and after that appointment we walked to a theater nearby to finally see the film. I can still feel the thrill of being immersed in that dark film. I was so impressed the first time I saw the batmobile. So much wonder and that amazing score by Danny Elfman. Wow.

 

[B-ROLL]

So nice of you to share that lovely program, Robert. Thank you so much. I love memorabilia. I save every playbill I get when going to the theater. Unfortunately programs were just not part of moviegoing experience anymore around the time I started going to the movies. Such a pity.


I was a little kid, not a toddler but little, and still remember all the fuss about Batman. So much that I got sick when it actually premiered because I wanted so badly to see to see it! People that had already watched it, talked about it around me and that made me even more desperate to see it. I kept asking everyone in the family to take me but everyone was just so busy. One weekend there was a possibility that a relative would take me, but that ended up not happening. Result: I ended up having a fever. Can you believe? Next day my mom took me to the doctor - the fever was unusually high - and after that appointment we walked to a theater nearby to finally see the film. I can still feel the thrill of being immersed in that dark film. I was so impressed the first time I saw the batmobile. So much wonder and that amazing score by Danny Elfman. Wow.

I wish I could say I saw the Batmobile(TM) but while the print was supposed to be in 70mm it was marked (to prevent pirates) by WarnerB*st*rds by either scratching or marking the entire length of first shot of it with a marker diagonally across the screen - cheers from the audience at first sight and then boos and F-Bombs because of what they'ld done.

I think I rewatched on HBO or VHS tape and there was no marks on those.

 

[Chelsearicky]

Technically a Tobe Hooper film.

That's been open for debate since '82.

 

[Tino]

That's been open for debate since '82.

Hence why I said “technically”.

 

[Guardyan]

I wish I could say I saw the Batmobile(TM) but while the print was supposed to be in 70mm it was marked (to prevent pirates) by WarnerB*st*rds by either scratching or marking the entire length of first shot of it with a marker diagonally across the screen - cheers from the audience at first sight and then boos and F-Bombs because of what they'ld done.

I think I rewatched on HBO or VHS tape and there was no marks on those.

That's just awful. Never heard about that before.

 

[B-ROLL]

That's just awful. Never heard about that before.

BATMAN’S OTHER ENEMY: VIDEO PIRATES

Someone has declared war on larcenous lowlifes, crooked counterfeiters and piratical purloiners who are undermining the economic infrastructure of an American industry. Using the latest in technolo…

www.orlandosentinel.com

Those measures include marking each of the 4,000 prints of the movie with a unique electronic code that, though not readily visible to the average moviegoer, will show up on video copies, enabling investigators to track pirated copies to the source. In addition, Warner Bros., in conjunction with the film security office of the Motion Picture Association of America, is offering a reward of $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone illegally copying and distributing copies of the movie. Further, a reward of $200 is being offered for each of the first 15 pirated copies of Batman turned in to the MPAA.

"Not readily visible" what a Joke(r) ....

 

[Guardyan]

BATMAN’S OTHER ENEMY: VIDEO PIRATES

Someone has declared war on larcenous lowlifes, crooked counterfeiters and piratical purloiners who are undermining the economic infrastructure of an American industry. Using the latest in technolo…

www.orlandosentinel.com

View attachment 92698

"Not readily visible" what a Joke(r) ....

At first I was like: wait that's for home video, oh no, it's about the actual film - they're trying to fight film to video transfers. How easy was it to take a film from a theater and transfer it to video? What type of equipment was necessary? I wondered if the markings would show if someone recorded the screen using a camcorder. I guess it would according to the Orlando Sentinel article. Pff... in the end you saw the markings white watching it at the theater. How lame!

Was anyone arrested?

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Another indelible movie going experience for me was seeing Abel Gance's Napoleon (1928) at the Shrine auditorium in Los Angeles with a live symphony orchestra accompanying it. When the three panel triptych finale was revealed, the audience went crazy! The applause was deafening! That moment could never be recreated in a home theater environment.

Yes! I saw it w a packed audience at Radio City w Carmine Coppola conducting and the audience on que gasped when Silent Cinerama was revealed! I’ve never heard another audience reaction that compares.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Two favorite movie theater memories--- (1) the first evening public screening of "Heaven's Gate" at Cinema I in NYC in November 1980. The film was shown on a reserved seat basis with two shows per day. The brutal reviews had appeared in that day's papers. I was seated in the upper level of Cinema I, near a cordoned-off section that was presumably reserved for United Artists executives. At the end of the nearly four hour screening, many members of the audience loudly booed, while the folks in the cordoned-off section looked shell shocked. The film was pulled from Cinema I after one week and replaced with "Apocalypse Now." (2) an opening weekend screening of "Eyes Wide Shut" at the Astor Plaza in Times Square. Many members of the audience appeared to be anticipating some sort of erotic romp with Cruise and Kidman, and while the film was being shown they did not exactly hold back in expressing their disappointment in hilariously colorful language.

I was there that week too at 70mm I believe and at intermission after that loong first act in the men’s room everyone was like wtf is that?? No one could make heads or tails of what they had just seen! It was visually stunning by the great Vilmos Zsigmond but almost incomprehensible yet I was fascinated but at 22 don’t think was ready for it. But technically I found it unbelievable beautiful and poetic. Then many months later when it reappeared I took a friend to see and the editors’ credits went on and on- I think there were like 5. It was completely butchered and a snooze fest.
Then full circle 2016 I went to its triumphant return at Lincoln Center w the late Michael Cimino and Kris Kristoffersson there for Q&A and standing ovations afterwards and then ran into both of them in the restaurant below afterwards celebrating. An unbelievable experience all 3 times.

 

[SixOfTheRichest]

Seeing The Last Temptation Of Christ in 1988. Throughout the 2hr 40min runtime, every 15/20mins or so a bible basher would take umbrage to what was being represented on screen and have to be thrown out. They made the session more livelier than it would have been otherwise. Excellent film by the way.