The Sad End of an Era - I Think I've Seen My Last Movie in a Theater

[MoveMoveMove]

I haven't had any problems recently. I try to go to the movies every Friday for the first showing of the movie (I'm off on Fridays). Going to the early show may cut down on some of the interruptions.

However, I remember when I went to see Chicago, there were these two women who SANG EVERY SONG in the freaking movie. Now THAT was irritating.

My next two movies to see in theatre are Precious and 2012. For watching at home, Night at the Museum 2 is supposed to come out at Hollywood Video on December 1st. I don't know who will be happier, me or the clerks I've been bugging about it for months.

[Mickeypnd]

Me and my bf tok his two younger cousins and brother to see that movie Inglorious *******s, and his cousins and them were talking through the whole thing, and then his one girl cousin, pulled out here phone and started texting right next to me!

I told him we're never taking them to another movie again. lol.

[lizziep]

I almost never go to the movies anymore, for the exact same reason. Small children in rated R movies, teenagers texting, talking, taking calls. ADULTS texting, talking, taking calls.

A few of my movie going rules:

1. if I'm not dying to see it, I can wait.
2. never ever EVER go to the dollar theater.
3. always go late at night, last showing if possible.
4. never ever go on opening night.


i have had several movies ruined by other people. Once we actually went and complained to someone that worked there, who talked to the culprit, who then continued doing it anyway. We walked out, I wrote an email and got free tickets to another movie. Like I want to go back! pfft.

I'd say we see one or two movies a year in the theater, and they'd better be big exciting movies - Harry Potter, Wolverine, Batman... something that we both are dying to see immediately. Otherwise- I can wait.

[Windchime]

I haven't been to a movie in years, either. I think it was the last X-Files movie and the theater was nearly empty. But I just can't put up with little kids whining and kicking my seats, teenagers talking and giggling and texting, and adults chatting throughout the movie as loudly as if they were sitting at the kitchen table.

As much as I like the whole big-screen, big-sound experience, I don't really want to pay $9 (plus snacks!) to sit and be annoyed by a bunch of rude people. I'll wait for the video. All it would take is for theaters to start employing a couple of ushers; once these people started getting booted out 10 minutes into the movie, I think that people would straighten up. And the cell phone thing--I have a cell phone. I like my cell phone. I like to text on it. But I'm not a doctor who is on-call, so therefore I shut the stupid thing off for 2 hours when I go in a theater. I fear we are creating a whole generation of stupid people with extremely short attention spans who cannot bear to communicate face to face, so they have to constantly be typing (in poor grammar) to each other.

Grrrrrr. You kids get offa my lawn! :::::shaking fist::::::

[happy2bme]

I used to like people. I really did. Now I long to be Grizzly Adams or Laura Ingalls Wilder living the rest of my days in the wilderness. The sooner, the better.

As a society people have a complete disregard for anyone outside of themselves. I have nicknamed this decade "The Because I CAN" decade. People do the most ridiculous things because I CAN and don't you dare say anything to me about it. I knew we were in trouble after the Me decade.

The sad thing is that the movie business will suffer the most and probably not even know why attendance is down.

[Windchime]

Originally Posted by happy2bme

The sad thing is that the movie business will suffer the most and probably not even know why attendance is down.

They'd have to be idiots not to know that $9 + yakking teenagers = reduced attendance. Of course, maybe the fact that the teenager attendance is UP means that whether or not I go to the movies is irrelevant. I'm probably not the target demographic anyway, since I am usually happy to wait till it comes to video.

[raebeaR]

Originally Posted by Windchime

Grrrrrr. You kids get offa my lawn! :::::shaking fist::::::

ROFL, Windchime, I'm right there with yas, shaking my fist, too!!!

I despise how widespread rudeness has become, and how ACCEPTED. It's a little better here in a rural setting, but overall, common courtesy has slid right off a cliff. Very sad.

About once every couple of months, a friend of mine and I go to a matinee showing of something we want to see in the middle of the week... that's a good time to catch films. We're often the only ones in the theatre. Yeeaaahh!!!

[sprklemajik]

I can usually stand the sunday matinee-- like while everyone is still at lunch. Otherwise I just can't handle the rudeness.

My horror story: I went on a date to see the Chronicles of Narnia when I was in college. The theater was packed and my date and I ended up sitting in front of a Mom with like 4 kids. They kicked our chairs, hit us in the head with jackets and scarves, and talked through the entire movie. The kids were almost forgivable b/c they're kids... but halfway through the movie the mom answered her cell and held a conversation (didn't even say "hey I'm in a movie call you back later) for like 3 minutes. The nerve of some people.

[EZMONEY]

It was a lot better when the only thing you had to worry about was getting caught sneaking in by way of the maintenance door or making out in the back...I hated those little ushers with their flashlights...quick and sneaky...

[Shannon in ATL]

I'm with you on the annoyance of the movies. DH & I typically go to the ones that start at 10:00 am or earlier these days and are often the only people at the theater. The talking, the kicking, the texting... all make me crazy.

We love seeing movies on IMAX - as we have a 62" HD tv with surround sound and blu-ray most other movies can be viewed satisfactorily at home. The 'real' IMAX theater near us is almost an hour away at $15 per ticket. The last time we went (Transformers) we found out that for the price of a large popcorn they now give you the small paper bag and say "you get free refills". So you charge me $30 for two tickets to a movie and then tell me I have to get up and leave that movie to come out and get refills on my small bag of popcorn that you charged me $6 for? Heck with that. Haven't been back to that Regal Cinema and likely won't go to another one. The 10am movie at the smaller theater closer to our house is so much better, and they sell tickets before noon for $6 and give you free ones after several purchases with their frequent visitor club.

And the 500 calorie apricot chicken is fantastic at OG - had it just a few weeks ago myself.

[Skyra]

Yeah, movies can be insufferable. I saw Paranormal Activity and looking forward to the scariness, but all through the movie there was a girl giggling in back (and her friends chorusing "SHUT UP!" every two minutes -- hard to tell which was worse), so it wasn't a scary experience at all.

For the record, I'm 22 and I'm frankly pretty ashamed of a lot of my generation. There's no excuse to be that rude, and I wish texting had never been invented. Ugh.

[willow650]

[quote=raebeaR;3014573

I despise how widespread rudeness has become, and how ACCEPTED. It's a little better here in a rural setting, but overall, common courtesy has slid right off a cliff. Very sad.

![/QUOTE]
When parents started trying to make sure their little angels had high self esteem they didn't teach how to esteem others above themselves, therefor created self centered, self serving brats. Parents started focusing 100% of their attention on their kids and didn't teach the kids to pay attention to others. I believe most ADHD cases stem from kids not being told to sit down and be quite nearly enough.

[alinnell]

I think this is why we started going to matinees. A nice lunch out and then a movie in the early afternoon. We get the matinee rates (so much less $$) and the crowds? Practically non-existent. Most people who go to matinees are older and are much more apt to follow the "turn your cell phone off" and "no texting" messages that the theaters put out these days. We even have a theater that sends in a REAL PERSON to ask people to kindly turn off cells, do not text and no talking! Talk about service!

[sunflowergirl68]

Thats when you say "SHUT THE F*CK UP!!!"

[sunflowergirl68]

Originally Posted by lizziep

I almost never go to the movies anymore, for the exact same reason. Small children in rated R movies, teenagers texting, talking, taking calls. ADULTS texting, talking, taking calls.

Gah, I remember I went to a 10pm showing of some rated R movie (I can't remember the name, but it was fairly violent) and some idiot parents took their 3 or 4 year old! At TEN O'CLOCK AT NIGHT! To a RATED R movie! That, to me, is child abuse. And the kid cried throughout the whole movie. Keeping your kid up until midnight so you can see a freaking movie is selfish and irresponsible and abusive.