[h3]Cinema owners try to lure us back to the movies [/h3] Cinema owners are freaking out over plummeting attendance. Going to the movies has stopped being nearly as much fun because of the crummy movies, the door-searches, the camera-confiscations, the nonstop advertising, security guards scanning the audience with infrared goggles, and especially the dumb anti-piracy nag-PSAs (hint to cinema industry: if I'm spending $$$$ to get into the cinema, I'm not a pirate, I'm a customer). They propose to fix this by jamming cell-phones and creating nicer auditoriums. This seems like a pretty ineffectual band-aid to me. Better movies, fewer ads, eliminating invasive searches, infrared scanning, and no insulting pre-film notices would go a lot further to luring me back into the dark. [/p][blockquote]The mantra at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood is ``ease, comfort and control.'' Besides reserved seating, the 15-screen complex has online ticketing and 21-Plus Screenings, where, if you're 21, you can bring alcohol into the theater. ``People complain about sticky floors, dirty bathrooms and zombie staff,'' said the ArcLight's Robert Brugeman. ``To get their attention, you have to offer a premium product.'' [/p]Theater owners are also taking aim at cell-phone users. NATO has made solving the cell-phone problem a ``high priority'' and is looking into jamming cell-phone signals. [/p][/blockquote] [a href="vny!://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/peninsula/14457900.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_peninsula"]Link[/a]
The one thing that drove me away from theatres long ago was the deafening volume. Even using earplugs, the noise was loud enough to give me a severe headache.
Glad someone's raised the topic of the volume of noise in cinemas. Anyone any inkling of why this is thought to be necessary?
I think that there are so many loud noises assailing the eardrums that people are gradually losing their hearing. Movie sound might be turned up to compensate for all the other noise in the theatre.......talking, paper rattling, that sort of thing.
WHAT?! What noise, theatre too quiet. Can't hear a thing...
I thought the whole issue with the loud noise was to enhance the whole experience. I certainly don't think much of the noise. It worked when I was watching LOTR.
Prices are set way too high. Especially if you want to take your family out. They should have just stick to Tuesday Cheap Movie Night. I don't go to the movies as much, not because I don't want to pay the price but because it's hard for me. Having a young family means very little time to go out and enjoy movies like I used to.
Then there is the other issue of download. Why go to the movies at all when you can also download before it even hits the big screen?
I know I don't go to the movies much anymore because of the price and the environment. I hate the dirty floors, bathrooms and uncomfortable seats. As films get longer and longer it becomes hard to sit in those seats for longer than 2 hours. I also hate the talkers, the over powering smells of other people and the kicking of the back of my seat. I have a theatre room in my house and love the fact that I have incredibly comfy seating and I can go to the bathroom when I want and completely control the entire environment.
As you can tell, I have severe issues with movie theatres.
Wow Chicklet. Can we all come and watch in your fancy theatre room one day? * jealous * (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Happy/3.gif)
You are always welcome Lise! I promise it will be clean and we can have the volume at any level and I guarantee that no one will kick the back of you seat.
first run/new release film selection is poor,prices way to high and theatres to crammed.
i prefer to go to reporatory cinemas....better/classic films,better price and cheaper food,more respectful audience.
Theatres too crammed? The last time I went I was one of an audience of five that had turned out for The Constant Gardener.
Chicklet wrote:
at any level and I guarantee that no one will kick the back of you seat.
Is it just me or did anyone else read that as "no one will lick the back of you seat"?
It's you. She wrote "KICK". (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/6.gif) But heck, you can lick my seats anytime you want, TehBorken.
Lise wrote:
It's you. She wrote "KICK". (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/6.gif) But heck, you can lick my seats anytime you want, TehBorken. [/DIV]
Seats? Plural? Surely not!
Gopher wrote:
Lise wrote:
It's you. She wrote "KICK". (//vny!://discoverseattle.net/forums/richedit/smileys/Teasing/6.gif) But heck, you can lick my seats anytime you want, TehBorken. [/DIV]
Seats? Plural? Surely not!
One for the office, and one for casual wear, right?
I agree that they are waaaaay overpriced. I don't mind the volume so much myself (but I can see how others do), but those movies don't work so well in your DVD. Anytime we watch a movie at home I keep the remote handy to turn down the loud parts and turn up the quiet parts (which I'm sure can be heard just fine in a loud theater-not so much out of old TV speakers.)
Prices are crazy. You buy two tickets: 20 bucks. Popcorn and a diet soda (no butter please) 10 bucks.
$30+ to see a movie. OUTRAGEOUS!
There is an old old old movie theatre in saint louis that plays independents and such but it has the feel of a 70's porno theatre. And I went by it a couple of months ago and its midnight showing. (whatever happend to those by the way) was a porno from the 70's in 3-D. I about hit the floor with laughter. What were they on back then to think of a porno movie in 3-D. crazy.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I just love paying for cheap food at a 700% rate of inflation.
I also have to agree with Chicklet, that the kicking of the seats, combined with the non-existent social skills of anyone who enters into a large dark room to view anything these days ("Yes, the IMAX theatre is exactly like your livingroom, and you can run your mouth through the entire presentation.") makes most attempts at movie going about as rewarding for me as a razor blade on a blackboard.
Contrary to the old stereotypes about who behaves how in movie theatres, I've found that all kinds of people, of all ages and ethnic groups, have no idea how to behave in a theatre anymore.
But then I'm one of those types who used to go to afternoon matinees in my youth to see obscure European films from the 1920s, and I'd be there with maybe five other people in the whole building. So I guess I'm not a measure of anything.
[span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: times new roman;"]Trollio's Snobbish Rules for Going to a Theatre[/span]
1. Sit down.
2. Shut up.
3. Leave after credits.
Trollio wrote:
[span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: times new roman;"][/span]
3. Leave after credits.
Nice one. I like to soak up the sheer enormity of the crew needed to make a film, it always blows my mind and those folks deserve a little recognition. Plus it gives you time to reflect on the film and catch any goodies at the end.
Trollio wrote:
But then I'm one of those types who used to go to afternoon matinees in my youth to see obscure European films from the 1920s, and I'd be there with maybe five other people in the whole building.
Were they first run or re-runs?
kitten wrote:
Were they first run or re-runs?
Why, first run, because yes, young lady, I am 93.
LOL
Sooo... any good movie theatres in the Vancouver area? I like the Cinematheque (sp?)