Talking in Theaters

BiggerBoat

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If you want to witness the decline of western civilization, just go into any movie theater.

Against my better judgment I went and saw a movie the other day. I wanted to get out of the house and enjoy some time with Miss BiggerBoat. I only see maybe 1 or 2 movies a year in the theater any more, and I was reminded why.

People talking. Idiots resting their feet on the back of my chair. People who act mortified when I turn around and ask them to quiet down and get their feet off my chair.

Seriously, what is up with human beings?

It's not just kids, either. It's children and senior citizens and everyone in between.

Movies were a big part of my childhood. They were part of what inspired me to be creative. Back then, you'd stand out in line in the rain for a single-screen theater, and the movie was like a communal experience. People got involved with the movie rather than the people they came with. They laughed at the right places, they cheered when the bad guy got his comeuppance. At the end, if it was good, they'd applaud. Back then, going to movies was a hell of a lot of fun.

Am I just looking back on things through rose-colored glasses? Has it gotten worse? Is this an American thing?

I will say that there is one theater that offers a consistently good experience: the Cinerama in Seattle. This is a restored single-screen theater, and it takes me back to how it used to be. Problem is, it's hard to justify the 50 minute drive and the $12.00 in parking when the movie's going to be on DVD in a few months.

Man, I am getting to be a cranky old man.
 

Writer2011

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I remember going to movies as a kid--this was a time when Cell phones or pagers didn't exist. Now you see them everywhere...ringing during a movie... people talking throughout the movie and being plain rude.

Yes the movie experience has changed in the past decades and i'm to the point where I dread going anymore.. yet I force myself because there's nothing like watching say Harry Potter on the big screen..you know?
 

kristie911

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It seems people have no concept of rude and the ones that do, don't give a shit anymore. It's the moral decline of our society.

But Aspiring's right...there's nothing like Harry Potter on the big screen. But he might be the only one worth it. :)
 

Writer2011

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Don't forget Fantastic Four :) And Spiderman :) But you're right Krisitie... some people don't care anymore and it's sad.
 

A. Hamilton

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This irks me as well. I think movie-watching has become so common it's taken for granted. When we watch movies in our own home, we can take breaks as needed, interrupt with talking and just rewind. When we watch a a movie at the theatre, we know it will be out on DVD soon and that we'll get to catch anything we miss.
It's very selfish.
It doesn't just happen at the movies.
I was recently at a play put on at my son's elementary school. We sat behind a group..(family and friends it appeared) who talked and talked and talked. Two of the kids were very loud and boistrous. I asked them politely to be quiet. I shushed them. The one who appeared to be the mom looked at them when I did this, but said nothing. They were quiet for a few minutes and started up again. Next, mom-person (who I knew I recognized from someplace, but not sure where) started a conversation with the grown-up next to her, who repeated everything to the teen next to her, who added her two-cents to the conversation, which was repeated back to the mom-person. and so on. This went on and on. There were no 'ushers' available.
I stood up and watched the play from another place.
I walked into church the next Sunday, and after dropping off my kids for their class, I hear a knock on the door that everyone knows is kept locked. I was already completely down the hallway, and almost late for service, but heck , someone was knocking. I was new there once and had tried getting in that door, not knowing, so why not, I'll go let them in. I get to the door, and it's the rude mom-person from the play! She said thanks as she explained that she was too lazy to walk around to the open door. Hmm, ok, let me clarify, you had me walk back down the hallway when service is already starting to let you in because you're lazy? You mean you knew the door was locked???
Then she headed straight into the kid's service, and that's when I remembered who she was. She was the director of the kid's church for my son's age group!
Grrrrrrr

Okay, off topic some, but thanks for the rant :D
 

maestrowork

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Once at the movies this guy's cell phone rang... and he actually answered it and continued to have a LOUD conversation with the person on the phone. I was so pissed. So I just walked up to where he was sitting and very politely asked him to "either hang up and shut off the phone or I will ask the manager to shove it up somewhere" for him.
 

Writer2011

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Once at the movies this guy's cell phone rang... and he actually answered it and continued to have a LOUD conversation with the person on the phone. I was so pissed. So I just walked up to where he was sitting and very politely asked him to "either hang up and shut off the phone or I will ask the manager to shove it up somewhere" for him.

Way to go :)

I probably would have done the same thing.
 

Mandy-Jane

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I will complete a play this year! I will!
Same with plays. I subscribed to season of plays once about 10 years ago, and unfortunately got seated next to the same woman for every single play. Well she laughed after almost every line (even the ones that weren't funny), and worse than that - she didn't just giggle, she laughed so loud, and had one of those laughs that took about 2 minutes to die down. So I missed like, every 3rd line of dialogue. God it was awful! But I couldn't ask her to stop laughing, could I?

Ggrrrr.
 

Inkdaub

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It drives me absolutely nuts. I only go to the movies during the week and at late showings because of it. Even then there is usually someone talking who has no idea that they aren't in their own living room.

Speaking of living rooms...I once had a roommate who would walk in while me and my other roommate were watching a movie and pick up his guitar and play. I wanted to go Belushi on him.
 

ChaosTitan

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A friend and I went to see "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" when it came out two summers ago. Cute movie, we both wanted to see it. It was, unfortunately, targetted to the tween and teen audience, so guess what the theater was full of? Guess what was sitting next to us and below us? Constantly chit-chatting and checking their text messages with annoying blue lights?

Ding ding! Anyone who guessed teenaged girls gets the door prize!

Something similar happened when we went to see Superman Returns. Parents and their five year old boy sat right behind us. The kid hadn't a clue who Superman was, or any of the history of the first two movies. So mom and dad decided they needed to explain *everything* to kid, every five minutes. I was so annoyed I wanted to dump my popcorn on their head! I mean, how do you take a kid to see Superman *Returns!* without having seen at least the first film?!?!

If I talk during a movie or play, it's to ask a very quiet, very whispered question. Or comment on something. Or ask "where do I know that actor from?" because it will bug me until I know.

That's why one of my favorite lines from the show "Firefly" goes something like this: "You'll burn in the special hell. The one reserved for child molesters and people who talk in the theater."

It's about as freaking rude as chatting on your cell phone while in line to pay for something (groceries, a thousand dollars worth of furniture, movie rental, whatever!). The clerk is a human being, too, and if they are giving you their full attention during the transaction, give them (me!) the same damned courtesy. If the call was that important, you'd be at home taking it, not buying a candle.
 

Gravity

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Yep, I haven't been to the movies in years. For the above-named reasons. My wife and I have a pretty good TV at home, hooked up to a room-rattling Bose system. Comes movie time, we rent the rascals, pop 'em in, and enjoy them completely.
 

Bmwhtly

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I go to the cinema a fair bit. They have one of those things, I pay 10 pound a month and can see as many films as I like for free.
The trick to enjoying the cinema is Don't Ever, under any circumstances, go at peak time.
The few occasions I've been keen enough (or bored enough) to go on, say, Friday or Saturday night it's been lousy. People not actually trying to be annoying but if you have a room full of people crunching popcorn, coughing, chatting up their dates, it gets irritating.
That's why I go on saturday or Sunday lunch-time. The cinema's full of kids (*Shudder*) but only as far as the lobby, it's usually only me plus three or four other losers in the room.

On a not-unrelated matter: why do they serve popcorn in cinemas? why don't they serve something Quieter?
 

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I think a theater owners association did a study very recently in order to identify why attendance is down.

The #1 reason was 'talking in the theaters'.

For many, the movie-going experience has becomes very unpleasant thanks to the obnoxious people that come in and talk (to others or on cell phones).

For me, I rarely if ever say a word during a movie and if I do it is quick and quiet.

In addition to the talking, I am quite annoyed by the frequent cell phone and Blackberry checkers who sit next to or near and you turn on their bright screens every ten minutes to check for messages. Very distracting.

Another pet peeve- People that come in one minute before the film and ask you to move. Call me crazy, but we get to the theater 30 minutes before the movie and get a seat in the middle of the aisle approximately half way back in the theater. The theater fills up around us. Then, as the trailers are running or the opening credits are rolling, some bozos come in and ask you to move over so that they can get two or four seats together.

I used to move. And the schmuck who came in late would get the seat that I got there early for. This happened over and over and over again.

I do not move anymore. And it really seems to shock the hell out of people when people ask you to move over and you say 'no'.
 

David Erlewine

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I am one of the people who has stopped going to movies due to the talking, blackberries, etc.

I love the "Seinfeld" where Elaine asks the ladies next to her to stop talking and they recoil and say "it's only the previews".
 

aka eraser

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I boycotted movie theatres for about 20 years because of talkers, cramped seats, sticky floors, overpriced munchies and too-loud & too many promos/commercials.

A friend told me about a theatre complex about 20 minutes away. It had roomy, comfy seats he said. I checked it out when LOTR came out. I went weeks after it opened, on a Monday night at 9:00 pm. The theatre was virtually empty.

Aha! My trusty 15-watter flared into life.

I now go to that theatre a few times a year to see those flicks that demand a large screen (like 300). But I'll only go Mon-Wed evenings, 2-5 weeks after opening.

And I bring my own munchies.

Movie life CAN be good again people, but you need to be patient. And have large pockets.
 

Writer2011

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Every time I go to the movies someone has their cell phone on with those bright screens... really distracting. As for the food, yeah it's WAY over priced--that's why I rarely buy popcorn and soda..:) Besides you have to get up so many times :)

What irks me the most though is someone sitting behind talking throughout the entire movie.
 

dreamsofnever

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It's about as freaking rude as chatting on your cell phone while in line to pay for something (groceries, a thousand dollars worth of furniture, movie rental, whatever!). The clerk is a human being, too, and if they are giving you their full attention during the transaction, give them (me!) the same damned courtesy. If the call was that important, you'd be at home taking it, not buying a candle.

*snicker* Try working in a cell phone store. People seem to think that just because I *sell* them, it's appropriate for them to sit on the phone while I'm trying to give them my full attention. At this point, I just continue to talk to them like they're not on the phone at all.

and I concur with all of the movie theater rants. I'm a cell phone addict, but I know how to turn it OFF during a movie. I think people are just becoming very very self-centered and used to getting everything when they want it, so god forbid they be quiet for TWO HOURS and not only allow themselves to enjoy the magic of a movie, but allow others to do so.

Going at non-peak hours is the best thing to do though, because there's nothing like practically having the big screen to yourself.
 

MajorDrums

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What irks me the most though is someone sitting behind talking throughout the entire movie.
Or when someone loudly makes a quip about a scene and the people who hear laugh at the joke, so then that person tries to find every opportunity to say something funny all throughout the movie. That really boils.
 

MidnightMuse

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I feel a rant coming on.

Back when I was young, going to the movies was a big part of my life. My sisters and I would spend weekend after weekend going to one of two theaters nearby - the Roxy and the Admiral. Oh, but they were lovely! Old-style comfy seats, balconies, popcorn that didn't cost an arm and a leg. We'd catch this little foot-ferry across the bay, then walk to the theater, see a good movie, then hit the shops, take the ferry back across the bay, then call our Grandfather (on a payphone, a .15cent call) for a ride back to our house.

Those were the days.

Later on, in summer we'd go to the drive-in and see double features on Friday nights.

I loved going to the movies. And this tradition continued after college, for several years - but with each passing year the conditions worsened. The prices went up, the seats got smaller and less comfortable, and the people got more and more rude with each movie. Kicking seats, putting feet up, bathing in perfume or cologne, standing, talking, throwing popcorn.

Finally, I stopped going. I couldn't take it any more. Movies were coming out on this new fangled VCR thing a few years after the release, so I started watching movies at home. Now and again, something would come out that I figured I had to see on the big screen - and I'd go - and hate it. Once I asked a 12 year old (or so) boy to stop kicking my chair, then I turned back around to watch the movie and suddenly realized that kid could have a gun. I could be on tonight's news: Woman shot in theater after asking child to stop kicking chair. Film at 11.

I stopped going completely. Now movies come out in 6 months on DVD, I have a big TV and surround - and I don't charge myself for popcorn or soda.

There was one exception though. My sister and I went to the opening day, the very first showing, of Serenity. At first we regretted it, finding ourselves surrounded by every cliche'd fan-geek you can imagine, and their parents. 40-year olds who clearly still lived in the basement.

But I tell you, when that movie started, not a word was uttered. We all laughed at the same time, applauded at the same time, held our breaths at the same time, and cried openly at the same time. We were immersed in the film, sharing an experience, completely taken away as a group. It was good old-fashioned movie heaven.

That's the last time I went to a movie in the theater - I don't want to ruin that memory!
 

Meerkat

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Some army buddies and I went to see a little movie called "E.T.--The Extraterrestrial" once, about a million years ago. There were a few ten year olds in the row in front of us, who were talking before the movie started.

"Have you seen this before?" one rugrat asked another.
"Yup."
"Is it true that E.T. dies?"
"Yeah, but he comes back to life."

We had to restrain one of our buds from leaning forward to strangle the little dreamstar...
 

ChunkyC

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What P.H. said above about people taking movie watching for granted is dead on. Kids especially are so used to watching movies at home that they seem incapable of comprehending the difference between the theatre and their living room. Parents who don't teach them this distinction need to have their procreation license revoked.

I have to go to the theatre every week for my newspaper column. Unfortunately for me, I live in a small town and work long hours at the day job, so there's no opportunity for a 'press' screening. Therefore, I'm in there with the obnoxious self-centred imbeciles who talk and kick seats or show up late, not to mention all the gadgets that continually pop up throughout the show like blue gophers in the dark. One of these days I'm going to bring a great big rubber mallet and play whack-a-mole.

The small chain that operates our local theatre even has a trailer at the beginning reminding people to be courteous, but half the twits just laugh at it. The worst part, however, is that the theatre staff don't come in and tell these people to behave themselves.

If the movie studios really want to get people back in the theatres, they should have their auditors look not only for people who are in the theatre without a ticket, but also at how the staff maintain decorum, and threaten to not allow them to run their studio's films if they don't clamp down on those who are rude and disruptive.
 

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I have no problem whatsoever with people talking in theatres or the cinem-I just turn around and shoot em right between the eyes then drag em out and let wild dogs ravage their bodies
 

tourdeforce

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... they should have their auditors look not only for people who are in the theatre without a ticket...


Seems like some multiplex theaters in Manhattan have given up on policing theater hopping. Once you are in, you bascially

The AMC 34th theater checks the ticket at the escalator on the first floor and then you are on your own to pick and chose which movies you see.

The last time that I saw an usher actually checking tickets at the theater door was for the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. That was sold out and I think many people were purposely buying tickets for other films and walking in to the DEAD screenings.

I would love to see better enforcement all around in theaters.