[psmith2.0]

Saw two movies this past weekend ("Shrek 2" and "The Day After Tomorrow"). I don't go to them as much as I used to, and I now think I know why.

Are people just getting more obnoxious and ill-mannered in public, particularly movie theaters? When, exactly, did it become totally okay to talk and provide commentary during the movie?

And I'm not talking kids here, either. Grown-ups, adults. People who should know better.

And it always seems to be some beefy, jugheaded guy with this wife or girlfriend OR two middle-aged women.

I spend more time "ssshhh-ing" nimrods these days than I do watching the movie. They even post "no talking" and "turn off your cell phones and pagers" announcements on the screen, prior to the movie. But it doesn't seem to take.

What's the best approach here. And what are some of your best stories of Multiplex Shithead Disorder (MSD) that you can share?

I just know that one day I'm going to end up in some knock-down, drag-out brawl in the aisle with someone over this...and I really don't want it coming to that, but DAMN.



People, shut up when the lights go down! Why is this hard?

[thegelding]

yeah, it has gotten horrid...i rarely go to the movies anymore since i have a nice system at home...the movies look and sound better at home...

wife and i went yesterday though, and two noisy groups came in late (i hate that) and both groups either sat down right in front of us with much shuffling and changing seats or sat in our row with much squeezing pasts and banging legs and such...

people, show up on time before the movie starts, and then zip your yaps till the movie is over...if you need to talk, whisper...if you need to pee three times during a two hour movie, sit on the end of an isle...if you need to talk on your cell phone, shoot yourself now


g

[alcimedes]

nothing is more entertaining than to call these idiots who think they're funny/cool on being morons.

i've found a very direct "shut the hell up already, you aren't that funny" works wonders.

just make sure you're there with a few good sized buddies in case they decide to take issue with you after the movie.

[_Ω_]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 People, shut up when the lights go down! Why is this hard?

Because the average person is a self involved moron!

Last movie I saw, Mulholland Drive.

[kretara]

I hate those friggin talking heads too.

I have 2 stories.

I was watching Matrix 2 with my brother. We were already annoyed with the young talking heads in the theater but about half way through the movie this stinking drunk mexican comes and sits 1 seat away from me. This guy is so drunk that he can't even sit in the seat. I ask him to leave a few times but he just babbles away in spanish. Well, about 30 minutes after he shows up he passes out. 5 minutes later he spews all over the place. The people in front of him got the old vomit shower. Things got worse from that point on.

I was up in Burlington Ma. watching Red Dragon with the wife. We were about 4 rows from the back of the theater. Now, this asshole in the back kept getting calls on his cell. He would talk (loudly) for a while, hang up and get called back a few minutes later. Everyone was telling him to shut the hell up and to turn his phone off. He just told us to fsck off. Well about 10 rows ahead of us this big ass man (like 6-5, ~290) comes walking back and tells the guy to turn his cell phone off now or to leave the theater. The cell phone asshole says that he is a Boston cop (IMHO some of the biggest assholes on the planet), he pulls out his badge, and then he tells the big guy to sit down or he would be arrested. The big guy says well thats fine, but I'm a State Trooper (very strict but fair cops), he pulls back his jacket to show his badge and gun. Big guy then says that if he hears the cell phone ring again he definately would arrest the cell phone guy. The entire theater starts clapping.
The cell phone did NOT ring again.

[Mac+]

'scates Don't know if you can recall the Seinfeld episode when George told some noisy movie-goers to "shut up", but perhaps you should try that direct approach (admittedly, I think Costanza was on his do the opposite to what he normally would do routine), but it seemed to work a treat for him.

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, pretty unbelievable, huh? I love the whole "going to a movie" thing (well, I used to). But as I get older (and people seem to get more idiotic), the fun has definitely faded.



I mean, I go to a movie like "Shrek 2" and I'm not an idiot: I expect there to be chirpy, gleeful children laughing and cooing throughout and maybe younger kids will occasional blurt out a question or comment. That's just part of going to an animated, kid-oriented movie...and I can accept that, to a point.

But seeing the other one ("The Day After Tomorrow") the following evening and pretty much a room full of adults, and it was just Butthole Central. I mean, even the teenagers present were quieter and better-acting than the 30- and 40-somethings around me.

Honestly, the guy behind me just had a remark about EVERYTHING. I'd sigh kinda loud and turn my head to the side. About halfway through, I turned further around and just went "Damn, buddy...do you mind?".

He mumbled something, but he was quieter for the remainder.

But I shouldn't even have to go out of my way and tell him, should I? And when you get guys there with their girlfriends or wives, they're almost always going to want to be in bad-ass or show-off mode, so any little comment or request I make, depending on the guy, is the equivalent to slapping his face with a glove and challenging him to a duel.



The one cool thing is that I heard his wife/girlfriend "sssh-ing" him to (even before I said something), so I think she wasn't impressed by his real-time commentary or behavior either.

I find this being the case, more and more. I just get really mad at the prospect of looking really forward to something, getting there, finding a parking spot, paying $9 to get in, paying another $30-40 for popcorn and a Coke, finding a great seat, etc. - then to have all that negated or undermined by some ill-mannered, graceless shithead. The kind of shithead that when you finally confront him/her, they somehow manage to turn it all around and make YOU look like the troublemaker or asshole. As in "how dare you ask ME to be quiet...I paid my money to be here, too!", as if $9 buys them the right to stage their own little Mystery Science Theatre production for two hours.



Amazing.

I'm just going to start cracking heads and twisting nuts...and let the Milk Duds fall where they may.

[kretara]

My biggest 2 problems with going to the movies are the lack of quality (plot, writing) in most movies and the price. An evening at the movies can cost > $50 (including babysitting).

[709]

Pscates, you've just tapped into to one of my biggest peeves. I HATE people talking during a movie. I guess I'm from that generation who went to see a movie for the 'immersion' quality, that is, becoming completely engrossed by what's going on onscreen.

Nowadays I barely even go to the theatre, and if I really must see something on the big screen I'll wait a few weeks until the hoopla's died down and go at an off-time. Even then, there are the talking dumbasses, just not as many.

THIS ISN'T YOUR FUCKING LIVINGROOM!!! SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, it's pretty high. And the return ain't often there.

I can't remember the last time I walked out of a movie and thought to myself "okay, THAT was $9 certainly well-spent!".

Perhaps "Shrek 2", only because I laughed out loud and genuinely enjoyed it for what it was. Before that, I'd have to go back a LONG time...

I'm looking forward to "Star Wars: Episode III" and Batman Begins" next summer...but that's a year away!

[psmith2.0]

Originally Posted by 709 Pscates, you've just tapped into to one of my biggest peeves.

We're big on PSAs and "education" (pamphlets, after-school stories and cautionary tales, "this is your brain looking like an egg" posters, etc.).

Maybe we're just in need of a nationwide "Don't Be A Multiplex Dick...Here's What NOT To Do At The Movies!" campaign?

[Xaqtly]

Yeah that's a pet peeve of mine too. It's really obnoxious. The worst one that I can remember is watching The Sixth Sense, and right near the end, right as "the big twist" is being revealed, a baby starts screaming its head off in the back row. Now I'm forgiving to a point and if the mother had left the theater with the baby that would have been at least the right thing to do - but she didn't. Not only did she stay there, she began insulting everybody who told her to leave. "I have a right to be here, same as you", and "You can't tell me what to do", etc. So now the movie is pretty much ruined for everybody in the theater, and a rapidly growing chorus of angry voices are telling her to get the hell out of the theater. At that point I think she finally sensed that she may have been in the wrong on this one and she left.

It's common sense that you don't bring a small baby into a movie. It's going to wake up and cry at some point, and while that's not the baby's fault it sure as hell is the parent's fault for bringing the baby into the theater in the first place. Luckily I had already seen the movie once before, but I was with somebody who hadn't seen it and it really sucked for him.

Oh, and when I saw Shrek 2, there was a kid behind me who was not only saying "oh watch what happens next" and "oh this is funny, this part coming up", but there's a part where Donkey is bored and starts making annoying noises - guess what the kid behind me starts doing. Sorry, but just because they're 12 doesn't mean they have a right to ruin the movie for other people.

[psmith2.0]

Well, 12 is certainly a little older than I was referring to earlier (about kids being chirpy and talky in movies).

I'm thinking more of 4-year-olds and so forth. They're old enough to enjoy the visuals and maybe the story and songs and so forth. But they've not quite grasped the "hush and watch" angle. Give them a few more years, plus, hopefully, a good parent will keep them quiet.

But no...when you're 12 and still acting like a dick in the theater, all bets are off and you're subject to as much anger - and rude, threatening comments - as I would direct to that 40-something seated behind me Saturday.



12, and a few years prior to it, is PLENTY old enough to control yourself and know how to act in public.

[addabox]

I don't know if people are getting stupider or are just more free about expressing it.

I get the feeling a lot of the people talking at the movies can't understand what's happening unless they sort of hash it out out loud.

Like, "Hey, that's the same guy as in the police station!" Or, "Man, he better watch out!", or "Is that her sister? I thought it was her sister!"

And you know how whenever there is a little revelatory moment where some plot point is telegraphed you can absolutely count to two and start to hear the theater wide murmur as everyone starts to explain it to each other or just blurt it out to prove they are paying attention. I've made it a little game to predict when that will happen and I'm almost always right.

It's like every movie is a special screening for the short bus.

[thegelding]

Originally Posted by 709 THIS ISN'T YOUR FUCKING LIVINGROOM!!! SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

i don't let people talk while watching movies in my livingroom, and these are loved ones i care about...so i sure ain't gonna like it none when some rube i don't know is yakking it up...hand over mouth and a quick shiv at the nape of the neck heading upward takes care of it everytime...but only works if they are right in front of you...though usually if you ask nice you can switch seats with whoever is sitting behind the yahoo...shit yeah they kick and squirm, but only for a few moments and then blissful silence


g

[autodata]

This is one of the main reasons I bought a projector.

A few months ago I went to the Alien re-release. We were blessed with a group of late teenagers that wouldn't STFU. We started off polite and that didn't work. The teenage staff were too wimpy to kick them out.

I ended up nailing two of them with what was left of my drink outside.

I used to love going to the movies back when we had a nice neighborhood theater. Now it's all the massive 12-16 screen deals packed full of people. At least there are a couple good, old theaters still left in the city.

[Kickaha]

I was hoping it was just a regional/cultural thing. I *never* ran into this problem prior to moving to NC from Seattle. Back home, people are quuuuiiiiiiiieeeeet. 'Pathologically polite' according to the NYTimes in one article.

Down here? Jesus, these people will NOT shut the frick up. And apparently it's more accepted in some subcultures than others. "Oh no he DIDN'T!" is a lot more common than "Look out y'all!". *sigh*

I blame callbacks in church.

I just don't go to movies any more. It's more fun at home.

[Ryan]

I don't even have a theater in my town. Thats how small it is, and we're in the Bay Area. I have to go to the next town, which is like a slimmed down version of Oakland, CA.

When I went to se ROTK, I was lucky enough to be in a theather with NO ASSHOLES. Though there was a lot of cheering in some of the battle scenes.

[thuh Freak]

Wait, I'm confused about the movie. So the cops knew that internal affairs were setting them up?

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, but the bomb is set to explode...and only one man can save the city and the girl he loves!

We could probably write out own movie.

Hey, I was talking with my buddy about this tonight (iBook chick/the ex) and we were talking about the feasibility of a one-screen theater that showed nothing but independent stuff AND cool, old stuff (years ago - on one of our first dates - we went to the Tivoli theater in downtown Chattanooga and they showed "Casablanca" and it was really something neat).

I mean, if I just had money to blow, I'd love to find an old building downtown (we even have a borderline hip/artsy district!), gut it, install about 100 seats and a nice - but not gigantic, overwhelming - screen and just have a place in this town where people can see non-Hollywood/multiplex/blockbuster stuff.

Case in point: we had to wait FOUR MONTHS for "The Cooler" to come to town, and when it did it only played on ONE screen, twice a day.



And I thought it would be cool to even have "theme nights", where, say, Wednesday would be old Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers serials. We could show cool old classic Westerns another night, have a detective/film noir night, etc. Maybe serve wind and beer, maybe get someone from the local college to get up and talk to the crowd beforehand and tell some interesting facts about the movie.

Maybe have an intermission and even a raffle where we give away a reproduction movie poster of said film?

We just tossed back a bunch of cool ideas for almost an hour and we decided that any town with a place like this would just be cool as could be.

I'd love to be able to do a place up to where it had the cool, throwback retro touches, decor-wise...BUT had the best sound and visuals possible. The best of everything, cultivating an adult, appreciative crowd. I think it would be cool for older people to have a place to go at night to see the films they saw 50 or so years ago, in a somewhat similar setting. That's just romantic and cool.

And then, also, a place that would show some of the more out-of-the-way, smaller films that a city like Chattanooga just doesn't get (we have to drive to Atlanta), BUT I know for a fact there is a market here for it!

This is the kind of serious, life-altering, contribution-making crap I think about when I'm not being Illustrator/Photoshop/PowerBook boy.



I'd love to build - from the ground up - a modern "retro-styled" theater for old movies, independent film and quirky stuff. Have ONE place in this town where people could go for stuff NOT starring Schwarzenegger, Kutcher or J-Lo.

[FFL]

I HATE Rupid People!
Rude+Stupid

I came up with the term to describe certain... customers.. of a certain.... store... where I used to work but it works well for bad drivers and obnoxious idiots at movie theaters and other public places

[kretara]

pscates2.0
There is a theater in the Coolidge Corner area of Brookline, Ma (Boston) called the Coolidge Corner Theatre that does exactly what you were talking about and seemed to be doing quite well.


During my 8 years in Massachusetts I noticed that movie viewers in New England were some of the loudest and rudest people (all ages) I have ever had the misfortune to be around.
Since moving back to Arkansas I have noticed that the adults are fairly quite but the teenagers are just as loud and idiotic as everywhere else.

[Wickers]

Haha!

This thread is all to funny for me.

I spent damn near two years working for Famous Players here in Toronto. Famous Players (for the non-Canadians here) is a theater chain owned by Viacom. During my time at Famous, I became quite addicted to movies, and spent far to much time at work while not working.

Back then I had a friend/coworker who also was a movie nut, she and I would spend entire days watching movies together. We became close, and I really started to 'like' her, sadly it was clear we were better off as friends. To this day I still miss her. . . she went off to university and I have not talked to her in what seems like ages.

Anyway. . . back on topic.

While at work I had to talk to many people for such rude conduct. I worked at a small, "non-mainstream" theater that was tailored toward the older crowd. So we were strict with people who were causing a fuss.

One time, I saw a couple enter a theater without getting their tickets ripped. At first I let it go, because I saw them buy the tickets, but then we started getting complaints about people talking to much. I walked in the theater and sure enough it was the couple. I asked to see their tickets, just to kill two birds with one stone, but the guy could not find his. So I took him out into the hall and explained to them that without some proof of purchase I would have to ask him to leave. He told me to ask the ticket lady, I asked which of the two sold him the ticked, he replied "the nigg... Negro". I let that slide as I walked to the box office but just as I started walking I heard him mutter: "fucking Nazi". This crossed the line. I walked right past the box office and informed management. When I returned with my manager he had just found the ticket in a pocket of his jacket and told us that he was going to go back to watch the rest of the movie. My manager, shut the door before he could go anywhere and kicked him out of the theater for the comments he made.

I went back in and sat next to his date and told her why he was kicked out of the theater. I offered her a refund if she wanted to leave and meet up with him. She looked at me, and said, "hell no, that jerk can wait outside, this movie is to funny to miss.".

Moral of the story. . .

Don't call the German usher a Nazi for doing his job.


Moving on,

I really miss that job. There were only thirty or so workers so we were like a family. . . Some of my fondest memories.

And I still can't get used to paying for a movie.

(on a side note, I can never eat popcorn again, makes me sick because I ate so much of it while at work.)

[Lee Ho Fook]

I love going to a horror movie and yelling at the characters when they're about to open a door. You know you wouldn't open that damn door if a few minutes before you found your neighbor's severed head. What's up with that?

[DMBand0026]

I can't stand the talkers, the kissers (you know what I'm talking about), and I can stand least of all the chompers.
You've all seen, rather, heard them. The ones who chew gum in the movie and you hear from behind you....

CHOMP, CHOMP, CHOMP, SMACK, POP, CHOMP, CHOMP, SMACK, LICK, POP, CHOMP, CHOMP, SNORT, CHOMP, SMACK, POP, POP, CHOMP....

for the entire duration of the movie. CLOSE YOUR FRIGGIN MOUTH WHEN YOU CHEW RETARD!!! You sound like a friggin cow and probably look like one too.

The last movie I saw I found myself in front of a mother and her (probably around 8 year old) child. He had a pop and a bag of popcorn, and he, every 10 minutes or so through the entire movie would spill his drink. And his mom would get up and go get him another one. As you may recall, I was sitting right in front of him, and the theatre sloped downward toward the screen, leaving me sitting in puddle after puddle of Dr. Pepper.

Instead of confronting her and telling her that her kid was a moron and that she shouldn't get him any more drinks, I just moved and enjoyed the movie.

[Mac+]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 ...[snip]...Hey, I was talking with my buddy about this tonight (iBook chick/the ex) and we were talking about the feasibility of a one-screen theater that showed nothing but independent stuff AND cool, old stuff (years ago - on one of our first dates - we went to the Tivoli theater in downtown Chattanooga and they showed "Casablanca" and it was really something neat). I mean, if I just had money to blow, I'd love to find an old building downtown (we even have a borderline hip/artsy district!), gut it, install about 100 seats and a nice - but not gigantic, overwhelming - screen and just have a place in this town where people can see non-Hollywood/multiplex/blockbuster stuff.

We have a lot of theatres in Melbourne that cater to your idea, but my favourite is The Astor in St Kilda.

It is this old theatre with a balcony and those old fashioned leather chairs, with a grand piano in the foyer. During Winter (and this is the bit I love) you can buy a cup of hot pumpkin soup and a wholesome slice of carrot cake and take it inside with you. The patrons are also movie afficionados and they respect the no-talking principle. They also have theme nights and occasionally close when somebody hires it out for a private function.

I got to see a lot of films I might never have seen at this theatre. In fact, about ten years ago when I was really going through a Woody Allen phase, they had all his old films on as double feature each Monday night. It was a great way to view his work in a chronological order and see the development (as well as reuse) of his ideas. I must make the effort to get back there again!

[autodata]

In chicago most people like the Music Box for off-beat, older or foreign films. Personally, since my first experience there was a 3D porno (complete with 3D cumshots) I have mixed feelings about it.

Therefore, the best place I have found to go is the Gene Siskel theater of the School of the Art Institute. Two major plusses: 1. more refined and quiet audience and 2. they serve beer and wine.

[Kickaha]

Ah! "M - in 3D"! Yeah, watching the middle of the theatre collectively flinch as a squirt of solar flare proportions seemed to head right at them was hilarious.

The Neptune in Seattle was *the* place for such things, 45th and Brooklyn. They painstakingly renovated it back to the original artwork, or at least something close to it, and then got bought out by a big chain... which promptly starting running first-run flicks there, gutting any charm the place had, and generally screwing it over in every way possible. That was a fantastic place before then - a new theme almost every night, and if a film played twice in the same year, it was unusual. "Fellini Week" might have been followed by "Weekend of Godzilla" and then a double feature of the horrendous Klaus Kinski Nosferatu coupled with The Hunger, the next night being rare French silent film shorts with live organ.

It was something special while it lasted.

[Ebby]

Originally Posted by Omega Last movie I saw, Mulholland Drive.

:wow: Dang! I just saw that movie too for the first time last week. I have to write a paper on it for a film class. Ugh! It doesn't make any sence!

Oh well...

[kraig911]

Originally Posted by Ebby :wow: Dang! I just saw that movie too for the first time last week. I have to write a paper on it for a film class. Ugh! It doesn't make any sence! Oh well...

interestingly enough Mulholland Drive, was one of the last movies I have watched in a big theater as well. The guy like snuck in a package of crackers or somethen and the whole time it was just *CRACKLE CRACKLE... CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH GULP* over and over and over. At the end of movie I stood up turned around and with a nasty look I said "those crackers must've been tasty...." it was also the last 'date, date' I had with this girl and I blame all on that guy! you know.. from spreading bad vibes sonically.

There's a cool retro theater here in austin I just saw a good movie awhile back called "they call me bruce" a kung fu parody. Anyone see that? i don't count going to there as going to see a movie because I buy about 3 buckets of beer and get smashed and everyone there is making all kinds of noises.