Alamo Drafthouse and also politics of talking during the movies thread

[q]Oh yeah CTH's take on movie theaters is fucking stupid. I've never been to an Alamo Drafthouse but anyone that uses their phone in a movie theater should be kicked out.

― flappy bird, Monday, April 30, 2018 11:55 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

...

IIRC it was mostly Amber complaining about people who rat out loud audience members to theater employees. She referred to them as snitches or cops or something like that.

― JRN, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 7:54 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they think people should be able to text/use their phones in movie theaters

― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:11 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Amber otm. as annoying as that is, narcs suck

― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:15 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nah fuck theater goers they deserve fascism

― The Desus & Mero Chain (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:47 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

we need narcs

― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

especially in movie theaters

― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Alamo experience is what you’re paying for. If you don’t like it, go to one of the many other movie theaters housed in the mostly large towns they’re in.

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:58 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh no, this theater is full of narcs, however will I see Infinity War in New York City?!

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:59 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbf Amber thinks everyone is a cop

― Simon H., Tuesday, May 1, 2018 10:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Alamo experience is what you’re paying for. If you don’t like it, go to one of the many other movie theaters housed in the mostly large towns they’re in.

Yeah exactly I don’t get why they don’t just go to an AMC or something
― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 11:08 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I get the idea that big dumb shitty movies don't require absolute silence like you're watching The Passion of Joan of Arc but that's why you find an empty matinee (okay, not really an option in NY) or pirate that shit and watch it on Virgil's floor TV.

― louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 11:39 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The best moment I've had in a theater was from audience participation (a teenage girl stood up during the reveal of Orphan and yelled "Esther got titties!") but Matt complaining and farting would not be pleasant.

― louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 11:41 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

audience reaction/participation can be amazing

― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 11:57 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but ime it's only been when the audience member/whole audience was completely focused on and in tune with the movie

― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 11:58 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

They're not the first ones to denounce complaints over cinema talking/texting as bourgie affectations - classic Hollywood audiences didn't sit in silence, neither do Bollywood audiences, etc. It's whatever, I still like to watch movies that way.

The woman w/ aspergers who got thrown out of a BFI screening of "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" for laughing too loudly at comedic moments was a real bummer tho, fuck the narcs in that case.

― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 5:32 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

being loud/reacting to stuff on screen is fine, pulling out yr fuckin' cell phone in a dark theater is vile

― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 5:54 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

we need narcs

― flappy bird, Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark

this explains a lot about your politics.

what if it's a couple out on a date with their kid at home w the babysitter and they want to periodically check on how things are going? what if it's somebody with a sick parent waiting to hear news from the hospital?

i guess fuck that, "Oh mr theater authority! They are cheating!"

you are in public ffs. if you want to watch movies in a hermetically isolated chamber you can do that.

― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 6:54 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how about maybe a new thread for this topic

― Simon H., Wednesday, May 2, 2018 7:58 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I would post in it a lot

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:34 AM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

okay, maybe not a new thread for this topic then

― Mahogany Loggins (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:35 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what if it's somebody with a sick parent waiting to hear news from the hospital?

”Dad’s on life support, better go see Ready Player One”
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:36 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The woman w/ aspergers who got thrown out of a BFI screening of "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" for laughing too loudly at comedic moments was a real bummer tho, fuck the narcs in that case.

There's a story on the latest This American Life about the class of kids who got kicked out of a screening of Schindler's List and became the media's face of black antisemetism

― President Keyes, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 10:01 AM (thirty-nine seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Remove Bookmark from this Thread

nooooo

what if it's a couple out on a date with their kid at home w the babysitter and they want to periodically check on how things are going? what if it's somebody with a sick parent waiting to hear news from the hospital?

i guess fuck that, "Oh mr theater authority! They are cheating!"

you are in public ffs. if you want to watch movies in a hermetically isolated chamber you can do that.

― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 6:54 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Movie theaters have these things called "lobbies" now and they are AMAZING. Oh, and "rest . . . rooms?" Am I saying that right?

Also, making a little phone tent by sticking your head down your shirt.

Anyone's shirt, really.

everyone i've ever seen use their phone in a cinema seems unaware that you can turn down the screen brightness to a level lower than 'bank of floodlights'

There should be a button on the armrest of every theater seat that allows you to disintegrate anyone who's on their phone during the feature presentation. IMO.

”Dad’s on life support, better go see Ready Player One”
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:36 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

honestly sometimes i wonder if i'll ever go to a theater again, it sucks mostly

can't say i blame you - at least when i go to the cinema here in these united kingdoms i'm less likely to be killed by a mass shooter

movie theaters coming up fast on baseball stadiums in "accommodating people who really don't want to be there"

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C44-QZtWAAE25T5.jpg:large

gangs of teenagers shouting and acting the cunt are far worse than people looking at their mobile ime

what if it's a couple out on a date with their kid at home w the babysitter and they want to periodically check on how things are going? what if it's somebody with a sick parent waiting to hear news from the hospital?

yeah it's like the 80-odd years of cinemas before the mobile phone existed when all those people died

Adam's take ITT so bizarre. Like anytime i was that worried about the outside world I would just walk into the hallway and pop out my phone there. Or set it to vibrate and go out and check it.

Also p much everybody near me who has pulled out their phone recently (like Avengers) was not checking on their sick relative or their child. One of the dudes was just playing on FB, another texting a friend. It's distracting af.

Otoh removing someone for "laughing too loud" is bullshit.

I mean in like 1993 yr whole family could be eaten by a bear whike u were at Jurassic Park and you wouldn't know til u got home.

Lol NV otm

I mean in like 1993 yr whole family could be eaten by a bear whike u were at Jurassic Park

god i wish

Unless you are a doctor, there's probably nothing in your life too important that you can't responsibly check out for two hours and watch a movie

It's mostly concern trolling from people so addicted to Snapchatting that they go thru withdrawal

if yr kids are so important that you're a paranoid basket case, deepsix the movies and stop annoying those of us with small carbon footprints.

TBF, I have seen my share of movies in Chicago theaters and have never really encountered many of the stereotypical issues with theater patrons. The most raucous crowd I've encountered was a gaggle of seniors at an afternoon showing of the last Bourne flick. Lots of bellowed 'what did he just say?' and the like. It was more amusing than irritating, like watching a movie at a retirement community.

My aunt died while I was at the movies once. Weirdly me having my cell phone off isn't what killed her

Anyway, I love the Alamo, I am TOP BRASS

Love it when people pull out the “ugh cinemas shouldn’t be rarefied spaces, its supposed to be a SOCIAL activity, that’s why it’s great to be as antisocial as possible while other people are trying to enjoy it”

I go to the movies to be alone

This one lady came into A Quiet Place barking at her b/f about how they were late and couldn't see in the dsrk at a really loud volume. A few people shouted "shut up" and she responded "i don't care!", so someone else said "well get out then" and they both left and didn't return.

Must have been worried about their dying uncle obv

So much sense itt, thank you Whiney

What the hell is wrong with you, Adam? Jfc.

Can we talk about how LA movie nerd audiences fucking suck and laugh at everything in old movies like people using rotary phones or whatever?

Arguing that you should be allowed to check your phone in a movie theater is like arguing that you should be allowed to shoot up in your cubicle. Like, there might be something other than logic and good sense driving your argument, I think.

Hey u aint taking away my work heroin f u lunchie

xxp ugh, I went to a showing of Argento's "Deep Red" at the Cleveland Cinematheque a couple of weeks ago and the audience laughed at everything. Like, why did you come to this movie? You can sit at home and find all the LOL IT'S TEH SEVENTIES material you want on the internet.

Can we talk about how LA movie nerd audiences fucking suck and laugh at everything in old movies like people using rotary phones or whatever?

― kurt schwitterz, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 8:20 AM (six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ugh the worst. whenever i saw a movie at Cinefamily that wasn't one of their "lol it's terrible" revivals, the crowd would still act like the film was a joke.

Ew, that sounds like savagery.

A serious, well-intentioned audience gradually working out the film they’re watching is both bad and unintentionally funny and cracking up can be a great experience but, yes, ‘old = rofl’ people are savages.

"Lol @ this car chase, that car doesn't have nitro and the rims are factory"

kurt, as someone who has also moved from rock shows to cinema do you find film people better or worse than music people

Yeah I hate that shit but I can tune it out better than the other breaches of etiquette/basic courtesy mentioned itt. Like it’s lame as fuck if your level of engagement with something can never get beyond “this isn’t from now” but at least those rubes come by that reaction honestly, you can’t really police that. Phone ppl should be executed obv

The thing about Alamo that's odd to me is there's so much emphasis on avoiding distractions, but there are servers walking back and forth in front of you and people clanging utensils the whole time. For me, that's okay for some movies but those are also the movies where I'm not as bothered by other behaviors either.
I do get annoyed at the over-laughing of some audiences but that's not really the kind of thing that falls under those types of policies nor should it imo.
I also don't expect, or really want, the same audience at every movie/movie theater.

Oh what, the Alamo is one of those cinemas that serve DINNER? Lollll wtf is this thread, burn all those places down

no way, man, put me in a dark room, bring me food and don't talk to me for two hours

Alamo Drafthouse is great, fuiud.

”Dad’s on life support, better go see Ready Player One”
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:36 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fuck

amazing work whiney

Hope nobody looks at their phone while I’m shovelling lasagne in the dark, also there’s a film playing I guess?

“Garçon, another beer - also I believe someone is texting in the back”

Oh what, the Alamo is one of those cinemas that serve DINNER? Lollll wtf is this thread, burn all those places down

― type your stinkin prose off me, ur damned qwerty uiop (wins), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:43 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was extremely suspicious but alamo is a surprisingly tolerable experience. loved watching the apple there

Dinner & a movie doesn’t have to happen simultaneously, guys, you can last two hours without stuffing your faces

i ate fries

how will i be able to hear this Hans Zimmer score with all the belching going on

I deem this thread now good

there's certainly ... precedent ... for eating food at the movies

https://media.giphy.com/media/pUeXcg80cO8I8/giphy.gif

wins doesn't realize that we don't all eat like psycho cookie monsters at every meal

I only see movies if the theater is also a ball pit.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/54451401d52c0dd2fe9ee5752857d53c/tenor.gif

yeah like i said i've never been to an Alamo Drafthouse, or a Cinebistro or any theater that has servers coming back and forth during the movie, that seems totally alien to me. i've been a theater with those sofa-style seats only once, that was stupid.

re: laughing at old movies at shit that's not funny, OTMFM... I had a particularly bad experience the other night with this, three things: yes, so much laughter where it wasn't appropriate, some idiot took a picture of the screen with the flash on... TWICE... but worst of all the guy in front of me would go "WOOOOOOOOOW!!!" or "BEAAAAAAAUTIFUL!!!" or "AMAAAAAAAAZING" every time a cool shot would come up. it was a film noir from 1944, so he was practically cumming in his pants every time there was a shot of a hat floating in a puddle, or a tracking shot thru rooms, or a closeup of Ella Raines' leggings, to which he went "OOOOOH-LA-LAAAAA!" bad cinephile behavior, it exists

Alamo has a system, don't knock it til you try it

lmao flappy

xxp "Take that man out and have him shot."

https://yossarianconnectionscatch-22.wikispaces.com/file/view/18148-3099.gif/213340472/18148-3099.gif

kurt, as someone who has also moved from rock shows to cinema do you find film people better or worse than music people

depends on the genre! metal dudes are always the nicest except the racist ones. shoegaze ppl are the roughest group of humans i've ever encountered. political punks still the worst.
horror ppl are always sweet and full of love. old revival film dudes are the biggest jerks on the planet. basics that go see back 2 the future or something are always rough but they pay the bills so oh well.

ftr i do a lot of work for alamo and i think they have changed the way ppl see movies for the better. if you are complaining about the food or drinks or whatev you probably haven't been to an alamo. they are pretty strict about the manners thing, which is good 90% of the time. one time i got in trouble because i encouraged dancing during a 35mm (it was QT's print!) screening of Sign O The Times after Prince died.

is that... Orson Welles as a nazi

xp

idk everyone otm here except for Adam, Alamo is fine (and p much the only theatre besides the Castro that I go to nowadays)

"WOOOOOOOOOW!!!" or "BEAAAAAAAUTIFUL!!!" or "AMAAAAAAAAZING" ... "OOOOOH-LA-LAAAAA!"

definitely into this

There's this tic among **certain** movie people that I see as completely absent in the music scene, so it's really striking for me when I encounter it.

I call it "nachos"

Like if you bring a music guy some nachos, he might say something sarcastic or funny like, "'Bout time, thanks"

But if you bring a movie guy some nachos, he will say something like, "Oh ho, cheesy comestibles for my masticating pleasure!"

When I made that comment this morning I was referring to people on their phone ie texting the kind of communication that most people use when on their phones in public for about 10 years now. Obviously if someone is holding a full conversation they will step into a lobby, to cut down on by noise if anything.

It is hilarious to see all these people that demand empathy from their leaders and fellow citizens yet in an everyday situation it’s just asking too much to move to another fucking seat

you go to movie theaters with extra seats? Alamo theaters seat like 30 people.

damn dude let me know when the shuttle lands xp

oh yah Whiney otm re: nachos. music is a social thing. movies are a world of imagination and wonder you can explore all by your lonesome!

no empathy for people texting in movie theaters. ever. go outside

Lmao Adam everyone knew you meant texting, if you need to text (you don’t) leave the film you aren’t watching instead of expecting everyone else to move seats you psycho

The only majorly irritating trend I've seen of late is the spontaneous La-Z-Boy-ification of theaters. There have been a couple instances in recent memory where a theater I used to casually go to suddenly has only fourteen assigned easy chairs (with the only available seats on the aisle, natch) and everyone naturally has to recline except the foot thing like actually blocks the entire aisle and so an entire aisle of people has to noisily retract their foot thing every time some kid has to take a squirt. Just yuck.

is that... Orson Welles as a nazi

xp

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 1:07 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol no, General Dreedle in "Catch-22"

What if I really feel like jerking off? What if it takes my mind off my sick relative? A little empathy from my fellow patrons, if you please

yeah the sofa style seats in theaters = dud

It is hilarious to see all these people that demand empathy from their leaders and fellow citizens yet in an everyday situation it’s just asking too much to move to another fucking seat

Ah, yes, the deep empathy expressed by "Can all of you please inconvenience yourselves in the middle of a movie to accommodate my rudeness? Thanks!"

Not sure if this is specifically a Washington, DC thing (or just the shows that I attend), but both film and music events in this area seem to attract people who are more interested in meeting up with their friends than watching the show. A Fugazi reunion/70mm screening of 2001 could be happening but there'd be big portions of the audience more interested in talking to the people they came with.

Which do you find more disruptive: use of a cellphone/tablet during a screening, or audience members audibly snapping at someone for using a phone? I say the latter, and it's quite common at the National Gallery of Art screenings I attend.

recliner seats in cinemas rule hard

There's no need to audibly snap. Just throw popcorn.

yah it aint like that out here. Shakey can vouch for the certain breed of SF TRUE CINEMA LOVER. i appreciate them. xxp

The first time I ever saw someone use a cell phone during a movie was during South Park Bigger Longer Uncut. I didn't say anything to the guy, but when I bit into my hot dog, some of the grease shot out the end and landed in his hair.

hell yea

xxxp

Ah but we're not supposed to bring food into the NGA auditorium. (Not that it stops me or anyone else from smuggling in stuff, but the guards probably wouldn't ignore someone throwing something.)

i was going to say in the other thread that "we need narcs... and vigilantes" i.e. other people in the theater telling talkers & texters to shut up/stop it but realized that was... maybe not the best word re: movie theaters in the US

As a rule, if a theater patron in front of me is using a phone during a movie, I apply ever-increasing pressure to the back of their seat. Subtle and gradual pressure, but also unrelenting. It seems to work.

(NB, none of the patrons in question have been like big hulking dudes as of yet. When they are, I'll report back on whether my method resulted in me getting mashed.)

https://youtu.be/Ea5FClfrQpg?t=240

timestamp 4:00

there are certain scenarios where I actually really enjoy/approve of loud audience/audience participation sorta shit but it really depends on the situation/screening/film. That's v different from cellphone use though, which is explicitly about *not* engaging with what's going on on-screen and with the audience, it's inherently an alienating thing.

idk if I qualify yet as an SF TRUE CINEMA LOVER (I probably don't see enough tbh, hopefully that will change as my kids get older) but some day I will join their hallowed ranks, donating to the upkeep of the Castro theater organ and shushing people talking during Robert Mitchum movies

At a performing arts theatre, you would get escorted out for pulling out a phone mid-performance, and many of those productions are longer than movies.

We should accomodate the poor young guy who can't wait 2.5 hours to text his g/f the lyrix to "The Whisper Song" using only emojis

Recliner seats + food + booze needs to happen. I want to recline and just spill shit everywhere while watching.

It's really not that difficult to not make a mess

I'm assuming the Alamo theaters are like this since the local knockoff is, but it's not servers constantly walking in front of you

the local one (flix brewhouse) is a tiered theater, and each row has a shallow table in front of it, with a little aisle in front of that, *below the level of the table*
so if anyone walks down that aisle, whether it's a patron hustling out to the restroom or a server dropping something off, they're not that noticeable and you never have audience members shuffling in front of more than a couple people to get down to the aisle and out

if you need anything during the movie, there's dim lighting on the table and you write your request on a notepad and then push a button to summon the server. so all you ever see is their arm reaching up to grab the note, or to drop something off

they also have a checkbox on the order pad where you can tell them about a loud guest, but the policy is that guests get a warning before they're told to get out

Theaters should keep the lights on during movies and maybe also play some music so I don't get bored. And would it be too much to ask for like a row of TVs along the side walls showing cable news?

xxxp

They have this combo at some Alamo locations, although the seats don't recline back very far, plus the food is on a small table in front of you. Doesn't mean you can't spill it all over yourself, if that's what you truly desire, but most people don't do this.

I love the Alamo and hate people talking/texting/etc during movies, but I would feel like a total dick if I reported someone for being a loud guest or whatever.

I've never ratted anyone out but I was insanely close to it at a crowded showing I went to (alone, on valentines day, lol) and this young couple next to me showed up to the theater completely hammered. they were doing the "i'm wasted so i make no sense but i'm going to argue with your nonsensical statement" bullshit for the first twenty minutes and I eventually asked if they could go to the lobby if they needed to discuss something, at which point the woman was angst-drunk offended and wanted to start shit but the dude toned it down

they passed out five minutes later and were sleeping deeply enough the server had to shake the dude's shoulder to get him to pay the check after the credits started

I have no qualms complaining about those people tbh

It's pretty weird to me how many people ITT can't wrap their heads around how Alamo-style theaters could possibly work.

I think having a system to complain about guests in a non-obvious way is cool in these theaters but I'd still default to glancing at them or asking quietly

if I weren't a middle-aged average white dude I'd be all about asking assistance

when I saw the first of the matrix movie sequels years ago, there were several dudes in front of us opening weekend who were talking loudly and at one point took a phone call on speakerphone

like dude I know this isn't the sequel you were expecting but holy shit that's just disrespectful

well you never know when the call might be important

https://78.media.tumblr.com/7c5fe6ee12a004ff46624ad8360f32ad/tumblr_o4wn1uqF8d1tpri36o1_540.gif

I have been to the Alamo Drafthouse and am not sure how well it worked for me and there are movies I would probably not want to watch there.

if it was 2018 when those dudes were doing that they probably would have started doing video chat and showing the screen

then I could call the feds

Recliner seats + food + booze needs to happen. I want to recline and just spill shit everywhere while watching.

a guy i knew who worked at the alamo-like cinema in salt lake warned us to not sit in the sofas at the back because people would be stuffing chicken wings and the like down between the cushions.

Gross

sounds like the behavior you'd get from the dude they canned from their publication

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCjobAeMBos

cut to a minute in for the important movie etiquette

Oh, ha ha, very funny, guys. Okay, sure, the cracks between theater seats aren't for dispensing food garbage, whatever you say. Next thing I know you're gonna try to tell me those big garbage cans aren't for peeing into so you don't miss any of the movie.

If you don't know by now to bring a portable plastic urinal to your seat, I don't know what to tell you.

At Avengers during every big development of the last half hour this dude kept LOUDLY saying "whaaaaaat?" or "I'm lost" for the last 10 minutes. Trying to crowdsource his confusion.

Peeing etiquette - i always try to sit on the end so that i don't have to step over people to take a leak mid-movie (and I always have to).

I don't expect others to do this or care if people have to get by mid movie tho, i do it cos im clumsy and dont want to step on someones feet

informal poll but would third act pee break intermissions be welcome?

I'd support if a majority needed it but I don't myself (the only movie during which I can recall having to absolutely go immediately because I was going to have an accident otherwise was Revenge of the Sith and, well, no big loss there).

people who are 'disruptive' in movie theaters probably also signal before looking when they drive

their signal that they're changing lanes or turning is when they start drifting into you imo

Seriously. They're too busy texting to use a turn signal.

signalling before you look is fine. changing lanes before you signal is not.

uh oh here we go

i guess i just wonder if the early signal people expect me to brake or if they even see me or if they even care... mind reading should be kept at a minimum when driving, imo

that's all im gonna say about that

good:
glance -> signal -> look -> change lanes
decent:
glance -> no spot available -> signal -> wait and merge
acceptable:
signal -> look -> change when you can
terrible:
anything else

if you're driving in wall-to-wall traffic all the time, signaling first makes sense because taking a peek first is futile because you're going to have to wait

but yeah, if there are two cars on the road and the guy directly to my side signals they're going to merge into my lane, why did they not just slow down/speed up first

c'mon

Which requires more mind reading, early signalling or no signalling?

that is one for the ages

it reminds me of being in a theater with assigned seats over the weekend

a guy and his son sat near me and were saying something about seat numbers, and I was thinking.. great, they're going to try to sit in the wrong seats and then confuse everyone when someone else shows up

but no, they were debating whether to sit in the *worse* seats instead of the ones they actually bought?

I love the ones who plop their food or purse on the seat next to theirs qnd act aggrieved when i show up and say "excuse me, this mah seat"

if you're driving in wall-to-wall traffic all the time, signaling first makes sense because taking a peek first is futile because you're going to have to wait

― mh, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 1:48 PM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah obv when traffic is heavy it's just pure madness out there and you gotta do what you gotta do

suspect traffic vs no traffic is the root of many ILX driving disputes

alright i'm done

LA movie nerd audiences fucking suck and laugh at everything in old movies

been going on in NYC for 30+ years

that happens here on occasion, but it really depends on the audience

the kids laughing at Blue Velvet sucked, though

there was a 70ish woman yukking at Dietrich's last lines in TOUCH OF EVIL last week in Brooklyn

i once watched keaton's the general sitting next to an old dude who kept loudly scoffing "oh PLEASE!" every time anything remotely funny happened.

so I've been to Alamo in SF three times and have noticed none of this behavior there to the degree I witness it at most other theaters. So I don't really get the premise of this thread. is the SF alamo an outlier or did I just get lucky?

i mean I saw Avengers last night at an AMC cineplex and the annoying things were beyond count; the 40 minutes of commercials before hand; everyone on their phones; phones lit up and texting in th emiddle of the movie; people in front of me talking; blah blah.

I think the premise is that Alamo is lot more strict about this stuff, to which a lot of posters wondered what about all the noisy chewers and people who spill their food all over themselves?

I wasn’t big on theatre food until my buddy introduced me to flavacol on popcorn - damn

i saw johnny guitar at momi and the crowd was full of teenaged (?) stoners who laughed at EVERYTHING that happened, it was infuriating

i mean, the movie’s quality overpowered it but

talking during the movie is evil except for when i saw blade runner 2049 right before it disappeared from theaters and at the end when ryan gosling sat on the snowy steps this woman said “HIS TUSH IS GONNA GET COLD”

(or not really evil, communal experiences as outlined upthread are great, actively disruptive shit is bad)

Movies from the black and white days are hilarious. Hey, guys, did you ever hear of a little thing called color? What a bunch of nerds.

tush in the rain

lol

hey haha that sf alamo is great right haha come check out your pal chaki host TERRORVISION there on 5/15 plug plug

The worst crowd I've ever seen in a theater was for A Life Aquatic on the night it released, people would just start losing their shit laughing at every shot whether it was a joke or not including the title coming up on screen.

I've never been able to give the movie a fair chance because of that crowd.

I felt bad for my friends at Blue Velvet because I will do a little awkward laugh sometimes if I feel uneasy and the people behind us laughing at genuinely unsettling bits made me feel uneasy so I let out a couple half-stifled "hah"s

the absolute worst, though, is when people are watching an actual good movie and they laugh at unfunny stuff AND completely fail to get stuff that's genuinely funny

Laughing is fine, imo, lotsa stuff is funny.

If your phone rings, you’re a monster you need to be taught how to silence your phone.

I can’t despise anyone for looking at their phone briefly during a movie but I think it’s regrettable.

I watched The Virgin Suicides at home with friends last night and I said “Jesus Christ” a lot

giggling at Isabella Rossellini incredibly traumatized and nude at a young man's doorstep is a little bit much

I haven't watched TVS for a very long time because I walked into my living room to witness a particularly half-assed suicide attempt going on, with my copy of that movie in the dvd player as a grand dramatic gesture, a lifetime ago

A date disapproved strongly when I cracked up at Hannibal removing the top of Ray Liotta’s head. The relationship did not go far.

that's a hard one because it's completely ridiculous and somehow over the top in staging even for that movie series

I can't rewatch that scene because it makes me incredibly nauseated, probably *because* it's so jarring and a departure. can completely understand laughing at it

on that Lynch tip, the first time I saw Fire Walk With Me was at a revival about 5 years ago. packed theater, part of a revival series that had no genre or tonal theme but always seemed to attract the worst MST3K style college crowd, and it was a disaster. laughing at Cooper running back and forth staring at himself in the security camera monitors is one thing, but cackling at the BOB/Leland scene? Oh my god. I wasn't familiar with Twin Peaks then, but my girlfriend was appalled by the crowd and we almost left. it was insane. luckily I got to see the movie in a theater again last summer as The Return was airing, and while it was a smaller crowd in a bigger theater, everyone was completely reverent, and only then did I understand how terrifying and dark it is.

FWWM was probably the most amusing audience interruption for me because a little old lady came into the IFC theater in NY a couple minutes late, politely asked the person at the end of the aisle if it had just started (it had) and then accidentally tripped over something without injury but went "whoop!" before taking her seat and making no more fuss

and the kid behind me explaining to his friend the plot as he understood it (he was 100%) except for a couple bits, resulting in the question: "should I have watched the series?"

:D

once i got too drunk before a showing of Withnail and got loudly told to shut up by a lady cos i kept reciting all the funny lines :/ it’s Withnail it’s like Python everyone does it dammit

Lynch films might be the only thing I'd forgive an audience for laughing at inappropriately. He treads such a fine tonal line and practically challenges the viewer to not laugh when, say, something absurd yet horrifying is taking place onscreen.

TIL that Trayce is a monster :/

The biggest Rep cinema in London does a lot of quote-along / sing-along / some The Room thing that sounds like he’ll on earth.

lol i deserved that

I saw the Beastie Boys’ mid-00s concert movie and a woman snuck in partway through to ask me and everyone in the audience individually for money. There were only 5 of us though so it didn’t take long.

I don't mind ppl eating during movies, usually it's not much of a noise issue, but if we're gonna go True Cinephile they're also definitley cheating themselves out of a good experience because their attention's gonna be divided. As illustrated by that Michael Jackson gif - popcorn one of the few foods where you keep your attention on the screen and if it drops it's no biggie.

I watched Mulholland Drive in a big tent at a festival and the smell of marihuana was everywhere and the whole crowd was just majorly confused. Then during the sexscene, all of a sudden there was the blink of a camera flash, and everyone started laughing and taking pictures and got really into the second part of the film.

Another good one was going to Wim Wenders Kings of the Road at the Cinemateque, and there were these three old ladies behind me who had a really good talk going before the film, and then when the lights dimmed, and then while the credits rolled, and then one said 'oh, we better be quiet now', and then they were quiet for a beat, and then another went 'wait, I don't remember this being in black and white?' You probably have to have seen Kings of the Road to fully get how hilarious it was for me to sit in front of them and think that they were watching all three hours of this after going to the wrong film. But in the end they seemed pretty appreciative of the experience. Old ladies are by far the most underrated movie audience.

The biggest Rep cinema in London does a lot of quote-along / sing-along / some The Room thing that sounds like he’ll on earth.

― Andrew Farrell, 3. maj 2018 08:37 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't know, I snuck into a Sound of Music sing-along for a bit, and it seemed pretty awesome.

The woman w/ aspergers who got thrown out of a BFI screening of "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" for laughing too loudly at comedic moments was a real bummer tho, fuck the narcs in that case.

― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 5:32 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just catching up so apols if this has already been said. I'll have a skim of this thread later.

At the BFI (and this goes right back to NFT days) there is a culture of silent respect given to a film - like this was the only way ever to engage with something coming out of the screen, which then goes into certain ways to act when you are at a cinema - and onto ways of policing behaviour and to exercise control over another person's actions. Certainly a lot of the older crowd come over aggressive if you are eating or using a mobile before a film. There is this weird cranky impatience that has never been challenged because its too low-level - but by not challenging it is enabled - and then it spills over. That's the background to that story. And what happens in a perhaps dying artform.

As someone who has gone to almost every damn cinema in this town I would say its specific to the BFI though.

Daniel otm it’s insane to me to be strict about distractions & pretend a film has your undivided attention when you’re eating a full meal with a knife & fork, using this checkpad system to order more stuff (how much food do these people need over the course of a film btw?) etc. Just seems like the worst of both worlds to me, as an experience. I’m happy to keep these two activities separate as god intended

i don't even like eating at home if i'm trying to watch a movie tbh

"it’s Withnail it’s like Python everyone does it dammit"

no, this is why watching Python with people is painful

The biggest problem with this tendency is that people think they're more entertaining than what's happening on the screen and they're almost always wrong.

https://m.imgur.com/nLSLnYf

i think you can strike the almost there OL

altho whichever ILX thread contains the story about the guy letting off an airhorn when the first kill happened in Rambo still makes me lol

Flix generally encourages people to get there early and I've finished my food by the time the trailers are over 90% of the time

the only thing I've ordered mid-movie is more beer. because beer.

altho whichever ILX thread contains the story about the guy letting off an airhorn when the first kill happened in Rambo still makes me lol

― hepatitis groan (Noodle Vague), Thursday, May 3, 2018 8:54 AM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh man, I've gotta find this

i'm going to go against my own firmly-held beliefs here and say that it's actually fine to make noise in the cinema if the noise you're making is an airhorn synced to an onscreen murder

you know what would be cool to have? an air horn.

-- s1ocki, Sunday, February 10, 2008 2:57 AM

when i went to see rambo the other day some dude let off an air horn at the first kill. he was promptly escorted out. it was fucking awesome.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 10 February 2008 15:17 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

lol

One of my friends does this thing where he laughs to let you know that he appreciates the non-funny but, y'know, smart choices the film-makers made throughout the movie. It is not enjoyable.

smug knowing chuckles make me want to strangle

Who are all these voluntary laughers

I saw a festival screening of Bela Tarr's The Turin House where someone kept knowingly chuckling at all the grueling aesthetic choices. Others kept murmuring in discomfort until some guy blurted out "you don't have to stay, guys" toward the end.

Uncomfortable laughter is fine. Self-congratulatory laughter is not, which is why I will not see any more Sirk melodramas (or Johnny Guitar) with a NYC theater audience.

There's a guy I've heard in theaters lately -- he was at Rudolph's Breakfast of Champions the other night -- who generally laughs at the right stuff but it's the most annoying HAW HAW sound.

if im in a good mood & it feels appropriate in the air ill loudly WHOOP! whenever a character says the title of the movie. I’ve done this >6 times total so I don’t feel like a punisher.

I am generally totally silent during movies, with two recent exceptions. When I saw A Quiet Place, I did chuckle the 15th or whatever time somebody put their finger to their mouth and made a shush face. And then when I saw Avengers, my daughter and I were killing time outside the theater, and I told her it would be really funny to just walk around pretending to have an animated conversation and giving out out fake spoilers, like about the time one of the heroes turns into a giant spider, so that if anybody heard me they'd go into the movie waiting for someone to turn into a spider and then it would never happen. And then, to our surprise, one of the characters does turn into a spider! I wasn't really paying attention, but she looked at me wide-eyed and said, how did you know, and I started laughing. And I may have yelled Spider!, out of sheer joy, the way Roger Ebert would yell fruit cart! every time somebody crashed into a fruit cart during a chase. And yes, I can tell you with first-hand experience he often really did do that.

9,000 is greater than six

this thread is really great in that it's letting me realize how much i hate going to the theater and since it's a voluntary leisure activity, i don't actually have to ever do it again

But surely they are the only places you can eat food, drink alcohol or check text messages. In the dark.

Daniel otm it’s insane to me to be strict about distractions & pretend a film has your undivided attention when you’re eating a full meal with a knife & fork, using this checkpad system to order more stuff (how much food do these people need over the course of a film btw?) etc. Just seems like the worst of both worlds to me, as an experience. I’m happy to keep these two activities separate as god intended

so you just totally made up an imaginary version of what going to one of these theaters is like or

and yes i need more than one makers on the rocks to sit through something exhausting like infinity wars

I'm cool with filling up a Sprite bottle with vodka and eating popcorn off the floor

But surely they are the only places you can eat food, drink alcohol or check text messages. In the dark.

― President Keyes, Thursday, May 3, 2018 11:39 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a.k.a. life

I've been going there for years and I don't think I've ever had a negative audience experience w/ the repertory fare at the AFI Silver in Silver Spring, MD. No one laughed inappropriately during Women in Love the other day, which I'd think would be a pretty big test.

AFI Silver is one of the things I miss about not living in the DC area anymore.

There's a guy I've heard in theaters lately -- he was at Rudolph's Breakfast of Champions the other night -- who generally laughs at the right stuff but it's the most annoying HAW HAW sound.

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Thursday, May 3, 2018 12:20 PM (forty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is it this guy?

http://media.chick.com/tractimages67491/1010/1010_13.gif

americans never eat with a knife and fork, c'mon

so you just totally made up an imaginary version of what going to one of these theaters is like or

wins posts ITT, in a nutshell

xp

True, pretty much every Alamo visit for me involves wings, pizza, or a sandwich.

Amber’s insistence that the food at Alamo is bad sends me into paryoxsms of self-doubt

puppy.jpg

it's good actually imo

shit man if you want bad theater food check out The Kabuki here in SF it's way more expensive than Alamo and has like Cicis Pizza level quality.

it helps if you go to art films that hardly anyone goes to (me)

however, if there is one savage making noise i will be near them

well no morbs, even there you are not safe, because there is the arguably worse cinephile movie theater punisher which i'm sure you've experienced as well: not only people taking pictures of the screen with the flash on (??), but old men very loudly going "WOOWWWWWW" or "AMAAAAAZING" or "BEAAAAAAUTIFUL" at every other cool shot in the movie. and yes people laughing at shit that's not funny in old movies, like rotary phones and facial expressions.

yes, often some of that

but y'know, a packed MARVEL audience must be a whole different species

One time I was watching Barry Lyndon at like 11 am - during the intermission I got an egg salad sando at the bodega across the st and came back and proceeded to open it during act 2 and these 2 cinefile old men SCREAMED AT ME. It ruled.

i mean damn dude that is a pretty punishing move to pull tho... egg salad?

ya ya i deserved it but man that movies lasts all day

true, only time i've seen Barry Lyndon was after i got my wisdom teeth pulled & had a bunch of vicodin, i remember thinking "this is the only situation i'm ever going to watch this." it was ok

xxxp I go to a lot of tentpole movies at the Cinemark nearby and audiences are actually pretty good. Applause and cheers at appropriate "hero" moments, but not a lot of extraneous yammer, phone use, etc. Or if there is, they're sitting way behind me.

185 minutes of top Kubrick is not "all day" esp vs 160 minutes of The Avengers

damn when you put it that way

Barry Lyndon is hilarious and I felt awkward being with people who wondered why I was cracking up one time

I tried to read the Thackeray book once, and it's even more flat-out satire

Nothing in The Avengers is as shocking as Leon Vitali's face.

The biggest problem with this tendency is that people think they're more entertaining than what's happening on the screen and they're almost always wrong.
― Love Theme From Oh God! You Devil (Old Lunch), Thursday, May 3, 2018 1:02 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Picturing these people and fans of "Family Guy" as two Venn circles on top of each other.

Barry Lyndon is hilarious and I felt awkward being with people who wondered why I was cracking up one time

― mh, 3. maj 2018 20:37 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, hilarity in art films is the best. There's that Kierkegaard joke in Ordet which always kills, especially because nobody thinks there will be jokes in a Dreyer-film. It's also one of the great things about Corneliu Poumboiu's new Infinite Football. I've seen it twice, and both times there's a nervous laughter that gets louder and louder as people realize this weird Romanian documentary is actually meant to be funny.

I found a sequence in one of the last Manoel de Oliveira movies completely, laugh-out-loud hilarious, but it must have been unintentional cause I was the only person in the theater cracking up, I felt like an asshole but I couldn't help it!

de Oliveira was funnier than he gets credit for. 'Os Canibais' is one of the great surreal art-commedies.

i saw barry lyndon near-fatally hungover on new year’s day a few years ago. even then it wasn’t that long

_Daniel otm it’s insane to me to be strict about distractions & pretend a film has your undivided attention when you’re eating a full meal with a knife & fork, using this checkpad system to order more stuff (how much food do these people need over the course of a film btw?) etc. Just seems like the worst of both worlds to me, as an experience. I’m happy to keep these two activities separate as god intended_


so you just totally made up an imaginary version of what going to one of these theaters is like or

It's been a while since I went to an Alamo (who you should probably be boycotting anyway - latest, http://www.kxan.com/news/crime/woman-watching-infinity-war-at-alamo-drafthouse-groped-by-man/1151976123) but the movie grills near me definitely serve fork and knife food.

I used to read a book and watch television at the same time as a kid, don't even get me started on my ability to pay attention!

I've been going there for years and I don't think I've ever had a negative audience experience w/ the repertory fare at the AFI Silver in Silver Spring, MD. No one laughed inappropriately during Women in Love the other day, which I'd think would be a pretty big test.

― Chris L, Thursday, May 3, 2018 1:03 PM (five hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It might be just the shows I go to. I won't forget any time soon the NGA screening of The Crusades (1935), during which the audience howled at every time DeMille showed Richard the Lionhearted as heterosexual. (And I was probably howling along with them.)

And then there was the Losey centennial at the NGA. A retired reviewer was giving an insightful overview of the man's career, when someone in the audience yelled at him to shut up so that the movie could play.

really? boycott them? seems like they handled that situation to the best of their abilities?

“who you should probably be boycotting anyway” that’s a real loaded ass parenthetical

Not calling the cops on a guy who groped a woman, telling her to enjoy the rest of the movie after getting groped and then doing nothing more than warning her to not go outside because the groper is still there does not equal "handling the situation" IMO.

It's hardly an isolated issue with Alamo:
https://splinternews.com/alamo-drafthouses-long-history-of-minimizing-sexual-ass-1822816916

They're also the people who employed Harry Knowles

lol @ shortened url

wait did harry knowles get in trouble for something

sexual assault

welp

yah i thought if you were calling for a boycott it would be over the devin faraci stuff! that dude is a fucking idiot and so is tim for keeping him around.

My buddy won’t watch the whole of Barry Lyndon without putting laundry or tasks on in the background. He finds it boring. Needless to say he’s not my buddy anymore

Barry Lyndon is like barely an art film

I tried watching Barry Lyndon on CRT 15 years ago and only made it halfway.

It should I hope go without saying that I don't actually think Withnail OR Python-quoting rampantly in cinemas (or at parties or anywhere else for that matter) is a Good Thing.

flix has nerd showings of stuff like that for people to do just that

and sing-alongside with the wizard of oz or w/e where the lyrics are across the bottom of the screen, or so the previews lead me to believe

I really have no defense or excuse but I went one time to an audience participation showing of the 'Once More With Feeling' episode of Buffy, and it was so forced and so clearly an instance of people trying to turn something that wasn't a thing into a thing rather than letting it just happen organically (not to mention that the whole 'fun' event centered around an episode of television that is, yes, a musical but is also thematically really depressing).

All of which is to say that, outside of the privacy of one's home, maybe movies are meant to just be watched, although I don't want to be an overly-prescriptive 'hater' about the things people enjoy doing that just happen to be objectively bad and wrong.

i watched a few episodes of buffy in a bar full of buffy fans once and it was fucking miserable, personally i blame the fans

That's quite fair.

All audience participation sounds like torture to me.

I think my marriage would improve quite a bit if I were more willing to accept more Buffy and Buffy fandom into my life, but I just can't do it.

You can’t judge anything by being in a crowd of people that would willingly subject themselves to something by Joss Whedon

“I went to a diarrhea drinking contest and decided that maybe bars aren’t good places”

I see my Whiney whistle is still working.

for contrast in the same event series i watched the o.c. with bar full of people who loved the o.c. and that was a blast

Whiney are u chasing a pun? Barry Lyndon is barely an art film ?? Alright

Barry Lyndon at my house - beer n uppers provided. Totally down with skipping it - it’s boring man

you musta done the MAD parody

i was saying to somebody the other day i used to enjoy Buffy until i found out Joss Whedon is straight

ppl that find Barry Lyndon boring are almost beyond comprehension to me these days, but so is hugely popular the marvel shitverse tbf.

The biggest Rep cinema in London does a lot of quote-along / sing-along / some The Room thing that sounds like he’ll on earth.

I've only gone to one Prince Charles Cinema sing-a-long thing (Blues Brothers, dragged by friends) and it was indeed a miserable experience. Otoh I recommend going whenever they screen 80's action cheese - the mood is jovial without falling into ppl thinking they can riff nonstop. Still proud of myself for having lead the cheers at the end of JCVD's speech in Street Fighter at a showing there.

At the BFI (and this goes right back to NFT days) there is a culture of silent respect given to a film - like this was the only way ever to engage with something coming out of the screen, which then goes into certain ways to act when you are at a cinema - and onto ways of policing behaviour and to exercise control over another person's actions. Certainly a lot of the older crowd come over aggressive if you are eating or using a mobile before a film. There is this weird cranky impatience that has never been challenged because its too low-level - but by not challenging it is enabled - and then it spills over. That's the background to that story. And what happens in a perhaps dying artform.

The main source of disruptive noise I've encountered at BFI screenings is olds snoring through movies.

Oh, also Buffy and Barry Lyndon are both great. Buffy Lyndon.

Yeah no I should’ve made clearer that it’s only the Room that I was slagging.

Not been to bfi (and things I’m hearing are putting me off!) but anything goes before the film starts imo, and I think everyone agrees that this week’s incident was appalling - autistic or not there is no possible justification for forcibly removing someone for laughing at the intentionally funny bits in a spaghetti western.

At the new Claire Denis film last night someone waited until 10 minutes into the film to start chomping on an apple

It might be just the shows I go to. I won't forget any time soon the NGA screening of The Crusades (1935), during which the audience howled at every time DeMille showed Richard the Lionhearted as heterosexual. (And I was probably howling along with them.)

And then there was the Losey centennial at the NGA. A retired reviewer was giving an insightful overview of the man's career, when someone in the audience yelled at him to shut up so that the movie could play.

― Polly of the Pre-Codes (j.lu), Thursday, May 3, 2018 10:24 PM

I've probably been lucky. Some guy did approach me at random after an NGA screening of Pickpocket because he was looking to prove to someone that it was a bunch of artsy nonsense. I just made a couple of points and he went away.

The worst experiences I have in the DC area are usually at the Landmark in Bethesda. Entitled rich boobs nattering throughout the movie. I saw A PROPHET there a few years ago and an old guy kept angrily storming in and out of the theater during the most violent parts.

Shittily as that incident was handled I can't imagine being into cinema and not finding something to love at the BFI - recent visits I've taken have included seeing The Old Dark House, a selection of pre-war British animation, The Nothing Factory, a bunch of Melvilles...

Oh the reason I haven’t been is that I don’t live in London, I have no doubt their programming is good

i was saying to somebody the other day i used to enjoy Buffy until i found out Joss Whedon is straight

― hepatitis groan (Noodle Vague), Friday, May 4, 2018 4:33 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i love buffy but i also love this post

Some guy did approach me at random after an NGA screening of Pickpocket because he was looking to prove to someone that it was a bunch of artsy nonsense. I just made a couple of points and he went away.

During Jem Cohen's most recent screening at NGA, someone in the audience tried to call out Cohen for supposedly cutting people of Caribbean extraction out of On Essex Road. Cohen handled the situation with remarkable grace, but what sort of person goes to a Cohen film believing the director to be capable of doing that?

The worst experiences I have in the DC area are usually at the Landmark in Bethesda. Entitled rich boobs nattering throughout the movie.

Yep, that's just the sort of experience I mention upthread.

Big hearty apple-bites at the right moment could change the tone of a film. Like a foley remix.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/i-was-dragged-out-of-a-bfi-screening-heres-what-i-hope-it-teaches-people-about-autism_uk_5aec34c7e4b0c4f193215a4d?ncid=tweetlnkukhpmg00000001

reading that made me v angry

if i'd been sitting next to the 'you're retarded' guy i probably wouldn't have been able to control myself

So apparently Greta Gerwig talked throughout a screening of Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty:

um I’m in a movie theater about to see I feel pretty alone and greta gerwig just walked in and sat down in front of me

— jaye hunt (@hayejunt) May 9, 2018

feel bad for people in the theater if they were bothered, but very amused that she felt obligated to see the movie but didn't give enough of a shit not to talk

That Twitter thread is absolutely psychotic

yeah, who the fuck liveblogs what another person is doing at the movies, even if it's someone notable

just summarize it in a couple tweets

Also, Greta Gerwig is still kind of a marginal figure in the grand scheme of things? It's like following John Luther Adams around a Target or something

i smell a blog

Not so marginal after last year's Oscars maybe?

i've been wondering what that smell is xp

Not so marginal after last year's Oscars maybe?

― mh, Thursday, May 10, 2018 10:19 AM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Damn, she was nominated for some Oscars and didn't win, better go stalk Bennett Miller at the bank

No idea who Luther Adams or Bennet Miller are but i think getting the front cover of TIME makes you no longer 'a marginal figure'.

luther adams is an idris elba character and bennet miller was the star of prison break

hth, hand

Yeah, Greta Gerwig is not marginal like John Luther Adams. Also, someone please inform me what John Luther Adams bought at Target. I hope it was locally produced!!!

Man, if I accidentally started an ILX beef about how famous Greta Gerwig is or isn't I'm shutting down my computer, going home and crawling under the covers for the rest of the day.

But you might also inadvertently have brought important gossip about John Luther Adams to light!

I assume John Luther Adams lives in some sort of cabin in Alaska, eating only seal meat and hydroponic vegetables.

Alamo Drafthouse made me love going to the movies again. I love their nerdy rules.
Greta Gerwig sounds like a terrible person, no surprise there

i was extremely suspicious but alamo is a surprisingly tolerable experience. loved watching the apple there

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 12:48 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinkk

she was at my screening too! what a blast

So apparently Greta Gerwig talked throughout a screening of Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty

Good for her, fuck Amy Schumer

the good thing is that this is definitely a thing which happened

i know this because someone on twitter said so in a very serious tweed thread

that very serious tweed thread in full

https://blog.samuel-windsor.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Samuel-Windsor-tweed-three-piece.jpg

The only thing I know about Greta Gerwig is that she is in the title of an ilx thread about something called "Francis Ha" that has made me irrationally angry for the last five years.

Greta Gerwig is grebt y’all

Grebta Gerbwig

But that thread title...

read it, no way that shit is real

You can turn the display brightness all the way down nobody will noticed lmao why are men like this

— kelsey (@finchelswift) May 9, 2018

Omg you guys....Steven Spielberg just walked into the bathroom with me....HES RIPPING MASSIVE FARTS AND HAVING HORRIBLE DIARRHEA I AM LIVING FOR THIS!!!!!!!

— nuanced opinion guy (@charles_kinbote) May 10, 2018

Seems legit.

It’s definitely very bad to watch someone watch an entire movie and publicly analyze the sounds they make and body language etc regardless if they are famous or not. Seems like behavior that’s more important to collectively discourage than tweeting or talking during a movie (which are bad things too).

looool xxp

if you're publicly making a spectacle of yourself by making comments during the movie i think it's fair game to call out your loutishness

idk I’m somewhat skeptical she was that loud since the observer was evidently hyper focused on some of the fairly minute sounding details she reported on and evidently thrilled to be so close.

The tweeter isn’t “calling out” gerwig they are approvingly, breathlessly documenting her every alleged belch

I am so sure this really happened

we want to believe in this GG

The tweets are by the same person who started the rumor that Lia Michelle is illiterate so chances are it's legit.

deport movie texters

if yr kids are so important that you're a paranoid basket case, deepsix the movies and stop annoying those of us with small carbon footprints.

― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 2 May 2018 14:55 (two month's ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓

Lol you deserve annoyance morbs

And all who big up him

And all who big up him

consider opening yr heart for a curmudgeon

oh look a president morbs doesnt get on with

some stupid cow several rows in front of me was checking her fucking phone all during The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle today

My heart only opens for scamps and newsies and singing founding fathers

Lol deems

xxp lmfao

some stupid cow

man wtf

makes sense when you remember Morbs is living in a Gary Larson comic

i revised the noun to make it milder

wow your restraint is so impressive

"don't worry about this gendered insult! what i meant was worse" ffs

i wish sometimes i was born in 1988 SO MY LANGUAGE WOULD BE PRECIOUS AND INCLUUUUUUSIVE

hate to tell ya what some fags do in the movies

https://i.gifer.com/ABBD.gif

better its getting folks, its only better its getting

attention Brooklyn... from Facebook

As we are finally prepping the Video Free Brooklyn collection to be available at the Alamo Drafthouse, I've been happy to hear about their flourishing new video store in Raleigh. Under the Video Vortex banner, Alamo is trying out some intriguing models that directly align with my passions for conserving and celebrating film culture.

Much has changed since we left Smith Street, and after serious thought about my future time and career commitments, I have decided to sell my library to the Alamo so that they may open a Brooklyn branch of Video Vortex. For any Video Free Brooklyn customers who were with us in 2016 and still have credits on their account, Alamo will honor this credit toward future rentals. I am excited that these DVDs and Blu-rays will live on, and hope that this will be a means for the lovingly curated VFB collection (est. 2002) to be available for years to come. Video Vortex will be opening very soon at the Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn, check drafthouse.com for more details and exact dates.

Thank you again for all of your support, and may video stores never die.

Aaron Hillis
Video Free Brooklyn

how do people who talk during movies find love? how do they find happiness? how do they walk among us like normal people, when really they were put on this planet by the dark lord Satan himself for no other reason then to ruin your day and possibly your entire life?

— david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) September 2, 2018

why do movie people talk in that drama/gifted kid affect, its nauseating

"oh ho someone is quite the loquacious chatterbox, methinks I may lose my proverbial shit"

that's why they pay him the big bucks!

he's right though

From what I can tell US cinephilia is like “thank goodness this place has a zero tolerance policy on talking. I cannot abide any distractions whilst I perpend the delicate interplay of—ah! Excellent, my ribs have arrived—“

— Tyto Pollens #FBP🌮 (@TytoPollens) August 18, 2018

your average L.A. moviegoer is a cross between Crow T Robot and Guy Fieri

anyone who makes this argument hasn't been encountered enough screaming babies

Two firsts at an afternoon movie today:

1) Recliners. I've bought VIP Cineplex tickets a couple of times in my life because I messed up on times, and--maybe I'm forgetting--I don't recall recliners; bigger seats, yes, but not that. Fantastic, although the last thing I need at the movies is another reason to fall asleep.

2) The woman beside me had a dog with her. Not a seeing-eye dog--a little fluffy one. There were fewer than ten of us in the theatre...My first reaction, of course, was "You've got to be fucking kidding me," and I almost went to management right away. But I gave it a chance and, surprise, except for about 10-15 seconds of agitation at one point (not barking, but audible), not a sound, making the dog quieter than about a third of the people who attend movies.

You can’t judge anything by being in a crowd of people that would willingly subject themselves to something by Joss Whedon

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, May 3, 2018 11:10 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

“I went to a diarrhea drinking contest and decided that maybe bars aren’t good places”

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, May 3, 2018 11:11 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

i went to one of these for the first time about a month ago -- a late night showing of a herschel gordon lewis movie -- they have food and booze, and like servers bringing things to people throughout the movie but somehow we are supposed to pretend like it's the fucking symphony or something? ...

no. just don't talk and don't use your cell phone.

also they had some hacky host dude do an intro to the film -- and it was right after the cutesy retro trailers about how people shouldn't talk or laugh loudly or whatever -- and the hacky host dude was trying to be jocular, and wanted people to laugh and be enthusiastic, and I thought -- maybe you shouldn't have done your intro right after the big screen admonished us for 2 minutes to be quiet?

yeah, fuck this place and their food

and yes it's the fucking symphony

you're allowed to laugh, scream, or sigh

no. just don't talk and don't use your cell phone.

― Nhex, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 1:43 PM (two minutes ago)

idk dude, unless it's some special museum screening of a rare print of something, i think you're being way too precious about this.

like it reminds me of the pretentions to "fine dining" at places like Olive Garden ...

i hate people talking and being on their phones at the pictures, it's awful.

seems strange that a place that has servers is precious about these things though, like, that sounds disruptive and awful

to their credit, the popcorn is a good value for the price!

i generally think people talking during movies adds to the experience -- like hollywood stuff you see in theaters where they have popcorn

p much every theatre has popcorn

Popcorn should be grateful there are still theaters. Popcorn would be out of business without them.

the one at SFMoMA and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, don't have popcorn.

i'm just saying, if a place has popcorn, big gulps, and esp. alcohol that you can consume while having an entertainment experience ... imposing some "you can't talk or look at yr phone" during this entertainment is ... inconsistent with the amenities.

yeah you can't eat and drink without talking

sarahell this is your wildest take yet

if you want to talk during a movie do it at home or go when nobody else is in the theater

I'm a movie theater fascist

there should be no talking during movies and there should be applause for solos and between movements at the symphony

why would you need to talk or look at your phone while you're watching a movie? aren't you at the movie to see the movie? Isn't everyone at that movie there to see the movie? isn't it reasonable to assume that literally no other person in the room wants you to introduce potentially distracting and entirely avoidable light and sound into a space specifically designed to mute outside and intrusive light and sound? a team of technicians is currently presenting a show made of light and sound that cost millions of dollars to produce and that you and everyone else scheduled time to attend and probably paid $15 or more to see; why not turn your fucking phone off?

would you be okay with people talking/looking at their phone in a haunted house?

because going to the movies is also largely a social experience? Because I think people having enjoyable social experiences with people they care about is kinda one of the best things about life, which is otherwise cold, cruel and pointless? But, you know, that team of technicians (who aren't even there) spent millions of dollars so ... fuck people having a good time.

It's not about making the film experience "pretentious" or whatever... reacting to the film is fine and encouraged. It's wasting everybody else's time with conversation or distracting people with your phone activity. Or yes, children crying.

I went from seeing movies a few times a year to going every week once the Alamo opened up around here. Movies became a true joy to see on the big screen again. I'm not exaggerating when I say it was a blessing.

I still go to other local theaters and chains often, and almost every time I'm reminded of how a tiny percentage of inconsiderate people can ruin the experience.

otoh this is ilx where people regularly complain that people in their vicinity eat food that has an odor so idk ...

If you're not there to have a good time watching the movie then you should seriously be doing something else.

watching the movie in the way that you believe people should watch movies?

like there are plenty of people whose mode of "reacting to the film" involves talking!

Movie tickets should cost 1000 dollars

if you want to talk during a movie watch at home, it's seriously fine, I love to talk during movies at home, where it's appropriate

we're all just arguing about this for funsies right? Nobody's mad?

I'd hate if I were making someone mad

because going to the movies is also largely a social experience

NO.

not if you are determined to make your babbling part of MY experience

i mean, all the people being super prescriptive about how to watch movies in public and policing other people's modes of entertaining themselves seem way likely to be mad than me ...

The Alamo experience is what you’re paying for. If you don’t like it, go to one of the many other movie theaters housed in the mostly large towns they’re in.

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:58 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh no, this theater is full of narcs, however will I see Infinity War in New York City?!

― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, May 1, 2018 9:59 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean, I would rather listen to electronic music in an outdoor field than a cramped club at 4am, I'm not calling Berghain "precious"

Immersion is kind of built in to the cinema experience, it’s why they turn the lights off and why - you’ll notice - the majority of people are not constantly talking through the film. Shining a torch in ppl’s faces and chatting is ANTIsocial imo

But I do agree it’s weird that the place in the states that chooses to be strict about this is the place where people are eating their fucking dinner during the film, that’s wacky as hell

And also, like, the distraction of someone zipping by with a plate is a different kind of distraction than listening to someone talk or text, come on

ok to do at movies:

*laugh loudly when things are funny (as long as you're not laughing at inappropriate places like someone dying of cancer on a crashing plane, nobody should tell you tos top laughing)

*make audible, quick "whoa" reactions to badassery during action films

*clap at the end of a movie

*Fart

not ok to do at movies:

*use yr damn bright cellphone which no matter how much I try to ignore it, distracts the living shit out of me cos my eye is drawn to it, no matter how low your brightness setting is. plus there's this convenient hallway you can go to if you want to do that.

*talk - like, I don't mean whispering to your neighbor "what did he just say?", if you're outright having a loud convo, tends to a) make dialogue hard to hear, and b) ruin the ambience.

like it has nothing to do with telling other people how to enjoy their movie. if people want to watch the movie while standing on their head, I might think that's really fuckin' dumb, but if it doesn't impede my vision, whatever. if people wanna leave the movie for 30 minute chunks and only watch 40% of it...whatever. that's what the exit is for.

but if you're doing something that actively distracts me and ruins my enjoyment, that moves from "disagreeing on how to enjoy movies" and "forcing me to watch the movies your way"

the issue here isn't policing other people's modes of entertaining themselves; it's that your stated means of entertaining yourself (talking/texting during a film) unavoidably deters me from enjoying myself.

none of which is to say that i demand silence while watching a marvel movie or a mainstream horror movie! there are lots of popcorn blockbusters that actually improve with audience input but crucially only when that input is related to the film and doesn't severely interrupt the narrative. There's no conceivable case where your audible recap of a scene for the person next to you who didn't get it or your comparison of actor A's behavior to your friend B's girlfriend improves upon the film and, in 99% of cases, it is demonstrably less interesting and enjoyable than the story that I personally paid to experience!

why would you need to talk or look at your phone while you're watching a movie?

possible reasons to look at phone: the movie isn't 100% captivating, there is a niggling detail in the movie that is bothering you and you want to look up something related to the movie, you have a family and you have to check in with someone, you are technically on call at work and there could be a potential emergency you have to attend to?

possible reasons to talk: you are at the movie with other people and want to communicate something to them about the movie, ...

aren't you at the movie to see the movie?

this is prescribing a certain mode of attention that isn't universal. Also, some people are at a movie with other people in order to spend time with those people, and the social aspect is more important to them than what is being shown.

Isn't everyone at that movie there to see the movie?

see above

isn't it reasonable to assume that literally no other person in the room wants you to introduce potentially distracting and entirely avoidable light and sound into a space specifically designed to mute outside and intrusive light and sound?

some people aren't as easily distracted. others don't care. ... not going to get into design of theaters and how they are also designed to prevent people from dying in fires.

xxxxposts we only have two dinner theatres here, and the disruption is minimal. plus, by going to a dinner theatre, you have voluntarily consented to that level of distraction, you expect it, and over time going to the same theatre, you barely notice it.

it doesn't mean you suddenly consent to other disruptions that have nothing to do with wait staff, like people audibly making jokes at the screen. I mean, I had to listen to some schmuck make gay jokes during Tropic Thunder before everybody told him to shut the fuck up.

And also, like, the distraction of someone zipping by with a plate is a different kind of distraction than listening to someone talk or text, come on

IT'S WAY MORE DISTRACTING!!!

xpost c'mon, nobody is talking about one instance of turning to your neighbor to whisper quietly about something in the movie that probably wouldn't be perceptible to the people around you.

we're talking about people who carry on loud conversations in earshot of everybody, frequently, throughout the entire movie.

possible reasons to look at phone:
1. You are a doctor
2. You are a garbage person

IT'S WAY MORE DISTRACTING!!!

― sarahell, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 5:36 PM bookmarkflaglink

hard disagree - I've been going to my local dinner theatre since I was 13 years old, and the occasional interruption of having food placed down on a table is momentary but also, EXPECTED because I willingly bought a ticket to a dinner theatre production. so I can anticipate where the interruptions will come.

I didn't consent to the guy next to me talking about his gout for 20 minutes at a volume usually reserved for Michael Buffer.

there could be a potential emergency you have to attend to?

there might be an emergency occurring, better be ready to handle it, so let's go see Knives Out.

i irregularly go to outdoor/open air/rooftop screenings and i'm wondering what it means that they tend to be the most respectful audiences?

i do get sara's point that if you liquor up the crowd, they're more likely to talk shit and not toe the line of cultural expectations. the real bottomline for these theaters is that it just takes one particularly loudmouthed asshole to start a fight with a particularly pissed asshole and then you have to refund the whole crowd. it's a business decision to make a big deal about a standard code of behavior while strongly suggesting everyone get a third margarita. that is the tightrope these places walk and it leads to just this sort of "what's the big deal" versus "YOU'RE the big deal" arguments.

Remind me to never go to the movies with sarahel in OAKLAND, where she's dancing in the aisles and shooting Periscopes

the only real reason I go to our arty dinner theater is because it's showing a movie I can't see elsewhere. I rarely intentionally want to eat at the movies as it's usually mega expensive. the AMC fork-and-screen are full of menu items that are 3 billion calories and cost a car payment, so I often willfully avoid those.

however we have an Alamo Drafthouse opening and I will go to that no question.

are we? people are saying different things here, from "no talking whatsoever" to frequent irrelevant loud conversations ... like, if I am going to entertain everyone here by playing devil's advocate, it would be easier if I knew what the saintly position actually was?

Remind me to never go to the movies with sarahel in OAKLAND, where she's dancing in the aisles and shooting Periscopes

― The Mandymoorian (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 2:40 PM (thirty-four seconds ago)

you know where that incident with the kids talking during Schindler's List took place, right?

anyway, they were students at Castlemont High in Oakland.

Weird that Sarahel won't own up to leaving this message

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L3eeC2lJZs

possible reasons to look at phone: the movie isn't 100% captivating, there is a niggling detail in the movie that is bothering you and you want to look up something related to the movie, you have a family and you have to check in with someone, you are technically on call at work and there could be a potential emergency you have to attend to

besides which, the most egregious of these reasons is "the movie isn't 100% captivating" which is entirely subjective! you may be uninterested in what, for me, is the most engaging moment and conveying "BOOOOORING" with audio and visual cues. that is what we in the biz call "a dick move".

this whole emergency thing flummoxes me, like....if my uncle was eaten by a lion while I was watching Wayne's World in the 90s, I had to wait until I got home to find out. and there's little I could have done about it unless the lion and my uncle were across the street from the theater.

and there are large spells of time throughout the day when we willingly don't look at our phones. if I'm aware something might be going on, I can put my phone on vibrate, then go into the call if someone texts/calls. which I actually did do once!

I've had a real 'emergency' happen precisely once when I was at a movie - my aunt died, though honestly, it was expected. me hearing the news two hours earlier wouldn't have made much of a difference other than changing when my grieving started.

not to mention, the people I see dicking around on their phone aren't checking on how their baby is doing or how their sick uncle is, half the time I see them posting on FB.

my friend used to sext his g/f during movies. I hated going with him.

I found out Lemmy died in during the intermission of Hateful Eight :(

we need more intermissions!

”Dad’s on life support, better go see Ready Player One”
― we æt so many shimripl (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:36 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

honestly I'd be done with intermissions. my bladder rarely makes it to the end of a two hour film and so I have to choose points to pee quickly.

*down with

xp - lol I've never been to Texas.

my friend used to sext his g/f during movies. I hated going with him.

omg this is hilarious!!!!

Also, some people are at a movie with other people in order to spend time with those people, and the social aspect is more important to them than what is being shown.

I mean...certainly there are some specific films that they get that most other theaters don't, but I go to my local Alamo Drafthouse because it is literally the closest theater to where I live, essentially four and a half blocks away. *shrug*

I found out Lemmy died in during the intermission of Hateful Eight :(

― The Mandymoorian (Whiney G. Weingarten), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 11:45 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

we need more intermissions!

― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 11:46 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You murderer!

lmao

re going to park: because it's cold, snowing, wet, excessively hot, idk -- it's a thing people do -- like why are all these blockbusters released right around Thanksgiving?

i... i did not mean to suggest that a public park was your only other option...

to be honest, I go to movies alone unless they're blockbusters like Star Wars, because I feel like movies AREN'T a very good social activity. Dates are one thing, but I sit there the entire movie thinking of things I'm going to say to my friend afterwards about the movie.

plus then I don't have to worry about the friend showing up 30 minutes late and saving them a seat (at theaters that don't reserve seats) or have people who want to ask to change the venue that we're going to watch it at. I just decide to go and go when I fuckin feel like it.

Goulet.

I mean in like 1993 yr whole family could be eaten by a bear whike u were at Jurassic Park and you wouldn't know til u got home.

if my uncle was eaten by a lion while I was watching Wayne's World in the 90s, I had to wait until I got home to find out.

everyone is repeating themselves itt of course but few are doing it as enjoyably as neanderthal

I honestly hardly ever go to movies in the theater so you all can chill.

defending talking in theaters with "idk it's a thing people do" is like defending throwing gallon containers of mustard between aisles at the grocery store with "idk it's a thing people do"

lol. i did notice we were recycling the same arguments from years past, myself included, but I guess what I've learned after all this is I am unusually obsessed with people being eaten by wild animals.

xxpost

I honestly hardly ever go to movies in the theater

i'm about to go to the local Regal, coincidentally enough. going to ride my bicycle up and down the theater, it's just the way I like to watch movies.

but when I do -- talking, texting, even children -- don't bother me -- it's what you get when you are in a large room with a bunch of other people.

(nb: i may or may not have thrown gallon containers of mustard between aisles at the grocery store back when i lived in my parent's house and wasn't paying rent; it was a small town and we had no movie theaters. don't judge me)

i am sure if you polled people and asked them if they have talked during a movie in a theater in the past year vs. thrown a gallon container of mustard between aisles at the grocery store, the results would be identical

it's what you get when you are in a large room with a bunch of other people.

honestly, the fact Neanderthal has a friend that sexts at the movies is the best thing to come out of this thread today -- like, which movies? Were the sexts in any way related to the movie?

i do not hang out with this dude anymore cos he turned out to be a massive jackass. the sexts were not related to the movie, and then he'd usually leave and talk about how the movie was mediocre. and then that girl dumped him anyway for a dude who didn't even live in the same state at the time.

where that's NOT what you get when you're in a large room with a bunch of other people because the cultural expectation of being in a theater - as reinforced by messages on the screen prior to the showing of the movie - is that we all agree to not talk or be on our phones during the showing of the film!

okay, so are these examples of ill behaved people imaginary or are these actual people you have experienced behaving thus? Because that kinda weakens your argument about shared cultural expectations?

xp - did he send her dick pics while seated in the movie???? I mean, this is .... something.

i'm responding to your avowal that talking and texting during the film is reasonable, not to a strawman.

you're repeatedly telling a group of active cinephiles that "this is just the way people are at movies" and it's not generally the case!

it seems to be the case often enough for all of you to have multiple complaints about it?

you are at the movie with other people and want to communicate something to them about the movie

use your fuckin' memory, you shitperson.

I honestly hardly ever go to movies in the theater so you all can chill.

― sarahell, Tuesday, December 3, 2019 11:54 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Lmao. This is like dropping a bomb first, seeing the ensuing carnage, and then forgetting about having dropped the bomb. I like it.

I think most of us found theaters where this behavior doesn't occur and stuck to those, after years of going to theaters where it did happen. There's one notorious theater around here that attracts the worst behavior, it has pillows for the reclining seats and the seats recline all the way so you can practically sleep. people get in fights and shouting matches there. s o I don't go to that one.

no, no dick pics. if he pulled it out next to me at the theater, I'd totally have to move to anotehr row

xxp it happens occasionally. people act inappropriately occasionally! luckily i spend most of my at-the-movies time at art/semi-art theaters where the expectations are more clearly understood. Sometimes they're not.

i'm just speaking for myself here sara; nobody elected me king of the movies (yet).

anyway, this has been entertaining but i have surely procrastinated enough of this day away by now

nobody elected me king of the movies (yet).

poll

sounds like this guy wasn't even a memorable jackass

i mean it has been 11 years

it's too bad we don't have Zager and Evans around to tell us what movie theaters will be like in the distant and far future

I think maybe you would enjoy a McDonald's Playland more, they have an exhaustive list of everything you aren't allowed to do in them posted at the entrance.

luckily i spend most of my at-the-movies time at art/semi-art theaters where the expectations are more clearly understood.

like i was saying way upthread -- movies at places like museums -- where they might allow you to bring water in, but that's about it -- there is an atmosphere of seriousness as opposed to comfort and entertainment -- yeah, this awful behavior you complain about. I find it obnoxious in this context.

if my uncle was eaten by a lion while I was watching Wayne's World in the 90s, I had to wait until I got home to find out. and there's little I could have done about it unless the lion and my uncle were across the street from the theater.

wow i really missed the "if" at the beginning of this sentence

I think maybe you would enjoy a McDonald's Playland more, they have an exhaustive list of everything you aren't allowed to do in them posted at the entrance.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 3:10 PM (one minute ago)

uh, was that directed at me?

anyway, I didn't get kicked out of Alamo Drafthouse. It was my friend's birthday, and it would've been awkward.

lol omar

ftr nobody I know has been eaten

anyway, I'm on this live and let live crusade today because it's the 3rd anniversary of me finding out that a bunch of people I knew died in a fire, so I am probably too focused on "don't be petty about stuff like talking during movies because ... death" when in reality, this petty stuff is actually important to some people and greatly improves their quality of life.

I typically go to the movies several times a month. I can't recall ever being significantly distracted by people talking or using their phones. Seeing people say that they're aggravated by other people in the audience practically every time they go to the movies is wild to me.

So you didn't read the thread then?

Nope. I skipped to the bottom and wrote that post just to irritate you personally.

Good talk

Who’s gonna be the first to post to this thread from a movie theater? (Apologies if this bad joke has already been made)

the world is a movie theater

Set to drai-ai-ain

A quick shout out to the elderly fellow at the movie I was seeing that would turn on his lighter at random intervals during the film. Frustrating and yet charmed.

did you discern a skunk-like odor when he would do this

Eating loudly is more annoying at a theater than talking - I've had a few wonderful moments of people talking to the screen or overhearing people gossiping, I have never enjoyed the sound of someone eating loudly.

Texting with a bright-ass screen is worse than both.

last week i had two older people a couple of seats away from me. the first one kept checking her phone (very annoying), they talked a few times until they were shushed repeatedly and then the second one fell asleep and started snoring. i've had that happen a few times including one where the guy in front of me was snoring extremely loud so i had to constantly wake him up. i felt like a dick but also felt like by the second time i woke him up dude should have got the message and left

For whatever reason I witnessed the worst audience behavior at a spaghetti western festival at the Film Forum, where normally the self-policing audience will immediately shut down the slightest misbehavior. One guy not only snored loudly but every five minutes or so would wake up with a bone-chilling gasp, startling himself so much he would kick the seat in front of him with a loud smack. Another guy opened up a plate of reeking Chinese takeout mid-film. Also there was a general testiness in the crowd, with people nearly coming to blows over seating issues etc. It was if they had bused in the audience from some facility where the residents aren't normally released to do things in public.

This thread conta

I found out Lemmy died in during the intermission of Hateful Eight :(

Who’s gonna be the first to post to this thread from a movie theater? (Apologies if this bad joke has already been made)

― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Tuesday, December 3, 2019 11:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I have done this (before the lights went down)

Read this upthread and couldn't believe I hadn't heard it before—that Lemmy went to see The Hateful Eight and died right in the middle of it.

and it was *murder* too

Killed by all that hammy overacting.

The snoring, loud conversations, and visible phones didn't exactly help though...

Who’s gonna be the first to post to this thread from a movie theater? (Apologies if this bad joke has already been made)

hello, ignoring a trailer “from the director of Skyfall” rn

Seeing people say that they're aggravated by other people in the audience practically every time they go to the movies is wild to me.

NYC has way more assholes per capita, esp since the Sex and the City and Girls watchers moved in 8 to an apartment.

and started doing my old jobs for minimum wage

I'm on this live and let live crusade today

Enjoying having conversations with people whose opinions differ from mine pic.twitter.com/7o2ui1aBpn

— Matt Prigge (@mattprigge) December 3, 2019

I loled

let's just watch Cop Land and rub one out

yessed out

I'm in a THEATER theater seeing a play and this dude next to me kept whipping his phone out to play with it towards the end of the first act.

I am now bitching about him on ILX at intermission.

That is not allowed

i can’t imagine being so boring that people wouldn’t welcome my commentary during movies

Fucking with phones during a play is some bullshit.

He also was practically in my seat as he was a 6'4 guy spread eagling

Was it broadway? Those guys will generally send ushers straight to them.

(Forgive me i am not flexing; I just realized I have no idea - or have forgotten? - where you live so this might well be Detroit for all i know)

Orlando. yeah if it was NYC I could just basically point and the ushers would show up.

I just glared at him and he got the hint and stopped manspreading.

Whatdya see?

The Play That Goes Wrong, which coincidentally enough, I had also seen in NYC two years ago.

good weekend for mindless slapstick fun.

Cool, i am familiar with but have not seen.
I am hitting Fefu and Her Friends this upcoming week, which features an act during which different portions of the audience will leave their seats to stand extensively at different acts. I don’t know if its possible everyone will have the fortitude to avoid slipping a quick pic for the gram tbh.

heh well this became a non-issue real fast

When theaters are back after the Greater Depression, it’s going to be worse. Everyone will demand the ability to stop a screening so they can go pee or check Instagram.

trenchant!

I am hitting Fefu and Her Friends this upcoming week, which features an act during which different portions of the audience will leave their seats to stand extensively at different acts. I don’t know if its possible everyone will have the fortitude to avoid slipping a quick pic for the gram tbh.

Literally one of my last night's out in the before times was seeing a production of Fefu that was simplified to all the action happening in a big staging area with fixed seating for the audience.

it was a good show! much more mobile for the crowd which had to get in where they fit in at the various staging areas.
i miss movies. i miss theater. i miss concerts. i miss restaurants. i miss museums. i miss public spaces.
going to the met this Thursday for their first day open; hope i don't die.

I've been to a few movies since things reopened in MN. In one there were maybe two other people in the theater and one of them was talking on her phone for a few minutes in the middle of the movie, in another a couple talked and joked quietly several times during the film. On both occasions I got the sense that these people didn't think normal rules applied because there were so few people in the audience — despite having to actually follow a number of new rules (wearing masks, distancing, etc.).

this thread always makes me cry laugh.

and also cry because due to the pandemic, Orlando never got its promised Alamo Drafthouse :(

https://apnews.com/article/sony-acquires-alamo-drafthouse-d2c9872b3dbda4f72bec65d7985de3ff

Sony Pictures Entertainment is getting into the exhibition business. The studio behind recent films like “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” and “The Garfield Movie” has acquired the distinctive theater chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the companies said Wednesday. Included in the deal is the genre film festival Fantastic Fest.

Hmm indeed. My local theater being a Drafthouse, I will wait to see what shakes down here. (My two most overriding concerns are maintenance of the excellent movie pass deal they've had for some years now plus programming in general -- it could certainly be more adventurous but compared to the 'regular' theater chains, night and day, and SF has already lost a few of its similarly inclined competitors, sadly.)

I used to like the servers bringing you food but I've come to find it distracting and hate it... been having better experiences at AMC these days. That said, Alamo not being owned by private equity and run into the ground could possibly be good, not bad?

The franchisee in North Texas shuttered all the Drafthouses at once a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah it seemed like they were in freefall

Theaters in general seem in a really, really bad place right now.

When we went to see Furiosa, I was absolutely shocked at the state of the local AMC. I won't be surprised when they announce they are closing the theater, since they've completely given up on maintenance. The bathrooms were a disaster, less than half the sinks and only one of the six soap dispensers were functional, trash everywhere and not a single paper towel to be found in any dispenser. More than a third of the lights in the hallways were burned out. Two of the five freestyle soda machines (? - is that what they call those touchscreen things) were out of order and the three that remained were putting out piss warm soda, no matter how much ice you put in. It had only been about 3 months since I'd been in that theater, but it felt like years of abuse.

Ugh I really hope they don't replace the amazing pre-movie entertainment with endless ads, but wouldn't surprise me if that's one of the first things to go. I am anticipating some heavy enshittification as a result of this. They offer one of the best movie going experiences still out there imho

Oh wait - they were owned by private equity prior to Sony? Okay then... Maybe I can allow myself to not be super cynical about this

Yeah the fact that private equity DIDN'T touch the preshow rolls I regard as a minor victory at least, or at least some vague recognition that a certain brand had to be maintained.

i would see wide-release movies almost exclusively at the Arclight Cinemas for a long time and while the price was kinda exorbitant it was also always a good experience as far as watching a film. but the pandemic forced them outta business in 2021. every time i'd gone to one of the other big multiplexes in recent years it had been pretty bad. dirty, technical issues, bad seats, too dim, and there are some shitty audiences out there too. the arclights at least rarely had that as part of the experience.

AMC closed the one I always went to, it was moderately crappy (one of the first wave of stadium seating builds here, no upgrades but the AC always worked and it was cleanish) but at least they hadn't given in to full meals and servers and all of those horrors.

I’ve also had it with the food-and-drink-serving model (it’s the Nitehawk Cinema in my area although we also have Alamo). I find I really need to disappear into the reality of the movie - submit to the hallucination - and servers criss-crossing my view every two minutes just ruins that. Also on several occasions I’ve had people next to me order stinky food (like they’ll order a bowl of French fries, eat a few, and then leave the rest of the stinky bowl sitting there for 90 minutes. Also the seats are too close together. Also they always give you your check to deal with 20 minutes or so before the end of the film, aka the climax of the film, which disrupts everything. In conclusion, it was an anmbitious concept but it doesn’t actually work. At least not for me.

This, I admit, is where my endless strategizing about what screenings to attend and where plays out (preferably late afternoon and well away in a corner of the theater from anyone else -- no seat neighbors, very often no row neighbors, ergo the only server is someone getting something I might order). A large part of this is how I see movies after COVID, but that's a useful side benefit.

This was always a horrible idea, if you’re gonna serve dinner during the fucking movie you might as well let ppl talk as well

nb I don’t think you should talk through a movie (obv, unless you’re a psychopath) it’s just always been funny that the us cinema most known for discouraging this is the one where you can “discreetly” call a waiter to bring you some chicken wings or whatever

It was a good concept when they got started in Austin, but it lost something as it got watered down
and expanded into a franchise model. Even after that, I did admire how they used to go in and renovate older, dormant multiplexes, although I guess they stopped doing that at some point (I know times that but then in the ass: the one Houston-area Drafthouse that actually was in Houston--and barely at that, being on the far west side a few miles from Katy--was a revived mall theatre that helped revitalize said mall, who subsequently bounced the Alamo when their lease was up in favor of a new, stand-alone Edwards Cinema built in the parking lot. Covid eventually finished off both the theatre & the mall in 2020).

I don’t know a single person who goes to this in Los Angeles. Why bother when there are so many better theatres that have repertory screenings? Also, fuck Tim League for giving Devin Faraci a paycheck

I have a season pass in Los Angeles, so ymmv

Here’s your medal

He literally said "I don’t know a single person who goes to this in Los Angeles."

lol I was just quitting brinstead

Was exited for my local Alamo to open but their lineup is quite mainstream.

My two most patronized AMC theaters still remain clean. Except for a handful of critic/advance screenings, I haven't been to a show at night in years, way before COVID: I'm a pre-noon guy if I can help it, 2 p.m.-5 p.m. on weekdays usually.

I'm having summer of AMC A-List and I am delighted by 5pm screenings where I have a nice clean theater entirely to myself (or sharing it with like 3-4 other people).

Believe me, that is the best.

*She*

The original Alamo, I dunno, philosophy I guess, was so ahead of the curve. Not just in the serving drinks and food business model, but also in their programming: everything getting spiffed-up today by Vinegar Syndrome or the niche boutique label of your choice was probably already exhibited by the Austin Alamos in the then-best surviving prints or off bootleg VHS sometime in the mid-'00s. Taking the MST3K and Night Flight aesthetic back into theatres, they were really leading the way outside of NYC & LA in programming series on all sorts of niche Horror (Giallos, Folk, Found-Footage etc.), weird Foreign stuff (pretty sure they're responsible for popularizing all those unauthorized '70s & '80s foreign remakes of Star Wars, Superman etc.), and vintage American Exploitation & Indie--all of this way before YouTube as well. They used to publish these free monthly programming guides that were little full-color magazines with quality staff write-ups on every film and special presentation. To have all that happening in Texas of all places was just too much.

It couldn't last, particularly as Nerd Culture has become whatever the fuck it is now, and one could certainly tie-in the gradual decline of the Alamo with everybody else catching up with them stylistically, from Hollywood studios going all in on IP franchises to other theatre chains offering higher quality drinks & food, and the aforementioned Boutique Labels beginning to bypass theatrical releases for their latest 'finds'.

I'm a fanboy and this might be copium, but I think the "decline of the Alamo" is a little overstated. The prices are a little higher, Mondo got sold and people debate about whether the "no talking" rule is enforced as thoroughly as it once was, but its still the most humane way to see first-run movies afaic

t

It's not a particularly high bar these days

Especially when, as box office reports clearly indicate, finding an empty movie theater to enjoy by oneself is not an insurmountable challenge

re: decline of Alamo, I think C. Grisso is presenting a very Austin POV which might not be apparent to people who have enjoyed Alamo since it became a national chain. In the past, it was very much focused on lots of fun events rather than first-run movies. The frequency of events has declined a lot and it's mostly become just a movie theater with food and drinks.

its still the most humane way to see first-run movies afaict

what about going to an independent theater

Most worried that they'll lose access to a lot of programming due to the Sony ownership -- more than the chain being too corporatized, which has already been happening since before the pandemic. So far they're still good, though, and I hope they keep the spirit alive.

I'm with Whiney (and echo Nhex's concerns). My perspective has always been via the SF location -- it'll hit its tenth anniversary at the end of next year -- and honestly I've been delighted. About the only reason I've gone to the AMC downtown is for the occasional IMAX screening and one or two things that never made it over to the Drafthouse. I can walk to it from both home and work in under twenty minutes, their in-house moviepass setup pays for itself almost immediately after two screenings a month, and it's always been a treat to watch things in. I absolutely don't doubt everything C. Grisso indicates in terms of the longer view on what happened from origins to now, and when initial unionization talk happened I very much indicated to relevant staff I'm on board -- things have been on hold there for a bit, we'll see what happens now -- but I'll take this as long as it can run. (Interestingly enough, there's been something happening or was supposed about a small one-screen theater that would be even nearer to me and I kinda want to see that happen but after a flurry of initial announcements nothing seems to have gone forward, but it would be great to have something nearby that did programming a la the Roxie at the other end of the Mission but would be even closer to me.)

Austin alone has half a dozen other Alamo-style theaters that match (or surpass, depending on who you ask) their food and service levels. Violet Crown, Flix, iPic, Moviehouse, the flagship AMC on I-35, etc*. And a drive-in! The old school Alamo from the early 2000s is long gone, but even the modern chain has fallen pretty far from its original franchised version. That said, I can't see any of those other chains existing without the Alamo blueprint to follow.

*there's the Paramount, but their seats are punishingly uncomfortable to sit in for five minutes, never mind two hours

re: decline of Alamo, I think C. Grisso is presenting a very Austin POV which might not be apparent to people who have enjoyed Alamo since it became a national chain. In the past, it was very much focused on lots of fun events rather than first-run movies. The frequency of events has declined a lot and it's mostly become just a movie theater with food and drinks

I feel I should mention too that they tried to carry over a lot of the original flavor when they began franchising. The west Houston location was their first franchise, in a refurbished six-screen mall theatre and--initially anyway--they split programming between first-run films and the quirky repertory screenings and "Fun" programming they made their name on (Mr. Sinus theatre, quote and sing-alongs etc.). However, it didn't really play because despite technically being in Houston, their clientele was overwhelmingly suburban and they weren't really coming for that stuff.

At their peak in Houston, they had three venues in the metro area: the west Houston mall location (which lasted about ten years before getting shoved out by Edwards in the early '10s); a new theatre in the Vintage Park development in Spring (which Alamo eventually sold after a few years to another dinner & a movie chain in a horse-trading deal re: suburban market development that later fell through--ask me about that one sometime, it's a doozy!), and a location in Katy (initially in an old shopping center multiplex on Mason Rd., then moved to its current home further out in Cinco Ranch at the La Centarra complex on Grand Parkway), and they all ran up against the same problem of getting a suburban audience against the more hipster cinephile audience that lives deep in Houston and isn't always willing to make the hike out to the 'burbs for their speciality programming.

The main reason I don't go to Alamo more often is that it seems like screenings frequently sell out in advance. (Or at least that's been my experience in Chicago.) For a new release, I'm sometimes deciding between an Alamo screening that's nearly full or a Regal screening that's nearly empty, and the latter is usually more attractive. And I don't really like to eat or drink at the movies, so the food service isn't much of a selling point for me. It is cool that they do special programming (but again, see my first point).

always found it odd that the first Alamo in Houston was at West Oaks Mall

Orlando never got ours as it was cancelled due to pandemic. all we have are a series of humongous chains, and an independent theater (Enzian) who used to actually show both cult classics/rare films in addition to hard to see first-run independent/foreign films, and now it just shows whatever 'quirky' indie comedy is broadly distributed enough to also literally playing at every cineplex. though the 'fun' programming is still there which is what I go for.

weird Foreign stuff (pretty sure they're responsible for popularizing all those unauthorized '70s & '80s foreign remakes of Star Wars, Superman etc.)

I thought Mondo Macabro (first the book and then the label) popularized those, though maybe it was just the message boards I was hanging out in at the time (late 90s/early 00s) and it was more niche than I realized at the time.

Reading up on Mondo Macabro, I'm willing to bet the Alamo crew were totally influenced by them.

I mean, a lot of the early Alamo aesthetic came straight out of '90s message boards and tape trading circles.

One Minnesota & Five DFW area Drafthouses to reopen.

https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/alamo-drafthouse-reopen-6-closed-theaters-following-sony-acquisition-1235021119/

...and they've shuttered the Katy TX location, signalling the exit of the chain from their initial franchising market of metropolitan Houston after 20+ years.

https://houstonfoodfinder.com/news/alamo-drafthouse-cinema-closes-katy-theater-last-one-in-greater-houston-area/

I didn't realize that in addition to the three theatres they did manage to open, they'd had a further three failed proposed area locations, including an officially announced spot in League City that was eventually fully derailed by COVID-19.

There's definitely some kind of story to tell about the multiple rounds of venture capital/buyouts/however they got the cash to expand and open so many new locations in the past decade, so many of which were delayed, canceled or failed...

flix brewhouse, the competitor to alamo that I've mentioned in the thread, is up to 11 locations now. it sounds like they've gone in to at least one former alamo location in texas?

they definitely lean more heavily on family-friendly events and domestic movies, but the chain seems healthy? for food/drink delivered in theater they now default to an automatic gratuity, probably because retaining servers got really rough post-pandemic. their other gimmick is that every location (iirc) is also a microbrewery, and they'll do themed beers for large movie rollouts

it's interesting to go back in time on this thread because a lot of annoyances about being interrupted kind of evaporated when most of the theaters in my area swapped over to stadium-style seating for most of the screens.

theaters are kind of half-dead here, though, in that my options are: flix, one of two locally-owned theaters, one of which has only one screen and a small screening room, or driving out to the suburbs to a chain or the imax cinema, which is locally owned.

we had a number of theaters sprinkled around the city, but Carmike went bust and sold to AMC, only for AMC to pull out completely post-pandemic. the theater near my workplace is now a church, judging from the giant vertical JESUS sign on it

As this thread's biggest Alamo stan, I will say the recent enshittification of the brand has caused me to abandoned my annual pass and start venturing back out to prole theaters

the new phone-only ordering system they've recently switched to (in Austin anyway) sucks

Yeah, it completely destroys what makes the place special

I'm definitely not onboard with that. The SF location is very literally the nearest theater to me -- fifteen minutes walk if that -- so I'll likely keep using it, but yeah.

IIUC phone ordering stops and they go back to paper orders once the movie starts?

that was recent policy but some locations are now moving to 100% phone orders only, no paper orders ever

they had a good run but I'm guessing the brand will be history by 2027

Yeah, the phone app is like a dark app, but it still encourages people to take out their phones

I am starting to think the also-run theater chain I have been going to is going to buy the originating theater chain judging by this thread

The four just-closed Texas locations will reopen in a couple weeks under new branding

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/flix-brewhouse-buys-four-alamo-drafthouse-theaters-texas-1236657040/

lmao I was just hypothesizing