TS: Going out to "the movies" vs. watching them at home

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Digital cable is a great, great thing.

― The Four Singing Beatles (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:08 (twenty-two years ago)

They both have their benefits.

I have a hard time getting things arranged at home where I have two hours uninterrupted, with all the lights out and can really watch the movie. Too many distractions.

But at the same time, it's free, I can watch what I want when I want, bathroom breaks are easier. And so many of my favorite movies are 2.35:1, not having a widescreen TV really sucks sometimes.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i was walkin down Oxford St yesterday and under some scaffolding were two Chinese guys selling DVDs of new cinema releases like The Hulk and Pirates Of The Caribbean - they looked very convincing as official releases but don't know what the quality of the actual picture was like.

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Anything with major action scenes or special effects, I like to see first at the theater. Anything I don't want to know much about before I see it, ditto. Otherwise, I'm cool with Netflix and cable.

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I took a long break from tv, and am now just starting back into it. I don't want to admit the last time I saw something in a theater.

Convenience ok. But movies just aren't the same when you can change the channel (also big screen rockism, lawrence of arabia, etc.).

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm a total rockist here. I won't watch a movie on TV if I know it's supposed to be really good, "canonical", whatever. In fact, a few years ago a friend gifted me with a VHS of one of the few movies I haven't seen by favorite director, and I still haven't watched it as I want to see it in the theater first!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Diamond I don't think Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold is appearing in a theater near you any time soon.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Both those Quatermain movies are among my fave bad movies ever. I liked how they went whole hog and actually got John-Rhys Davies to appear in the first one -- if you're going to rip off Raiders, go all the way!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 8 August 2003 22:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Going to the movies! All the way! No contest!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 8 August 2003 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Depends. Movies w/ dinner and wine in, great
Going out, great also.

― Orbit (Orbit), Saturday, 9 August 2003 01:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Going out to "the movies". (You're right with the quotes, they're not really that, are they? It's only a strip of film projected on a big screen.) "Spirited Away" last wednesday, "Hero" tonight. I'm sure they're wonderful to watch on a little box in the corner of your room, but still.

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Saturday, 9 August 2003 07:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I meant the whole Cultural Thing of "the movies," which I kind of hate -- I love watching films on the big screen but it's rare that other audience members contribute to my enjoyment of the experience, and in fact they often hinder it by being talkative and obnoxious and coming in late and forgetting to turn off their cell phones (stop me if you've seen this Seinfeld episode before).

I dunno... I started this thread because last night I was talking about wanting to see Run Lola Run again and today I found out the Sunshine Cinema was doing a midnight showing of it. This excited me greatly, until I thought it through... (a) $10 is too much to pay for something that isn't a new release (b) add $4 for the round-trip subway ride (c) the movie lets out at 2am, which isn't a problem for a night owl like me, except that subway service grinds to a halt in the middle of the night, speshly on weekends, and I'd probably spend a good 45 minutes waiting for a train in an unairconditioned station.

I'll rent the DVD.

― The Four Singing Beatles (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 9 August 2003 07:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Going to the cinema is much better than renting stuff or watching it on TV. Cinemas have air conditioning for a start!

― jel -- (jel), Saturday, 9 August 2003 12:03 (twenty-two years ago)

The a/c in the Renoir two nights ago didn't seem up to much - I found the heat almost intolerable, and it actually felt cool when I got outside after the film.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 9 August 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

i vote for heading off to the cinema!

as long as you don't have to see the flick in a suburban multiplex, go for it.

― Kingfish (Kingfish), Saturday, 9 August 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I think all of JBR's complaints about "the movies" depend a lot on where you live. If she were in Bloomington instead of NYC, it'd be $5, not $10, a ten-minute drive at the most or maybe a walkable distance, and I've yet to have any problems with talkativeness/cell phones/etc, even on opening days (I haven't had that problem in years anywhere except the one "this is where parents drop their preteens and toddlers off while they shop" theater in New Orleans).

... but by the same token, no one would be showing Run Lola Run :)

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 9 August 2003 15:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Grace: Cowboy heroes,
cops and robbers,
glamour and strife,
bigger than life!
Sitting in the darkness,
what a world to see!
Let's go to the movies,
Annie, wait and see.

Betty Davis is probably lying,
and Greta Garbo is probably crying,
while Robert Taylor
is locked in her dying embrace.
Chico and Groucho
and Chaplin and Lloyd
are all super.
Sweet Mickey Mouse,
Shirley Temple,
and dear Jackie Cooper.

Annie: Let's go to the movies..

Both: Let's go see the stars

Grace: Fred and Ginger
spinning madly....
(instrumental break)
Anything you
can imagine...
Songs and romance.
Life is the dance.
Sitting in the darkness,
popcorn on your knee!
Give the maid the night off!

Warbucks: Turn the kitchen light off!

Grace and Warbucks: Let's go to the movies,
Annie, you and me!

Ushers: Welcome to the movies!
Welcome to the stars!
Welcome to this
grand illusion.
All of it's yours
right through these doors!
Every plot's a dilly,
this we guarantee!
Welcome to the movies
wait and see.

Female chorus: Let's go to the movies (see the movies)
Let's go see the stars.
Red lights holler
deep Depression
What do we care?
Movies are there!
Only happy endings (boy gets girl, yes)
that's our recipe!
Welcome to a lovely
M-O-V-I-E!

Male chorus: Let's go to the movies

Female chorus (same time as guys): We love to go
to RKO
Columbia
Universal

Male chorus: Let's go see the stars

Female chorus (simultaneously): Jack Warner and
Fred Goldwyn and
MGM and Paramount

Both: Dreams of glory,
cast of thousands,
bigger than life.
Bigger than life!
Only happy endings
that's our recipe
So, welcome
to the movies
wait...
and...
see!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 9 August 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Betty Davis?

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 9 August 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Tep, I've encountered asshats in suburban movie theaters too.

― The Four Singing Beatles (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 9 August 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

And chances are the Bloomington theater wouldn't be a former Yiddish vaudeville house.

― The Four Singing Beatles (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 9 August 2003 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Like the porn theatre ("Cinema L'Amour") on St-Laurent!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 9 August 2003 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

road trip!

― The Four Singing Beatles (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 9 August 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Rumour has it that's where Houdini took the fatal punch to the stomach. Inflicted by a McGill student no less! Oh alma mater etc!

My friend used to work there and she kept horrible, hilarious diaries.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 9 August 2003 17:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Tep, I've encountered asshats in suburban movie theaters too.

Right, I'm not saying suburban's better than urban (and Bloomington isn't suburban anyway, it's college-town). Just that location -- not type of location, but specific location -- makes a difference. I've had more luck with movie theaters in the south than the north, regardless of local population density; but the tradeoff is that there are almost always fewer options for what to see.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 9 August 2003 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Some movies come across OK on TV (Ozu, Bresson) and some definitely do not (Mizoguchi, Preminger).... Silent films in particular are hard to watch at home, I find. So it depends on what film I'm hoping to see, really.

― amateurist (amateurist), Saturday, 9 August 2003 22:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I hear you re: silent films. Very frustrating.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 9 August 2003 23:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I always, always miss films at the cinema. I don't like going on my own, and finding someone who also wants to see the film and is free when I'm free and who can afford it and actually making the effort to get off my arse and go to the cinema before the film's run ends is beyond my organisational skills, so it's Movies At Home by default. It lacks the BIGness of the cinema... but you get to watch it when you want with whom you want and while drinking wine, which more than makes up.

― The Lex (The Lex), Saturday, 9 August 2003 23:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Silent films at home - smaller speakers on your television - less unused capacity - less to feel guilty about - better at home!

(Alright, alright...)

― David. (Cozen), Saturday, 9 August 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Alcohol + movie can be a definite pro for one or the other ... somehow having a large daiquiri at the South Park: BLU opening night made it easier to ignore the number of parents bringing their kids in.

― Tep (ktepi), Saturday, 9 August 2003 23:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I think there's a lot to be said for the "going out to the movies" experience. I saw The Searchers (which I'd seen a few times on TV) at a local revival theater last week and it was like seeing it for the first time. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch it on TV again: it's like the difference between the Mona Lisa and a postage stamp of the Mona Lisa. On the other hand, it drives me literally insane with rage if there's some idiot talking behind me - I hate people who come into the room and start talking while I'm watching a movie at HOME, never mind if I've paid eight bucks to see it.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 10 August 2003 04:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Well most silent films aren't *silent* actually (ideally).

I hear you about "The Searchers"--it didn't leave too much of an impression before I saw it in the theater.

― amateurist (amateurist), Sunday, 10 August 2003 07:56 (twenty-two years ago)

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