Movie Theater Experiences

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MongooseCmr
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:50 pm

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#901 Post by MongooseCmr » Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:06 pm

I was pretty cold on the film so by that point it was kind of refreshing. I agree with you for concerts, but it was amusing to see it happen in a closed room, and so badly done to boot.

black&huge
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:35 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#902 Post by black&huge » Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:08 pm

MongooseCmr wrote:
Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:54 pm
So I guess after that above post and my experience at The Rider where the sobbing of the woman in front of me nearly became contagious I was due for the pendulum of audiences to swing the other way. I had to walk out of Hereditary after less than 20 minutes due to the cacophony of food noise. It’s the most boring complaint, but never in life have I heard such deafening ambient noise. Granted I spent the day with kindergarteners so my patience may be thin, but there’s no excuse for one man lifting and smacking down Schrodinger’s soda cup for the entire time, sounding completely empty but somehow still full enough to keep trying to drink.
When I saw Infinity War the first time the person sitting right next to me kept sucking his tongue against his teeth making that click/smacking sound as if to get something out from in between. He munched on popcorn before the movie even started. I was passive about it. He stopped after 20 minutes then would do it every now and then. In my own mind that is something you're well aware of doing and the sound it makes so I give no benefit of the doubt that the guy wasn't doing it to be rude.

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#903 Post by hearthesilence » Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:16 pm

The loud mouth noise people get on my nerves. There have been a few screenings where the soundtrack goes dead quiet for a while...but it's interrupted by the sound of one person making weird loud sounds with their mouth. A real JFC moment - could you at least wait until something happens that'll drown out whatever the hell it is that you're doing in your mouth?

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Cremildo
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:19 pm
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#904 Post by Cremildo » Fri Jun 08, 2018 6:52 pm

While watching The Last Jedi, an old lady sitting next to me - after munching a ginormous bucket of popcorn for about two hours straight, a feat that astonished me -, began to loudly suck the remaining kernels. She kept at it uninterrupted until the movie ended. It could be heard even during action scenes, and it was as distracting as it was puzzling. Not being an experienced popcorn eater myself, I actually didn't understand what the disgusting tongue/mouth noise was until I related the "incident" to my mother later, who explained it to me.

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theflirtydozen
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:21 pm

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#905 Post by theflirtydozen » Fri Jun 08, 2018 8:37 pm

MongooseCmr wrote:
Fri Jun 08, 2018 5:54 pm
So I guess after that above post and my experience at The Rider where the sobbing of the woman in front of me nearly became contagious I was due for the pendulum of audiences to swing the other way. I had to walk out of Hereditary after less than 20 minutes due to the cacophony of food noise. It’s the most boring complaint, but never in life have I heard such deafening ambient noise. Granted I spent the day with kindergarteners so my patience may be thin, but there’s no excuse for one man lifting and smacking down Schrodinger’s soda cup for the entire time, sounding completely empty but somehow still full enough to keep trying to drink.
On the topic of Hereditary and mouth noises,
SpoilerShow
someone or multiple people in my theater last night kept making the mouth clicking noise, essentially butting into some of the better choices in its sound design
Some of my friends who were in different screenings said the same thing happened for them. I really envy the person in the dedicated thread who got a whole theater alone for it...

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bottled spider
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#906 Post by bottled spider » Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:58 pm

On a recent visit to Chicago I caught Crucified Lovers and Sansho at the Gene Siskel. The respectful near silence of the audiences both nights is a memory of America I will treasure for the rest of my life. Better than the Skydeck!

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Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:58 am
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#907 Post by Brian C » Sun Jun 10, 2018 4:19 pm

Yeah I don’t usually have trouble with audiences at the Siskel. For awhile there was a regular who would routinely fall asleep and loudly snore, but I don’t remember seeing him for a few years.

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domino harvey
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#908 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jun 10, 2018 4:39 pm

So that's what happened to Barmy!

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hearthesilence
Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:22 am
Location: NYC

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#909 Post by hearthesilence » Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:04 pm

AMC Lincoln Square has raced to the bottom of my list of theatrical options. The ticket buying fiasco with First Reformed was bad enough, but I went to see Leave No Trace which was placed in one of the basement theaters and while the actual screening of the film was fine, the facilities flat out sucked. Bathroom was tiny for a multiplex AND really disgusting. It turned out to be a tradeoff - while the restroom on the main floor is usually pretty clean and spacious, we noticed that the basement was the only place with the A/C going. For whatever reason, they turned it off everywhere else and it was getting hot and disgusting. Also should mention we wound up on the main floor (really the second floor) first because they don't really tell you where you're supposed to go on the ticket. My friend's ticket had nothing written on it, which is weird because mine at least had the theater name (which is a little annoying - they give names to all the theaters, but honestly you have to frequent this place quite a bit to remember them all as they're not intuitive names selected for practicality like "Theater 1" just fancy names like "The Majestic" etc.) It's a slow ride up a really long escalator to get to the main floor, so it's really a problem if you were running late and went to the main floor by mistake.

black&huge
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:35 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#910 Post by black&huge » Sat Jul 14, 2018 1:03 am

I'm bored this night so here's a few stories over the years:

Similar incidents happened when I saw the first Pirates of the Carribean and The Simpsons movie on their first runs. I was a teenager when the former came out and there was a kid presumably my then age sitting on the opposite end of the theater who would force laughter at every comedic gag or humorous dialogue. It carried on the whole movie and no one said anything. The latter was worse. Being a bit older there was a teenage kid really forcing laughter at nearly every joke in the movie. I recall at the time reading many experiences from random goers on the internet that people were strangely busting up at the Spider-Pig part aka the most heavily advertised part of the movie you think it would have ran its course but apparently not. It happened during my screening as well. That was a pretty weird phenomenon.

This next one was a minor annoyance but it is mildly amusing years later but when I saw the Abrams Star Trek in 2009 on opening weekend there was an older woman at the end of my row who literally jolted and gasped in a manner that echoed a painful orgasm at pretty much every loud sound be it explosion or whatnot and every collision or impact whether it be ships or people clashing. At first I was genuinely concerned it might have been too much for her but the people she was with didn't pay attention and she seemed perfectly normal when the movie ended.

When I saw Hostel on opening weekend me and a group got there fairly early since the movie sold out the first 2 times we tried to see it. It was 20 minutes before previews started and the auditorium was packed. We chose seats near the front and then we heard it. A baby crying. Someone way up in the stadium seats had brought their baby with them and it was acting up. The best thing happened: almost immediately someone literally called out to them to call them out for being "fucked up parents taking a baby to a movie like this". The woman with the baby began to talk back trying to defend herself and at that point several people in the audience moaned at her then the original guy told her very politely to leave (by yelling "TAKE YOUR KID AND FUCKING GO HOME") and everyone cheered. She ended up leaving without saying a word.

That leaves me with my favorite experience of all time in terms of audience. 2008. My bloody valentine 3D. Opening night. It was a super last minute decision for me to be there since I had earlier in the day refused an invite to to with some people. One of them ended up buying a ticket for me anyways and decided to ask me again close to showtime because I would probably say yes and boy I'm glad I did. We were seated at the stage left end of the second row. Uncomfortably close to the screen and having to watch 3-D no less. I already thought this was a funny situation but it would get better. Seated right next to us were a group of 4 black people. 2 girls, 2 guys. From the start of the film they immediately provided commentary to what was going on onscreen and I can't recall most of what they said but I remember I was nearly to tears not even a half hour in from laughing. They were making genuinely funny comments. And what drove it home was that in the row in front us was Captain Bizzkill. A middle aged white guy who passively commented to them to stop but never actually asked them to. At one point he half turned his head and went "IT'D BE GREAT TO ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO ENJOY THIS." which nearly brought me to tears again. The group basically treated it as if the guy wasn't there.

And that was hands down my most enjoyable experience. Nothing like it will ever happen again because I totally didn't expect it and I feel the fast thinking humor is not common at screenings where bad movies with audience participation is the gimmick to which I've been to quite a few of those. But it was only 4 people in a full theater that whether or not it was their intention it seemed to me wanted everyone else to have as a good time as them. Mission accomplished.

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The Elegant Dandy Fop
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 3:25 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#911 Post by The Elegant Dandy Fop » Sat Jul 14, 2018 1:57 am

Reading those last few (and very good) stories reminded me of when I saw Looper. I actually saw a screening with Rian Johnson, felt like I misjudged it due to my lukewarm feelings about it and decided to see it again when it landed at the $2 theater. More memorable than the movie itself was the middle-aged man drinking a tall boy in the theater when I went to go get seated. He was quiet throughout the entire film, but when Joseph Gordon Levitt shoots himself at the end, he got up and declared in this quiet theater "Time travel is a bitch" and walked out even though the film still had a few minutes left.

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willoneill
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:10 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#912 Post by willoneill » Fri Jul 27, 2018 12:52 pm

Last night I went to see Mission: Impossible, and the stranger beside finished his drink, and I guess was still thirsty, because he then picked up mine and started drinking it as well.

Related: this is something I've noticed a few times, including the aforementioned thirsty gentleman; I've started going to the theatres with the recliner seats, and a lot people seem to like to take their shoes off at the movies, but with the recliners, those socked or bare feet are now in the bottom of my field of vision. And frankly, I find that gross.

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#913 Post by colinr0380 » Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:24 pm

It is when you see an extremely long straw slowly edge into view from the corner of your eye that you really have to worry!

kidc
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2018 3:23 pm

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#914 Post by kidc » Mon Jul 30, 2018 11:13 am

Image

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#915 Post by Aunt Peg » Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:07 am

Well, I had the worst experience in over 40 years of cinema going last night at the Melbourne Film Festival during a screening of Nadine Labak's new film Capharnaüm. Two rows back from where I was sitting a man decided he wanted to hold a conversation with the man next to him. This conversation which was muffled to my ears must have been clear to the people sitting behind me, the people behind him and the people next to him and his friend. Over the next 20 minutes or so I turned around three times to ensure yes it was him talking away. I noticed that the second and third time I turned around that the people sitting between us were all women and they all looked rather agitated - it appeared none of them wanted to say anything. The man in question would be in his late 40's/early 50s, thinking black hair and very well presented. His companion was old, also well presented but with greying/white hair.

Well, on my 4th turn about I asked him in a loud firm voice clear enough for the entire cinema could clearly hear if he 'Could please stop taking?' - those were my exact words. Its a wonder the look on his face didn't turn me to stone or something and he started to stand up in his seat. His companion however, grabbed his had and pulled him back down into this seat and not a word was heard for the rest of the duration of the film.

I think if I'd been sitting directly in front of him rather than a having a row separating us he would have physically attacked me. Once the film was over I jumped onto the seats in from which were empty and made a hasty exit - also told my partner to have his phone ready to film anything that may happen - nothing did.

I should add that if there was a spare seat in the cinema somewhere I would have moved to it but the session was sold out. Urgh - what is wrong with people. Also one other observation, both the men were Lebanese, clearly drawn to the screening of a Lebanese film. Anyway I intend to report it to MIFF, and whilst there is nothing they can do about it maybe they need to educate audiences to stop talking during films.

Melbourne has always been really good when it comes to talking and phones, i.e. turning them off and not talking but for some reason this year the audiences are behaving very badly.

By the way, I hated Capharnaüm and got it see the same version that was shown at Cannes (131 minutes). I ready something recently that Sony are looking to edit the film down. It's going to take a lot more that a few cuts to mould this disaster into a watchable piece.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#916 Post by tenia » Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:29 am

I've had cases like these, including a young child running up and down the stairway next to the seats during a Spider Man 2 (the Raimi one) showing. At some point, I had to yell "can somebody throw nuts to the monkee in the stairway ?" as to make sure it would outrage the parents enough (the kid was around 3yo, so I suspect they weren't far away) they would come and grab him back, and sure enough they did.

I also had a full row of pre-teens behind me at a Spider Man 1 (the Raimi one, again) showing that couldn't stop talking (they were accompanied by a supervisor though, they were some kind of summer camp group). I asked them once to stop talking quite early in the movie but they only stopped for ten minutes. I asked them later again, quite strongly, and they again only stopped for some minutes. Finally, some guy from the other half of the theater had to stand up, walk to them and basically physically threaten them into stopping to talk.


As for black&huge's story about My Bloody Valentine, my dad used to be in the French Army and did a 6 month tour in Gabon, where he saw Anaconda there. The whole theater spent most of the movie talking loudly as if they were talking to the characters. "Don't go there ! Don't do that ! Behind you !" When he talks about that, it strongly looks like it's his best theater memory !

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fiddlesticks
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Location: Borderlands

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#917 Post by fiddlesticks » Fri Aug 10, 2018 2:11 pm

On the other hand, my wife and I recently went to see Incredibles 2 is a theatre that had perhaps a half dozen other adults plus associated kids. The kids were fine, but one of the adults could clearly be overhead during quieter moments making observations to his seatmate. This commentary was along the lines of sudden flashes of either confusion or understanding, such as "why was the train going backwards?" or "oh! It's a raccoon!" These were delivered in a normal speaking voice (i.e. not sotto voce). It did not take long to decide that the childlike innocence of the analyst indicated that he was developmentally challenged, and, far from being annoying, it was actually nice to hear how much he was enjoying the show.

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bad future
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:16 pm

Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#918 Post by bad future » Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:18 am

The original '78 Halloween got a limited re-release in anticipation of the new one, which played in my city the last couple of nights. There was a pretty good crowd at the screening I caught, on one of the bigger screens at the multiplex, but I was surprised that to find loud guffaws erupting through the audience nearly every time the Shape appeared, at any violence, and seemingly every other line of dialogue. I assumed it was a standard case of youngish people who never watch anything from before they were born unable to meet an unfamiliar tone with anything but post-ironic superiority, but I was chatting with a few theater employees afterwards who seemed surprised that anyone wouldn't think the movie was "campy" and "hilarious". I'm not saying the only the only way to engage with it is arms crossed with the utmost reverence -- it's a fun movie! any honest reaction is valid! -- but the idea of enjoying it ONLY ironically is new to me. Have I just always overlooked Halloween's status as a camp object, or is it closer to my initial diagnosis (millennials kill again)?

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domino harvey
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Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#919 Post by domino harvey » Thu Oct 11, 2018 1:24 am

I got tired of this kind of thing in revivals of any kind and so I just stopped going to them, it's not isolated to your audience-- many viewers don't know how to engage with older films with anything other than derision

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#920 Post by tenia » Thu Oct 11, 2018 3:53 am

Agreed. It's not isolated, though I admit I haven't had to suffer from it too much (and actually was "one of them" a few years ago during a screening of Argento's Tenebrae - though it was a double-bill with Bava's Bay of Blood and this one went through with a completely "normal" audience's behavior)
I wish they would at least post-ironic silently, though.

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bad future
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Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#921 Post by bad future » Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:12 am

Speaking of Argento, I actually got a spontaneous case of the giggles, along with much of the sold out crowd, most of the way through a late night screening of that Italian Suspiria print that was touring around last year, which had been pretty silent up until then. It was for the bat attack. And once more for a bit of the score that I've never noticed any other time I've watched Suspiria: vocals suddenly shouting what sounded like "WAIT!" with a lot of echo in an otherwise subdued passage. Is that always there, or maybe unique to the Italian soundtrack?

Anyway, the whole "laughing just because it's old" thing isn't something I run into a lot, even with the Fathom Events/TCM type stuff at the same multiplex, but I assume even those draw a different crowd than Halloween. This was just such an overwhelmingly odd experience that I felt like I had to make sure there's not a whole "Halloween as camp" aspect to its legacy I missed the memo on.

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Big Ben
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Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#922 Post by Big Ben » Thu Oct 11, 2018 7:53 am

Having gone to the film this was indebted to, Psycho at a festival over the weekend I can assure you teenage girls think a lot of things are funny. Murder? Hysterical. Mental illness? Hysterical. Mentions of the word transvestite? Hysterical. I don't mind a lot of things but it was the disruption that bothered me most. Disruption at things that aren't at all funny?

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John Cope
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Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#923 Post by John Cope » Thu Oct 11, 2018 9:08 pm

Should send them to Satantango. Would love to see what they would find funny about that.

On another note, I used to know a guy like this. Seemed to me to be the quintessential case of sociopathy. Because he had an additional quality. I remember him once laughing hysterically upon sight of a character being reunited with his previously kidnapped son ("His face is hilarious!!"). When I suggested that this was a, you know, dramatic scene he immediately went stone faced sober and said seriously, "Devastating."

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Halloween Franchise (1978-?)

#924 Post by Mr Sausage » Thu Oct 11, 2018 10:36 pm

I've been to a bunch of revivals these last two years and been very lucky, audience-wise. No inappropriate reactions. There were some guffaws during Deep Red, but in fairness they were at the more headscratching and ridiculous moments/music choices. Otherwise, the audience was right in it (I loved the reaction to the doll scene. It got to some people). Suspiria also went over very well with an audience who'd mostly never seen it. There were some real 'holy shit' moments at the violence, which was unexpected given the last few years of horror films.

My only bad experience (outside of college film class 101) was a screening of Blue Velvet back when Dennis Hopper died. The audience was very good except for this one guy who laughed uproariously at everything Dennis Hopper did. Whether it was a screaming fit over Heineken or a vicious rape, this dude just found it all hysterical. Didn't manage to ruin the experience, but jeez.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#925 Post by tenia » Fri Oct 12, 2018 1:53 am

I'm wondering : are all these the first older movie they're watching ? Because if not, it means they're willingly going there to see movies they dont seem to know how to handle, only to bother those who actually enjoy them.
It's like if I was going to see every MCU or DCU movie in theaters only to audibly laugh cynically at all of them. One time to try one out, OK, but otherwise, I would suspect only doing this to bother other people, especially since I could do that silently.

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