That point about "presentation" in the comments is very apt -- last week I brought a friend to see Midnight in Paris at the local arthouse here and he remarked very positively about how it's the first time in years he's actually seen the pullback of the curtain to reveal the screen before a feature. Of course, he's also the same friend who has no qualms about pulling out his cell phone for a few texts in the middle of the movie, so, uh

Ironically, the multiplex was seen as the saviour of the British cinemagoing experience when the first purpose-built one opened in 1985. 1984 had been the worst box office year in British film history - even allowing for the encroachment of television and video, total ticket sales of 54 million against 1.4 billion in the mid-1940s was a vertiginous plunge, and the industry might have collapsed altogether if it hadn't been for a concerted attempt to improve the quality of the filmgoing experience.

And, to be fair, today's multiplex is light years ahead of the horrible shoebox-sized conversions with screens the size of tatty beach towels that were all too common in late 1970s/early 1980s filmgoing - but corners are clearly being cut elsewhere.

I tend to think that multiplexes where seen as the saviour of British cinema by the builders of multiplexes. There were many other factors involved in the relatively steady rise in cinema attendances since 1984. The 'Year of the Film', widescale refitting of cinemas, adoption of dolby, better content, better understanding of audiences - all these helped too.

I actually don't dislike multiplexes, as long as they are well designed (good screen size to auditorium size, good rake, etc) and well staffed. It's infuriating when a projection is out of focus or too quiet and there is no one around who can deal with it.

Though I think that top ten film watching experiences would only feature 1 in a multiplex.

Indeed, which is what I meant when I referred to "a concerted attempt to improve the quality of the filmgoing experience." I remember it vividly at the time.

Speaking of multiplexes and Midnight in Paris, I had my first experience however many weeks back seeing a 2D movie shown through a 3D projector when I saw the Allen film. The exterior scenes looked OK (if a little overcast during the daytime), but the interior sequences gave everything a yellowish look, causing all the actors to appear mildly jaundiced.

As it happens, this particular multiplex is reliably solid in their presentation of films, but there's only so much you can do when showing a film that wasn't made for that kind of projector.

I'm reliably informed (by a projectionist) that multiplexes frequently don't change lenses between 3D and 2D films.

Isn't that pretty much how Midnight in Paris looks anyways? The interior nightlife scenes mos def had a golden glow when I saw it at the Arthouse Cinema

Maybe? There's yellowish glow and then there's just kind of sickly-looking. I've no other presentation to compare it to as it was the only time I saw it, and it was definitely projected through a 3D lens.

I failed to mention the exterior night scenes (like whenever Owen Wilson was waiting for his midnight transportation) were rather too dark. Chalking that up to the dimness 3D lenses bring.

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS features very traditionally-lit night scenes which did not appear to be overly dark when I saw it. However, my experience was also something "special": the (presumably) mono soundtrack was piped through every speaker in an uncalibrated surround sound system. Every line of dialogue bounced around the theater like it was recorded in a long tunnel!

"Every effort should be made to revitalize and enhance our culture."
- Prof. Willlem van der Ontzagwekkend, Verbeelding en Wilskracht in de Post Moderne Leeftijd (2009, University of Who Gives a Fuck)


Seems a reasonable request. These places make MILLIONS. Ask them for that old curtain shit in your auditorium. They'll probably do it within 18-24 months of heated pressure. The millions will also pay for old men who roll their own "tobacco" to flip reels / klick on digital files. As for the qwality of the peoples / films improving - there are other forums for those angry thinkings.

Culture change all the time, let's hope it explode with goodness in our faces very soon...

And to get this thread back to it's barmy roots...

Watching Drive... with a young teenage girl seated in front of me, alone, obviously there mainly for the Gosling beefcake, and probably fooled by the rather tame advertising. She didn't know what hit her. After the halfway "shift", she pretty much just kept her hands up right alongside her head for the rest of the film. for quicker hand-to-eye concealment. Now I get a sense why people must have freaked out when DiCaprio was eying American Psycho.

At least she sat through the whole thing like a trooper.

I'm just pleasantly surprised that a young teenage girl went to the movies alone. That at least signifies, to me, a level of independent thought and attention certainly not present in the vast majority of kids I knew from 13-18.

A friend of mine told me about the time he saw Peter Jackson's Braindead in a cinema in Yorkshire where he and an elderly lady were the only people in the auditorium.

Naturally, he expected her to make a swift exit within the first 10-15 minutes, but instead she watched the whole thing, cackling with laughter throughout (especially when the gore started to reach Niagara proportions), and then turned to him at the end and said "Eee, that were a right good fillum!".

Has anyone had strange viewing experiences with Contagion this past week? Saw the film in Boston and was a little mystified, if not shocked in parts, by the audience reaction.

My audience had the same reaction.

A year from now when I walk into the theater for Paranormal Activity 4 and I see a bunch of teenagers laughing in the back I'm just going to whip out my machine gun and kill them all right then and there.

I feel like when you go to a youth-skewing horror movie in its first run, you have to expect this kind of reaction in the theatre

Are there any reasons left to ever see a movie in a theater anymore?

Nope.

Popcorn. Fresh, hot "buttered" popcorn. Sometimes I just have a taste for it. And if it's a sunny day and I'm walking past a theater I'll take a chance on anything as long there's a promise of a freshly popped bucketful and a jumb-sized ice cold Coke. You can't replace that kind of instantly gratifying bellyache.

Talking/noise/etc. isn't new. People did this for ages. Used to come and go from movies mid-way. Used to cheer more. Talk more. Whatever. More boisterous. Now cult of cinema demands respect (I agree with this, but it's still new comparatively).

Is there reason to go to cinema? Of course of course. Tree of Life in pristine digital is a truly overwhelming experience. Glad to see on the massive screen. My TV is quite large, good home theater, but that doesn't mach immersion of MASSIVE. Sadly, yeah, people talk, but no one did at that screening. Hyperbole hyperbole all you get from 'cinema' lovers. Just looking to justify cost of home setup? Or just happy to have bitching subject?

You go see trashy Halloween horror film (didn't see 3, enjoyed 2 but not 1) and surprised for talking? I'm not. People go to have fun, no be immersed in cinema. Get what you expect with that. Yet I go to Captain America, Thor, big movies and people don't talk much. If they do I turn and say "Be quiet thank you" and they always do. Talk to people, be social. Not going to die from havign to express legitimate frustration.

Overpriced for sure.

There really is nothing better than going to a movie two weeks into its run at 12:00 in the afternoon and sitting alone in the theatre (plus whomever you brought) to watch a movie on the big screen. I love that; I would never give that experience up.

Now, watching movies with a crowd of witless, vocal jackasses, that is indeed discouraging, I will admit, and it makes you appreciate your home theatre like nothing else.

Unfortunately a lot of the sort of movies I go to see are done in a week.

I only go to the multiplexes nowadays when there's a movie I don't mind audience yells/screams since it can often enhance a terrible viewing experience. When I saw Paranormal Activity 3 the other day the audience outbursts definitely made the experience more tolerable, especially the girls next to me laughing over the awkward sex scene. Although my reaction would be different if I were seeing something like Meek's Cutoff and someone kept yelling out "don't trust the indian!"

There were a couple of people at my screening who thought it would be helpful to shout every other line of dialogue back at the screen, and any time a character ended up on the floor someone screamed "GET YOUR ASS UP!" Worst of all were those who yelled "Boom!" during even the remotest stretch of silence. Someone finally confronted the ruckus in general, but this just led to total chaos. I guess I was spoiled by the experience with the first one (packed midnight premiere) where everyone only screamed when they were supposed to, but this screening was beyond the pale for me.