Movie Theater Experiences

[ryannichols7]

the Video Vortex feature is a godsend though, we live in a county who's library system has made the inanely silly decision to not carry movies. rather than try and finangle my way into the nearby universities, Alamo's lobby check out area is a godsend of obscure picks. I was able to relive the non-anamorphic wonders of the Wellspring DVD of What Time is it There and they even let me bring home the booklet for MOC's long OOP disc of Abhijian!

BTW, you're renting from the library of the legendary Le Video, a store in San Francisco that closed in 2015. Of course, when news that they'd purchased the Le Video library broke, Drafthouse initially promised to keep it in their lobby rental store at the location in SF—then quietly shipped it across the country, which pissed off more than a few locals and singlehandedly made an acquaintance of mine who used to work at Le Video swear to never set foot in a Drafthouse again... But I'm happy to hear somebody's getting good use out of it over there, at least.

their awfulness really knows no bounds, I'm sorry that happened to you guys. I guess at the least that yes, it did end up somewhere else (I was wondering what the various "Le Video" stickers were) and I can make use of it, but that's totally wrong. I'm sure they'll ship off Kim's eventually too. Alamo totally has the capital to build a video collection from the ground up in each of their theatres, not sure why they don't just go that route instead of disgracing beloved institutions

[aurevoir]

It's so hypocritical of Alamo to be militant about talking and phones but then have distracting under-table lights and servers running around. I'm somewhat sympathetic to the food concept because that's probably where they make a lot of their money and it might be necessary from a business standpoint; light pollution aside, they also have high standards for projection and sound. The labor abuses, though, yeesh.

I'm not sure it had to be this way, but I think we've reached a point where repertory cinema simply isn't a profit-generating endeavor. I think all of the rep theaters in NYC, for example, are either nonprofit or essentially loss leaders.

[senseabove]

Yeah, I haven't been in years, but I basically stopped going because of all the distractions—and as someone who is particularly irritated by mouth/eating noises, Drafthouse was always pretty unbearable. At least I can move if someone's talking or messing with their phone. No dodging the waiters, though.

There's a second run/rep theater in Oakland, the New Parkway, that's found a nice balance, though: it's one of those "half the seats are couches" places, so it's already pretty informal, but you place orders before the movie, they give you a location-triangulating coaster to place on one of the tables by each seat, and a server brings it to you when it's ready. If they can't find you for some reason, the coaster buzzes and you have to go pick up your food. But there's no ordering from your seat, so this means most of the waiters moving through your sight-lines and loud eating still occur in the first thirty minutes of a movie, and you almost never have waiters duck-and-cover running in front you during a movie's climax. I happily support them!

[hearthesilence]

The one time I went to Alamo, a cup of coffee cut knocked over by a plate of food and dripped on to my clothes. It was impossible to clean up because despite the lights, it was too dark to see where the liquid went.

[yoloswegmaster]

Is it just me or has the rate of people deciding to talk in the middle of a screening gone up since the pandemic started? I definitely don’t recall it being this much of a problem prior to it but it seems like it’s ruined people’s attention span to the point where they can’t simply be quiet for 90+ minutes. Just today I had to leave in the middle of a screening for the first time ever since a couple decided to have their own audio commentary going on during a showing of ‘Devil in a Blue Dress’ despite me having to loudly tell them to stop talking. Granted what they were doing wasn’t that bad, though it was very obnoxious, but I guess I’ve reached my breaking point since I’ve been to at least 5 different screenings since August where people just decide to have conversations with their seatmates. It’s also being very disheartening that no one else is calling out this shoddy behaviour that’s affecting their viewing experience.

[therewillbeblus]

I’ve noticed it, and even worse, people will just pull out their phones and scroll aimlessly. During my screening of Crimes of the Future, a couple wouldn’t stop talking despite lots of sushing directed at them, and the girl kept pulling out her phone and scrolling social media whenever she wasn’t talking to him(/when she was actually responding to the feedback of the audience before forgetting/not caring again)- Thankfully I mostly frequent arthouse theatres for early screenings through the IFF Boston membership or attend festivals locally/in nearby New England states, where there are strict rules and occasionally security monitoring cell phone use/noise, but when I do go elsewhere with the general public, it’s a crapshoot

[yoloswegmaster]

The worst experience for me was a mom and her 2 daughters talking and going on their phones non-stop during a screening for Three Colors: Blue but thankfully that's been the only time that I've seen people going on there phones. The ironic thing is that all these incidents that I've experienced have taken place at the 2 arthouse theaters near me. You would think that the people who frequent these types of theaters would understand theater etiquette and have basic common sense but apparently not. I just wish more audience members would call out this type of behaviour since I'm certain that the lack of pushback is what's enabling these idiots to continue acting like donuts. The only time I've seen this happen was during a screening of Dune where the guy sitting behind me had to tell this couple to shut the fuck up since they just kept talking throughout the film.

[therewillbeblus]

It’s happening mostly at arthouse theatres for me too. I’m finding the opposite experience though, where pre-covid, I felt like I was usually the lone advocate sh-ing people while everyone else enabled the behavior through inaction, but now I’ve experienced a more universal effort and yet a diminished response from the subject. In my TÁR screening (a movie with lots of dead space) it got so bad that people were screaming “shut the fuck up” over and over, but the talking persisted

[J Wilson]

I haven't noticed excessive talking of late, but cell phone use is certainly common. I was attending the Noir City festival here in Detroit in September, and two senior citizens were a couple rows ahead of me. The woman started getting texts and would read it (which took far longer than you'd expect), slowly type out a response, tap the guy so he could read it, and then turn off her phone. The cycle would then repeat as the other person responded. This went on for the first twenty minutes or so. The night before at the screening of In a Lonely Place, some woman had to take a picture of the title as it came up, which was at least quick, but still annoying. And if you get a group of teens, it seems like there's always one who didn't want to see that movie and will start reading their phone at various points.

[tenia]

And if you get a group of teens, it seems like there's always one who didn't want to see that movie and will start reading their phone at various points.

The worst experience for me was a mom and her 2 daughters talking and going on their phones non-stop during a screening for Three Colors: Blue.

I’ve noticed it, and even worse, people will just pull out their phones and scroll aimlessly. During my screening of Crimes of the Future, a couple wouldn’t stop talking despite lots of sushing directed at them, and the girl kept pulling out her phone and scrolling social media whenever she wasn’t talking to him(/when she was actually responding to the feedback of the audience before forgetting/not caring again)-

Movie theaters' tickets aren't expensive enough, it seems.

[therewillbeblus]

At the press screening for Bones and All in Brookline right now, which is being catered with a buffet of BBQ ribs (from a local establishment that actively refused advertisement!)

[flyonthewall2983]

Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen someone do was pace up and down the aisle like I might do at home.

[beamish14]

The night before at the screening of In a Lonely Place, some woman had to take a picture of the title as it came up, which was at least quick, but still annoying.

Unquestionably the dumbest smart phone in a theatre trend that I’ve seen. A shot of a screen won’t photograph well! Who are these idiots trying to impress?

I love how seriously the New Beverly takes cell phone use. Whip it out during the pre-show trailer reel/cartoon? Still get ejected from the theatre, and they promise banning people “for life”

[therewillbeblus]

Tonight there was a couple talking through most of the film, and every time I looked up at them, I saw a handful of people scrolling their phones. It's just what happens now, apparently even at press screenings that typically employ those strict methods of confiscation

[brundlefly]

Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen someone do was pace up and down the aisle like I might do at home.

A few years before Times Square was renovated/Disnified, there were some theaters on 42nd that showed cheap double-features of mainstream movies. Perhaps second-run. A friend and I were in college and did not feel we had much money and saw that Boyz n the Hood was playing and, eager to see that, hiked up there. It was paired with Hot Shots! Part Deux. Classic double-feature. The place may have been a hybrid movie/theatrical house at some point and had long ago fallen into disrepair. I remember it having a stage in front of the screen, and that the sound system was a set of speakers on the stage. There were only a handful of people scattered about the room.

About ten minutes into Boyz, a man stood up in one of the front rows, stood there for a bit, then started pacing. Left to right, occasionally raising a paper-bagged bottle to his mouth. "FUCKING WHITE PEOPLE!" he yelled, once, then kept pacing. My friend and I, both fucking white people, sank as low as we could into our seats and watched him continue to pace for I-don't-know-how-many minutes. He finally sat back down, grumbling, in a different seat in the same row. It's the second-best horror movie I've ever seen. (Poltergeist scared/scarred me when I was eleven, cannot be dethroned.)

Recently, in the middle of Nope -- at the best part, the chimpanzee/sitcom part -- some old guy in the second-to-last row of a moderately full suburban Jersey theater decided that one of the long-legged teens sitting in the row behind him was kicking his seat on purpose. He would not accept a casual apology and would not move to another available seat, but took it as opportunity to let loose a string of racial epithets at the boy and his friends and prove his manhood by loudly challenging to fight them all right there and then the same way he'd fought to keep his country free for... you can probably guess the rest of the rant. In the middle of the very sad five-minute stand-off (though he was the only one standing), the woman he was with sighed, "Jerry, Jesus," and walked out. Fucking white people.

[J Wilson]

The night before at the screening of In a Lonely Place, some woman had to take a picture of the title as it came up, which was at least quick, but still annoying.

Unquestionably the dumbest smart phone in a theatre trend that I’ve seen. A shot of a screen won’t photograph well! Who are these idiots trying to impress?

I can only assume it's the movie version of taking a picture of your meal for instagram cred or whatever.
"Seeing this classic! #iwasbornwhenshekissedmeidiedwhensheleftmeilivedafewweekswhileshelovedme #noircity22"

[Roscoe]

(though he was the only one standing), the woman he was with sighed, "Jerry, Jesus," and walked out.

I remember a day-long screening of SHOAH at the IFC Center, where I sat next to a couple. At the first break, about 2 1/2 hours in, the guy seemed to be giving the girl grief, because she had evidently nodded off at some point during the first section of the film. I only heard her half of the conversation, which was going something like, "Yes, I nodded off once. Because it is a cozy Sunday afternoon, and it is dark and warm in here. I don't believe you're making a big deal about this. I only did it once. Not four times. You're going to have to get over this. Are you saying I'm not capable of appreciating this movie? I can't believe what an asshole you're being over this. I only missed a few seconds of the film. I can't believe you're doing this. What an asshole you are." The last line was spoken as she gathered her possessions and split, hopefully for good out of that guy's life.

I just couldn't believe what an asshole the guy was being, either. I'd nodded off a couple of times during the film, too. Sometimes the spirit is willing but the flesh is just not able.

[domino harvey]

Kevin Smith discussion split here

[yoloswegmaster]

For anyone in or going to Chicago next month, the Gene Siskel Film Centre is going to be screening Out 1, La Flor, Dekalog, Satantango, and War and Peace throughout January. You already know that the theater is going to smell wild.

[therewillbeblus]

For anyone in or going to Chicago next month, the Gene Siskel Film Centre is going to be screening Out 1, La Flor, Dekalog, Satantango, and War and Peace throughout January. You already know that the theater is going to smell wild.

Who wants to contribute to a x-mas present group-buy to get domino tix to

SpoilerShow

Out 1

[furbicide]

So this is a season based solely on super-long films? That rules.

[DeprongMori]

So this is a season based solely on super-long films? That rules.

The Gene Siskel Film Center series is called ”Settle In”.

[lzx]

For that price, they'd better be showing 35mm prints for all of these

EDIT: They're not...

[Boosmahn]

I might go see La Flor. I know there are some avid lovers of it on here...

The trip from my apartment is shorter than I initially thought, too.

[beamish14]

For that price, they'd better be showing 35mm prints for all of these

EDIT: They're not...

I think Satantango is the only one that actually has a 35mm print in circulation, and it did screen in Los Angeles a number of years ago. Not cheap to import that from Hungary! When Berlin Alexanderplatz was restored, the MOMA commissioned a new print, which they showed across 2 days