Monday, December 29, 2008

Shhhh, Shhhh... Bang, Bang!

Not that I would ever advocate pulling a gun on that son of a bitch who's been talking all the way through the movie you paid $11.50 to see, but this article does touch a certain nerve:

Movie Theater Shooting

I grew up loving the experience of going to the movies, but more and more I'd rather just see them at home, and a big part of the reason is that most people now treat movie theaters as an extension of their living rooms and feel free to argue, whisper, eat — and I'm not talking popcorn; I'm talking full meals, with all the noise that entails — ignore their crying babies and and chat/text on their cell lphones the entire time.

Movie theaters aren't churches, but they also aren't basement rec rooms, thank you very much.

2 comments:

Rob said...

Well I would never adovcate such an extreme reaction but on the other hand it's not surprising that someone did react in such a violent manner. You don't know what people are thinking anymore and since it's easier to get a gun than a car you never know who is carrying.

On the lighter side I am constantly amazed at how people can spend so much on a ticket ($7 matinees!) and then talk through the whole thing. I know you don't care about my money, but what about yours? Never go to the movie with someone you haven't seen in a while. This would not be the best time to catch up.

The really funny thing is packed theaters tend to have more well behaved audiences as opposed to smaller crowds. If there's only a handful of people, somehow that makes it right to converse and take calls. Also despite the large amount of available seats please sit right behind/in front of me because I'm dying to hear your comments on every thing happening on the screen. Sorry for the mini-rant but as someone who goes to movies a lot (my sanctuary from my crazy family) this is a major pet peeve of mine.

miss flickchick said...

Oddly enough, back in the '70s when I used to frequent Times Square Theaters, people generally behaved themselves surprisingly well.

That may have been in part because all the grindhouses kept the lights on all the time, but I think most people who ventured into those theaters either wanted to see the movie or take a nap.

In all my years going to movies, I only ran into nasty guys who sat near me and started doing rude things with themselves twice.

The first time was when I was a teenager, and it was at the art-house Cinema Village. During Pasolini's Salo, of all things -- what a perv.

The second time was this year at the AMC Empire, the soulless multiplex that replaced the old Times Square Empire Theater. I was seeing the Larry the Cable Guy movie Witless Protection because there were no pre-release screenings for critics and the Empire was near my office.

When I was a teen I just moved. Now I'm older and bolder, and when I realized what was going on, I turned to the offender and said in my loudest voice that he had two choices: Stop what he was doing right now or take it somewhere else.

He took it somewhere else.

Amazing.