Comments on: Why I Stopped Going to the Movies

By: David

David — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:48:04 +0000

I caught a midnight screening of The Dark Knight opening day and was shocked at how well behaved the audience was. Every time I drop a ten spot on a movie, I fear for the worst… and usually get it.

By: John Hewitt

John Hewitt — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:39:21 +0000

@ Car,

It does have a much different feel and is a better experience, until some idiot starts texting in front of you.

By: Car Shipping

Car Shipping — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:16:03 +0000

Though I agree with you that watching movies on DVD is more practical and more comfortable, watching movies in theaters have a different thrill. A different excitement.

By: John Hewitt

John Hewitt — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:07:41 +0000

@ Molly,

I understand that there are a lot of legitimate used for a cell phone, even in a theater, but I would still pick a theater that blocked cell phones over one that didn’t.

I haven’t seen Hellboy II, but from my friends reactions, it is really a love it or hate it affair. no one seems to be in the middle.

By: Molly B.

Molly B. — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:23:01 +0000

@John: I hate it when people use cell phones in theaters–I once threw a pen at a guy who was talking on his cell phone during a movie–but I don’t support signal-blocking for just one big reason: if my husband and I go to a movie, we go when our church or the YMCA we belong to has a “parents’ night out” event, where we can leave our toddler with them for a few hours. They *require* a cell phone number so they can call us if they need to. We set the phone to silent mode, but signal-blocking would mean that they couldn’t get in touch with us in case of an emergency.

I agree about the quality of movies. I was actually angry a couple of weeks ago when we saw Hellboy II. I liked the first one pretty well, and was sort of looking forward to it (although it wouldn’t have been my first choice; it was my husband’s turn to pick the movie), but I couldn’t believe somebody spent $82.5M to make such a stupid, pointless, plot-free waste of two hours.

By: John Hewitt

John Hewitt — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 07:24:15 +0000

Hi Allena,

At least Wall-E is a kid-friendly movie. I expect there to be kids at that.

By: Allena

Allena — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 02:29:36 +0000

well, just took my two kiddos to the WALL-E 8:30pm Sat nite showing and they were the only kids there. WTF? Is 8:30 late? Inthe summer? On a saturday?

Hope you weren’t there!! (actually, they were angels, except for LOLing a LOT)

Allenas last blog post..This Week’s Query Letter

By: IT Governance Blog

IT Governance Blog — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:44:24 +0000

I still go to the movies because my brain is wired since childhood that it is something special to do – but I a gree with much of what you wrote here. The thing that drives me the craziest is when you see parents bringing kids into clear inappropriate movies, I just want to ask them what they are thinking.

Bill

IT Governance Blogs last blog post..PO2.2 Enterprise Data Dictionary and Data Syntax Rules

By: Julia

Julia — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:51:56 +0000

My husband and I saw “The Dark Knight” early Friday, missing the huge crowd!
Being one of the only superhero comic book characters I even got excited about made it a must see for me.
He was a bit disturbed by Heath’s performance, as for myself, the Joker was always my favorite villain in Batman, so I was in rapt joy to watch as realistic a portrayal as I have ever seen of Arkham Asylums most insane resident!
I will not continue as I do not want to make a mistake in giving away anything from the movie. I will say that “The Dark Knight” is a great one to spend the money on!

As for the going to movies, we live in a huge city, (San Francisco), going to the theater is about all we can afford to do as entertainment here.
I am surprised at some of the complaints, well besides cost. The theaters here have stopped playing commercials and the only advise they give is to not add your own sound to the movie sound tract.
It is a bit cheeky, though it seems to work. We do get a few annoying movie goers, but once the feature presentation starts I am lost to their noise.
We only go when there is something we feel would be a good showing in the theater, other than that we are mostly readers, the television, (what is television?), is never on.
I hope you all have as good a time seeing it as I did!

By: John Hewitt

John Hewitt — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:45:34 +0000

@ Jeanne,

The intelligence level of today’s movies is sadly lacking, but I don’t mind a little juvenile stupidity. I just wish not every comedy needed to copy “There’s Something About Mary” which managed to be juvenile, funny, and oddly heartwarming. Every gross-out comedy since has basically copied the formula without getting the heartwarming part (or even the funny part) right.

@ Rhonda,

I actually would support movie theaters using some sort of signal dampening equipment so people couldn’t use their phones in the theater.

@ Leigh

I don’t think that television overall has improved. The best has gotten better, but the worst has gotten worse too, As for “The Crow” I loved that movie, and I got to see it at the huge Mann’s Chinese theater in Hollywood, so it was especially memorable.

@ Trevor

I’ll definitely see Dark Knight in the theater. It is worth the distractions, I’ll probably just wait for a weeknight.