 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
In Reply to: Film Forum? Hell, posted by tinear on January 07, 2004 at 07:04:31:
My wife and I used to go to the movies once a week, maybe more.A couple of years ago, we went to go see the first Harry Potter movie. It was friday and she got off work a little early so we were able to catch the 4:30 discount show. It was a cold mid-December day and the hall was virtually empty, maybe 6 people total. We plopped down right in the sweet spot commenting that it would be nice if they turned the heaters on at least.
We sat through this far too long and not terribly interesting childrens film. My wife never got warm even with my arm around her and her coat draped over her. As we stood to leave, a grimace crossed her face. She touched the back of her right thigh . . . "what's this? . . . it's wet?" She turned around and I saw that the right thigh of her jeans was shiny. No wonder she never got warm. After touching it, she smelled her fingers to see if it was Coke or coffee or what. To her horror, it was pee. From her hip to her knee, it was soaked through. She sat in it for 3 hours . . .
Some kid had peed on the seat during the afternoon matinee. 3 hour movie, exciting and scary (for a little kid) climax combined with those 55 Gallon sodas they sell, it's inevitable stuff like this happens.
Well, in the 25+ years I've known her, I've never seen her more pissed off than when we were driving home with her pants around her ankles. She was just insane with outrage. She can laugh about it now (sorta) but she vented her spleen at the corporate offices of the theater chain (Century) the next day and received about $60 worth of free passes.
This episode (and a flurry of cell phone jabberers and blown speakers, broken seats and farters at about the same time) gave us the impetous to buy a big screen HD HT system. We still go to the movies, but it's much less often now.
I have every intention of seeing those 2 movies, but will watch them from the warm and dry sofa at home.
Saw "Confidence" last night. Highly entertaining quadruple-cross grifter movie. Colorfully shot and directed by James Foley (GlennGarry, At Close Range) and populated by entertaining overactors (Dustin Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Rachel Weisz, Ed Burns, Andy Garcia) spouting hardboiled dialoge. A very entertaining 2003 film.
Follow Ups:
n
What I'd miss would be the crowd reaction, the sense of communal viewing, camaraderie---the shared experience.
And viewing "Cold Mountain" at home will NOT be the same. It is a BIG SCREEN experience.
As I said, the pee escapade happened amid a flurry of other bad cinema experiences. We were fed up. It was time.While I understand the communal movie going experience, especially for comedies, communal also means people talking, eating, farting and text messaging. Crowd reaction can also mean some over-medicated geriatric sitting behind you repeatedly barking "What did he say?" or a pack of 1st gen immigrants having the entire movie translated to them by their kids. What I'm trying to say is you have to take the good with the bad. I'd rather not.
And viewing Cold Mountain on a 51" HD TV from a state-of-the-art DVD in a small room is quite the big screen experience. That TV fills my field of vision better than the screens in many shoe-box sized theaters these days. My speakers aren't too loud, too soft and they aren't blown. I've watched a lot of "big screen only" movies on this system and it's been terriffic. Friends coming over to watch have the same reaction too.
We still go to movies. Sometimes several times a month, depending on the season and what's out there, but not nearly to the degree we used to.
Theaters here have begun selling Taco Bell products, so now added to the sensual mix of popcorn, coke, body odor, and pee evidently, is the stench of Taco Bell, not to mention the accompanying sound of wrappers rustling and fat folks breathing laboriously through their nostrils while their piehole is gorged with half a bean burrito. Cell phones ringing and worse, idiots carrying on conversation is the height of egocentric behavior, like we all are on the edge of our seats over their mundane "he said she said" instead of the plot of the movie. Last but not least of insults are the offensive commercials we are now subjected to prior to the all too revealing trailers of upcoming attractions. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention bozo parents who bring whining tots (not their fault mind you) to see horror films, or even worse, films with frontal nudity and sex etc. Other than those minor nuisances, Movie theaters are just fab. Most times I'll wait for the DVD. We attend maybe two movie showings per year. You can have it.
n
...that there are several dozen aspiring videophiles out there trying to figure out how to manipulate their wives into that special "On Golden Pond" seat at this very moment! :o)BTW, we like our HT system as well and still regularly go out to see films in the cinema.
Cheers,
AuPh
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
