Do you still enjoy going to the cinema?

Published on July 21, 2006 By Sally jacobs In Entertainment

When I was young life was simple. You saw a good film on at the cinema...something along the lines of ET or Back to the Future...ahhh them were the days. You would pick your victim, and then proceed to annoy them, until they gave in and took you to the cinema. Alternatively, you could wait until they came out on VIDEO. Yes my friends, that was video, none of these round shiny cd thingies. Oh no, they were way ahead of my time. So the cinema was an experience in itself. There is absolutely no other way of appreciating a movie other than sitting in front of a big screen, in the dark, stuffing your face with popcorn. This was before mobile phones, and many other anti-social distractions. Everyone was there to enjoy the movie, and you did enjoy it. Everything was new then, we hadn't seen the same concept killed a hundred times before. We still wondered how things happened, how a wonderful mind had created such a story. Or maybe that was just my age. Anyway, fast forward a few years.

Welcome to 2006 . If anything, in that time, our love for the cinema has grown. We love our films, right guys? So then why has the way we show are appreciation changed so dramatically in that time? I know a few people who love nothing more than to download, and watch movies, just as they come out at the cinema, in the comfort of their own homes. Or they get copies of DVDs with these films on them. Why pay to go to the cinema, when you can get it for free? Duhh! In my opinion, and I know this is an opinion many people will disagree with, watching a poor quality version of a new film that has just come out, ruins the whole experience for me. I ENJOY going to the cinema. Yes that is right. Call me old fashioned if you must, but I haven't lost that thrill that I used to get all them years ago when ET (*shudder*) was scaring me half to death, but that is a different blog entirely. The point is, I like to find a movie that I really want to see, annoy someone to come with me to see it, and go and enjoy it on the big screen, and get the full appreciation of the movie. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Well, erm....actually, there is just one slight problem.....as I am getting older, my fondness for the actual cinema is becoming, shall we say a little more, cynical. My favourite time to go to the cinema is around dinnertime, on a weekday, when people are either at school or at work, so the cinema is relatively empty. So I can sit, in the dark, in front of the big screen with my popcorn, uninterrupted and enjoy the film the way it is meant to be enjoyed. I hate going to the cinema when you are elbow to elbow with some big guy that is fighting you for the armrest and who chews louder than the car chases that go on in the film. Or the bratty kids that throw popcorn and laugh and giggle all the way through. Or the people with mobile phones, that just have to answer an important call in the middle of a film. Or the people that just simply can't manage to wait to go to the bathroom, I mean two hours is a long time to hold it in! Or the person on the other side of you (in my case usually the person I brought with me) who simply doesn't grasp where the story is going, and you have to explain to them in hushed whispers whats actually happened, whilst enduring evil looks from the fat guy next to you, who now thinks he deserves the armrest for such an interuption.

So this leaves me with a problem. Just how do I enjoy my films? It isn't easy to find people willing to go to the cinema at dinnertime on a weekday, I am far to anti-social to go when everyone else goes, and I can't stand watching poor quality copies, well the answer is, unless there is something that I really badly want to see, and to be honest there hasn't been a film like that for a good while, I simply wait for them to come out on DVD. That way you get a good quality film, in the comfort of your own home, you can pretty much re-create the vibe (yes cinemas have a vibe) of the cinema, the dark, and the popcorn, and kick back and enjoy the film. I have to say though, nothing really beats going to the cinema. I guess it all depends on just how much you like films, and what the perfect way for you to appreciate them is.

Comments

Dr Guy

on Jul 21, 2006

I am with you about going during non-peak times. My son loves going to the movies, so I do quite often. But that does not mean I went to see Pirates the weekend it came out.

Iain Clarke

on Jul 21, 2006

I still see most films at the cinema first.

I have a job which takes me away from home for days at a time. And while hotel rooms around the world vary, they all get dull very quickly. So the cinema is a nice way of spending a solo evening without feeling like a leper or propping up a bar all night long.

Last month in malaysia I saw Fast&Furious 3, XMen 3, and the new Superman films. Total cost? £4. Not each, total.

Mind you, the ignorant bleeps[*] who are decide they are so important they need to chat on the phone, but sit in the cinema to do are *really* annoying me. That and crying babies in evening showings. If you can't get a babysitter, you don't *have* to go out!

(mini-rant over)

Iain.

[*] edited to save your delicate blushes

terpfan1980

on Jul 21, 2006

No.

I would enjoy it, and could enjoy it, a lot more and more like I used to if there weren't idiots talking on cell phones, people being rude, obnoxious and noisy with their drinks, popcorn (including the one uber b!tch that sat near me at a recent movie, repeatedly shaking her popcorn bag and ratting the contents around trying to get more grease/butter on every piece in it), children that are too loud and can't sit still (especially at movies aimed at youngsters) and similar issues.

Never mind the idea that I need to either rob a bank or spend most of a paycheck to go to the theatres since the ticket prices are so high, and spending goes completely out of control if you buy popcorn, drinks or candy.

Given a choice, I most frequently just "wait for video" now and then watch whatever at my own convenience, in my own living room/den, where I can eat cheaply, pause, rewind or fast forward, turn on sub-titles if I'm missing dialog, etc.

Locamama

on Jul 21, 2006

I love to go to the movies. It's just not the same to watch it at home. You need the big screen and the sound system and the freezing cold theater and the annoying people who chew ice and you want to choke them. You need rasinettes and popcorn with butter and the dark. No matter how hard I try it's never dark when I watch movies at home. My boys are babies and need the hall light on when they go to bed so that ruins it right there. I only have a 25" TV not even close to movie theater size. Maybe if I had a big screen plasma but no.

Here's my secret instead of bugging someone to go I just sneak off all by myself. It's my favorite mini escape. That saves some of the aggravations such as explaining the movie to someone etc.

Trudygolightly

on Jul 21, 2006

My favorite thing to do is to do as you, go in the middle of the day, middle of the week.
Did that about 2 months ago with a good friend, one that doesn't talk during the movie and we were the only two in the theater!

I truly prefer to go alone, so I can drown myself in the huge screen and feel like I'm there. I went once on a Saturday...BIG mistake! never again. Same for shopping for groceries or anything!

Sally jacobs

on Jul 22, 2006

I am with you about going during non-peak times. My son loves going to the movies, so I do quite often. But that does not mean I went to see Pirates the weekend it came out.

Going to see movies the weekend they come out? Are you crazy? I'm with you Doc...there is no chance of that happening!

Mind you, the ignorant bleeps[*] who are decide they are so important they need to chat on the phone, but sit in the cinema to do are *really* annoying me. That and crying babies in evening showings. If you can't get a babysitter, you don't *have* to go out!

.....I couldn't agree more, you just want to grab their mobiles and stuff them down their throats...or maybe that's just me...anger management, hehe!

Never mind the idea that I need to either rob a bank or spend most of a paycheck to go to the theatres since the ticket prices are so high, and spending goes completely out of control if you buy popcorn, drinks or candy.

If anything cinemas should be dropping prices to get more people to go back, instead of using alternative ways to watch films. Last time I went I was shocked at just how much everything added up. It is really ridiculous!

Here's my secret instead of bugging someone to go I just sneak off all by myself. It's my favorite mini escape. That saves some of the aggravations such as explaining the movie to someone etc.

When the last Harry Potter film came out, I actually went to see that on my own. It was at a time when the cinema wasn't so busy, there was only a handful of people there, but I really enjoyed it. My friends did think the idea of going to the cinema alone was rather amusing, but if I always paid attention to them I would be a social butterfly and hating it!

truly prefer to go alone, so I can drown myself in the huge screen and feel like I'm there. I went once on a Saturday...BIG mistake! never again. Same for shopping for groceries or anything!

Ha...I never do anything like that on a Saturday, I value my own mental health to much! I really dig the whole going to the cinema on your own thing, I guess that shows just how anti-social I am!

Thanks for the comments guys x

Rightwinger

on Jul 22, 2006

As an American, I don't go to the cinema. I go to the movies.+LOL+

Anyway....yes, I agree that nothing beats the movie theater experience. I'm glad that we're getting back to the old "big screen" theaters. Many multiplexes nowadays seem to be remodelling and putting in the bigger screens, along with Stadium seating, a positive addition, too. Takes up more space, perhaps, but the seats are more comfy and the heads in front of you are somewhat lower.

I remember back in the late 70s and into the 80s, when the Mall Multiplexes all had the wider from side-to-side, narrower from top-to-bottom screens. Supposed to save on space so they could fit 8 or 10+ 150-200 seat individual theaters into one relatively small area. Made everything look kind of squashed, to me.
I used to love going to the older, more rundown theaters in the downtown area of Wheeling, West Virginia, were I grew up.
There used to be lots of them in Wheeling, I guess, but by the time I was coming of age, there were only three left.
The Victoria (the only one left, now, which sadly no longer shows movies, but was purchased for preservation by the local Historical Society and has live "Vaudeville"-type shows), The Coronet and The Court (where I first saw "ET", by the by).
They all held lots more seats, and had the old-fashioned movie-palace decor and big screens. They were cooler than the sterile, modern multiplexes.
Across the state line from us, in Weirton, West Virginia, is a rundown, threadbare, old-era theater called The Plaza.
It generally shows movies that have been out for a few weeks or so, and every once in a great while manages to glom onto a new release.
Admission is only $3.50, $2.00 for a matinee. Of course, they get you on popcorn, candy and drinks. No discounts there! The owner is a grumpy old guy, constantly complaining that he's on the verge of closing down, which he's been doing for about 10 years or more.

When I was a more mischevious youth, me and my homies used to sit at the back of the theater and throw Lemonhead candies at people (if you don't know what a Lemonhead is...trust me, they hurt). These day, ironically, even hypoctritcally, perhaps, when stuff like that happens, I'll holler at them or root for the Usher to come and throw them out.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 23, 2006

Rightwinger, there is a cinema that I used to go to as a kid, that was only small, and nothing in comparison to the big cinemas, but it had a really nice feeling to it. I really liked that, unfortunately it has closed down now, and they have just left the building to go to ruin, I feel a little sad everytime I go past it!

As for the annoying kids, I always want to tie them to their chairs and gag them until the *movie* has finished....ahh if only we could!

Thanks for the comment x

Gideon MacLeish

on Jul 23, 2006

I LOVE the cinema. The feel, the smell, the atmosphere is something we'll never be able to entirely recreate at home.

Texas Wahine

on Jul 23, 2006

Lately we've been going every. single. week.

I do enjoy it, but every week is getting to be overkill for me (don't tell my husband or the boys!).

There are two things I'll never understand, though:

1. Taking an infant or small child to a very adult movie (it's as if people think that if the child can't yet talk, he can't have the bejesus scared out of him).
2. Talking on an effing cell phone during the movie.

At a recent movie we went to see an old guy's cell phone rang. He answered, and I expected him to tell the person calling that he'd call them back or AT LEAST take the call outside.

Nope.

"Hello."
"Nothing. I'm just watching a movie."
"Oh, Superman Returns."
"Yeah." (laugh)
"For dinner?"
"Should I pick something up?"
"Really? What's she up to?"

And it just went on and on. And this was during a quiet, emotional scene in the movie. I finally ended up yelling at him, "Go OUTSIDE!!" Haha.

Anyways, this turned into a rant. Sorry. Hehe. I like the movies. I'd like it better if I had usher authority, though.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 23, 2006

I LOVE the cinema. The feel, the smell, the atmosphere is something we'll never be able to entirely recreate at home.

Yes I totally agree. There is just something about a cinema that makes you really appreciate a film!

1. Taking an infant or small child to a very adult movie (it's as if people think that if the child can't yet talk, he can't have the bejesus scared out of him).
2. Talking on an effing cell phone during the movie.

I couldn't agree more. People seem to think just because kids can't speak that they don't take anything in...that really frustrates me, and as for cell phones....people need to be taught about manners all over again I think!

And it just went on and on. And this was during a quiet, emotional scene in the movie. I finally ended up yelling at him, "Go OUTSIDE!!" Haha.

Haha.....oh I love you! Fiesty chick! Good on ya! More people should speak up!

Anyways, this turned into a rant. Sorry. Hehe. I like the movies. I'd like it better if I had usher authority, though.

Hehe...ohhh I'd love that kind of authority, though I fear it would go to my head....I'd be yelling at people for chewing loudly, haha!

dynamaso

on Jul 23, 2006

I like going to the movies but my hearing problems often times leave me wondering about some of the dialogue, particularly with some of the big blockbusters as the music often overpowers whatever is being said by the actors. If it is something made to see on the big screen, I will go see it on my day off when there is not so much of a crowd. If it is more of a dialogue movie, I will wait until it comes out on DVD then I can watch it with subtitles.

MasonM

on Jul 23, 2006

I enjoy going to the movies, but have stopped doing so because the rude, obnoxious public ruins the experience for me.

Sally jacobs

on Jul 25, 2006

particularly with some of the big blockbusters as the music often overpowers whatever is being said by the actors. If it is something made to see on the big screen, I will go see it on my day off when there is not so much of a crowd

I recently went to see The fast and furious 3, and though there was a fantastic soundtrack, it really did overpower the movie, and I found myself complaining (yes, I'm one of them annoying people) how loud it was!

I enjoy going to the movies, but have stopped doing so because the rude, obnoxious public ruins the experience for me.

You shouldn't let them ruin it Mason, just make sure you choose a good time to go, and avoid the horrible people!

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