Can the Theater Experience Get WORSE???
We went to see the newest Harry Potter flick. "Goblet of Fire" is good, but Edwards Cinemas has NO CLUE how the experience has degraded, I am quite sure.
First there's the $7.50 matinee price, but the stadium seats are great and the sound excellent. I guess $15 for the big screen is the occasional treat. But then...
The trailers ended (finally, my God I was almost through my snack!), they ended with the warning to silence cell phones, keep quiet, watch out for trash, blah blah get to the movie.
Then I remembered - when NO LESS than 7 conversations were going on around me during the film - SILENCE you cell phone?! I thought it was TURN OFF, not merely silence. Theaters are now pandering to idiots who insist on being able to get calls from the lobby (one of the calls, in front and to the right, a guy ordering snacks when his girlfriend went to the bathroom), friends, or fellow watchers (two of the girls were actually discussing NOT the movie but boys) while I was trying to concentrate on the movie!
This screening room (number 7) had two ceiling fans up in the back that were turned up to "Katrina." It's warm in November in California (low 80s) so who brings a jacket? I finally went to the manager and got him to turn them down. Actually he turned them off completely, which wasn't all that much better. I'm sure those things can be set to comfort the audience, not irritate...
I know people have to go to the bathroom, but I swear a walking trail had been installed in our row that morning, because it seemed relentless. Our parents always raised us to "try" before an outing, and we rarely used public facilities. C'mon people...
But more so, C'mon Edwards Cinemas! Surely you need the business - I've heard the gripes and the changing strategies from you owners. You execs ought to sit in your own theaters once in a while instead of private screening rooms. It's a friggin' circus in there sometimes.
This is the second time I've written about the theater experience, and coincidentally this is the first time since the last movie that prompted the first observation. It's getting THAT rare that we go out to a movie anymore. I like the shared experience of watching a movie in a crowded room, so how do we fix it....
I feel there are only two ways to send a message:
1. Complain. LOUDLY. How will they know is we don't speak up. Tell the manager, not the kid selling buckets of popcorn. This is not his career (I hope).
2. Don't go to a theater. Let them starve. Download the movie or borrow it from someone. Don't buy - don't rent. Starve the food chain. I have a home-theater system and it does well with most movies. Some movies ARE best on a big screen, but the annoyance-level these days makes a hefty home screen just fine.
People, put your movie money into a larger screen at home, take the phone off the hook (or turn the cell off), turn up the sound, sip a glass of wine, and when Brad Pitt can't buy his 14th Hummer because nobody can afford production costs, we'll get real theaters again.
Be nice (except to theaters - financially, that is).
First there's the $7.50 matinee price, but the stadium seats are great and the sound excellent. I guess $15 for the big screen is the occasional treat. But then...
The trailers ended (finally, my God I was almost through my snack!), they ended with the warning to silence cell phones, keep quiet, watch out for trash, blah blah get to the movie.
Then I remembered - when NO LESS than 7 conversations were going on around me during the film - SILENCE you cell phone?! I thought it was TURN OFF, not merely silence. Theaters are now pandering to idiots who insist on being able to get calls from the lobby (one of the calls, in front and to the right, a guy ordering snacks when his girlfriend went to the bathroom), friends, or fellow watchers (two of the girls were actually discussing NOT the movie but boys) while I was trying to concentrate on the movie!
This screening room (number 7) had two ceiling fans up in the back that were turned up to "Katrina." It's warm in November in California (low 80s) so who brings a jacket? I finally went to the manager and got him to turn them down. Actually he turned them off completely, which wasn't all that much better. I'm sure those things can be set to comfort the audience, not irritate...
I know people have to go to the bathroom, but I swear a walking trail had been installed in our row that morning, because it seemed relentless. Our parents always raised us to "try" before an outing, and we rarely used public facilities. C'mon people...
But more so, C'mon Edwards Cinemas! Surely you need the business - I've heard the gripes and the changing strategies from you owners. You execs ought to sit in your own theaters once in a while instead of private screening rooms. It's a friggin' circus in there sometimes.
This is the second time I've written about the theater experience, and coincidentally this is the first time since the last movie that prompted the first observation. It's getting THAT rare that we go out to a movie anymore. I like the shared experience of watching a movie in a crowded room, so how do we fix it....
I feel there are only two ways to send a message:
1. Complain. LOUDLY. How will they know is we don't speak up. Tell the manager, not the kid selling buckets of popcorn. This is not his career (I hope).
2. Don't go to a theater. Let them starve. Download the movie or borrow it from someone. Don't buy - don't rent. Starve the food chain. I have a home-theater system and it does well with most movies. Some movies ARE best on a big screen, but the annoyance-level these days makes a hefty home screen just fine.
People, put your movie money into a larger screen at home, take the phone off the hook (or turn the cell off), turn up the sound, sip a glass of wine, and when Brad Pitt can't buy his 14th Hummer because nobody can afford production costs, we'll get real theaters again.
Be nice (except to theaters - financially, that is).
posted by deanlilja at
6:23 PM
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