IF you go to the movie theater... WHY do you go?

I go for the soft glow of cell phones and the delicate sounds of someone munching on nachos behind me. I went to see Bohemian Rhapsody a few weeks ago and a guy was literally eating a burger next to me. Unacceptable!

I usually tend to go on middle-of-a-week-day small theater screenings where it's me and maybe one or two other people there precisely for the reasons I stated above. Or during film festivals, where the audience is just more respectful of film in general, and the communal nature of movie seeing IMO.

Seeing a film on the big screen is just more exciting. It's more submersive, I can focus more on the story and filmmaking. It's also an experience, everything is heightened.

I wish general audiences were more respectful of other movie goes that know they're not in their living room. I love feeling the shared energy of a packed screening and the communality of it (when the audience is good) whether things are going well, or terribly wrong.

i think there's something to the immersive experience you mentioned, being in a dark theatre with an audience, that can't be recreated at home.

and i think a big part of that is the way that forces you to focus on the movie. perhaps if i had a better setup at home, i wouldn't have this issue, but inevitably when i watch something at home, my attention drifts away to my laptop or my phone, or i'll pause to make some coffee or anything. i almost always lose the controlled focus that i think makes for a true cinematic experience, if that's not too twatty a way of putting it.

I love the snacks

There is a lot to be said and enjoyed about watching in a crowd of people who are all primed and ready to see a movie. I've always enjoyed it. I think my parents enjoyed movie theaters more because they lived though the era of the newsreels, serials and cartoons, and previews too.

In the early years of movie that was the public square. 90% of Americans went to the theater once a week. Have you ever seen some of the original old movie houses and all their decorations. People want to the movies to get news, to hang out, to get out of the heat because they were one of the few places that had really good air conditioning.

That number has fallen to about 10% new, and the movies are hardly worth watching, and there are no extras except adverts before the movie starts, and previews which are also ads.

I don't like movies so much, but I still can enjoy them when it is a movie I know I will want to see. The problem I have today is that the soundtrack is so realistic they are often hard to hear and discern what is being said ... and there are no subtitles in a theater.

Also, the snacks are bigger, as are the drinks, and damn if I don't have a unstoppable urge to pee near the end of almost every movie I go see and have to make a mad dash for the restroom.

I only go for movies that have serious spectacle and need to be seen big. Very very stoked to see Bumblebee soon. That's a theater movie. I'm looking forward to seeing Creed 2, but I don't need to see that 50 feet tall. It's pointless.

The last two movies I've seen at a real theater were
The Darkest Hour
Lion King

I really don't like movie theaters

Because sometimes I have an unruly kid in tow and I can't get the twerp to shut up for one second without needing a giant screen blasting their face and eardrums!

Whew, now that's off my chest; sometimes I just want to forget things, go on a mini vacation by dropping into a movie theater (parachute optional), and stare at a giant screen as it's blasting my face and eardrums to kingdom come!

Oh, and that kid I was referring to is Twin B. I'm older than him by 180 seconds. Yeah, I'm mean.

[Whispers] The more I joke at his expense, the more I care about him.

~~/o/

Someone talked me into it.