I demand a refund!

[Gregory]

Back to the original topic. The only time I ever got a refund also happens to be my most memorable movie-going experience. As a teen, I was just getting into foreign & independent film by going to whatever was playing at my local art house theater (19th St. theater in Allentown). One week Das Boot finally arrived (you usually had to wait several weeks before the latest indie/foreign film made it to the local theater) & I found a date that was actually interested in going to see it. Just as the movie started you could hear some rumbling outside (it was summer). The rumbling became louder as the movie progressed. During the first scene that emphasized the precarious nature of the U-Boat (metal creaking), there was a loud clap over the theater & I noticed water running down the edges of the movie screen. I looked around the theater & noticed water streaming down the walls. Just as I pointed this out to my date, a wave of water flowed over our feet, taking bits of popcorn & candy boxes with it down the sloped (concrete) floor. Soon after, the lights came on & the projector stopped. The manager announced that we would have to leave the theater & gave us complimentary tickets (without us asking). As we walked into the lobby, the water in the front of the theater was close to waist high & cars were floating in the street in front of the theater from the flash flood. Fortunately the lot my car was in was not flooded. But it was definitely the most surreal movie experience I had ever had.

Related to that, I had an odd experience when watching Das Boot at home with my family on the VCR. At the point in the film when the submarine begins flooding, we were struck by how realistic some of the sound design seemed, even though we didn't have any kind of surround setup. Right after it ended, we discovered that our entire basement had flooded.

[windowside]

O.K.

i don't think i'll watch Das Boot ever again.

[MichaelB]

Could have been worse - rivets could have started popping around the auditorium at terrifying speed.

[j99]

I don't know what their general policy is, but last year when a theatre where I lived played the remake of Funny Games, they deliberately put a sign up saying that there would be NO refunds if you didn't like, or were offended by, the movie.

Unless it's a technical issue, it should be the general policy. I would never ask for a refund if the film was bad because it's my mistake not the cinema's. I'm actually surprised they agree to refunds for that reason, although the Salo example cited earlier on is understandable!

[MichaelB]

I was under absolutely no obligation to give a refund for Salò, but I thought it would be a nice gesture to somebody who'd been to (and therefore paid us to see) just about every other title in our Pasolini retrospective.

This certainly wasn't official policy, but I was generally nicer to regulars, on the grounds that:

a) their complaints were more likely to be reasonable;
b) if they got annoyed and stopped coming, we'd lose far more money than if we'd simply given a no-quibbles refund.

In fact, regulars very very rarely asked for refunds.

[eerik]

Went to a screening of The Song of Sparrows last night, which is part of Ideals Matter Festival week in Tallinn.

Really disappointed in the quality. I'm not even sure what medium was used. It combined all the flaws of analog video, digital video and 35mm print. Oversaturated colors, horribly boosted black levels, random lines across the picture, edge enhancement, dust and shaky picture. I wanted to leave the minute I saw the first scene but managed to sit through the film. And I liked the film itself quite a lot.

After the screening there was supposed to be a discussion of the film, it's background and themes. There were two guys: one from Venezuela who is the curator of the week. He basically said that the film was selected quite randomly. The other guy was from Puerto Rico who had not seen the film before and did not know anything about the background or Iran, etc. He only said few sentences about Italian neorealism (and managed to spoil the ending of Bicycle Thieves), Martin Scorsese, etc. So in conclusion it was completely incoherent and not related to the film that was screened.

I did not ask for refund as it was only 3 euros and it was a non-profit event anyway, but I'm not going to other screenings this week like I originally planned (Osama, Made in Dagenham and some documentaries).

[MichaelB]

I did not ask for refund as it was only 3 euros and it was a non-profit event anyway, but I'm not going to other screenings this week like I originally planned (Osama, Made in Dagenham and some documentaries).

I wouldn't bother with Made in Dagenham anyway, but I saw Osama (assuming you're talking about the Siddiq Barmak film) projected from DVD last year at the Batumi Film Festival and the film was so engrossing that I was barely aware of any technical issues.

[dx23]

Woman Files Lawsuit Over ‘Misleading’ Trailer for Drive

[Markson]

Woman Files Lawsuit Over ‘Misleading’ Trailer for Drive

This is, like, straight out of The Onion. Has our ignorance-cum-entitlement come to this?

[Zinoviev]

Evidently, yes. The first two comments posted to the linked story are downright terrifying.

[Jeff]

Woman Files Lawsuit Over ‘Misleading’ Trailer for Drive

Here is a PDF of the official complaint.

Drive had many segments of slow paced, interpersonal drama, including the relationship between Driver and Irene and her family.

The whole thing is pretty hilarious.

[knives]

My favorite line has to be the Der Sturmer bit and the J complaint.

[matrixschmatrix]

Wow, that complaint reads like it was written by a schizophrenic- she essentially accuses Drive of being Jud Suss II

[tenia]

Best line stays : "Jews are obsessed by Italian & Chinese food".

That would be a good beginning for a Woody Allen joke, though.

[zombeaner]

I've gotten free passes or refunds on several occasions, but none was quite as memorable as the first time. I was 16 and seeing Se7en at the tail end of its theatrical run. The auditorium was full despite this screening being over a month out from the release date. The film was as dark and nasty as I'd heard and I was really getting into it. When we arrived at the climax in the desert and John Doe has the box delivered to the cops and Brad Pitt is circling the package yelling "What's in the box?" and crying, the film burnt up and snapped. At first we in the theater weren't sure if it was part of the film or not, Se7en was so stylized it could very well have been an attempt to build greater tension. Very soon, though, we realized that it wasn't a part of the film when the manager appeared in the auditorium and announced that we'd all get free passes and he was very sorry for the inconvenience. I had to wait MONTHS for the film to come out on VHS so I could rent it and see how it actually ended.

[knives]

That would have been the better ending though.

[Lighthouse]

No, Se7en is one of the few thrillers with a perfect end

[matrixschmatrix]

Well, aside from the Morgan Freeman quoting part that the studio tacked on. The smash fade to black Fincher wanted would have been perfect, though.

[Murdoch]

No, Se7en is one of the few thrillers with a perfect end

Strongly disagree with this. The last scene with John Doe would have been a much better ending than the epilogue with Freeman saying his last words and walking off, and I always thought the voice over the walkie-talkie frantically saying, "he shot him" would have been an unsettling final line/lead into the credits.

[MoonlitKnight]

Woman Files Lawsuit Over ‘Misleading’ Trailer for Drive

This is, like, straight out of The Onion. Has our ignorance-cum-entitlement come to this?

A movie tried to make me think... and give it my undivided attention!! What's this world coming to? :-s