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jorencain wrote:My favorite was the Charles Theater in Baltimore, which would often have no pre-movie ads. Just this hilarious PSA from John Waters about not(?) smoking.

http://youtu.be/YnpofBtijF8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yep, this plays before just about every film I've seen there. They also run a random assortment of "No talking" &c PSAs made by local MICA students before the trailers

bottled spider wrote:The solution to popcorn: earplugs. A fortuitous discovery. I brought a pair to a second viewing of Heart of a Dog because the previous night's showing was painfully loud in places. With earplugs inserted loosely, the entire film was perfectly audible, while that uniquely repulsive sound of swine munching popcorn was completely attenuated. This will need to be tested further.

It's the combination of ads and popcorn which keeps movie theatres running, let's never forget that. Also, I like popcorn, so I guess that makes me swine?

And candy. I've said it before here I'm sure, but if they priced candy everywhere else like they do theaters our obesity problem is over.

willoneill wrote:It's the combination of ads and popcorn which keeps movie theatres running, let's never forget that. Also, I like popcorn, so I guess that makes me swine?

I can't speak for bottled spider, but my personal opinion on this matter is that as long as you can chew with your mouth shut, you're cool.

Complaining about popcorn in a movie theatre seems to me to be getting into cranky old man territory.

Am I alone in finding popcorn to be part of the charm of the movie going experience?

My main cinema (Home, Manchester) , and my previous main one where I worked (Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry), don't sell it. The student cinema at my university, which was a bonafide one that still shows 70mm, banned it. It's terribly distracting for others and it is an absolute bitch to clean off seats and carpeted floors.

I quite like a snack to eat whilst watching at home, but nowadays I tend to have a couple of sweets' mainly eaten during the trailers, or nothing at the cinema.

Mainstream cinema exists mainly for selling snacks so I can understand why it is present there, but it's not exactly conducive to enjoying film as art, so that's why a lot of arthouses forgo it.

Cameron Swift wrote:Complaining about popcorn in a movie theatre seems to me to be getting into cranky old man territory.

I think it's not so much eating popcorn that how you eat it. Some people simply are very loud when eating their popcorn (munching is quite a good word to describe it more precisely).

Nachos however is a more problematic product for me, especially the chesse one, because not only they're going to be loud no matter how careful you eat them, but the chesse one also smells rather strong to me.

While I get the appeal for popcorn (which can indeed be quite the charm of a theatre going), I can’t understand how they manage to spread the sell of noisy smelly stuff in a theatre.
In France, it would be like bringing some Munster and crackers. Not only you can’t hear the movie anymore, but you’ll also smell that. Marvelous idea, guys.

TMDaines wrote:Mainstream cinema exists mainly for selling snacks so I can understand why it is present there, but it's not exactly conducive to enjoying film as art, so that's why a lot of arthouses forgo it.

The arthouse in my neck of the woods sell the same stuff at the multiplexes, but for much more decent prices.

Some clown sat next to me at a screening of THE ASSASSIN last night and proceeded to CHOMP his popcorn right in my ear for like 15 minutes, even during super quiet portions of the film. =; [-X ](*,)

Wait, you're a fan of the Assassin?!

Boy, I can't wait for a theater to introduce crunchless popcorn. It will sweep the nation.

domino harvey wrote:Wait, you're a fan of the Assassin?!

\:D/

Trees wrote:Some clown sat next to me at a screening of THE ASSASSIN last night and proceeded to CHOMP his popcorn right in my ear for like 15 minutes, even during super quiet portions of the film. =; [-X ](*,)

This is why our family LIKES ads before the feature. We can finish our popcorn before the movie actually starts. (We had an all-family excursion to see Assassin -- and we WERE done with our popcorn by the time the film started).

Popcorn chewing is only really a problem in films with quiet sound designs (this was a major issue while sitting next to some disgusting slob in Foxcatcher, chomping away at his popcorn, swirling it around in the giant tub -- and then proceeding to make random, obnoxious comments to his son throughout the entire film. Ugh.)

Talking is 10000X worse than even the worst eating noise

I remember sitting in a screening of Diary of a Country Priest and I took a sip of my soda. The mix was so quiet you could hear the soda literally making its way down my throat and chest. 2 girls who were sitting in front of me turned around and started giggling. I found it to be an interesting situation to happen during a Bresson film, which doesn't typically attract teenage-ish girls.

domino harvey wrote:Talking is 10000X worse than even the worst eating noise

This. I just accept people eating and drinking as ambient noise really. But like even voices nearby at a whisper throw me off.

cinemartin wrote:I remember sitting in a screening of Diary of a Country Priest and I took a sip of my soda. The mix was so quiet you could hear the soda literally making its way down my throat and chest. 2 girls who were sitting in front of me turned around and started giggling. I found it to be an interesting situation to happen during a Bresson film, which doesn't typically attract teenage-ish girls.

This is my number 1 example. I was also at a screening of Diary of a Country Priest and this couple were sitting two rows in front of me crunching popcorn and slurping their soda as if they were watching Die Hard 19. They were so loud. It was so friggin distracting.

domino harvey wrote:Talking is 10000X worse than even the worst eating noise

This is by far the rudest offense of all.

FrauBlucher wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Talking is 10000X worse than even the worst eating noise

This is by far the rudest offense of all.

Talking or exaggeration?

swo17 wrote:

FrauBlucher wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Talking is 10000X worse than even the worst eating noise

This is by far the rudest offense of all.

Talking or exaggeration?

Both :-"

If you knew how much I hate people talking during a movie, you'd realize it wasn't exaggeration

When I went to see Stray Dogs last year, I had evidently eaten something earlier in the day that wasn't agreeing with me, and my stomach gurgled and rumbled throughout the entire painfully quiet film. I was sure everyone in the theater, even the balcony, could hear it. When I apologized afterwards to my two friends with whom I was sitting, one of them was nice about it and just said that she thought I was hungry. Certainly one of the more embarrassing movie-going experiences I've had.

Also, since we were just discussing the subject of ads and trailers before films, I feel quite fortunate that Pittsburgh Filmmakers rarely shows anything at all before films in their theaters. There's seldom even a trailer, and I can't recall ever seeing more than one before a film.

"What did they say?"
"THEY SAID THEY HATE PEOPLE TALKING DURING THE MOVIE."
"I do too."
"What?"
Ssshhhhhhhhhh
"Oh ssshhh yourself."
Teenager with extra bright phone totally in my eye sight texts - SMH old ppl so rude

It's worth it sometimes though. For instance, my favorite part of watching Love & Mercy was after a scene where Mike Love was really laying into Brian Wilson, the old lady sitting behind me asked her husband who that mean man was and he confidently responded that it was Dennis Wilson.

Talking is obviously the worst to deal with, and my OCD even makes the quietest whisper absolutely insufferable. (I even hate having to see individuals' heads leaning in towards each other to speak in the rows in front of me.)

I was actually proud of myself when, during Spectre, a man and his girlfriend found it acceptable to talk to each other throughout the entire film. Around the halfway mark, I just let out a rather loud "Shhhh!" to which the man immediately apologized and kept quiet for the rest of the film.

This is why I normally go to early morning screenings to avoid the parasites. But, even those are becoming less and less safe these days...