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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
 Posted - 08/24/2005 : 07:46:24
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I was reading this story in today's New York Times and it got me thinking about my own movie habits. Tha article notes:quote:
With the last of the summer blockbusters fading from the multiplex, Hollywood's box office slump has hardened into a reality that is setting the movie industry on edge. The drop in ticket sales from last summer to this summer, the most important moviegoing season, is projected to be 9 percent by Labor Day, and the drop in attendance is expected to be even deeper, 11.5 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office.
Multiples theories for the decline abound: a failure of studio marketing, the rising price of gas, the lure of alternate entertainment, even the prevalence of commercials and pesky cellphones inside once-sacrosanct theaters. But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: Too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough.
True. Movies nowadays suck. I have my own theories, but in reality, the reason I don't go very much any more is because I've started to hate the "once-sacrosanct theaters" they talked about! Not just cell phones, but all the talking!! Even though I'm only a few years removed from being a teen-ager myself, I sound like an old man when I complain that those damned kids talk too damned much!! Even when I go on a Tuesday afternoon, I will inevitably have a group of people blabbing away. That, or they're munching on popcorn. Or otherwise annoying the living hell out of me.
My solution? I just don't go. I'll happily trade the "big screen" and all the super surround sound, etc., for the experience of watching a film on my little TV with no annoying people around. Or popcorn chomping.
So that's why I don't go to the movies. And since attendance is down over 11%, I'm not the only one. What about you?
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
 Posted - 08/24/2005 : 07:55:02 [Permalink]
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quote:
I sound like an old man when I complain that those damned kids talk too damned much!!
You sound just like me!
Yeah most movies suck nowadays. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 08:13:33 [Permalink]
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| It's not movies sucking that keeps me away, but instead the fact that I've grown too attached to the pause button. I find I am perfectly capable of "fully immersing" in a movie on a small screen, anyway, so the big theatre image and sound doesn't really do much for me. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 08:20:57 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
It's not movies sucking that keeps me away, but instead the fact that I've grown too attached to the pause button. I find I am perfectly capable of "fully immersing" in a movie on a small screen, anyway, so the big theatre image and sound doesn't really do much for me.
Yes, the pause is a big deal. I can stop to answer the door (if I order a pizza or something), get a beer from the fridge, or even to take a minute to explain (or have explained) why the main character had to do X or Y or whatever. |
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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 08:22:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Cuneiformist
I was reading this story in today's New York Times and it got me thinking about my own movie habits. Tha article notes:quote:
With the last of the summer blockbusters fading from the multiplex, Hollywood's box office slump has hardened into a reality that is setting the movie industry on edge. The drop in ticket sales from last summer to this summer, the most important moviegoing season, is projected to be 9 percent by Labor Day, and the drop in attendance is expected to be even deeper, 11.5 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations, which tracks the box office.
Multiples theories for the decline abound: a failure of studio marketing, the rising price of gas, the lure of alternate entertainment, even the prevalence of commercials and pesky cellphones inside once-sacrosanct theaters. But many movie executives and industry experts are beginning to conclude that something more fundamental is at work: Too many Hollywood movies these days, they say, just are not good enough.
True. Movies nowadays suck. I have my own theories, but in reality, the reason I don't go very much any more is because I've started to hate the "once-sacrosanct theaters" they talked about! Not just cell phones, but all the talking!! Even though I'm only a few years removed from being a teen-ager myself, I sound like an old man when I complain that those damned kids talk too damned much!! Even when I go on a Tuesday afternoon, I will inevitably have a group of people blabbing away. That, or they're munching on popcorn. Or otherwise annoying the living hell out of me.
My solution? I just don't go. I'll happily trade the "big screen" and all the super surround sound, etc., for the experience of watching a film on my little TV with no annoying people around. Or popcorn chomping.
So that's why I don't go to the movies. And since attendance is down over 11%, I'm not the only one. What about you?
Haven't seen a move worth the $7.50 admission price. (Except for the LOTR trilogy)
I also got tired of the cell phones, conversations, and idiots bringing young children to violent movies where they become scared and cry.
In the Chicago area in the late 70's-early 80's they had something before the movie which featured Larry Lujack (Ol' Uncle Lar) asking people to respect others and be quiet during the movie. "If you're not, I might have to come down there and hurt your little bodies"
Great campaign. Cell phones just seem like the newest way to be arrogantly annoying. |
Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 09:01:03 [Permalink]
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I go, but I try to go in the afternoon on the weekend (for lower price) or on a tuesday or wednesday (especially wednesday so the church automatons won't be around).
Last movie I saw was Charlie and the Chocalate Factory, which was "ok". Batman Begins was pretty good and was nice to see on the big screen (w/ the big audio).
Looking forward to "Corpse Bride" by Mr. Burton. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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| Edited by - pleco on 08/24/2005 09:01:44 |
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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend
USA
446 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 09:53:52 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by pleco
I go, but I try to go in the afternoon on the weekend (for lower price) or on a tuesday or wednesday (especially wednesday so the church automatons won't be around).
Last movie I saw was Charlie and the Chocalate Factory, which was "ok". Batman Begins was pretty good and was nice to see on the big screen (w/ the big audio).
Looking forward to "Corpse Bride" by Mr. Burton.
I find going on a tuesday or wednesday cuts way down on the talking/cell phone noise. And it is not crowed so I get to sit where I want. :D |
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 12:01:53 [Permalink]
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Since I usually have a little bag of sweets with me, I try to make sure I keep a few chocolate pieces to throw at whoever starts using the mobile phone, or is otherwise making too much noise.
Chocolate gets sticky when it goes inside the T-shirt, and it can hurt as well when I throw them hard.
The last five to eight years I've averaged 20-30 cinema visits each year. It depends on what movies there are. I have a decent home cinema sound-system, and a 36" wide-screen, so I don't have to go either. But I still like to see movies on the big screen. The sound and smell of someone munching on popcorn is a part of the cinema experience. But other talking, and mobile phones are not part of it. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 12:30:51 [Permalink]
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I haven't seen the inside of a movie theater in well over 20 years, although I've been a surly curmudgeon for a lot longer than that. I much prefer a good book, but I must state that the VCR is one of the best things ever to happen to me. I have a fine library of titles for my machine, added to fairly often, and I make better popcorn as well.
Looking at the tapes and discs offered at various stores, and seeing advertisments, I think that Hollywood is running a tad short of material. They are trying to replace originality with special effects and good writing with cliches. There are exceptions, of course; many of them. The Harry Potter series, and The Passion of the Christ (I'm told; haven't seen it) for example.
But mainly it's just me. I hate crowds in enclosed spaces, and have ever since the military. Add to that all and more of the aggravations above, and it's a most unpleasant situation.
A pity there's so few drive-ins left.
I am just starting the 5th book in the HP series. Damn, but that Rowling can write!
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 12:37:07 [Permalink]
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1) The Cost
2) The Sequels
3) The Cost, part II
4) The Poorly Remade Classics
5) The Sequels II, The Beginning
6) The Remade Classic Prequels, The Beginning (AKA, Exorcist Begins)
7) The Bad TV Show That Should Not be a Damn Movies
8) The Bad TV Show That Should Not be a Damn Movie, Sequel (A Very Brady Christmas)
9) Not a Kid/Dont Have Kids therefor I see Nemo on HBO
10) Movies that Suck
11) See above posts...
I did enjoy The Aviator at the theater last year though.
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"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
| Edited by - BigPapaSmurf on 08/24/2005 12:38:12 |
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dv82matt
SFN Regular
760 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 13:55:10 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Mabuse
Since I usually have a little bag of sweets with me, I try to make sure I keep a few chocolate pieces to throw at whoever starts using the mobile phone, or is otherwise making too much noise.
I stopped going to the movies 'cause some jerk kept throwing hard candies at me. 
Actually I've never been much of a moviegoer. There are a few movies that are worth going to the theater to see but they are few and far between these days. |
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 15:44:48 [Permalink]
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I only go to the movies when the movie is really my type of favorite movie (probably falling under 'The Cost' category). But really, I go regularly, as long as the movies have lots of explosions and effects
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"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 15:54:42 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
They are trying to replace originality with special effects and good writing with cliches. There are exceptions, of course; many of them.
I don't think it's that they are trying to replace originality nor good writing as such.
It's the special effects that are making them lazy. It's farily "easy" bolster a badly scripted movie with lots of FX to make it good enough for a release.
I liked Batman Begins, it had more of the human condition in it than the others. Hitchhiker's was a disappointment. It was ok, but I expected more and better.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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R.Wreck
SFN Regular
USA
1191 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 15:54:46 [Permalink]
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$3 DVD rental for whole family vs $30 @ theater.
Big screen TV.
Ability to pause for drinks, snacks, bathroom breaks, and explanations.
Ability to replay that line you couldn't hear cause the actor mumbled.
Movie starts when I'm ready.
I don't stick to the floors in my house.
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The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge.
T. H. Huxley
The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2005 : 16:56:04 [Permalink]
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| Don't forget - going to the theater is the only way I get to see how the youth of today dress and interact, thus taking whatever optimism I had at the time and throwing it in the toilet (along with some geckos.) |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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