The Movie Going Experience- Best and Worst

[Keth]

I just watched Shaun of the Dead for the millionth time and it got me thinking about movie going experiences and thought it would be cool to share some of our own, good and bad. I know some of y'all hate going to the theater, but I love it.

 

So one of my best came from Shaun of the Dead itself. I was lucky enough to see it when it came out. My mom took me and my sister and my sis did not want to see it at all. I only wanted to see it based off a handful of commercials for it. It was a hit with all of us though and the crowd was awesome. When Ed got bit literally everyone in the theater let out an audible noise from a shocked sigh to "aww noooo". It's one of my favorite movie going memories.

 

The Hateful 8 was also a great time. I loved the long run time and how it was presented. I guess it felt old timey? Like maybe that's how going to see some shit like Gone With the Wind would have felt.

 

I'll share worse stories later. Tell your own!

[alive she cried]

I'm not sure if the cheering and applauding in the cinema is an American stereotype or not. But it's certainly not done here. People obviously react to horrors and comedies quite audibly though.

 

The best experience was probably Borat. Just hearing an entire audience laugh in unison for 90 minutes was great. I also enjoyed seeing the couple of couples walk out of Brüno. I guess laughing at racists is cool, but homophobes ought to be respected.

 

A terrible, turned brilliant experience, was seeing Watchmen for the second time and two teenage girls who obviously didn't know what they were getting themselves in to, start talking loudly ten minutes in. This continued for twenty minutes until one guy stands up and shouts: Would ye shut the fuck up? Nobody wants to hear ye're trivial bullshit. The two girls got up and left and the whole cinema stood and applauded.

[Little Nemo McFly]

Force Awakens 3D - Some dude came in late and sat right next to me. He barely squeezed himself into his seat. The loud mouth-breather LITERALLY shoved food into his gullet for an hour and a half - laughing and 'uh-oh'-ing at EVERY...THING with a mouth full of food. Sucking on soda like it was what was keeping him alive. Smacking his lips and sighing after every gallon. Sighing w/ relief after he finished a tub of popcorn, before reaching over and, hey! Another bucket! Loudly ripping the plastic from candy and eating w/ his mouth open...god, it was death.

 

Another one was at the Phantom Menace 3D. A kid w/ the flu or something sits right next to me and kept sniffing his snot back up every 30 seconds and swinging his feet like he was at a theme park ride. On top of that, the child kept asking who everybody was when they appeared on screen - is that Darth Vader? Can we go to McDonalds later? I'm thirsty! Some dude in front of us stood up and said, "Hey man, I'm here w/ my kid and he's not making a peep. Take that kid to the bathroom, wipe his freakin' nose and when you get back - I hope you get things under control." Guy grabbed his kid, left and when they came back kid just sat there with his arms folded all pissy and controlled/considerate breathing. Amazing.

 

Best experiences I had watching movies were at the theater when I worked at the movie theater. When new movies came in - we had to watch 'em early to make sure the print wasn't damaged or anything. It would be after-hours, the theater was closed, every show was done and an auditorium filled w/ employees / friends / invites...a select group gets to watch a flick before the rest of the masses. Everyone there loved movies and was willing to provide extra eyes to make sure the print wasn't flawed.

 

After the Force Awakens, I officially hate going out to the movies to see new / popular flicks. It is sooo random. It could be a great audience or one that utterly kills the experience. Someone who continuously checks their damn phone and texts right next to you - are you gonna tell them to stop or just deal w/ it? Does it even effect you? I can't stand it.

 

Best outside a controlled audience experience in recent memory was Guardians of the Galaxy 3D. That movie was a ride. You could feel everyone in there was caught off guard.

[Mr. Hakujin]

I wanna say we already have a thread on this topic, but who cares. We can always combine them later if that's the case.

 

I'm a big fan of going to the cinema. I love the whole experience, well, except for the increasing ticket prices. Anyway, I just did a count, and I saw 41 films in the theater in 2015. My favorite cinema experience of 2015, was Fantastic 4. It's not a genre classic by any standard, but I'm featured in it for a few scenes. So I saw it with a good group of friends and my gf on opening weekend. We had a great dinner before the show, laughed at my sad excuse for acting and just had a great time in general. A very close second was the opening night of Star Wars The Force Awakens. Our friend was online for hours refreshing the AMC website to get us opening night tickets the day they went on sale, and he snagged tickets for the 10PM show on 12/17. I went with a group of five friends, we had some pizza and beers before the show, didn't have to wait in line at all, and someone brought SW trivia cards. We talked and geeked out over SW in the theater for about two hours prior to the show. To tell the truth, I kind of missed the experience of standing in line with all the fans in costumes and rushing in to the theater to get your seat. The cinema we went to had the movie playing on six screens, so even on opening night the only show that actually had a line was the IMAX screen. We were old school and saw it 2D.

 

Now the worst cinema experience of 2015 for me was, hands down, no questions, Krampus. The Green Inferno was the worst film I saw in theaters in 2015, but my gf and I still had a decent enough time MST3K-ing it. Plus she bought the popcorn and Icees, so that helped the sting, too. However, Krampus was the worst experience. The show was littered with obnoxious adolescents getting up and walking in and out of the theater. Some camouflage jacket wearing redneck chick kept kicking the back of the chair of my friend. The film itself was kind of meh, and to top it off, I was the one who recommended we all go see the film, so I got some shrapnel as a scapegoat. All and all it wasn't the worst that could've happened, but it was definitely the crappiest theater going experience I did have in 2015.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Mr. Hakujin
my fault for taking axels and baytor recommendations

[The NZA]

I'm not sure if the cheering and applauding in the cinema is an American stereotype or not. But it's certainly not done here.

 

you're missing out - this was me during Winter Solider

 

 

 

 

[the division of joy]

I think my best cinema experience was probably the LOTR trilogy. Just was wowed from start to finish as a teenager.

 

My worst was seeing some stupid jump scare horror film with my ex 2-3 years ago and having her go into hysterics every time the movie wanted to scare people. I was quite embarrassed.