Comments on: The Shallow End: 'Why I'm Turning into Daniel Plainview'

By: hedgen16

hedgen16 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:03:13 +0000

Thank God it's not just me! I haven't been to the cinema for ages without some ignorant person ruining the film by talking, or asking questions that will be answered if they just payed attention a little bit, or the most annoying sound in the world, the rustling of plastic bags or sweet packets. The worst time I ever had was at a special screening of The Wizard of Oz, only 3 performances in total, with a live orchestra instead of the soundtrack, where these people sat down behind me and spent over half of the film rustling paper bags and sweet packets almost constantly. Just as I had reached the very end of my very last tether, and was about to turn around to launch a set of expletives at them, they finally shut up, when it was almost over. A special night ruined by selfish, inconsiderate people. Why do people bother to go to the cinema if they're not gonna shut up and watch the damn film? You pay in…for what? To piss people off with your talking? Sometimes I think they do it on purpose…

By: ranman14

ranman14 — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 17:55:12 +0000

This pisses me off all the time and im always the one who gets "that crowd" . During the beginning of cloverfield the theatre is absolutly packed , dark screen everything is silent .. until a massive douche bag and his friends start to scream and yelling out penis and vagina … Some people laugh ,others call out that they are immature . Then to my delight this God of a man stands up walks over to the kids and shoves his finger in the kids face and says " if i hear you fuckers talking through this movie i'll take you to the back of the cinema and rape you" ….. I wanted to leave becasue i had to piss my pants in laughter . The kids didnt talk at all and the movie was amazing so i think im gunna find that guy and bring him to my movies with my friends and if ne one starts screaming ill throw him at them … hahha what a solid idea.

By: ThinLine

ThinLine — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:49:18 +0000

I think the scary thing here is that this problem is just a reflection of what is happening to the country. It's a general dumbing down of society. I don't find it just a coincidence that many of us had one of these "bad trips" at "There Will Be Blood". More things exploding might have worked better at keeping people's attention, but as a friend of mine said about "There Will Be Blood", "There's just too much talking." I think the other destined to be a classic movie that came out this year, "No Country for Old Men", does a little better with the audiences because it has shooting. Chasing. Killing. And that's no slam on "No Country". I'm glad I'm not an Academy voter because I'd pull my hair out and scratch off my flesh debating "No Country" and "…Blood" in my head. Great year for movies with just those two. But everybody loves "No Country", and those that don't only complain about the ending, and that's because they don't know what happened. A proper ending was not spoonfed to them. Everyone's stupid but me.

By: davidfrank

davidfrank — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:08:44 +0000

Stiggs said: I share your pain. These self centered individuals represent the worst humanity has to offer. The state of oblivion that these jackasses inhabit is simply beyond my comprehension. I once sat next to a couple who insisted on repeating the film dialogue at full speaking volume. When I interjected I received a lip smacking "Tchhh" response from the woman as if I was interrupting their private experience. A few minutes later the guy started smoking a cigarette, holding it under his seat as if no one would notice. At this point I couldn't even concentrate on the film anymore as I wondered "what's next". To my utter amazement he then loudly extracted a bottle of wine from a paper bag and proceeded to pour the contents into two glasses (GLASSES!) which were apparently stowed in his dates' purse. The experience was so distracting and bizarre that I can't even remember what was playing onscreen… That would be the time I got sucker-punched by three giggling frat-boy dolts because I told them to “shut up” during a screening of Boogie Nights.

Those are definitely some of the worst experiences I've ever heard of. Although when I do go off on someone, I tend to make sure I can take them in all out brawl…which I why I only yell at the elderly.

By: davidfrank

davidfrank — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:06:44 +0000

Nick said: The only movies I want to see with a big audience are comedies

I completely agree with you. However, I can usually feel if a movie is truly funny anymore by watching it by myself. In the past this was more difficult, but in training to get away from audiences have chisled my mind to do this.

By: davidfrank

davidfrank — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:04:36 +0000

Nicki1011 said: People came in late and sat next to me, then decided to unpack the snacks they brought, mainly a plastic bag full of shelled peanuts.... I won't get into people bringing their toddlers to R rated movies like when I went to see Kill Bill and Sweeney Todd.

Shelled peanuts. Jesus on Pogo-stick! I had somewhat similar, but grosser experience. I was watching 16 Blocks, and some old dude waddled into the theater about 45 minutes in. Sat right behind me with a bag of popcorn. And while he munched loudly, I could feel wet chunks of the popcorn escape his mouth and land in my hair.:popcorn: I moved. Yeah and what is it about dumbasses and toddlers in R-Rated movies. I remember watching a packed screening of Saving Private Ryan with a girl who couldn't be older than 4 sitting in front of me. Guess what the film freaked her out and she was turned around in her seat staring at me most of the movie. And recently, I swear a couple brought in their 2-3 old kid to GRINDHOUSE!!!!!!! And the kid of course was freaking out, and they were literally taking the kid in and out of the film every 5 minutes!!!!

By: Stiggs

Stiggs — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:39:02 +0000

I share your pain. These self centered individuals represent the worst humanity has to offer. The state of oblivion that these jackasses inhabit is simply beyond my comprehension. I once sat next to a couple who insisted on repeating the film dialogue at full speaking volume. When I interjected I received a lip smacking "Tchhh" response from the woman as if I was interrupting their private experience. A few minutes later the guy started smoking a cigarette, holding it under his seat as if no one would notice. At this point I couldn't even concentrate on the film anymore as I wondered "what's next". To my utter amazement he then loudly extracted a bottle of wine from a paper bag and proceeded to pour the contents into two glasses (GLASSES!) which were apparently stowed in his dates' purse. The experience was so distracting and bizarre that I can't even remember what was playing onscreen. Although this behavior is unbelievably outrageous it still doesn't rate as my worst theatre experience. That would be the time I got sucker-punched by three giggling frat-boy dolts because I told them to “shut up” during a screening of Boogie Nights. I used to visit the local Cineplex at least once a week but I can no longer handle these types of situations without feeling rage and potentially reacting inappropriately. I've since invested $6,000 in a home theatre setup. I perhaps only see about 3-4 films each year at the theatre. I'm much more satisfied with the home experience but I do miss the "charge" I get from seeing a blockbuster on opening night with an enthusiastic crowd.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:53:37 +0000

The only movies I want to see with a big audience are comedies, because hearing people laugh along with you usually makes things seem even funnier. Other than that, I'd usually be happier if I were the only person in the entire theater. It's rare to see a movie with a respectful audience, even from adults that should know better. One of my "favorite" pet peeves is when someone continually asks their friend stupid questions out loud that A) will obviously be answered later in the movie if they just keep watching, and B) their partner doesn't know the answer to in the first place. When I saw Assassination of Jesse James a couple months ago there was surprisingly a lot of this, and for some reason the entire theater seemed as though it was over the age of 65. One guy in front of me kept falling asleep and snoring ridiculously loud, so I was forced to kick his chair a little bit every 10 minutes or so in order to hear the dialogue.

By: Nicki1011

Nicki1011 — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:31:50 +0000

This article speaks to my soul. Thank you, David. I thought I was becoming a theater snob. I would like absolute silence whilst sitting the theater. I had a somewhat annoying experience when I went to see TWBB, but my worst experience has to be when I went to see Munich. People came in late and sat next to me, then decided to unpack the snacks they brought, mainly a plastic bag full of shelled peanuts. They had to ask each other if the other wanted any. For the first 15 minutes. Not that you need to HEAR any dialogue in that movie. Then half way through I hear a loud CRUNCH. Dude pulled out an entire apple. And was biting into it. I thought I was going to scream. I won't get into people bringing their toddlers to R rated movies like when I went to see Kill Bill and Sweeney Todd.