Megs wrote:It's $8.75 here, so it is insane to go to the movies with my husband. We spend so much money.
fnordboy wrote:Yeah here it is about $8.75 - $9+ to go to the movies, which is one of the main reasons why I don't go to them anymore.
Me too, me too! I kid you not, I think the last time I went to the movie theater was late December/early January when I saw the second Harry Potter movie and Catch Me If You Can within a week of each other.
Movies are so ridiculously expensive now, and the parking is hellacious here (some places you have to find a metered space on the streets - if you CAN find a space, that's luck enough but all the meters have two hour time limits so you chance getting a ticket just to watch an overpriced movie OR some places have parking garages with typical prices of $2-3/hr on top of the movie price - no validation), hence the reason why we now watch most movies via netflix. I figure I can wait a few months and watch in the comfort of my own home with my own popcorn and soda without spending an extra hour driving around looking for a parking space.
And did I mention the annoying people at the theater? I have this "annoying person" magnet. Whenever we went to clubs in college, I always ended up being right behind the Humping Couple Who Need a Room, which meant my drink and I spent the evening being knocked about by a drunken horny idiot with no rhythm whatsoever. Actually, that makes it sound like I stood right in front of them on purpose. No, I would pick my place and happily dance and then inevitably I would get the introductory ass bump/flailing arm/body check from someone who decided to dance right behind me. I hear the suggestion "just move" but whenever I tried that, somehow I ended either subconsciously suggesting to Drunken Dumbass #1 to follow me or using my magnetic powers to get DD#2 right behind me. I know - in a bar, there is no shortage of them, but it was always me, never any of my friends, who ended up with the Guy Who Doesn't Understand the Concept of Personal Space bumping his ass into mine with the rhythm of a retarded rabbit all night.
Theaters, same thing, whether it's the ballet, the opera, a Broadway musical, or a movie. At the nicer non-movie functions, I always end up with either:
(1) the little kid who is too young to sit still, stay quiet, and actually appreciate what is happening on stage which means we get lots of loud talking/crying, mom rustling with the plastic bags full of treats she smuggled in her purse to keep the kid's mouth full, cute patent leather shoes tapping on the floor incessantly, or unending questions of "What happened? Who's that? Why did he do that? What did he say?"
(2) the big fat tall middle-aged married man who has no concept of personal space (I theorize that this is a DD all grown up with a job) which means he sits with his legs as far apart as they will go and his mutton chop of an elbow on the armrest. Now I know there are many debates about sharing space in public, but my general rule is that the armrest is the border of our neighboring countries. Don't cross it. When his legs are spread that far apart (because apparently his testicles need air), his knee is well into my territory and his foot is invading. I understand the armrest is usually not shared and that one person takes possession. I'm fine with that because I don't need it, but again, the arm rest is the border and therefore the arm should not cross the arm rest. What I get is the forearm on the armrest and the elbow sticking across to my side.
So how does this translate to movie theaters? On a good day, it's just a really tall person who sits in front of me (I always choose seats with no one sitting in front of me because I'm short and I like to see the entire screen, not just the upper third). When I saw Harry Potter, an entire gaggle of high school girls took up residence in the seats next to me. We're talking about ten of them. Now I'm totally fine with talking before the lights go down. As soon as the previews started, two of them realized they really had to go to the bathroom. Must be some sort of Pavlovian response stemming back to childhood ("Good night, sleep tight, mommy loves you" "Wait, I have to pee!"). It was just the previews so I was not completely annoyed (although I do like watchin the previews). They kept talking the entire time through all of the previews. Once the movie started, they quieted down a little bit. False alarm. Apparently only half of them had read any of the HP books, so the rest of them kept asking questions throughout the movie. The girl sitting next to me realized about two minutes into the movie that she HAD to call her mom right then and there, so she had to ask to borrow someone's cell phone (pass the message down style) and then call her mom in the movie.
Last night the girl sitting next to me didn't slide into her seat until well into the previews. About five minutes into the movie, she asked if I had a pen she could borrow. I said no because I really didn't have a pen with me, but if I had, I don't think I would want to rummage around in the dark trying to find a pen for a perfect stranger. She seemed really put off by the fact that I didn't have a pen, despite the fact that I wasn't the one who desperately needed to write something down during a movie. About half an hour into the movie, she got up for some reason so everyone in our row had to let her out. Then she came back. Another half hour later, she and her boyfriend both got up. Thankfully they didn't come back.
Hey, I forgot to mention the on-topic part - I saw Pirates of the Caribbean last night!
Sorry, the ranting just wouldn't stop pouring out of my fingertips. Anyway, I liked the movie - I agree with Nothingman's review. Johnny Depp was great, Orlando Bloom did what he could with his role, the special effects were cool but not distracting, the plot kept me interested. All in all, an entertaining movie. Then again, you see how long it's been since I went to a theater that my standards might be out of whack