Seeing movies in theaters reminds my why I don’t like watching movies in theaters

June 7, 2012 by Joshua
in Art, Blog

Since I remembered liking the Dukes of Hazzard as a kid and like Johnny Knoxville, when I got free tickets to see the movie Dukes of Hazzard New York City premiere, I was excited to see a movie I had a reasonable chance of enjoying.

It ended up being the first movie that, at zero cost, I paid too much to see.

I decided to avoid watching movies in theaters. I don’t oppose theaters, but three things — conscious decisions by the theaters they could change — ruin theater-going for me.

  • The sound is too loud — wearing ear plugs makes the sound level about right for me. Otherwise they’re painfully loud.
  • Theaters are too cold — I have to bring a coat to see a movie in the summer.
  • They charge too much — last night I paid $14 to see a movie.

I’m writing today because I watched a big blockbuster last night. I thought this time might be different. I’m visiting friends who produce video games and they wanted to watch what purported to be a science fiction movie by one of the great masters — Ridley Scott (who did Alien!) — in 3d, with vibrating seats for extra experience. I figured I’d risk the money.

While the movie entertained me and the effects wowed me, after watching, I kept finding fault after fault and discontinuity after discontinuity. Scene after scene ended up gratuitous. The movie made little made sense or got me thinking. I wouldn’t call it science fiction, not that I even like science fiction that much, but I came to view it as just a series of scenes with gore and tension.

Maybe I’m just getting older, but I prefer movies that make me think. So I should add a fourth reason

  • Too many movies aren’t worth watching — and it isn’t worth paying too much, hurting my ears, and being cold to find out if the movie will be worth it.

I have a library across the street. I can borrow DVDs for free. Waiting a month or two for them to come out gets me to filter ones with great ad campaigns that end up not worth watching.

So movie theaters push me away and the studios don’t provide much reward for going anyway.

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