Movie Theater Experiences

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Cremildo
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:19 pm
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#976 Post by Cremildo » Sat May 25, 2019 8:55 pm

It's not a trend I've noticed, because I don't live in the United States and I go to the movie theaters three or four times a year tops nowadays, but the exact opposite plagued me in my city from the late 90s until the late 2000s (when I started traveling to watch movies in acceptable theaters): the sound used to be ridiculously low, which ruined the impact and immersion of dozens of movies throughout the years. It was such a disappointment and a nuisance that, to this day, I am more bothered by bad sound than bad image, even when watching stuff in my home theater. This may sound callous, but I kind of envy your problem!

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Mr Sausage
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#977 Post by Mr Sausage » Sat May 25, 2019 8:59 pm

Invest in a pair of earplugs, especially ones meant for musicians who play concerts. They're clear rubber with a plastic insert to allow some sound in, and come with a carry case you can attach to your keychain. Just push them in until you feel the volume is comfortable. My wife does this as she finds movies in general to be too loud.

MongooseCmr
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 11:50 pm

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#978 Post by MongooseCmr » Sat May 25, 2019 9:35 pm

My local theater (Bow Tie) was renovated over the course of 2018 and every updated room seemed to have the default volume a solid 20-50% too loud. We saw The Spy Who Dumped Me, a comedy with some action scenes in it, and the noise level could only be described as violent. If it wasn’t so busy we would have tried to get it lowered. Another local chain, Cinemark, has no issues with their new theaters. They’re just a great chain in general though, hats off to them for never having problems with projection and even refunding me twice for seating issues.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#979 Post by tenia » Sun May 26, 2019 5:00 am

diamonds wrote:
Sat May 25, 2019 8:38 pm
I've never been behind the projector, but surely it's possible to adjust the volume somewhere between slightly-too-quiet and earsplitting-conversation + speaker-distorting-loudness? About halfway through the film, during an intimate night-time scene, not only the bass but eventually also a vague melody from the next-door screening reverberated through our theater.
I've witnessed myself someone from the theater adjusting on the fly the volume through his laptop (wirelessly linked to the digital projection system). It was for the Muse - Live at Rome theatrical showing. The sound originally was arguably quite low, and the guy spent a good chunk of the movie increasing progressively the sound until it was powerful enough but not ear spliting. I didn't know who he was and what he was doing, but could see the light from his laptop and had to go to ask him, during the showing, if he could be more discreet, so after the showing, he apologized and explained to me and my parents how the setup was working for DCPs. Quite neat.

However, like Cremildo, I rather have the issue the other way around in France. Very loud movies are the exceptions, but movies too quiet are frequent. I watched John Wick 3 two days ago, and the sound was Ok but I would have increased it a bit if it were me. But sure enough, even during the quieter moments, we couldn't hear the other rooms (though the toilets were next to Theater 1, and boy the rumbling and grumbling made me felt like the building was about to collapse).
Mr Sausage wrote:
Sat May 25, 2019 8:59 pm
Invest in a pair of earplugs, especially ones meant for musicians who play concerts. They're clear rubber with a plastic insert to allow some sound in, and come with a carry case you can attach to your keychain. Just push them in until you feel the volume is comfortable. My wife does this as she finds movies in general to be too loud.
The one advice I'd give however, is that these ear plugs are filtering mid to high frequencies, so you'll be left with a spectrum biased in favor of the low end. It might not be an issue depending on the movie, but for some, it could.

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RitrovataBlue
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:02 pm

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#980 Post by RitrovataBlue » Sun May 26, 2019 10:48 am

My spouse often feels that movies are too loud, and sometimes brings a pair of earplugs, but volume rarely makes me uncomfortable. The Cinemark where we see most studio films rarely, if ever, plays movies at an uncomfortable volume. Our other nearby multiplex is a Regal, and there I have had some discomfort, especially on its baby IMAX screen. Though it’s the biggest screen in my city, it’s also invariably the loudest, and a few movies have made me aurally uncomfortable there. Blade Runner 2049 was memorably too loud, as was Inside Out (which even my constantly yelling then-toddler daughter complained about). The only really loud film I’ve seen at the local art house was Tree of Life, but then Malick insisted. That said, I have a high tolerance for loud volumes, having grown up around tractors, diesel trucks, and similar farm equipment, and I often stand near speaker stacks during concerts. So I might not be the best judge of what is *too* loud.

Tenia’s anecdote, as well as the variability between theaters Mongoosecmr and I have noticed, suggest that this is a problem with theater managers more than with the industry in general. It’s possible that diamonds’s local theater managers are engaged in some kind of auditory Cold War, each trying to outdo the others until every regular moviegoer is clinically deaf. After all, most contemporary Hollywood movies are probably more enjoyable without dialogue...

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#981 Post by zedz » Sun May 26, 2019 4:57 pm

Mr Sausage wrote:
Sat May 25, 2019 8:59 pm
Invest in a pair of earplugs, especially ones meant for musicians who play concerts. They're clear rubber with a plastic insert to allow some sound in, and come with a carry case you can attach to your keychain. Just push them in until you feel the volume is comfortable. My wife does this as she finds movies in general to be too loud.
Seconded. Get some professional drummers' earplugs that cut excess noise without muffling or distorting it. As indicated above, they have multiple chambers so you can calibrate just how much sound you want to cut out. I got a pair when I did some Taiko drumming a couple of years ago and have used them ever since for live concerts. Never had to use them in a cinema - yet!

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bottled spider
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#982 Post by bottled spider » Sun May 26, 2019 9:09 pm

Ah! Complaining about noise! Is there a more enjoyable activity in life?

So how do these professional earplugs compare to the disposable styrofoam things available at any drugstore? So far I've found those sufficient for art house movies. And even if a movie isn't being played too loudly, I've found (as a mentioned on this thread some time earlier) that loosely fitted earplugs attenuate the sound of popcorn and cellophane and fidgeting etc without compromising the audibility of dialogue. But there are other situations where I could use greater sound reduction than the foam ones afford.

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furbicide
Joined: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:52 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#983 Post by furbicide » Mon May 27, 2019 12:03 am

Interesting discussion! Here in Melbourne I've never once had a problem with the volume at independent theatres (either too loud or too quiet), and I am generally pretty sensitive to loud noise. I have a sneaking suspicion that the multiplexes might be a different story, though.

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fiddlesticks
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#984 Post by fiddlesticks » Mon May 27, 2019 1:24 am

Purely by happenstance, I came across the following passage in a review of Tokyo! by one Gregory Laxer on Amazon Prime just last night:
I no longer go to movie theaters because I don't feel respected by the management; in my own home theater I control the volume so I can actually hear quiet dialogue

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Mr Sausage
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#985 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon May 27, 2019 6:20 am

bottled spider wrote:
Sun May 26, 2019 9:09 pm
Ah! Complaining about noise! Is there a more enjoyable activity in life?

So how do these professional earplugs compare to the disposable styrofoam things available at any drugstore? So far I've found those sufficient for art house movies. And even if a movie isn't being played too loudly, I've found (as a mentioned on this thread some time earlier) that loosely fitted earplugs attenuate the sound of popcorn and cellophane and fidgeting etc without compromising the audibility of dialogue. But there are other situations where I could use greater sound reduction than the foam ones afford.
Much more comfortable since they aren't putting constant pressure on your ear canal like those expanding ones. They're also better for filtering sound (as opposed to just blocking it) and you can adjust how much they're blocking your ear canal, as zedz reiterated.

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bottled spider
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#986 Post by bottled spider » Mon May 27, 2019 11:36 am

Thanks. Comfort is certainly an issue, as I sometimes wish to keep them in for a prolonged period.

black&huge
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2017 5:35 am

Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#987 Post by black&huge » Thu Aug 08, 2019 3:42 am

I saw Once upon a time in Hollywood for the second time last week and I rarely go to the theaters anymore (maybe 3-4 times per year for a while now) but it was as if everything I hated decided to just make a surprise appearance all throughout.

1. I was by myself and sandwiched in between a couple and some guy with either his mother or someone older than him. The couple wasn't bad they just loudly opened snacks at one point late in the movie. Nothing I couldn't get over quickly. However the guy with the older person did that thing where he pointed out almost every actor and who they were playing if they were portraying real life people the whole time. Two things that made this particularly unbearable: the person he was with that he was pointing people out to seemed to not care at all. It was especially embarrassing when he pointed out Mama Cass and had to go "you know... from the mamas and the papas" and the other person just nodded confusingly. It reeked of "I definitely read the wikipedia for this movie!". The other thing was he kept incorrectly referencing how the people were involved in real life. Biggest example being him trying to explain that Dakota Fanning's Squeaky Fromme was one of the Tate murderers.😖

He also did this weird thing when Rick goes out to confront the followers pulling up to the house and goes "whoa! Is that Tex?" As they show him in close up as the driver of the car. Biggest thing was that when
SpoilerShow
it's slowly being revealed as Rick comes out of his shed with the flamethrower, the two seconds before it's even shown he "cool guy" just says out loud "HERE COMES THE FLAMETHROWER"
I got that this was actually his first time seeing the movie because when the credits rolled he said something like "where was the plot hole? I didn't find one" and left before the mid credits scene played.

2. Some girl answered her phone THEN got up to leave the auditorium talking loudly right before the climax started.

I just dealt with it and the great experience I had on opening night sorta just let me blow it over. I didn't really feel I took it in the second time so I'm going once more a little later in its run.

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Big Ben
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#988 Post by Big Ben » Thu Aug 08, 2019 4:40 am

As quiet and as reserved as I am I think there's sometimes a legitimate reason to tell people to please be quiet, particularly when it becomes incredibly disruptive.

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dustybooks
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:52 am
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#989 Post by dustybooks » Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:16 pm

Had a very weird experience this past Sunday when my wife and I went to the Fathom/TCM anniversary screening of The Color Purple. The film appeared to be framed at 2.35:1 and I honestly didn’t think anything of it at first. The title cards noting the time period seemed to be getting cut off on the bottom edge; I had already shut off my phone but once I was able to check, sure enough, it’s a 1.85 film. I’ve seen a truly embarrassing number of framing issues around here, most recently Uncut Gems matted incorrectly at 1.85, but this is the first time it’s gone in the opposite direction — isn’t it actually extra work to cut a 1.85 title off for a 2.35 frame? And I know it’s a broken record in his thread but how are these errors so common when we’ve been sold such a bill of goods about digital completely erasing the opportunity for such “mistakes” (or sheer laziness, or whatever it is) to happen? It’s frustrating to me because I’ve just convinced myself to start embracing the theatrical experience more, but it seems like I’m constantly having to check behind the theater to see if the presentation is even correct. I don’t feel like that should be my responsibility? And I don’t feel like it’s petty at all, but I have a feeling it would be treated as such if I complained... I’ve started avoiding other theaters because of repeated errors along these lines, but this historically has been one of the more dependable ones...

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#990 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:23 pm

If its a theater that's otherwise worthwhile, I think you have to complain (politely, of course, and more in a "bringing this to your attention" tone than "how could you, you philistine?!") every time there's something noticeably wrong with projection, sound, whatever. They'll assume that no one notices projection errors as long as they don't hear anything from the paying customers, and they won't make the connection to their presentation if someone just stops attending altogether.

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Brian C
I hate to be That Pedantic Guy but...
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#991 Post by Brian C » Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:41 pm

That is weird and it's hard to understand how it would have happened, especially since you would have certainly been watching a DCP. How extreme was the framing? In other words, was the top and bottom of the frame being obviously chopped off? Zooming a 1.85 movie to 2.35 would be radically noticeable, way beyond just some text at the bottom being lost.
DarkImbecile wrote:
Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:23 pm
If its a theater that's otherwise worthwhile, I think you have to complain (politely, of course, and more in a "bringing this to your attention" tone than "how could you, you philistine?!") every time there's something noticeably wrong with projection, sound, whatever. They'll assume that no one notices projection errors as long as they don't hear anything from the paying customers, and they won't make the connection to their presentation if someone just stops attending altogether.
To add to this ... it's more than likely that the staff and management at any multiplex will genuinely have no idea that there are projection problems these days, since the projectors really literally do run themselves aside from general maintenance like changing the lamps now and again. But the flip side of this is that whoever you complain to will probably not think you're petty, as much as they're unlikely to have any actual idea what you're talking about or how to fix it.

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dustybooks
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#992 Post by dustybooks » Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:08 pm

It honestly wasn’t extreme enough to disturb me a great amount in the moment, which is strange. There were a handful of shots in which heads got cut off, but it was still ambiguous enough that I thought it was possible the film was in the correct ratio but very slightly misframed/misaligned. (Forgive my ignorance on the terminology there. Speaking of ignorance, I also wondered if it was something extremely simple like a setting being toggled incorrectly, not having any real clue how digital projectors work.) And to your point about the projector running itself — that was my thought, that it was unlikely there was anyone in the building who’d have had any real involvement with the setup. I think I will say something in polite terms to the management there, but hopefully it remains an anomaly.

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bad future
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#993 Post by bad future » Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:41 am

I’ve just about stopped going to the Fathom screenings altogether because of a consistent problem which I’ve brought to the management’s attention several times but which they haven’t been able to fix. (They say they’ve tried, but they also like to mention that no one else has complained, so I don’t know how hard they’ve tried.)

Basically, most but not all of the Fathom screenings are severely cropped on every side, though less at the bottom than the top and sides. I actually consulted a super-nerdy cinema projection forum, and they told me that most Fathom films are sent not as DCP, but sent via satellite to a DVR which is then connected to the projector with an HDMI cable, and the problem probably lies with either the DVR or the projector’s setting for that HDMI channel. Apparently the DCP’s are generally reserved for films that are longer and/or in CinemaScope, and that seems consistent with my experience. Nearly all of the problem screenings have been for 1.85:1 films, plus some Academy ratio films from the TCM series, and the latter don’t seem to be cut off on the sides, probably because they’re really a 1.85:1 image with black on the sides, so only the black is getting cropped. In addition to the cropping, they often seem to be of poor resolution and/or bitrate, which could also have to do with the DVR method. Lawrence of Arabia looked great, and that was surely DCP.

I actually surreptitiously took photos of the screen during Whisper of the Heart last year (always either from behind a partition or completely covering the phone screen so there was no light to disturb the other patrons!) and then pulled the exact same frames from the blu ray and then made photoshop comparisons highlighting the difference, to illustrate the problem for the manager. (Extreme Tracy Flick energy.)

I’ll share those pictures here in case anyone wants to commiserate: https://imgur.com/a/2MWjLVY

These don’t really convey how detrimental it is to have a *whole movie* cropped like this, but I’m sure anyone can imagine. The visual storytelling is totally disrupted, heads are constantly cut off.. it adds a feeling of amateurishness to the compositions, like the camera is always too close.

Still, it doesn’t surprise me if I am the only person who has complained. Someone would have to think it looks weird, realize why it looks weird, be totally confident that the film wasn’t always like that and it’s not just an ‘old movie’ thing, and then when the movie is over, still care about it more than they care about getting out of the theater. I’m just unusually pedantic, nearly always there alone, and have a vested interest in seeing the issue resolved because I’d like to be able to look forward to these things!

King Kong is an all time fave but I’m feeling like it would just be painful to see it look so bad next month.

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Brian C
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#994 Post by Brian C » Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:58 am

I don’t know for sure and I could be wrong, so by all means don’t buy tickets based on this info, but I was under the impression that the Fathom/TCM screenings these days were almost all DCP and most of the rest of Fathom’s shows are not.

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bad future
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#995 Post by bad future » Wed Feb 26, 2020 3:20 am

Last time I spoke with the manager (weirdly because the framing was totally botched when I saw Dark Waters, cutting off text all through the movie, presumably entirely unrelated to the Fathom issues smh) he did say that Fathom is sending more DCP’s lately, so you could be right. Meet Me in St. Louis was one of the bad ones though and that was only in December... though it is of course possible that it has nothing to do with whether it’s DCP or not.

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Roger Ryan
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#996 Post by Roger Ryan » Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:46 am

Not certain if this would be relevant to a Fathom event, but when I saw a theatrical screening of The Shape of Water back in 2017, the 1.85:1 film was cropped to 2.35:1, which affected composition (of course) as well as obscuring some of the Russian-language subtitles. When I brought this to management's attention, it took a while for them to grasp what I was talking about, but they eventually realized that the projector had been left on the setting for the 2.35:1-framed film which had screened in the auditorium just previous to The Shape of Water screening. In the old days of film projection, I believe a physical matte was placed in front of the projector lens for some (all?) wide-screen films*, but I suppose it comes down to flicking a switch to accommodate the appropriate aspect ratio now.

*Back in 1993, a friend told me about going to a cinema to see Adrian Lyne's Indecent Proposal which was inadvertently screened "open matte" (closer to full frame 1.37:1 than the appropriate 1.85:1 aspect ratio). As a result, he felt the boom microphone should have received supporting actor billing as it was clearly visible shifting around above the heads of the actors for a good 70% of the film!

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#997 Post by tenia » Wed Feb 26, 2020 10:28 am

dustybooks wrote:
Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:16 pm
I’ve seen a truly embarrassing number of framing issues around here, most recently Uncut Gems matted incorrectly at 1.85, but this is the first time it’s gone in the opposite direction — isn’t it actually extra work to cut a 1.85 title off for a 2.35 frame?
I saw The Babysitter (that one with Vin Diesel) with the beginning improperly masked at 2.35. They removed the masks and the issue was solved in 2 minutes but I had to run and tell the staff about it because of how obviously cropped some shots were. It IS seemingly extra work, but also seemingly not so much, and I guess if you think it is indeed 2.35, you're just doing your job. However, it was 35mm then, not a DCP, but maybe even with DCP, some theaters still apply masks in some ways for 2.35 ?
DarkImbecile wrote:
Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:23 pm
They'll assume that no one notices projection errors as long as they don't hear anything from the paying customers, and they won't make the connection to their presentation if someone just stops attending altogether.
Some do seem to be careful about that even when nobody notices. I saw Minions in theaters and their digital projector was having a slight color misalignment, causing very slight green bleeding. I told someone from the staff, the guy told me they have routinely scheduled maintenance for this and it might just be the next one is due soon. In any case, I saw another movie the week after in the same room, and the problem was solved.
I don't think many people noticed the issue though.
bad future wrote:
Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:41 am
I’ll share those pictures here in case anyone wants to commiserate: https://imgur.com/a/2MWjLVY
These don’t really convey how detrimental it is to have a *whole movie* cropped like this, but I’m sure anyone can imagine.
This honestly looks heavily cropped. I think even overscan on TVs wasn't so bad.

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dustybooks
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#998 Post by dustybooks » Wed Feb 26, 2020 2:15 pm

bad future wrote:
Wed Feb 26, 2020 1:41 am
Basically, most but not all of the Fathom screenings are severely cropped on every side, though less at the bottom than the top and sides. I actually consulted a super-nerdy cinema projection forum, and they told me that most Fathom films are sent not as DCP, but sent via satellite to a DVR which is then connected to the projector with an HDMI cable, and the problem probably lies with either the DVR or the projector’s setting for that HDMI channel. Apparently the DCP’s are generally reserved for films that are longer and/or in CinemaScope, and that seems consistent with my experience. Nearly all of the problem screenings have been for 1.85:1 films, plus some Academy ratio films from the TCM series, and the latter don’t seem to be cut off on the sides, probably because they’re really a 1.85:1 image with black on the sides, so only the black is getting cropped. In addition to the cropping, they often seem to be of poor resolution and/or bitrate, which could also have to do with the DVR method. Lawrence of Arabia looked great, and that was surely DCP.
This is quite interesting, thank you. The Color Purple was a one-night thing while most of the TCM showcases run for at least a couple of days. I wonder if that makes a difference in the way the file is distributed.
King Kong is an all time fave but I’m feeling like it would just be painful to see it look so bad next month.
I was always a little apprehensive about going to these things, I don't know why, but in my neck of the woods it's my only chance to see older films and I finally decided to start checking them out, at which point this foul-up immediately tripped me up. But there's also something called Flashback Cinemas here at the Stone Theaters chain and so far their screenings I've been to have been flawless; they're showing North by Northwest this weekend. I will probably be terribly discouraged if something goes wrong with that one!

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Murdoch
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#999 Post by Murdoch » Sun Mar 01, 2020 11:22 am

I went to see Portrait of a Lady on Fire and a guy seated a row away decided he'd bring whipped cream as his movie snack, and proceeded to spray the can into a cup and slurp it throughout the movie. Then, when he ran out of it, he left in the middle of the movie only to return for the final scene.

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hearthesilence
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Re: Movie Theater Experiences

#1000 Post by hearthesilence » Sun Mar 01, 2020 2:04 pm

Murdoch wrote:
Sun Mar 01, 2020 11:22 am
I went to see Portrait of a Lady on Fire and a guy seated a row away decided he'd bring whipped cream as his movie snack, and proceeded to spray the can into a cup and slurp it throughout the movie. Then, when he ran out of it, he left in the middle of the movie only to return for the final scene.
Jesus, if he tried that shit in NYC, the audience would've shouted him down the second he pressed down on that can.

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