I hate to start another movie bashing thread, but since I just had a clinching experience today, and I can't find other such threads, here goes.
I went to go see X-Men 3 today, Monday and a 12:30 showing to avoid crowds. This was the first time I'd felt compelled to see something theatrically since Serenity, so more than half a year(amazing, since at one time I was seeing 3 movies every weekend). It was me, a quiet couple a few seats from me, a middle aged woman above me, and... four giggly teenage girls towards the top, I knew this was going to be bad at that moment.
As the previews starting rolling, their giggling increased, and then, to my utter amazement, two of them actually fucking had laser pointers! Well the time for the movie to start was growing close, and their use of the pointers got more frequent. So I did something I've never done(having seen maybe hundreds of movies at the theater), I stood up, turned around and just stared at them until they put the pointers away.
I think I look pretty intimidating as I'm growing a full beard, so that solved that, barely heard a peep out of them after that, guess I'm getting grumpy in my old age. So the movie starts... and the lights didn't get any dimmer than they were for the commercials.
I would have gotten up to comlain, but I didn't want to miss any of the movie, so I lived with destroyed black levels. I shit you not, the lights got dim as the end credits came up! Probably the first time that goober in the booth even noticed.
That, and audio was not loud enough to suite me, but I've heard worse at the theater, plus compared to my system it sounded hollow, shrill and bassless. And the PQ was not good. I don't know what the deal was, but it grainy, and several shots appeared out of focus.
All that from a THX certified theater .
Far as I'm concerned, bring on the simultanous DVD and theatrical releases! People are a bunch of animals, if 7 other people people in the theater is all it takes to spoil an experience, then to hell with it. DVD is excellent, and with the recent HD-DVD releases, I'm even less inclined to see films theatrically. The only other movie I plan to see this year at the theaters is Superman at the Imax, never have people issues there, and the system is almost as good as mine.
