it's the theater you're at. Even the local one near me looks good during everything. Wall-e was AMAZING! ;)

and happy near-1/4 century of marriage! :D That's getting rarer from what I understand!

It really does depend on the theater. Around here it's not very good. Screens are smaller than when I was a kid because what was once a single theater is now a Quad-plex so that one big screen is 1/4 what it use to be. Sound doesn't blow me away either. Sometimes too low (maybe I'm going deaf?). I go because this kids want to see something or for one of my favorites like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, etc. National Treasure 1 & 2 was another I went to with the kids. Awesome movies. The experience just isn't what it use to be. (but then again, when I was a kid a 25" TV was as big as it got) ;-)

Anyway... Happy Anniversary!

~jr

All the 'entertainment' on the screen before the lights go out is usually projected from video on an LCD or DLP projector, usually SD resolution. It's odd that they'd show previews then though. Most of the theaters in my area show local ads and movie trivia quizzes, of course with lots of ads for refreshments too. The movie previews don't start until the lights go off and the big arc lamp powered film projector comes on.

depending on the chain/theater, they show "access hollywood" type of "shows" before the movie starts too. Can be pretty fun to watch. Can include previews, interviews, etc.

I only ever see 1 "turn off the cellphone" ad though. But it DOESN'T WORK!!!!!!!

I haven't been to the theater in years, even though it used to be my favorite thing to do. Back in the early 1970s, when I was taking a film class, I went to the movies every night, seven days a week.

The smell is the first reason I no longer go. Our theaters stink.

The relatively small screen is the second reason. I grew up in Chicago, and the downtown screen were huge. Even some of the local suburban screens were pretty big. And when you saw a film with almost a thousand other people, it was magic.

The seating is good and bad. The seats are more comfortable than the old days, but they are often not placed at right angles to the screen. This is especially true of theaters that were chopped up into multiple screens, and they had to put the seats at right angles to the line of the "rake" because the screen is now off to the left or right.

Also, my feet stick to the floor.

Like flying, which I also don't do anymore, most of the fun has been taken out of the experience.

Yeah, lots of fun has been taken out of the movies-but still way more fun than flying.

We don't get to the theaters much, none around here. But we got to see the Dark Knight on the big screen-wow, great movie, and we were the only ones there!

Happy anniversary,

kairosmatt

We moved to Green Bay about 2.5 years ago, and the nice folks here built a great big theater about a mile from our house. Wow...great stuff. I grew up in a small town in northern Wisconsin, and the only theater in town had terrible sound and a projector that seemed to go out half a dozen times during the film. So movies weren't a big part of my life growing up.

But this new theater is really great, although I hear you about prices going to the movies. Wow...there are only three of us here, and we can still spend $40. That's exactly what an extra 4GB of RAM cost me two weeks ago! So the home theater thing really appeals to us, although we haven't spent a ton of money doing this yet. We have an Hitachi 47" TV that's "HD ready" but it's kind of a pain to get it configured, and we really don't have that many HD feeds on the cable service just yet. But I hope to upgrade to a 55-60" LCD television at some point, and maybe add some new speakers to the mix as well.

Nice thread though, and Happy Anniversary riredale! We just had our 20th last week, so something similar went down here--and I also find it interesting how one's perspective on things changes through life.

TB

I still enjoy going out to the movies but we have about 12 theaters that I can think of that are in striking range. I think almost all have more than one screen. Of those, two are new modern multiplexes that I almost never go to, partly because they're full of kids and cellphones, and partly because they don't often play movies that interest me. (Surprised to hear that the National Treasure movies were good, btw. Maybe I'll rent one some day)

Outside the multilplexes, area folks pick up their trash and carry it out to the cans in the lobby when they leave, so the theaters don't get too sticky. These places don't sell a lot of dogs and nachos so things don't reek inside too much.

Small theaters could improve. Projectionists need to clean their gear or the theater needs to go digital projection. Yeah, the theaters are carved up and the seats aren't perpendicular to the screens sometimes. The best seating at one local screen is all along the left edge of the room. And the seats are often old. But the previews and ads are usually much less, and often the previews are of something I might want to see.

I'm talking about the Oakland/Berkeley area of California. Here in Oakland we have one remnant of a minor movie palace. It's been cut up a little but the main theater still has a guy playing a Wurlitzer that rises out of the floor on Fridays. I like that but the place itself needs restoration and there's probably no money for it.

Four of the theaters are over by the UC Berkeley campus within about a block of each other. It's easy to go there, randomly pick a place to eat lunch, and then randomly pick a movie. Three of them play art house picks so the options are good.

Better than home? Depends on what you have to watch things on at home and whether you want to stay home. A couple of years ago we went out to see "The Lives of Others" and I've got to say that it wouldn't have impacted me so deeply if I'd been sitting at home watching while leafing through magazines or glancing at my laptop. There's something to be said for walking out of a theater into the night air with your mind or gut stirred and shaken.

Movies that needed a walk after seeing them?

The Mission
After Life
Nobody Knows
Mysterious Skin
The Lives of Others
many others that don't come to mind at the moment.

Rob Mack

Sounds like you just went to a bad theatre. There are good and bad ones around me, but the good ones have terrific projection; better than anything I"ve seen on a home setup.

Personally, I don't really get the people that prefer watching it at home. Don't get me wrong; I've got a massive collection of DVDs and Blu-Rays, and I love being able to watch at my leisure. However, DVD resolution isn't high enough quality for a large screen; I've never cared for it. Blu-Ray is an improvement, obviously, but I I'll take digital projection from a 4K source at a truly modern theatre any day. Film can look great, as well, but it is much easier to make it look bad than digital projection. I've never felt the majority of large-screen TVs or relatively cheap projectors people buy for home can match the quality of a truly well-projected film at the theatre. And I'm not interested in spending tens of thousands of dollars attempting to match that.

And then there's the IMAX and Digital 3-D experiences in modern theatres; and no paltry home system is going to match those.

And anyway, theatres are about the social experience, and getting Personally, I enjoy the trailers; it's just part of the experience.

Thanks, you guys, for your kind thoughts. My wife's name is Karen and I am grateful that she has put up with me for all these years.

The seats in the theater were really cool--kind of squishy and with a headrest right where you wanted to rest your head. I could have fallen asleep in there.

No sticky floors. The theater is about 4 years old and has an Imax room also. "High School Musical" was playing on three screens throughout the evening (19 screens in all).

Just a little bit of leakthrough from the adjoining theater. There would be a poignant heartstrings-pulling moment in the Bee movie and you'd be able to hear the muffled "boom--boom" from some pyrotechnics in the other movie. But not too bad.

One thing that really irritates me, though: Whenever really low bass is played as part of some explosion or other special effect (during the previews in this case--the bees wouldn't explode, just buzz), there is this really weird and loud "wa-wa-wa-wa-wa" bass note at about maybe 10 or 15Hz. Could it be intentional? Maybe some sort of room resonance? Some uncompensated electrical feedback? I really don't know, but to my ears it sure doesn't sound natural or realistic.

One other thought regarding the whole movie-going experience. When I was doing some research on the "Oklahoma!" movie a few years ago, I learned that it was laboriously shot in not just one, but TWO formats, 35mm Cinemascope and 65mm Todd-AO. Each take was repeated for the second camera. The anamorphic Cinemascope version is the one everyone has seen and ran at the usual 24 frames per second, but the Todd-AO needed special projection equipment. It used 6-channel audio and ran at 30 frames. All this back in the mid-1950's.

Supposedly, seeing the Todd-AO version was almost a religious experience, and special showings with reserved seating costing about $40 (inflation-adjusted) were big hits in major cities.

Now THAT would be an interesting night out at the movies.

Oh, forgot the most important thing. Happy anniversary!

Rob

Supposedly, seeing the Todd-AO version was almost a religious experience, and special showings with reserved seating costing about $40 (inflation-adjusted) were big hits in major cities.I'm old enough to have seen both Todd AO and the original three-projector Cinerama (didn't care for the obvious lines between the three cameras). "Around the World in 80 Days" was unbelievable.

Happy anniversary to you and your wife, rirdale! ;-) I guess being a "Vegas" person didn't stress the marriage bonds, ;-)

I went to my first "digital" theater experience a few years ago, blew me away! I won't go to a movie now unless it's digital, there's that much of a difference.

Anyway, happy 24th!