Alamo Drafthouse and also politics of talking during the movies thread

Oh what, the Alamo is one of those cinemas that serve DINNER? Lollll wtf is this thread, burn all those places down

― type your stinkin prose off me, ur damned qwerty uiop (wins), Wednesday, May 2, 2018 9:43 AM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was extremely suspicious but alamo is a surprisingly tolerable experience. loved watching the apple there

Dinner & a movie doesn’t have to happen simultaneously, guys, you can last two hours without stuffing your faces

i ate fries

how will i be able to hear this Hans Zimmer score with all the belching going on

I deem this thread now good

there's certainly ... precedent ... for eating food at the movies

https://media.giphy.com/media/pUeXcg80cO8I8/giphy.gif

wins doesn't realize that we don't all eat like psycho cookie monsters at every meal

I only see movies if the theater is also a ball pit.

https://media1.tenor.com/images/54451401d52c0dd2fe9ee5752857d53c/tenor.gif

yeah like i said i've never been to an Alamo Drafthouse, or a Cinebistro or any theater that has servers coming back and forth during the movie, that seems totally alien to me. i've been a theater with those sofa-style seats only once, that was stupid.

re: laughing at old movies at shit that's not funny, OTMFM... I had a particularly bad experience the other night with this, three things: yes, so much laughter where it wasn't appropriate, some idiot took a picture of the screen with the flash on... TWICE... but worst of all the guy in front of me would go "WOOOOOOOOOW!!!" or "BEAAAAAAAUTIFUL!!!" or "AMAAAAAAAAZING" every time a cool shot would come up. it was a film noir from 1944, so he was practically cumming in his pants every time there was a shot of a hat floating in a puddle, or a tracking shot thru rooms, or a closeup of Ella Raines' leggings, to which he went "OOOOOH-LA-LAAAAA!" bad cinephile behavior, it exists

Alamo has a system, don't knock it til you try it

lmao flappy

xxp "Take that man out and have him shot."

https://yossarianconnectionscatch-22.wikispaces.com/file/view/18148-3099.gif/213340472/18148-3099.gif

kurt, as someone who has also moved from rock shows to cinema do you find film people better or worse than music people

depends on the genre! metal dudes are always the nicest except the racist ones. shoegaze ppl are the roughest group of humans i've ever encountered. political punks still the worst.
horror ppl are always sweet and full of love. old revival film dudes are the biggest jerks on the planet. basics that go see back 2 the future or something are always rough but they pay the bills so oh well.

ftr i do a lot of work for alamo and i think they have changed the way ppl see movies for the better. if you are complaining about the food or drinks or whatev you probably haven't been to an alamo. they are pretty strict about the manners thing, which is good 90% of the time. one time i got in trouble because i encouraged dancing during a 35mm (it was QT's print!) screening of Sign O The Times after Prince died.

is that... Orson Welles as a nazi

xp

idk everyone otm here except for Adam, Alamo is fine (and p much the only theatre besides the Castro that I go to nowadays)

"WOOOOOOOOOW!!!" or "BEAAAAAAAUTIFUL!!!" or "AMAAAAAAAAZING" ... "OOOOOH-LA-LAAAAA!"

definitely into this

There's this tic among **certain** movie people that I see as completely absent in the music scene, so it's really striking for me when I encounter it.

I call it "nachos"

Like if you bring a music guy some nachos, he might say something sarcastic or funny like, "'Bout time, thanks"

But if you bring a movie guy some nachos, he will say something like, "Oh ho, cheesy comestibles for my masticating pleasure!"

When I made that comment this morning I was referring to people on their phone ie texting the kind of communication that most people use when on their phones in public for about 10 years now. Obviously if someone is holding a full conversation they will step into a lobby, to cut down on by noise if anything.

It is hilarious to see all these people that demand empathy from their leaders and fellow citizens yet in an everyday situation it’s just asking too much to move to another fucking seat

you go to movie theaters with extra seats? Alamo theaters seat like 30 people.

damn dude let me know when the shuttle lands xp

oh yah Whiney otm re: nachos. music is a social thing. movies are a world of imagination and wonder you can explore all by your lonesome!

no empathy for people texting in movie theaters. ever. go outside

Lmao Adam everyone knew you meant texting, if you need to text (you don’t) leave the film you aren’t watching instead of expecting everyone else to move seats you psycho

The only majorly irritating trend I've seen of late is the spontaneous La-Z-Boy-ification of theaters. There have been a couple instances in recent memory where a theater I used to casually go to suddenly has only fourteen assigned easy chairs (with the only available seats on the aisle, natch) and everyone naturally has to recline except the foot thing like actually blocks the entire aisle and so an entire aisle of people has to noisily retract their foot thing every time some kid has to take a squirt. Just yuck.

is that... Orson Welles as a nazi

xp

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, May 2, 2018 1:07 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol no, General Dreedle in "Catch-22"

What if I really feel like jerking off? What if it takes my mind off my sick relative? A little empathy from my fellow patrons, if you please

yeah the sofa style seats in theaters = dud

It is hilarious to see all these people that demand empathy from their leaders and fellow citizens yet in an everyday situation it’s just asking too much to move to another fucking seat

Ah, yes, the deep empathy expressed by "Can all of you please inconvenience yourselves in the middle of a movie to accommodate my rudeness? Thanks!"

Not sure if this is specifically a Washington, DC thing (or just the shows that I attend), but both film and music events in this area seem to attract people who are more interested in meeting up with their friends than watching the show. A Fugazi reunion/70mm screening of 2001 could be happening but there'd be big portions of the audience more interested in talking to the people they came with.

Which do you find more disruptive: use of a cellphone/tablet during a screening, or audience members audibly snapping at someone for using a phone? I say the latter, and it's quite common at the National Gallery of Art screenings I attend.

recliner seats in cinemas rule hard

There's no need to audibly snap. Just throw popcorn.

yah it aint like that out here. Shakey can vouch for the certain breed of SF TRUE CINEMA LOVER. i appreciate them. xxp

The first time I ever saw someone use a cell phone during a movie was during South Park Bigger Longer Uncut. I didn't say anything to the guy, but when I bit into my hot dog, some of the grease shot out the end and landed in his hair.

hell yea

xxxp

Ah but we're not supposed to bring food into the NGA auditorium. (Not that it stops me or anyone else from smuggling in stuff, but the guards probably wouldn't ignore someone throwing something.)

i was going to say in the other thread that "we need narcs... and vigilantes" i.e. other people in the theater telling talkers & texters to shut up/stop it but realized that was... maybe not the best word re: movie theaters in the US

As a rule, if a theater patron in front of me is using a phone during a movie, I apply ever-increasing pressure to the back of their seat. Subtle and gradual pressure, but also unrelenting. It seems to work.

(NB, none of the patrons in question have been like big hulking dudes as of yet. When they are, I'll report back on whether my method resulted in me getting mashed.)

https://youtu.be/Ea5FClfrQpg?t=240

timestamp 4:00

there are certain scenarios where I actually really enjoy/approve of loud audience/audience participation sorta shit but it really depends on the situation/screening/film. That's v different from cellphone use though, which is explicitly about *not* engaging with what's going on on-screen and with the audience, it's inherently an alienating thing.

idk if I qualify yet as an SF TRUE CINEMA LOVER (I probably don't see enough tbh, hopefully that will change as my kids get older) but some day I will join their hallowed ranks, donating to the upkeep of the Castro theater organ and shushing people talking during Robert Mitchum movies

At a performing arts theatre, you would get escorted out for pulling out a phone mid-performance, and many of those productions are longer than movies.

We should accomodate the poor young guy who can't wait 2.5 hours to text his g/f the lyrix to "The Whisper Song" using only emojis

Recliner seats + food + booze needs to happen. I want to recline and just spill shit everywhere while watching.

It's really not that difficult to not make a mess

I'm assuming the Alamo theaters are like this since the local knockoff is, but it's not servers constantly walking in front of you

the local one (flix brewhouse) is a tiered theater, and each row has a shallow table in front of it, with a little aisle in front of that, *below the level of the table*
so if anyone walks down that aisle, whether it's a patron hustling out to the restroom or a server dropping something off, they're not that noticeable and you never have audience members shuffling in front of more than a couple people to get down to the aisle and out

if you need anything during the movie, there's dim lighting on the table and you write your request on a notepad and then push a button to summon the server. so all you ever see is their arm reaching up to grab the note, or to drop something off

they also have a checkbox on the order pad where you can tell them about a loud guest, but the policy is that guests get a warning before they're told to get out

Theaters should keep the lights on during movies and maybe also play some music so I don't get bored. And would it be too much to ask for like a row of TVs along the side walls showing cable news?

xxxp

They have this combo at some Alamo locations, although the seats don't recline back very far, plus the food is on a small table in front of you. Doesn't mean you can't spill it all over yourself, if that's what you truly desire, but most people don't do this.

I love the Alamo and hate people talking/texting/etc during movies, but I would feel like a total dick if I reported someone for being a loud guest or whatever.

I've never ratted anyone out but I was insanely close to it at a crowded showing I went to (alone, on valentines day, lol) and this young couple next to me showed up to the theater completely hammered. they were doing the "i'm wasted so i make no sense but i'm going to argue with your nonsensical statement" bullshit for the first twenty minutes and I eventually asked if they could go to the lobby if they needed to discuss something, at which point the woman was angst-drunk offended and wanted to start shit but the dude toned it down

they passed out five minutes later and were sleeping deeply enough the server had to shake the dude's shoulder to get him to pay the check after the credits started

I have no qualms complaining about those people tbh

It's pretty weird to me how many people ITT can't wrap their heads around how Alamo-style theaters could possibly work.

I think having a system to complain about guests in a non-obvious way is cool in these theaters but I'd still default to glancing at them or asking quietly

if I weren't a middle-aged average white dude I'd be all about asking assistance

trenchant!

I am hitting Fefu and Her Friends this upcoming week, which features an act during which different portions of the audience will leave their seats to stand extensively at different acts. I don’t know if its possible everyone will have the fortitude to avoid slipping a quick pic for the gram tbh.

Literally one of my last night's out in the before times was seeing a production of Fefu that was simplified to all the action happening in a big staging area with fixed seating for the audience.

it was a good show! much more mobile for the crowd which had to get in where they fit in at the various staging areas.
i miss movies. i miss theater. i miss concerts. i miss restaurants. i miss museums. i miss public spaces.
going to the met this Thursday for their first day open; hope i don't die.

I've been to a few movies since things reopened in MN. In one there were maybe two other people in the theater and one of them was talking on her phone for a few minutes in the middle of the movie, in another a couple talked and joked quietly several times during the film. On both occasions I got the sense that these people didn't think normal rules applied because there were so few people in the audience — despite having to actually follow a number of new rules (wearing masks, distancing, etc.).

this thread always makes me cry laugh.

and also cry because due to the pandemic, Orlando never got its promised Alamo Drafthouse :(