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This thread is for people to rant about bad movie experiences they had, and to warn others of terrible cinemas. Also, I need to rant.

So, I just got back from seeing the new Thor movie at the Cineworld in Glasgow.
Worst. Moviegoing. Experience. Of My Life.

Paid nearly 20 quid for a 4D ticket. I got there on time, as it's about two minutes walk from my hotel. Then I find out I cannot have a beer with my movie, and the screen was absolutely tiny. The effects, I find, distract from the movie rather than add to it.
But that's par for the course when you try something new. You either like it or you don't.
But that was not the worst. The worst part was that the movie started 40(!) minutes worth of commercials late. Movie previews accounted for roughly five of that.
Forty. Bloody. Minutes. If I have to sit through that many commercials, the movie ought to be free.
Never going back there.

Are you sure you didn't walk into a psychology experiment?

Scientist: "Fascinating. Now let's see if the pain pheromone parts per million increases if we increase the hobo stench factor."

I've never understood why, having paid the cinema x amount of money for a product, they then make more money off me by selling advertising space and charging me way too many precious minutes of my finite lifespan.

I know that magazines do the same thing by filling ridiculous amounts of space in a paid for publication with adverts, but who cares? Print is dead.

Following that reasoning, cinemas are on the way out too. When's the BluRay released?

I find its the other members of the audience that are the issue

They simply will not shut the F up.
They have never learnt to eat with their mouth CLOSED
They have to rustle their annoying sweets / popcorn or other food.

If I had my way they would have electric shookers on seets so if you did any of the above you get it.

 Chillreaper wrote:
I've never understood why, having paid the cinema x amount of money for a product, they then make more money off me by selling advertising space and charging me way too many precious minutes of my finite lifespan.

I know that magazines do the same thing by filling ridiculous amounts of space in a paid for publication with adverts, but who cares? Print is dead.

Following that reasoning, cinemas are on the way out too. When's the BluRay released?

The most infuriating part of the pre-show advertising is they deliberately vary the length by up to five minutes either way, so you can never safely skip them and just go in late without risking missing the first few minutes of the movie and also pissing off the rest of the audience.

Once large screen TVs become commonplace, I have no idea why people kept choosing to go to the cinema. It's expensive, riddled with ads and promos, and you give up any control over your experience, subjecting yourself to everything from a simple lack of volume control up through inconsiderate audience members rustling their snacks or using their phones or talking, and at least in my case I feel like I can't fully immerse myself into the movie because I'm worried I'll laugh too loudly or the like and then I'll be the inconsiderate arsehole audience member.

The only time I go these days is for those rare films that I really don't want to have spoiled for me, and even that's becoming a struggle because the cash-vampire cinemas keep filling up what used to be the reasonably empty and quiet weekday daytime slots with awful gimmick & promo showings(mum & baby, schoolkid discounts etc).

Bran Dawri wrote:

Then I find out I cannot have a beer with my movie

I've never seen a cinema that allows alcohol during the movie.

Some do in Britain. But it’s certainly not the norm.

For me, we’ve got on Cinema in the local area. And don’t they know it.

Recently prices have come down, which is nice. But they still don’t really offer a quality experience.

But if I’m to see Thor, guess I’m going.

 Yodhrin wrote:


Once large screen TVs become commonplace, I have no idea why people kept choosing to go to the cinema. It's expensive....

Dunno about USA but in italy those TVs cost like 1000 cinemas' tickets. Not to mention the cost of blu-rays and paying for a tv service, there aren't many decent programs for free on tv.

Going out with friends just to drink a beer is more expensive and less healthy. I certainly prefer going to the cinema

I'm quite fortunate in that my local cinema when I'm at uni, despite being in a shopping centre and having sometimes crazy-low prices, is usually pretty much empty during the day, especially if I'm not going opening week (though even then, I saw Kingsman 2 on opening day the other week and it still wasn't more than a third full), and has impressively massive screens to boot. I've never really had any problems in there and at £3-4.99 a ticket, I think the value is there; some stuff is absolutely worth seeing on the biggest screen possible. No matter how good a TV you have at home, Dunkirk for example deserves to be watched on the biggest screen you can possibly put it on.

When I'm at home it's another story; crap seats, smaller screens, higher prices (despite being the same chain as the aforementioned one) and they've made more than a few errors. I think they left the lights on for the first 10 minutes of War for the Planet of the Apes which killed the amazingly tense opening, they delayed Batman vs Superman for a good 20 minutes while they checked every single ticket (despite already checking them on the gate), and I'm pretty sure they messed up the sound on something I saw a while back as well.

My real pet peeve though is people coming in late. A few minutes is fine, but if you're going to bring in a family with 3 small kids 15 minutes into the film, then run noisily backwards and forwards a good 3-4 times swapping sweets and drinks because you've ended up seated separately, please just... don't.

One thing I found not annoying, just really quite amusing, was when I saw the last Pirates film... within seconds of the credits rolling and the brief post-credits sting, the guy in front of me had his phone out and was looking at a page explaining the end of the film... It really wasn't that complicated!

Bran Dawri wrote:
This thread is for people to rant about bad movie experiences they had, and to warn others of terrible cinemas. Also, I need to rant.

So, I just got back from seeing the new Thor movie at the Cineworld in Glasgow.
Worst. Moviegoing. Experience. Of My Life.

Paid nearly 20 quid for a 4D ticket. I got there on time, as it's about two minutes walk from my hotel. Then I find out I cannot have a beer with my movie, and the screen was absolutely tiny. The effects, I find, distract from the movie rather than add to it.
But that's par for the course when you try something new. You either like it or you don't.
But that was not the worst. The worst part was that the movie started 40(!) minutes worth of commercials late. Movie previews accounted for roughly five of that.
Forty. Bloody. Minutes. If I have to sit through that many commercials, the movie ought to be free.
Never going back there.

... or to most of the other cinemas in the UK?

If you feel the need for a beer, that Cineworld does have a "VIP" screen with better seats and whatnot (I assume, as I've never bothered paying for the privilege). Try the Grosvenor in the West End, if you like that sort of thing. Personally I didn't find the experience worth the extra cost, but YMMV.

As for ads, every film's like that nowadays. If you treat the start time as when you should enter the cinema, it'll go better. I left the bar in that same cinema last night at 20:12 for the 20:10 screening, had time to go to the loo, queue for snacks and got to my seat just as the Star Wars trailer was ending - perfect timing.

Now, if the family of six had shut up during the film more, that would have helped ...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Chillreaper wrote:
I've never understood why, having paid the cinema x amount of money for a product, they then make more money off me by selling advertising space and charging me way too many precious minutes of my finite lifespan.

I know that magazines do the same thing by filling ridiculous amounts of space in a paid for publication with adverts, but who cares? Print is dead.

Following that reasoning, cinemas are on the way out too. When's the BluRay released?

In the cases of both cinema and magazines, the cover/ticket price comes nowhere near to covering costs - and the general public don't want to pay a tenner for a magazine or twenty quid for a cinema ticket. So, ads and overly-expensive popcorn make up the shortfall.

I don't know mind.



If tickets and popcorn and drinks didn't cost the soul of your firstborn child, more people would probably buy them. I certainly would.

When I went to see Dunkirk, the place was packed and people were traipsing in up to ten minutes into the film, making everyone get up in their row to let them through. I’ve never seen the like, especially when tickets are £15 each.

Meanwhile in Blade Runner last week the guy in front of us walked out and never returned despite having a middle row premium seat.

The Prince Charles cinema in Leicester Sq shows some great older films, but their main screen has seating on a floor that slopes down into the middle of the room and then rises towards the back. It doesn’t matter where you sit, you always have people’s heads in the way from several rows ahead. It’s been very frustrating on some visits.

The problem is that cinemas are basically a way to sell you overpriced food - they're basically selling you a ticket at a loss, because the price point on movies is VERY inflexible as far as the consumer is concerned. Thus the advertising before the film, the mark-up on popcorn and drinks (two of the cheapest things on Earth to make), and the trend towards including arcades and fast food joints at the theater. The movie studios take the bulk of the ticket price.

Mostly I prefer to wait until a movie comes out on Blu-Ray and just buy it. While it's not as good as the theatrical experience, it's repeatable and I can make my own popcorn.

As for bad theater experiences, I once went to see Barb Wire (not my personal choice, but a bunch of friends wanted to see it for some reason - probably 2 reasons). Not only was the movie horrible, but the theater was maybe 30 feet wide in total - it literally felt cramped in there. I also went to see The First Power back in 1990. I was using a free movie pass, and I still felt I got ripped off.

OTOH, I saw Pitch Black in theaters. Complete surprise gem of a movie. Shame the sequels were so lame.

 Blackie wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:


Once large screen TVs become commonplace, I have no idea why people kept choosing to go to the cinema. It's expensive....

Dunno about USA but in italy those TVs cost like 1000 cinemas' tickets. Not to mention the cost of blu-rays and paying for a tv service, there aren't many decent programs for free on tv.

Going out with friends just to drink a beer is more expensive and less healthy. I certainly prefer going to the cinema

I guess that it depends on what size TV people require for them to feel that they're getting a suitably large screen experience. I've no idea of the cinema ticket:TV cost in the States or Italy is, but in the UK I'd be perfectly happy with a TV that cost the equivalent of 30-40 of our cinema tickets. The cost of a BluRay disk is pretty close to the cost of a single cinema ticket, so at that point the attraction of the cinema is less compelling.

I'm happily sat in front of a 42" TV at the moment and have no problem with the size of my penis... erm... I mean TV. Did manage to to get a pass to go to the cinema this year the other day to see Bladerunner, though!

We like going to the movies as a social experience. Seeing a comedy or blockbuster with an amped crowd who will cheer or laugh at the right moments is almost cathartic. it's a shared experience.

There is a theater here called Big Newport that used to have amazing opening days for films--cosplayers, beach balls, and the theater would have actors in costume put on a skit before the show. Men in Black had one with choreographed dancing and cool props and a trivia contest.

On the other hand, theaters in Oakland and Berkely had the opposite charms, with people shouting advice at the characters, all kinds of shenanigans and trips in the back rows, unfortunate smell-O-Rama, and impromptu street-performances of favorite scenes by drunks. A film like Mimic is vastly improved by an audience member tripping balls and freaking out over a cockroach on the wall, for instance.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
We like going to the movies as a social experience. Seeing a comedy or blockbuster with an amped crowd who will cheer or laugh at the right moments is almost cathartic. it's a shared experience.

There is a theater here called Big Newport that used to have amazing opening days for films--cosplayers, beach balls, and the theater would have actors in costume put on a skit before the show. Men in Black had one with choreographed dancing and cool props and a trivia contest.

On the other hand, theaters in Oakland and Berkely had the opposite charms, with people shouting advice at the characters, all kinds of shenanigans and trips in the back rows, unfortunate smell-O-Rama, and impromptu street-performances of favorite scenes by drunks. A film like Mimic is vastly improved by an audience member tripping balls and freaking out over a cockroach on the wall, for instance.

We view movies as dates now and only go to a place called Movie House. It has a nice marble bar we hang out at before hand, with reserved seating, excellent food, and good projection equipment. But its not cheap at all so we only good to well reviewed movies or movies one of us really want to see.

Frankly the wheel has really turned and I'd rather see a good TV show like Mindhunter or Better Call Saul than most movies now.

I've almost never had a bad cinema experience for any reason other than the people around me. Whether it's a baby crying in a rated R movie, or people blabbering their mouths. That or the increasingly excessive amount of ads and trailers before a movie. I always know I have enough time to take more than one pee run before anything happens.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:

Bran Dawri wrote:

Forty. Bloody. Minutes. If I have to sit through that many commercials, the movie ought to be free.
Never going back there.

... or to most of the other cinemas in the UK?

If you feel the need for a beer, that Cineworld does have a "VIP" screen with better seats and whatnot (I assume, as I've never bothered paying for the privilege). Try the Grosvenor in the West End, if you like that sort of thing. Personally I didn't find the experience worth the extra cost, but YMMV.

As for ads, every film's like that nowadays. If you treat the start time as when you should enter the cinema, it'll go better. I left the bar in that same cinema last night at 20:12 for the 20:10 screening, had time to go to the loo, queue for snacks and got to my seat just as the Star Wars trailer was ending - perfect timing.

In the cases of both cinema and magazines, the cover/ticket price comes nowhere near to covering costs - and the general public don't want to pay a tenner for a magazine or twenty quid for a cinema ticket. So, ads and overly-expensive popcorn make up the shortfall.

If they all subject me to 40 minutes worth of ads, yeah, I'm not going to the cinema in the UK anymore. I'll go when I'm back in the Netherlands, where the ads are ten, fifteen minutes tops - including previews - for the same price in euros, rather than pounds, better seats, and better screens. The beer I can take or leave, but back home not being able to get one for the movies is exception rather than rule - so was more surprised than pissed off at that one.

And I find it hard to believe that 19 quid pp for the 100+ people they can fit in one room (adding up to 1900 quid [/i]per showing[/i] multiplied by however many rooms they have) doesn't cover the costs. I smell a rat.

Bran Dawri wrote:


And I find it hard to believe that 19 quid pp for the 100+ people they can fit in one room (adding up to 1900 quid [/i]per showing[/i] multiplied by however many rooms they have) doesn't cover the costs. I smell a rat.

One big issue might well just be the rates and tax as well. The UK highstreets - and most UK cinemas are not too far away from them - are stupidly expensive to keep any sort of outlet on now. Cinemas tend to have a huge footfall so it might well be that the costs to just operate - before you've got your own staff and overheads - are very high.

That said in one area near me they gutted a local shopping mall to turn it into a cinema so whilst the costs might be high they should, one would think, be less than for retail outlets (that said the mall had trouble holding onto any retail outlets beyond one or two).



As for home cinemas don't forget bigger screens are supposed to be viewed from further away -if you're too close it actually spoils the experience because you have to keep moving your view over the whole screen to see it all. That's why front row seats are not as good at the cinema (that and the odd neck angle you can end up with in some - and the deafening sound)

As for bad cinema - there's one place we've been too many times that's a theatre that does films and not only are the chairs at a low angle so you nearly always have the "head in view" problem; but they've also got the screen window set far back into the recess of the theatre, which accentuates the head problem.

What staff? Most of the big chain cinemas up here have already combined ticket sales with the snacks tills, and halved the number of those, and gotten rid of ticket checkers, and run the screens centrally with digital projectors. Last time I went to the big, 15-hueg-screen city-centre chain cinema there was one guy visible, so probably only two or three in total.

The rent argument is fair to an extent, but it's not like they have no choice in the matter - going to the cinema is rarely a spur-of-the-moment walk in activity, it's planned, so they only actually *need* to be near public transport routes and adequate parking. The cinema chains choose to rent out big, flashy buildings in city centres, they don't *have* to.

The fact is if they didn't have a stranglehold on distribution, big cinema chains would already be dead or dying, and that stranglehold is why they know they can continue to charge astronomical prices.

I've luckily only had a few poor experiences, but the ones that come to mind:

1) Halloween Movie (I think that was the title). This was the movie that would launch those pop culture parody movies that would die an ignominious death around Epic Movie. We went in as high schoolers and weren't prepared. We gave up after the guy got murdered by SkullF*k

2) Jarhead. Was marketed a patrotic action movie and was instead a movie about loneliness and masturbation. It exaggerated all the bad parts and glossed over any redeeming values. It was the closet I've ever seen a movie get to a circlejerk. The theater was almost empty by the time we left, but I blame the marketing for that. It kept the anti-military folks away and pulled in a bunch of veterans.

Remember the film distributor is usually taking 50-75% of the ticket price on a first run of a movie, hence the excessive prices of snacks

My favourite cinema was a total dump, a literal flea-pit, something had clearly gone through the screen at some point and the repair patch was a different shade

But the chap that ran it was an absolute trooper, getting in weird stuff, doing late night 1-2 day runs, very much appreciated by the local film nerds as the big chain cinema in the next town over only had one (admittedly awesome) screen tended to show one film for ages, I still shudder to recall the 5 week Spiceworld run

Sadly due to people being people the large chain survives to this day, despite piddle poor maintence, inadequate sound proofing for the multi-screens, projectionists happy to just get most of the image on the screen mostly in focus, I only bother with stuff on the main screen now

The Commodore in Aberystwyth was a bit of a dive but is one of the few independent cinemas still going. A lot of seating with a gentle incline so that people blocking your view was an issue. But it was £3 a ticket when I was living there a few years ago, and there’s a bar downstairs so you could take a pint in with you. We called it the fleapit, and no joke I actually caught a flea on myself once, not sure if it came out the seats or off one of the patrons. It was often packed, even for rubbish films because there was little else to do in town. I saw Wimbledon and Bridget Jones 2 for want of something better to do.

You have not lived until you have seen a triple feature at the drive-in!

Drive-ins actually sound pretty cool to me, shame they aren't really a thing over here and also that I can't drive

 Easy E wrote:
You have not lived until you have seen a triple feature at the drive-in!

Fond memories of watching Batman while getting the audio for Honey I Shrunk the Kids (the movie we were actually supposed to be watching.)

Me and my fiance have pretty much given up on going to the movies. It used to be fun, now it's really just the other people that ruin it. The only time we go is if we decided to take off from work on a random wednesday, and go at like 1 or 2 PM. Matinee price makes it more worthwhile, and the theater is usually pretty empty. We used to go at least once a month, now it's barely once a year. The last thing we saw was that new Jurrasic Park movie. We'll probably see star wars when it comes out, but not till it's been out for a couple of months.

With 4K TVs getting cheaper and cheaper, and home theater systems or sound bars too, it really is starting to feel like there's just no reason to go to a theater unless you really can't wait 2-3 months to see it. You can have a similar and more convenient experience at home, with the added bonus of pausing it for pee breaks.

So the only reason I have for going to a theater nowadays is so I can down a whole jumbo tub of popcorn, and then get some to take home since the refills are free

If you are ever in Dublin try this place,

https://lovindublin.com/lifestyle/the-stella-cinema-is-back-and-its-one-of-the-loveliest-experiences-youll-have-in-dublin

Was in it years ago and it was one hell of a flea pit but looks amazing now.

Blackie wrote:I've never seen a cinema that allows alcohol during the movie.

My local cinema installed a bartending area a few months ago that allows you to have beer and mixed drinks with your movie. It's a response to dwindling ticket sales over the years, which are partly because home theater has come so far in the same timeframe.

A few weeks ago saw the worst ticket sales weekend since the weekend after the 9/11 attacks. It's gotten pretty dire in the box office.

Bran Dawri wrote:
Paid nearly 20 quid for a 4D ticket. I got there on time, as it's about two minutes walk from my hotel. Then I find out I cannot have a beer with my movie, and the screen was absolutely tiny. The effects, I find, distract from the movie rather than add to it.

That same theater installed "DBOX" seats which, at a price premium, shake and vibrate in sync with the movie. As you've said, I found them enormously distracting and would never select them again even if they were free.

Since we're talking about cinema rants anyway, here's my 2 cents.

The theater above has added the booze area, which is kind of cool although I'm not getting what are doubtlessly going to be $20 tiny margaritas. Still, I like the option. They've also added these big fancy leather recliners, which also electronically have the legs go up to recline. These are sort of cool in concept except in execution I find the leather gets hot after about an hour and a half and I get fidgety.

My real beef is right around when they did all these upgrades, they also added touchscreen kiosks to allow you to just buy your own tickets instead of waiting in line. These I love, since I can buy my tickets in about 90 seconds assuming there is no old person there ahead of me. The downsides is, for some truly perplexing reason, they've made every theater (whether you wait in line or use the kiosk) reserved seating. At the time you purchase the tickets you have to pick seats on the touchscreen. This has been the biggest ever solution in search of a problem I've ever experienced. This theater rarely has 5 people per house if you go in the daytime, and nearly no one sits in the seats they were forced to select (myself included). I could see it being handy for a sold out hot premiere, but that doesn't happen almost ever at this place so it's really odd.

Unfortunate, my other option has been ruined. Right across the river there is a theater that has nice comfy normal seats, also has very low headcount in the houses, and has an incredibly generous rewards program that seems to give you a free ticket, popcorn, or drink every other visit. Unfortunately a few months ago they instituted a bizarre policy where ushers go into the theater to check the back door several times per showing. That's not really a problem, but they do so with a lit flashlight (!) So, the last time I went there, it was a 2 hour movie, and over those 2 hours approximately 4 times an usher went to the front of the theater, turned on a flashlight, walked to either side of the screen, and then turned the flashlight off and walked out. There has never been anyone texting in a theater that was nearly as obnoxious as this. I've complained to management but it's apparently a policy that is there to stay, so now that theater is dead to me :(

Bummer. I saw a commercial about a new IMAX theater in the West End somewhere. That might be worth checking out, except that this thread has convinced me that all UK cinemas play 30-40 minutes worth of ads before a movie, so I'm hesitant to try it.