Movies have become like chewing gum. A commodity that you consume casually and every day. Watching a movie used to be special. I used to indulge in movies, get completely sucked in on the big screen with big sound. Just think of all the great movies from back then and compare them to the commercial Netflix slob from now. 90% of movies I watch today are movies that were made 10 years ago or older. People think that theatres are outdated have never expierenced real theatric immersion.
this post was submitted on 03 May 2025
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Big TV, surround sound setup, fuck that, I don't want to go to the cinema.
The experience of modern theaters isn’t enjoyable. They don’t pay their labor enough for the service to be decent so everything is already gross even though most have been recently refurbished. The size of a big screen over a very large tv doesn’t really matter to humans as we normalize the size in our head after a few minutes. The sound is great so long as everyone is actually watching the movie and not making their own noise. The chairs are supposed to be comfy loungers but I can’t seem to find one that’s comfortable for my size. The concessions don’t taste good anymore. The popcorn is dusty / dry most of the time and the fake butter is far more chem than butter for the last 15 years. It was more common to have a shared experience before covid. It seems like there’s less of a shared experience in theaters now. I’m indifferent to how much a theater costs. If it cost a nickel or a hundo, it’s still the same poor experience for me.
Not everyone has that, though. I'd love that, but a subwoofer with a proper sound system would annoy the hell out of my neighbors. Especially with houses getting harder and harder to buy, I think most people will be renting and they deserve the movie theater experience, too.
But they need d to make it better by enforcing things lkk no cell phones or talking.
Well luckily that will always be an option because otherwise they'd miss out on extra sales. I do appreciate there being the option to go to cinemas. For the price of a TV + sound system I'd be completely happy with, I can go hundreds of times. I go 2-3 times a year. The other movies I pirate or stream, but I don't have a surround sound system or anything.
Remember when going to the Movies was an Event? Netflix wants to commodify this, so you watch longer, pay longer while you can do other stuff.
Remember standing in line to get in? The energy? Fans all vibing over something they either hadn't seen yet or were going to see for the 3rd, 4th, 5th time...
When was the last time anyone had to line up for a movie? 🤔
I caught Thunderbolts* Thursday night, bought tickets online. Even had the option to buy popcorn and soda online and have it waiting for me when I got there.
No lines. No fan interaction. Get in, watch the movie, GTFO. Chop, chop. Re-fill those seats.
it also benefits the technoligarchs if they strip any connection we have to eachother, culturally. it's better for them if we get in and out of the theater without discussing what the propaganda meant to us. it helps them create an environment where we all live isolated in a media bubble all our own. there we're more easily manipulated. the most right wing podcasts like the joe rogan experience being spotify exclusive isn't a wreckless thing from spotify. it's planned and on purpose. first they isolate your media pipeline, then they make their pool of content more right wing than anyone else's, then they ensure the people hooked on the jre can't go anywhere else for it where they'd encounter other media outside their understanding of the world,
I went to see Thunderbolts* yesterday, didn't buy online or anything like that, just walked straight up to the counter bought tickets, drinks and popcorn, then walked into the theatre.
There was no one else around, maybe 15 people in the whole screening. I don't understand how the cinemas stay open when they are this dead.
I remember 10 years ago the line for just getting into the theatre for the latest Marvell movie would wrap around the building and that was after buying your tickets.
It's been a long time since I was in a sold out theatre.
Edit: autocorrects
I don't miss the lines and dislike crowd energy the vast majority if the time. The current buy online, know where my seats are, and smaller venues with plush seats are a vast improvement over crowds packed in like sardines.
Sure, I have a few positive memories of random members of a theater audience, they are just outweighed by all the annoying memories.
Films used to be such a big deal, now I just watch a brand new one every night. Pre-internet is just end up watching the same films over and over just because I had a copy. Going to the cinema to watch a new one was exciting but now I don’t care.
Films also used to be not a big deal for the majority of films in theaters before home movies and even up until larger format flatscreens became affordable. It was just the format for watching 90 minute+ uninterrupted stories for the most part.
There were a couple of decades where seeing big budget special effects the big screen instead of at home was a big deal for some movies, sure.
Streaming quality is pretty dogshit compared to bluray or digital cinemas though. The files are compressed a good 5-10x.
That's only really matters for a few movies a year.
I have not yet watched a film in IMAX, but we are talking about theaters in general.
Watching on a decently large screen at home while streaming looks at least as good as in the theaters even if it doesn't fill up as much of my vision. BluRay looks a lot better for certain scenes, but the vast majority of movies are just as good at home in my experience. I can also get more engrossed in a movie at home due to having fewer distractions, so something like Dune is more enjoyable for me at home even if the picture and sound quality is probably better in IMAX.
Streaming is a tradeoff of slightly lower quality for more convenience and while I love me some great cinematography and sound design, most movies are more enjoyable if I can stay engaged than if they are presented better but with more opportunity for distractions.
Let's see how that's going to fly. I watched the first one in cinema and it was great, the second one at home and it was pretty terrible.
why'd you think the second one was terrible? like did you think the movie is bad or was the at-home experience a bad one?
I loved the second, maybe even better than the first. or at least I feel the second has more rewatchability
I thought the setting is too absurd, didn't like it at all.
I remember thinking 2 was fine, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about it the next day. Somehow the most forgettable movie I've ever seen.
Actor pretending theaters will be relevant in the future to justify their over-paid salaries. Next up, water is wet.
They will stay relevant unless you have a 10k home theatre at home.
Doesn't take 10k these days, TV's are cheap, 5.1 surround systems are cheap, popcorn even cheaper.
If you want an experience similar to how the movie was intended to be watched then you definitely need a couple thousand. Most movies are filmed in 4K, so you need a proper projector and screen size to even see a difference in resolution (I'd say 100 inch minimum). And it needs to have Dolby Vision HDR10+ support. Then you need a Dolby Atmos setup with a compatible receiver too. 5.1 won't cut it with most movies. It's definitely worth it if you can afford it. But if you can't afford it, a theatre is still the only way.
Or you just watch it on your soundbar and your 50 inch TV. Or on your phone even. But then you're not the target audience of cinema anyways.
But then you’re not the target audience of cinema anyways.
Says you. Not applicable to me.
Each to their own. Totally respect that everyone enjoys movies their own way. Theatres need to do that to and adapt to their core audience (like me) and they will stay relevant.
