The unthinkable has finally happened…I don’t want to go to the movies anymore.
It’s not that the movies out aren’t compelling, far from it, I would love to see Adaption, Bowling for Columbine, Comedian, Die Another Day, Femme Fatale, I Spy, Personal Velocity, or Treasure Planet, but the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.
The price is the #1 reason why movie theatres suck. Even with our membership, movies at Alliance Atlantis cost us $10.75 each. Go to a Silver City or Cineplex, and you’re looking at $13.50 each. Two people, that’s $21.50-$27.00 before popcorn and pop. Add in $10.00 (that’s being generous, it’s more like $12-14.00) for two medium pops and a popcorn, now you’re at almost $40.00.
In comparison, the Lord of the Rings Extended DVD is $37.00, four discs, over 3 hours of bonus material.
The second reason theatres suck is the variations in quality you can experience. You can go to a theatre, have the best sound experience in the world, go back two nights later and have the worst sound experience, get the picture out of focus, etc…why? It’s because trained projectionists are a thing of the past…these days theatre managers also unspool pictures, often doing 4 movies nearly simutaneously.
Then there’s the crowds. Movie crowds are just obnoxious these days. I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie that I didn’t have to tell someone to shut the hell up…it’s not your frigging living room folks!
It’s just so much more convenient, and so much less of a hassle to watch a movie at home now. I can rent out a movie at Blockbuster for two nights for $6.50…nuke up some popcorn and grab a litre of Coke all for another two bucks. We can still go out for dinner, we don’t have to put up with the idiots in theatres, the incompetent projection, and we can watch the movie when we want to.
Now, what will I do with the $2400.00 that I’m gonna save in movie admissions a year?