I guess the only thing to do is figure out when it's likely to be almost empty - wait till they're about to stop showing the film, and go very early in the morning on a weekday.
Quiet cinemas? Page 2
Quote: zooo @ August 29 2010, 11:55 PM BSTI guess the only thing to do is figure out when it's likely to be almost empty - wait till they're about to stop showing the film, and go very early in the morning on a weekday.
Or the late showing, around midnight.
Or sit there on your own, laughing loudly in all the wrong places. Most people would probably be scared and leave.
Quote: Nil Putters @ August 29 2010, 11:58 PM BSTOr the late showing, around midnight.
And hope no one's having sex on the back row. :/
Quote: zooo @ August 29 2010, 11:58 PM BSTAnd hope no one's having sex on the back row. :/
There was someone making out at a screening I went to a while back, it was very off-putting. I swear she was giving him a blower at one point.
Quote: Griff @ August 29 2010, 11:58 PM BSTNo that's a disaster you get people in after the pub, I went to see a midnight showing of The Exorcist once* and they weren't taking it at all seriously.
But if it's towards the end of the films run you should be ok. I saw Watchmen late on, and there were only about five people in there.
Mind you, I suppose not everyone would have wanted to see that.
Quote: Nil Putters @ August 30 2010, 12:01 AM BSTBut if it's towards the end of the films run you should be ok. I saw Watchmen late on, and there were only about five people in there.
Mind you, I suppose not everyone would have wanted to see that.
This is what I do, I go at unusual times, and my cinematic taste is not mainstream, so the places are almost empty. Also, tiny cinemas are quiet; there's a multiplex in our city where screen 7 (or whatever it is) only holds about 20 people.
Quote: Nil Putters @ August 29 2010, 11:45 PM BSTI hate this. They should ban food in cinema's in my opinion, or at least have a 'no food' screening. How someone can't last 2hrs without something to eat or drink is beyond me.
A long time ago I managed to get out of the habit of wanting to munch through films. For me, it was never that I was hungry, it was just a habit. I doubt that most people could go 2 hours without snacks in a film, just as much as a smoker couldn't go without a fag.
I pretty much stopped going to the cinema yonks ago. Too expensive and too noisy. And get a decent telly and everything comes out on DVD (same price as cinema) or pay per view (dead cheap). Get a decent telly and why bother?
But some that I goto occaisonally.
1 Harbor Lights Cinema, Southampton worth the massive round trip.
2 Odeon Leicster Square, the little one.
3 The Phoenix Finchley
4 Both Wareham (Dorset) and Rochester have authentic cinemas, as does Christchurch (Dorset) which I believe at least one has gas lighting. The one in Rochester is actually on the beautiful Dickensian bay.
5 I think the Imperial War Museum some times roles out an original Soviet era Agitprop train.
6 Everyman cinema Bakerstreet.
7 BFI institute Southbank. I believe Dikcy Attenboroigh has a cut throat. for cutting c**ts who rustle through film,
But for Sootyj the decider isn't the setting it's the film. A moving Tod Solenz epic on sadness or the latest Cronenberg epic where no one smiles and atleast one character turns into a cancerous testicle growth. Attracts a diferent audience to Quauntum of Bollocks or Transformers rise of the merchandise.
I used to goto a humugous multiplex in Peckham. Whose only charm was it was a fiver a pick.
But the screamy crowd of chavs drowning out the banal dialogue from such epics as Irobot. In my view improved the experience. Similarly I'm glad I heard almost nothing of the dialogue in Avatar.
Also Shindler's list nearly bankrupted some cinema chains. Because people weren't eating enough popcorn during it?
I am also now seeing Griff and Stott as a sort of Batman and Robin crime fighting duo.
The Curmudgeon and Kid Grumpy?
Just go to the 10.30pm screenings or stop watching Vin Diesel films, Griff.
Quote: Griff @ August 29 2010, 10:51 PM BSTSo I've just had another trip to the pictures ruined by a cinema full of ignorant arseholes chattering non-stop while simultaneously stuffing their faces for two hours with big rustly bin bags full of crisps. And this was a Picturehouse not a Vue or a UCI. You literally could not hear the dialogue in the quiet bits for the noise of chavs troughing their way through ten tons of individually wrapped pick and mix. And even in the other bits, any immersion in the film was impossible due to people not understanding the difference between a cinema and their front room. Why anybody who likes films would choose to watch them in a room full of twats who apparently have no interest in actually watching the film is beyond me. They showed a short film before the main feature and as the management didn't even bother to dim the lights, there was no chance of the mongs around me even realising it was on. "Supporting New Film-Making Talent" my arse.
My question is. Are there ANY cinemas left - members-only ones, arthouse, BFI, cinema clubs, whatever - where you can go to see a film in the reasonable expectation that the c**ts sat around you will shut the f**k up for the duration. If anyone knows any, I'd love to hear.
Otherwise it's DVDs at home forever for me from now on.
I think there's one in Berkhampstead which is a hike for you but maybe worth it. I will speak to my brother later and update!
Cinemas are too expensive to visit any more.
That said, on the rare occasion that I do happen to visit one, I've never had a problem such as described by some people. For why, I can offer no explanation.
We always go to the very first showing in the morning. Never on the first week of release.
It always seems to be quiet. And if you can do that during the week, then very often its just been us in there.
cinemas are stupidly expensive. often as much as westend and way more than fringe.
I do love going to the BFI at the NFT though, particularly for talks.
the peckham multiplex is about a fiver, though it is is in peckham
Agreed. When I was a very fat man, I had to go to Bluewater which has some "sofa" seats at the back. I thought I was paying to shoot the film!
When I went to see Babel, there were some men, probably in their 20s, who kept running back and forth in front of the screen because they thought it was funny. They also threw food around. There was no one there to stop them and I don't think anyone in the audience dared as who knows what they would have done. I don't understand why they wasted their money on a ticket.
It's not just cinema, theatre is just as bad. I always seem to get a seat in front of people who try and hang their coats over my chair, rustle sweet wrappers and talk about the show all the way through.