Movies vs. Home Theater

This is not my best writing, but it is me at my most passionate...

Let me start off by saying I love going to the movies- I go to almost any movie I have any interest in. With that being said, I get more and more by the day why people don't go as much as they used to. I went to see Green Zone today in a local theater. I'll spare you a movie review or any politics like i've read in some of the press because this isn't the forum. What I do want to talk about was how much they charge for a bad experience.

The theater is one of the newer ones in Westchester county, overall not a horrible place to see a film. It's not the Ziegfeld in NYC, but not many places are. It's about as good as you would expect from a current multiplex.

Anyway, the pre-movie commercial played fine, the problems started when they transitioned from the projector for the commercials and the one for the trailers and movie. Once they turned off the first projector.... nothing happened. I expect that. Maybe the film projector wasn't properly warmed up, maybe they needed to change screen aspects and didn't want the people to see the distortion while changing lenses and screen size, who knows other than the panoply of reasons it might not come 'right' on. I expected a minute or two.... then three, four, five, up to ten! Ten minutes! No announcement! As the movie goers were getting restless, and I was getting up to go complain the movie came on... with no sound! The first trailer came by with no sound whatsoever and they finally managed to rectify it. Because of all of this, I was now in full- on AV critic mode.

The bulb was dim, there was overscanning onto the black surrounding the screen, some of the speakers in the sides and rears weren't working or were miscalibrated. Listening to levels jump from speaker to speaker as things panned around the space. Overall, it was a poor experience and this is the problem; I paid $25 for two tickets to a poor movie. I went out on a cold, wet day and fought for parking to spend $25 plus food, which we all know is exorbitant, for something that left me totally unimpressed and frankly, disappointed.

My point is movies should be an experience; like going to a sporting event, or seeing live music. Throughout NYC there are old movie palaces that have been repurposed for music and other live events. If you get a moment, go check them out. Look at the Palace theater in Washington Heights; you can't see a movie there but buy a ticket to a concert and get there early. The detail everywhere in this venue is spectacular!!!! You couldn't afford to build anything like this today. Go to the Zeigfeld theater in Midtown or Grauman's Chinese theater in LA to experience a movie. You owe it to yourself; this is what it was like 30+ years ago when it was an event! It was memorable! Places like these made going to the movies worth blocking out time in your calendar. Now? You're probably fitting your movies in between clothes shopping or going to the grocery store, and you have all the reason to, it means next to nothing. I did today and frankly I got what I paid for; inflation adjusted based mediocrity and one size fits most generics.

Why would you do this when you can spend your tax refund, or your bonus, or your raise to equip your home with something that can easily best a theater of poor pedigree? I don't have a good answer for this anymore. At home you can pause for a bathroom break or food, you can control the crowd (or lack thereof), its probably more comfortable than the theater you go to, AND you don't have to fight the traffic street closures and flooded roads, not to mention pajamas on a cold, wet, rainy mess of a day are way easier!

The last thing I will say is this. If you can experience a movie at a true movie palace, I implore you to do so. If you want, i'll come with you! There is nothing like seeing movies in a temple of cinema. Nothing! and if you love watching, you owe it to yourself to seek it out. I'm happy to help.

For those of you who don't have a movie theater nearby where someone cares about the experience, I want to apologize on behalf of everyone in AV and I want to strongly recommend you save your money and invest in a home theater. Not a home theater in a box but something thoughtfully created by a professional with your budget in mind. It WILL change how you view movies (literally and metaphorically speaking).

Movies are intended to be viewed a certain way by their creators, and when they are, motion pictures become a visceral experience that lead you on an emotional roller coaster they keep you glued to your seat, they create an emotional attachment to the characters on the screen. If your local theater is not doing this you're missing out on one of life's great simple pleasures.

You owe it to yourself to experience it- One way or another. Vote how with your money.