Occasionally I visit a cinema with family - this time it happened due to Inside Out - a decent family movie with a couple of good jokes. Not the best I've seen but not the worst way to spend Saturday night either.
After getting tickets, buying overpriced snacks we've took our places and watched various commercials, trailers, and messages about the evils of the mobile phone. To quote them: "... we want our customers to enjoy their movie - FREE from distraction ..." I share the view that mobile phones are distractions during movie and I do believe in silencing them completely. What I don't get is why stop there? Why not remove the other distractions?
Why do I need to go through 10 commercials? Why is there at least 5 trailers before the movie I actually came to see? Why the heck movie scheduled for 7:25 starts at 7:40? This so reminds me of the unskippable FBI warnings on DVDs. Why the heck are you molesting your paying customers? Is there anybody really thinking those warnings work? Is there anybody really thinking pre-movie trailers do anything?
Frankly these days I avoid going to cinema almost completely. Only exception are animated movies that come recommended by friends as worthy of the big screen. All other stuff I simply ignore until it arrives on Amazon or Netflix. If it doesn't arrive there timely I usually forget about it altogether and I don't think I lose much.
I do love watching a movie on the big screen in the cinema. I even love their overpriced popcorn. But I simply cannot handle amounts of rubbish one has to consume before actually getting to see the movie. And with passing years it is only getting worse.
PS: And coming late is not the solution as in States seats are given on first come, first served basis.