Does anyone have time to go to the movies nowadays? The last movie that I went to see was Catching Fire. That was almost a year ago. I was pregnant and the movie was 2.5 hours long. I went to the bathroom three times during the movie and decided that the inconvenience of having to walk to the bathroom three times during a movie wasn't worth the steep ticket price. I never went to a movie since them.
My problem is that from the commute to and from the theatre, the painfully long commercials and previews, and the increasing length of the actual movie, going to the movies is a good 4+ hour investment. I don't have that kind of time. Even when I have that kind of time I feel so guilty using over 4 hours to do one thing.
First, I have to say that I actually love previews. When I was in high school I was supposed to meet a couple of girlfriends at the movies. They were coming together and I was coming from work. I told them not to be late because I didn't want to miss the previews. I literally NEVER wanted to miss the previews. Long story short, they were late and showed up about 1 minute before the movie's start time. I met them in the parking lot, bluntly said "You are late and now I will miss the previews", and maturely stormed off to my car. I missed the entire movie and threw a temper tantrum in front of my friends because I was going to miss the previews. That's love right there.
But today, the previews are out of hand. It's not just previews. I have to sit through the commercial about Coke, then a commercial about the movie theatre I'm in, then the preview for the A&E special coming this spring, then you get about 6 previews of terrible movies all of which you've already seen in television commercials. What happened to those good old days where the only place you could see the movie previews was at the movies?
Second, the length of movies is unbelievable. I just watched A Million Ways to Die in the West which is a comedy that is two hours and fifteen minutes long. That is about 45 minutes too long. I can tell you for certain that one way to die in the west is from boredom of the last 45 minutes of this movie. I would say that most movies do not need to be longer than 2 hours. There are some really good dramas that are acceptable when the go over the two hour mark. But a comedy should never, ever, ever be longer than 1 hour and 45 minutes. It's just not necessary. Directors - I'll mail you a pin to pop your ego balloons. No one wants to watch a bloated movie of crap that could easily have been left on the editing room floor.
Third, the price of movies is most definitely prohibitive. Every single time I go into my movie theatre it seems as if the price has risen. And they certainly aren't doing anything to improve the theatre, so I'm not sure where that money is going. For two people to go to the movies and get popcorn and a soda you are paying the price of a nice dinner out. I'd say one way that the theaters can really cut back is the size of the refreshments. If anyone is drinking that much soda in three hours they should be bitch slapped.
I used to love going to the movies, but now it seems like so much work.
No comments:
Post a Comment