Today's Roger Ebert.com Answer Man is entitled "Pet-peeve-a-thon." In it, Ebert and his readers get Medieval on today's movie theatre owners. And, why not? There's so little reason to go. Dim projection. Endless ads. Endless coming attractions. Stale popcorn. I could personally deal with all of them, except the dim projection. Almost every film I've seen since the late 80's looks dim and washed out. The reason for that is theatre owners turn down the bulbs, supposedly to save projection bulb life. But, Ebert has asked technicians about it. They say it doesn't extend bulb life a second. The only movies I've seen that have looked good are those that are shown digitally. My guess is that the theatre owners don't have control over turning down the bulbs on those high-tech projectors.
The comments on Ebert were perfect, though. Complaints about cell phones going off, 40 minutes of material before the feature, unruly crowds, etc. Ebert goes through a blow by blow list of what needs to be done. And I agree. The most fun part is when the issue of commercials came up. A theatre owner rep actaully responded to the complaints by saying that only 1 in 600,000 guests complain about ads before movies and that most regard the ads as "part of the theatergoing experience." What?!!! Ebert got a kick out of that!
Here's my take: I waited for years until a modestly-sized HDTV came out. I have it, I have high-definition satellite service, and life is good. Why the heck should I patronize movie theatres that don't care whether I show up or not. These owners are getting what they deserve. Until they change their ways, they should not expect us back.
Pet-peeve-a-thon - Roger Ebert.com
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