Getting preached at by anti-piracy stuff at cinema

Even more "ironic", if you buy illegal drugs they don't come with a warning not to drive or operate machinery whilst under the influence. So how come it's OK to drive when you've taken heroin but not alcohol? The law is an ass.
 
But with most of the Pixar delayed releases, you can but a legitimate region 1 copy before the UK cinema release, or so soon after as to make the cinema trip moot.
 
One thing I would say is that most of these poor cinema experiences come from the large multiplexes. If you go to the smaller so-called "art-house" cinemas you get a much better experience. usually with attendents to show you to your seats and far less adverts etc.

No good for the blockbusters i know, but they show stuff like This Is England or Zodiac, great films ignored by the big chains
 
its kind of like air travel, where it used to be glamourous in days gone by but in terms of the 'experience' its now more like getting on a bus!

i'm 25 and i've never known (or at least, cannot remember) a time when there was that level of customer assistance such as an usherette. Even the word sounRAB old to me! shame really considering how expensive it is to go to the cinemas...
 
I found it really funny that in the Simpsons Movie Barts Blackboard says I Must Not Illegally Download This Movie.

Very funny considering.
My main problem with the Simpsons though was that it just wasn't very good. It's fine as a long episode but it's not a movie. And thats a general problem, theres very few films that I care enough about to not just wait for the DVD.
For onlya bit more than the cost of a cinema ticket you can rewatch it again and again and you get all the extras. Big screen is ok but rarely is it that special.
 
Yes, you are quite right. For some reason I completely forgot that Disney are the distributors of Pixar's films. In fact, they've now bought out the studio entirely, I think.
 
Well snuffle, I'm 44, and I can remember thing slike queuing for HOURS OUTSIDE to watch Star Wars in '75 (?), and have to admit that even with the inconvenience of having to wait, I think it in fact heightend our anticipation of the movie to come, so that when we got in we were all fired up! Nowadays you can just stroll in and there is something of the impetus lost which we used to feel. (Also, it was always a good indicator of how good a film was or was expected to be: the longer the queue, the more you wanted to be on it!)
When you got inside, usherettes would meet you at the door, smile (usually) and direct you by means of a torch to your row, and indicate roughly where your seat was.
Yes, definitely some of the magic of cinema is gone now...
 
To me it seems that it's the big "chain" cinemas which are worst. I live in Winchester, which has the most lovely little 2 screen cinema in a converted church. The seats are comfy, the staff are nice, even come around with an ice cream box between the trailers and movie (and put the lights up to do this - hurrah!) also usherettes with little torches to help you to your seat, although the lights don't go down until the start time. The popcorn is about half the price of that at UCI and you can get Cappuccinos, Gin and Tonics, just about anything from the food counter.

I saw the Simpsons movie at Odeon this week, the staff were rude, no one showed us to our seats and someone even had a conversation on their mobile - staff did nothing.

Guess which cinema charged me more for the ticket?
 
Odeon cinemas are the worst, because of their disgusting 'Premier Seating' system.

Basically, the cinema is free seated but they have about five rows in the centre of the screen cordoned off. A member of staff guarRAB these seats. If you want to be privileged enough to sit in them, you have to pay an extra
 
Ah, did the film stop halfway for bathroom break and some small icecream cart at the bottom near the screen opened up.

I remember those days, none of that fast food counter at the front thing you get now and way over priced.
 
Went to see Harry Potter yesterday and , after over half an hour of aRAB (mainly for cars!) and trailers there was endless aRAB asking the public to do the cinema's job and watch out for secret filming. Then , throughout the film, there were kiRAB larking around.

When are cinema chains going to take responsibility for what goes on there. I can't remember the last time I saw anyone employed by the cinema actually inside the auditorium.
 
our cinema is right next door to a few car garages you cant get to the cinema without driving by them.

anyways some of the other points

I have never had a problem finding my seat in darkness, but then ive never seen an usher either, and buying tickets on line doesn't give you any special rights than people who buy them in the cinema.

the anti-piracy stuff, yes they never reach the right people, its the ones who arnt watching it at the cinema or on official DVD that need the message, not the people who have paid for the movie.

the Ratatouille thing is funny, and yes movie release dates being the same globally would go some way to solving the problem.
 
I really hate these anti-piracy movements too. It makes me laugh when I buy a DVD and it has got them on it too. Naturally the person who bought the DVD is not going to be likely to copy it as they own it!
 
I expect you're involved in some hi-tech aspect of the design, but if you know anyone who's involved in the nitty-gritty side of it, please could you ask them why there are never enough toilets? Not so we can all go half-way through the film, but so we can all go before it starts.

My local Vue has facilities for four men. It's a twelve-screen cinema. The Gate just up the road from it has the same facilites and it's only a single screen (and it has a bar)!
 
Can't make money out of toilets :D ... in fact they are a cost, having to pay someone to clean them!

Yeah my work is technical side, so can't really help with the toilet situation. Not Vue Shepherd's Bush is it? Because there is a bigger set of toilets right at the far end (think it's screen 9 that has two entrances, one of the two big screens anyway, they're hidden between the two entrances) that not many people ever seem to find. They only ever spot the small set that's near the ticket checking place.

I can think of two cinemas (funnily enough both now in the Empire chain, but they weren't when they were built) that have precisely one set of toilets, that the staff have to use as well, so if they get blocked, or as recently at one of them they're undergoing refurbishments, it's game over, no toilets at all, just a disabled loo that they keep for the staff! Bizarre!
 
Yes, it's Shepherd's Bush. I thought there were two sets of toilets but I couldn't find them! As you probably know the screens are laid out so that you either turn left or right from the entrance and if you go to a low screen number you don't pass any toilets. Weird design. Not convinced they pay anyone to clean the toilets, either.
 
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