Sweet relief! I’ve all but given up going to the movies thanks to the delightful amalgam of oversold shows, jerks on cellphones, and poor projection quality. I can get better quality on my 56-inch JVC D-ILA and upconverting DVD player – with DVDs from NetFlix and the Interwebs – than I’ll ever get at the local movie dump.
Regal Entertainment Group has heard my pleas, however, and is handing out little remotes to long-time customers and those who request them. The remotes have four buttons which alert management to cellphoning jerks, projector problems, lighting problems, and “other,” a nebulous button covering all other issues.
“Back when I was a teenager there was still a reverence … for the movie going experience,” Campbell said. “You knew when you went in that you weren’t supposed to talk, you weren’t supposed to disturb anybody.”
Today’s teenagers believe its fine to “multi-task” and use multiple devices at the same time as they sit in a packed auditorium.
I’m not sure what that last part means. If I had something to piss people off in the movies at age 15, I’m sure I would have taken full advantage of it. However, now that I’m old and cranky, this sounds like the right idea at the right time.
I agree talkers and cell phone users annoy the hell out of me in movies. If you need to use your phone walk out for a minute. I was once at a movie where someones cell phone rang within the first 5 minutes of the movie. Everyone in the theater instantly yelled “shut it off” and so on. I think that was a lot more effective than this “remote” will be. Plus I will probably never see one of those. where I live.
My favorite movie-enhancing vocal comment came from a very intelligent observer sitting next to me during King Kong last year.
In a scene with Kong, Adrien Brody and Naomi Watts, my neighbor yelled, “She don’t want you – she want the monkey!”