OT - How do you take your movies?

[RABid]

1 - I want it now. Frequently go to opening night, or at least opening weekend.

2 - I like a relaxed big screen experience. I watch my movies on the big screen, but I"m not in a hurry.

3 - Home body. I buy or rent movies once they are available for home viewing.

4 - All or nothing. I wait for a series to finish, then buy the complete set and binge watch it all.

[RABid]

I tend to be all or nothing. Right now I am binge watching the Marvel series. I have a lot of sets, Bourn, Fast and the Furious, etc... I do the same with tv shows. Star Trek, Big Bang Theory, if I like it I get it and watch it beginning to end, an episode a night. This is getting easier with online services but it is not always complete. You can buy the first three seasons of Pettycoat Junction, but to watch the rest you have to settle for bad YouTube videos.

[GovernorSilver]

Pre-COVID era, it'd be some friend emailing/messaging me with "Hey [insert obscure artsy movie title] is playing at Sun Cinema tomorrow, wanna go?". So we'd meet for dinner and drinks then go watch said obscure artsy movie.

 

Sometimes it'd be another friend posting on social media "hey who wants to go see [movie title] with me?".

 

One time it was running into yet another friend at a cool local bar who wanted to see the Suspiria remake even though our mutual friends said it sucks.

 

Now I hardly watch full length films. One of the latest ones was an online screening hosted by the DC Japanese cultural center. Otherwise I'm studying up on something new I want to learn like Angular, Python, or whatever, or just practicing music.

[Groove On]

4 - All or nothing. I wait for a series to finish, then buy the complete set and binge watch it all.

[timwat]

The older I've gotten, the more sensitive I've gotten to the fact you can't "unsee" what you've allowed into your line of vision. So there's genres of stuff I don't watch much anymore.

 

Also, I seem to have grown to appreciate great movies more than I used to - and therefore I hate wasting my time on mediocre ones. And there a lot of those.

 

Legend of 1900, Godfather 1 and 2, Margin Call, LOTR trilogy, Princess Mononoke, Clockwork Orange (and most anything Kubrick did), Once Upon a Time In America, there are things I like.

 

As a result I find myself just finding the spoilers to some films that I have a mild curiosity about - and don't want to invest the time to watch a middling-to-average film.

 

Everyone thinks I'm weird for that, and my sons make fun of me for that tendency. I guess I just hate to think I'm wasting time when there always seems to be so little of it. I gave up video games a long time ago for that same reason.

 

So I don't binge watch. I hadn't gone to a movie theater in a decade until I met my wife. I'm 100% happy streaming Prime, Netflix, AppleTV, especially now with two nice televisions in the house.

[Bill H.]

I so want to know what Wonder Woman did in 1984, how Black Widow could have possibly survived Endgame, how they could even think of doing a Furious movie without The Rock...

 

So yeah... if it's a big movie, I see it right away on a big screen. I want to be blown away by the VFX and sound, and want to beat the spoilers - which are rampant with blockbusters.

 

The only time I've binge watched a series straight through was Game of Thrones during lockdown. I had never not worked my entire adult life, and there I was with absolutely nothing to do. I'd never bothered with Game of Thrones previously, so this was the time - all at once.

 

I knew who was going to be king in advance (like I said spoilers are everywhere with these kinds of things) but it ultimately didn't matter. It was such a bum way to end the series.

[David Emm]

I've become increasingly story-focused over time, so I reserve my theater-going for Marvel and the like, where surreal 5:1 sound mixes can be heard through a proper sound system. Otherwise, my home system is ample for DVD or streaming duties. "Boardwalk Empire" left skid marks on my brain, but it also had no need for a starship flyover. Of course, COVID-19 is going to cut a huge swath through the theater chains, so the level of pain that causes remains to be seen. I predict a half-dead production zone for a year or more, where movies stay shelved and the filler material gets so bad, it makes "Idiocracy" look like "Victory At Sea."

[Docbop]

Before Covid-19 I went once a week as a way to get out the house. Living in the desert I would go on really hot days to chill. Being retired I go to matinees since they are cheaper and less crowded leave nights and weekend for the working people. I watch quite a variety of movies from Marvel movies to art house types and lots of espionage types. These days movies that are end to end action and blowing things up bore me. Today's horror movies just make me laugh. I do like seeing movies in theaters when first out since audience tends to brings some energy to the room.

 

Now with Covid-19 I watching the free movies and TV shows that come with Amazon Prime. It's funny since they have a lot of low budget foreign films with these movies you see how big name actors make money in between the big films in the US. Also a lot of over the hill actors in these foreign films. It like if you were an actor in one big US film you have a life long career in low budget foreign films.

 

Going to the movies is one of the two things I miss due to Covid-19 especially in this heat wave going on. Other thing I miss is going to the gym.

[elif]

Even before the Covid era, I rarely went to a theater. I view them at home and am quite happy waiting until they make it to DVD or Blu-ray. Lately, we've been binging on film noir DVDs borrowed from the local public library.

[mate stubb]

Any science fiction movie by Denis Villeneuve -> high quality theatre.

 

Anything else -> watch at home for 10 minutes, get bored, and turn it off. I've just about finally completely burned out on TV.

[MAJUSCULE]

2/3, but obviously fully 3 now. I miss going to the video store. Selecting things on an algorithmic home screen just isn't the same. Especially an independent store with staff picks and weird snacks and an old ratty carpet. Ah, man. Nostalgia pang. And I was never really a big film buff either.

[Tom Williams]

Definitely in the Homebody category here, for a couple of reasons:

• I am sensitive to immersive visual motion. I discovered this playing the original Apple ][ Castle Wolfenstein (I think the first first-person shooter game) in the early 1980s. Such motion, out of sync with my inner ear, moves me to nausea. I can't deal with 3-D theatrical movies -- I can't even make it through an Omnimax at an aquarium! Even in 2-D, as action movies have moved into more Fast Action, I've had to start in the middle of the theater and move towards the rear, so I won't get "car sick" by the immersive vision, e.g., a game of quiddich or a Star Wars ground ship race. So it costs me $20 to go get sick.
  
• Besides which, I have nice 5.1 surround sound and a 55" TV viewed at about 10' (1.4m at 3 m if you prefer), and the movies are generally $3. I keep the room dark for TV, so I still get most of the max immersion I could stand in the theater.
  

[RABid]

....

[*]Besides which, I have nice 5.1 surround sound and a 55" TV viewed at about 10' (1.4m at 3 m if you prefer), and the movies are generally $3. I keep the room dark for TV, so I still get most of the max immersion I could stand in the theater.

 

Same set up here. I made a conscious decision a few years ago to put my movie theater money into a nice home system. I sit 8 feet away from a 55' 4K tv and pretend that it is a big screen. ð

[cp-the-nerd]

There was a time during the peak of marvel that I would've answered #1. My friends and I would preorder our tickets and wait in line for an hour to get good seats, I'll never forget seeing the midnight showings of movies like The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the first Avengers movie.

 

Then I settled into a #2 with fewer and fewer theater trips trending toward #3. Prior to covid, I think the last few movies I saw in theater were Ready Player One, Avengers Endgame, and Doctor Sleep. My wife and I thought Ready Player One was a lot of fun for a popcorn adventure movie, Endgame was good enough to be a satisfying end to the saga, and Doctor Sleep was a stand-out excellent movie, best I've seen in years.

 

I think now I'm more focused on collecting blu-rays of classic movies. I'm noticing there are so many unforgivable holes in my collection!

 

In conclusion, go rent/buy/watch Doctor Sleep right now. *Edit: Doctor Sleep is the sequel to The Shining, watch that first!

[ElmerJFudd]

Rarely go to the movies, even before all this. It has to be something epic and maybe family is in town and they want to go to get me to the theater. The seating is much more comfortable now, and check in and getting your snacks is very much improved. But, wow, the cost. I mean, I"m only 48 and I still remember paying $7.00 to see a film.

 

This situation is definitely increasing the pace and change over to direct to streaming. And honestly, I bet the studios make just as much offering it at both locations. It"s the theaters that lose on concessions.

[ksoper]

I so I want to be blown away by the VFX and sound...

 

 

Me too. We don't have to be there at midnight, but I want an experience. We had a Cinerama theater in Philly when I was a kid. My folks took me there to see 2001: A Space Odyssey and Grand Prix, both life changing experiences. When IMAX theaters appeared my wife and I saw just about everything produced for the medium. So we do the big movies in the theater and almost everything else is streamed. I just hope that our new AMC with recliners and reserved seating survives the pandemic.

 

Our home selections favor indie productions. First Cow and Relic are highly recommended.

[CowboyNQ]

2.

[Joe Muscara]

how Black Widow could have possibly survived Endgame

She didn't. The movie takes place right after Civil War.

 

I denied my wife the pleasure of going to the movies for a number of years because of some silly introverted-ness. I sucked it up and started saying we should go. It may have started with Iron Man, which I really wanted to see. Since then, we saw all the MCU movies in theaters, along with a few other things that appealed to us, or got discounted tickets for. (That stopped when Atom Tickets suddenly claimed that I had violated their policies and was ineligible to use their services at all. I tried to resolve it with them, but not only did they refuse despite my escalating it with them, they refused to tell me what they claim I did. So fuck you, Atom Tickets.)

 

Most of these movies we would go see the day of the premiere, at a matinee so it was less crowded.

 

We watch a lot of movies online when they appear on our radar.

[RABid]

One reason I stopped going is our local small town theater got a bed bug infestation. Well, actually, I had already stopped going because the popcorn was not good and the bathrooms were dirty. But when the bed bugs hit, a lot of people stopped going.

[ShadowMan]

A modified 3.

 

After too many unpleasant experiences with inconsiderate patrons at theaters, I just stopped going out to movies in 1997. I don"t miss it.

 

Instead I bought - and will occassionally upgrade - my big screen TV and surround sound system, and I watch movies on Amazon Prime, Netflix, HBO, Showtime or On Demand.

 

So far there"s been nothing I"ve wanted to see that I couldn"t wait for it to show up on one of these platforms.

[MoodyBluesKeys]

Don't remember the date of the last time my wife & I went to a movie theater. Probably about 2005 or so, when a Christian movie that we really wanted to see ran for a couple of days.

We had both gotten tired of filthy floor in the theater covered with popcorn, sticky residue of soft drinks and so forth; with noisy patrons who yapped all through the movie, with way over-priced food and drinks; and the whole experience just kept getting worse.

 

We have a 55" HDTV in the living room which is connected to an antenna I installed on the roof about 8 years ago. At this time, we do continue with the cable TV (also phone and Internet from them), but at some point the nearly $200 a month for all will cease. I need Internet for the business, the phone service for the business (I don't release my cell number to anyone but family, a very few trusted real-life friends, and the owners of a couple of business clients).

I also have two computers running Windows 8.1 Media Center, one with two tuners on the antenna, the other with one tuner on cable. Have to manually program them now, but I can record anything that we DO want to watch and watch it at out own time schedule. Also can use it to stream anything that we want on the big screen (we used it for church service during the period when we were staying at home, I go now because I'm in the band, but am careful to maintain distances and do wear a mask at the time). Wife had a sub with NetFlix at one time (remember getting DVDs and returning them in the mail?); but we didn't use it enough to continue.

 

The majority of recent movies, I don't want to see even if they paid me to watch.

[Stokely]

Had to think...I guess I really don't watch many movies anymore. Now that my kids are older, I was averaging maybe one or two a year in theaters. I'd pick "big movies" that you want to see on the big screen. There have been a few that I regretted missing but my tv is pretty darn big I used to rent them like crazy but I am not sure I have watched one other than Avengers Endgame in the last couple years...probably I'm missing one or two can't recall. Edit: A quiet place I watched recently. Reminded me of Signs--very well-done movie with an extremely nonsensical main premise (IMO).

 

We still have cable but mainly because my mom stays with us. The week she was out I don't think the tv was on at all. Occasionally I'll find a decent Netflix or Amazon show in the metric tons of crap....

 

All that said, among all the other reasons I hope Covid goes away I REALLY would like to see the upcoming Dune (part 1) adaptation by a director I think is top-notch (Denis Villeneuve)...but a theater would be pretty high up on a list of places I would not go right now...

 

As far as a series and binging vs waiting episode by episode...pros and cons. The main con is simply spoilers. My buddy spoiled a pretty big Breaking Bad spoiler from season 4 before I had even started watching--he was watching week-by-week and it just popped out

[Biggles]

Netflix

 

Amazon Prime

 

Sky Movies

 

Zero need to ever go to a cinema.

 

I hate popcorn, I hate it"s smell.

 

I hate rustling candy bags.

 

I hate the infantile slurping noises of some crappy cola drink being drunk

 

I hate the constant talking of the audience.

 

I hated paying a pretty large sum of cash to go and see Blade Runner 49 only to be bored out of my mind by ham acting, mumbled dialogue and a movie one hour to long.

 

Sofa cinema at home is best where at least I can have my own beer or wine and pause the movie when nature calls.

[cp-the-nerd]

Netflix

 

Amazon Prime

 

Sky Movies

 

Zero need to ever go to a cinema.

 

I hate popcorn, I hate it"s smell.

 

I hate rustling candy bags.

 

I hate the infantile slurping noises of some crappy cola drink being drunk

 

I hate the constant talking of the audience.

 

I hated paying a pretty large sum of cash to go and see Blade Runner 49 only to be bored out of my mind by ham acting, mumbled dialogue and a movie one hour to long.

 

Sofa cinema at home is best where at least I can have my own beer or wine and pause the movie when nature calls.

 

When I was in my #1 phase of going to the movies, sharing the theater with large crowds was always the biggest gamble. It only takes a few bad apples to screw it up for everyone and that has happened a handful of times. I don't understand people who are so self-absorbed that they don't know or don't care that they're distracting everyone around them during a rather expensive movie experience.

 

That brings me to my other point of agreement: the prices are INSANE. It should not be a $40-50 date to get two tickets and snack/drink. A bag of popcorn and a fountain drink probably cost the venue 50 cents, so charging $15 feels like you might as well spit in my coke while making eye contact. This is why I'd smuggle entire meals worth of food into movies as a teen and occasionally sneak into a second movie.

[ProfD]

#2 as the question was presented.

 

However, while I still enjoy watching movies, I'm finding that there is less I really want to see when it hits theaters.

 

In a post pandemic world, I doubt that I would miss the movie theater experience.

 

Don't get me started on cable TV. That divorce is happening in 5 years or less.

[Delaware Dave]

None of the above.

[Sam CA]

#3.

 

 

 

Lately, I get on Netflix ...browse the content for like 10 minutes and don't actually play anything. That's how I use Netflix! I did watch John Wick 3 unfortunately, and I've yet to figure out which species they made this movie for.

[RABid]

I watch Netflix every day, mostly for series. Right now I am watching Merlin and Agents of Shield. The sad thing is with so many series it is easy to see how bad so many of them end. Guess not every series can end like Newhart, but they could at least try.

[BRW]

I'm a movie buff and a collector so I still buy a lot / most of my movies on physical media (blu-ray). I don't think I've actually bought a single "digital copy" yet, I've "rented" a few.

 

But I mostly watch (cult) movies from the 70s, 80s and early 90s, or re-watch my favorites. Those aren't that readily available as digital rentals. Amazon and Apple do have a ton of stuff these days, though. I'm especially pleased about Amazon Prime's selection. New(ish) movies I do watch either on cable or one of the streaming services.

 

Plus, I like "owning" something and not having to worry that a) the streamable version (even ones that you supposedly "own") will one day disappear or the service just plainly ceases to function, b) image and sound quality worsen suddenly because of glitchy internet. Blu-Rays, especially expanded editions from reputable disc studios like Arrow, do contain all kinds of goodies and extras.

 

It's been years since I've been an actual movie theater, even pre-Covid. Just got fed up with the experience and the high high prices. Even when I went (when it was possible), I used to go to matinee showings.

 

Regarding TV shows, I do agree that the way we watch those has changed forever: I don't know any in the right mind who would prefer waiting an episode per week on TV. And all those streaming services have SO much of that kind of content.

[Biggles]

I do not know how you folks in the USA manage.

 

Your live TV sucks, a 42 minute programme that takes one hour to screen with a constant barrage of inane advertisements and channel self glorification Pro Mo"s, and to take yet another three minute advertisement break just as the episode reaches its climax is just plain annoying.

 

Thank goodness for the Record Series function on our Satellite Box, fast forward our inane ads that split USA series into a more bearable three parts