Octopus Overlords

dbt1949 wrote: Thu Jul 20, 2023 11:52 pm I haven't been to a movie show this century.

You didn’t miss anything. This has been a bad century for movies.

Deadpool was this century right? I saw Deadpool at the theatre. I saw The Force Awakens in the theatre as well and The Dark Knight. That makes three, I think.

dbt1949 wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 12:00 am On this date 100 years ago my grandmother was getting ready to turn 22.

Did Daehawk think she was hot? That’s what the people want to know.

The last film I saw in a theatre was Return of the King.

We are resolved to go see “Barbie” next weekend, probably. Would like to see “Oppenheimer” as well, but three hours is a hard No for a theater.

Unagi wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 8:48 am

dbt1949 wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 12:00 am On this date 100 years ago my grandmother was getting ready to turn 22.

Did Daehawk think she was hot? That’s what the people want to know.

Back then Im sure.

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Jul 20, 2023 10:29 pm They should put some thought into improving the experience rather than trying to gouge the few customers they still have. Make people want to see a movie in the theater.

This is what happens when you have a monopoly. We have one big multiplex in town, and two independents. The smaller ones simply don't have any pull being 2nd run theatres, and the franchise multiplex has no incentive to improve the experience.

What they're not getting is that having a monopoly isn't enough anymore. Or, more accurately, they don't have a monopoly anymore. A lot of people are choosing a different experience over the theater experience. COVID probably helped that along, as more people got their film fix at home, and found that they liked it. At least, that's what I've noticed around here, where even big-ticket premiers are rarely more than 1/3 full, and after that I've rarely seem them more than 1/10 full.

They don't have a monopoly anymore because they're competing with living rooms. If they want business, they need to up the appeal.

On the other hand, I recently read this article that explains how insanely expensive it is for movie theaters to even just maintain existing equipment, let alone upgrade it.

Movie theaters should go back to their Vaudeville roots. Have a stand-up comic do a routine before the film. Bring in a band and a couple of burlesque performers. Make a night at the movies a varied event and a real shared audience experience. Plus booze.

In a kind of related note, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute is doing very well as a non-profit(!) theater running on kind of an NPR membership model, although non-members can still buy tickets. They show a mix of classics (often newly-restored editions) and new releases (including Barbbenheimer right now), and they often have panel discussions before or after the showing with relevant professors and even directors.

Every college town, at least, should be able to have something like this.

All I can say is that what they're doing isn't working.

My movie normal movie experience? AMC theater. This place opened in '97, and was fairly nice then, but as far as I can tell, it hasn't been touched since. Concession prices that mean that we can't get concessions most of the time. When we do splurge, half of the drink options are always empty. The terrible seats (old fashioned hard seats with the fold-up bottoms and shared arm rests) I mentioned before. The carpets and seats are noticeably stained. The signs saying what's playing in each auditorium don't work - they have sheets of paper with the numbers written on them instead. The auditoriums themselves smell. Some of the less popular movies they show get shunted off in to the corner auditoriums with screens that are so small that they actually do feel like a home theater. The auditoriums are consistently hot and muggy in warm weather, unpleasantly so. The last movie I saw was, I think, Guardians of the Galaxy 3. The sound was so loud and harsh that there were parts of the dialogue that we simply couldn't understand (and this isn't just me, this is both of my kids, 19 and 20, and Michelle, too.) The bathrooms are filthy and stink. They also love to leave the ceiling lights on during the films.

I'm glad that some people living in population centers have great options, but for the rest of us? This is what we get. And if they expect us to choose this over our living rooms without them making any effort whatsoever, they deserve to lose business.

I found a couple of photos online. Enjoy.

Theaters need to bring in the low cost reruns. Play old films...charge little for them. Make the weekend viewings special in some way for family. and let the cheapskates like me see the movies low cost in the week.. Id love to see stuff I watched as a a kid on the big screen again. Tons of them. All the old 80s barbarian movies and fantasy stuff. The sci fi stuff.....Smokey and the Bandit series weekend? Hell ya. Maybe some themed weekends for older black and white serials or b sci fi like Forbidden Planet or The Day the Earth Stood Still weekend with posters and keepsakes like a movie card or a silly b/w photo from the film. Bring War of the Worlds. Star Wars untouched. All the Star Treks. Planet of the Apes.

Man if Id won that $1 billion lotto I would have made a movie theater for this stuff.

Theaters don't own the rights to the movies, they can't just randomly decide to show old reruns. They have to rent them from the studio and then sell enough tickets and concessions to justify the cost. It used to be that reruns could bring in a decent amount of money, especially in theaters that were dedicated to that sort of thing, or theaters in big markets where they could count on finding an audience for old or obscure stuff. With all the streaming options available - not any more. So they can't spend the money for the sake of a handful of people that might show up to see it, let alone discount the ticket price for it (and that's provided a studio would even be willing to rent out a particular title for a "revival" or "nostalgia" showing).

Daehawk wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 6:22 pm Theaters need to bring in the low cost reruns. Play old films...charge little for them. Make the weekend viewings special in some way for family. and let the cheapskates like me see the movies low cost in the week.. Id love to see stuff I watched as a a kid on the big screen again. Tons of them. All the old 80s barbarian movies and fantasy stuff. The sci fi stuff.....Smokey and the Bandit series weekend? Hell ya. Maybe some themed weekends for older black and white serials or b sci fi like Forbidden Planet or The Day the Earth Stood Still weekend with posters and keepsakes like a movie card or a silly b/w photo from the film. Bring War of the Worlds. Star Wars untouched. All the Star Treks. Planet of the Apes.

Man if Id won that $1 billion lotto I would have made a movie theater for this stuff.

I posted above about the Bryn Mawr Film Institute. They recently showed the original AIRPLANE on the big screen.

There actually is a theater near here that does just that, playing older films almost exclusively. I'd probably see some of them from time to time, except for one thing: It's a drive-in. My car windows don't roll down and it doesn't have a working radio, which make drive-ins pointless, and as a fairly tall individual, it's hard to actually see it clearly without sitting in a manner that leaves my back twisted in knots.

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 5:39 pm All I can say is that what they're doing isn't working.

That's because we are an on demand society that likes the comfort of our own space. The desire for a shared experience of a theatre is the desire for a legacy experience. The model isn't dead, it's just going to be crazy expensive to justify itself. The world changes. I don't full know what teens do nowadays. Maybe drive ins? (Which they actually do a large parking lot venues around here)

Daehawk wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 6:22 pm Theaters need to bring in the low cost reruns. Play old films...charge little for them. Make the weekend viewings special in some way for family. and let the cheapskates like me see the movies low cost in the week.. Id love to see stuff I watched as a a kid on the big screen again. Tons of them. All the old 80s barbarian movies and fantasy stuff. The sci fi stuff.....Smokey and the Bandit series weekend? Hell ya. Maybe some themed weekends for older black and white serials or b sci fi like Forbidden Planet or The Day the Earth Stood Still weekend with posters and keepsakes like a movie card or a silly b/w photo from the film. Bring War of the Worlds. Star Wars untouched. All the Star Treks. Planet of the Apes.

Man if Id won that $1 billion lotto I would have made a movie theater for this stuff.

here in Seattle:

https://thebeacon.film/

https://grandillusioncinema.org/

https://www.goelevent.com/CentralCinema ... t=&st=null (main web page: https://central-cinema.com/)

We’re going to see Barbie in the next few weeks. If it’s anything like the dream house animated series, it will be gloriously ironic.

And even if it’s not, Margot Robbie.

LordMortis wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 7:07 pm I don't full know what teens do nowadays. Maybe drive ins?

Netflix and chill.

Holman wrote: Fri Jul 21, 2023 5:14 pm
In a kind of related note, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute is doing very well as a non-profit(!) theater running on kind of an NPR membership model, although non-members can still buy tickets. They show a mix of classics (often newly-restored editions) and new releases (including Barbbenheimer right now), and they often have panel discussions before or after the showing with relevant professors and even directors.

One of our theatres uses a similar model, though it mostly shows arthouse fare. Its scheduling can make it difficult to see movies though, as they usually have 1 or 2 showings and then don't show them again, so their schedule really has to align. I've never seen one at that theatre for that reason.

Heres ya a wild thought to think on....

The the 1940's were almost 100 years ago!

Think about it. In just 17 years it will be 2040. 100 years since 1940. My brain wants to say whoa hold on thar. It was just the 80s and 90s....wait they were decades ago!

Our local cineplex this morning.

John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’ Returns to Theaters for 35th Anniversary

They Live will infiltrate theaters courtesy of Fathom Events on September 3 and September 6. Most theaters will screen They Live as a matinee on September 3 and an evening showing on September 6, so check you local listings at the official Fathom Events page.

Isgrimnur wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2023 11:16 am Our local cineplex this morning.

That looks like space invader and missle command mashup got out out control.

In deference to Smoove, it looks more like Breakout.

They Live is such a cult classic.

Daehawk wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2023 1:55 am Heres ya a wild thought to think on....

The the 1940's were almost 100 years ago!

Think about it. In just 17 years it will be 2040. 100 years since 1940. My brain wants to say whoa hold on thar. It was just the 80s and 90s....wait they were decades ago!

My brain does the same thing with the 1920's. I'm part of an organization that is celebrating its 100 years this year and I'm part of the celebration committee. It just feel so surreal, that we've followed in their footsteps for 100 years, and now we're here a 100 years later.

After four years, I've decided to get rid of our emergency water supply - two 7-gallon. For the last two years they've been sitting right in the middle of our already small kitchen, and I literally trip over them trying to go to the bathroom. If I had a basement or a garage, an extra room with storage space, or even an unused corner I'd probably double what I have. As it is, though, I really don't have a choice.

Which means that the apocalypse is going to happen tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure that the apocalypse has been happening for some time now. It's just a slow, boiling-the-frog apocalypse.

Max Peck wrote: Sat Jul 22, 2023 8:45 pm I'm pretty sure that the apocalypse has been happening for some time now. It's just a slow, boiling-the-frog apocalypse.

Literally, especially for frogs in the Southwest.

Do you all still sit on the floor? I'm not sure I can get back up if I do that.
Do you still wait in long lines? Nada.
Camping on the ground? I gave that up many decades ago.

dbt1949 wrote: Sun Jul 23, 2023 2:32 am Do you all still sit on the floor? I'm not sure I can get back up if I do that.
Do you still wait in long lines? Nada.
Camping on the ground? I gave that up many decades ago.

I haven't been camping in nearly a decade and the only reason I get on the floor is for PT or because I have to work on something at floor height. Sitting? I can't even remember the last time I sat on the floor. It's been a very long time.

I don’t get down to ground level unless I have something within reach to pull myself back up. Kneeling to reach a bottom shelf in the supermarket? Not without hanging on to a higher shelf. Wife bought be a combination kneeler/stool for gardening a couple of years ago that enables me to keep scratching in the dirt.

Kraken wrote: Sun Jul 23, 2023 11:14 am Wife bought be a combination kneeler/stool for gardening a couple of years ago that enables me to keep scratching in the dirt.

I'm an intrigued by your wife's idea and would like to subscribe to her newsletter. I am taking care of a yard a lot more than I would like nowadays and weeding sees me hunching over and stressing my back a lot as I don't get down and get back up all that well and therefore avoid the effort.

Here are a bunch to choose from.

With the "legs" down, it's a bench. With them up, it's a kneeler. The tool pouch hangs from either side. Folds flat if storage space is tight. This is what enables my arthritic old body to keep gardening.

Hmmm... Even better than for me, I think it would make a good gift for my mother for the time she has left being agile enough to weed and garden. I might have to look for what I can get on the cheap. Not having Amazon Prime makes the cheap ones not so cheap for shipping.

The surprising number of models available makes me think you could find one in a retail store. Home Despot has some. Probably any hardware or garden center near you.

dbt1949 wrote: Sun Jul 23, 2023 2:32 am Do you all still sit on the floor? I'm not sure I can get back up if I do that.
Do you still wait in long lines? Nada.
Camping on the ground? I gave that up many decades ago.

Sit as in 'a place to hang out on my butt?' No, but I do get down on the floor to get things done all the time (often related to the pigeons.)

Standing in lines... well, that's one thing about living here. There are rarely enough people to require a line anywhere other than a checkout (like Walmart, who likes to have only two checkout lines open regardless of how many people are waiting...)

Camping on the ground? Hell, no. I crunched my spine in a wreck when I was 22. Hard ground camping hasn't been viable for me since. Even a 'camping pad' leaves me hunched and hobbling.

Kraken wrote: Sun Jul 23, 2023 2:31 pm The surprising number of models available makes me think you could find one in a retail store. Home Despot has some. Probably any hardware or garden center near you.

Yeah, I went and looked B&M are crazy expensive. I'm not paying near or more than $40 for some aluminum legs on a hinge and semicomfy mat. I'll get it figured out though. It has some utility for my case, so I'll put the noggin to use.

I sit on the floor to give belly rubs to my dog, but I generally have to use my arms to get myself back up.

In a very quiet room, I can actually hear my knees creaking when I walk.