Like most people who are interested in making movies I love watching them. Up until a few years ago I saw many, many movies each year in the theater. Then something happened. What happened I couldn’t say for sure, there was not one event that changed everything. I only know that one day going to the theater was no longer an option for me, it had become unbearable. For some time I believed it was because I had moved to Washington, DC, that the theaters I was going to were terrible and that the people here lack all of the social graces necessary for close-quarters interactions.
You can chalk this up to me being a sensitive moviegoer who gets annoyed with other people when they attempt to create their own experience and it affects my own. I admit that I am more than a little crotchety and when I want to see a movie my desire is to be in a soundproof bubble protected from all possible distractions. That being said things have gone from being tolerable to out of control. Whether it is the other moviegoers or the practices of the theaters themselves it has reached a point where the experience is no longer worthwhile. I had thought this was simply particular to myself or, at very least, to Washington, DC. I was wrong.
Here is a recent video starring Patton Oswalt and Jason Reitman dealing with a component of this very issue:
In some of my more bitter moments I have thought of making a list of rules to try and share with the world, in order to help others to improve the movie-going experience. It looks as though some kind soul has done that part for me so now I shall do mine.
This is my attempt to help be part of the solution, read the list (I am in almost total agreement with it) and change your wicked ways!
John Ryan Sullivan 