(note: I am aware that this is FAR from a creative topic. It's just on my mind.)
On Friday it was made abundantly clear to me why people pirate DVDs. It has nothing to do with the high ticket prices, the inflated prices of Milk Duds, or even the long lines at the box office. It has to do with people.
Friday night Erin and I went to see "She's Just Not That Into You" Yeah, yeah, yeah... it's a chick flick but I enjoy a good chick flick once in a while. I'm not ashamed. I like the
stand up comic who wrote the book and I'm a fan of a lot of people who were in this movie. I was NOT, however, a fan of the people who sat behind us. As soon as this line of women sat behind us Erin and I just KNEW it was going to be annoying and we would be relocating soon.
During a preview for the upcoming movie "
Obsessed" we were treated to the sound bite of "Oh, Beyonce just went crazy on that girl. We have GOT to see that." (note: this movie looks terrible).
About 15 minutes into the feature we had to get up from the seats we picked out 10 minutes before the start of the previews and move to the 4th row to watch the movie from the lower left hand corner of the screen. We enjoyed it fine enough but it just sucks that people can't keep their mouths shut. And we, two people with manners, need to up and move to enjoy a movie.
Maybe I'm getting old and cranky but according to most of my friends this talking-during-the-movie fad has reached an epidemic scale. I know of a few people who have completely given up on going to the movie theaters no matter how excited they are about seeing a particular flick. And I can see why. Now, if I have a chance to watch a movie in the privacy of my own home or have to sit in front of a bunch noodnicks sharing their opinion on the clothes Ben Affleck might be wearing... I'm thinking my couch is a much better place to see a movie.
Gratefully, there is a theater near us that runs more independant movies. We have seen "
Man on Wire", "
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead", "
My Kid Can Paint That" and "
Thank You For Smoking" at this theater and have had a wonderful experience at all of them. We saw "
Juno" at the big mega-plex by the mall and had to listen to two teenagers argue about something retarded the whole way through despite several requests to them to be quiet.
If Hollywood is so worried about losing money to pirated copies of their films... stop. Instead of investing dollars into technology to keep DVDs from being copied, hire people to sit in the theaters and get chatty people to shut their rude mouths. If you do that, I'll glady give you $10 a ticket.