How many times did you go to the movie theatre this year?

Yeah, for sure. It's at least dinner and a movie. Night In The City is part of the draw, in all of its weirdness, as is dinner somewhere outside my house, then the movie. The point is to be OUT, not sitting on the couch. A bigger version of this is taking the train to New York and doing something there. OUT is the point. I'm a restless person as well as an urbanite. Sitting in my nice basement, watching a movie on my nice TV and my nice sound system is not the same. It's a rainy night thing to do.

It's not my choice, but even a movie in a suburban cineplex is better than not going out. As for bathrooms, no problem. I've seen them all (dirt trenches to marble toilets) and know how to handle that. Guys have an anatomical advantage there.

Tomorrow looks like another "Out" movie night.

At least twice a week - one of those visits I make a day of it and do 3-4 films back to back.

Have been keeping a blog of those on this site, although have neglected it the last couple of weeks, will catch it back up:

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...t=60652&page=6

Yeah, I'm with this. I went out on Wednesday to meet up with a friend. We had a leisurely dinner and discussed the state of live theater (not great) and the state of film (optimistic after 2023). Then we walked over to BAM to see Fallen Leaves. (It's a lot easier to have a night out in New York if you already live there!) The theater was far from full but it was nice to share the experience of watching the movie with other people (though I find not everyone laughs at the same time at a Kaurismäki film). Sure, there's some cost (movies and restaurants are not getting cheaper) and risk (sometimes clods show up at the movies), but it's generally worth it for me. Even for a movie like Fallen Leaves, which is not exactly a spectacle, plays better on a big screen, and it's easier to feel immersed than I do at home. The economics and mechanics of it mean that I will still watch most movies at home, but that just makes the nights (or days) out more special.

Maybe move out of your basement?

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Zero.

Theater is overrated. I think the last time I went was to see Evil Dead (2013). I enjoyed to movie but not the experience.

First, the nearest theater is about forty miles away so it's a bit of a slog to get there through weekend traffic.
Second, long lines and high ticket and concession prices, which I'm sure have only gone up since, make the entire trip a poor value.
Third, there are too many people on their phones, lights flashing from rows away and too many people carrying on loud conversations during the movie creating a bad experience.

I'd much rather wait for vod. I have much more reasonably priced snacks with a better variety. No phones/convos during the show. I can pause to go to the bathroom. I control volume/lights/temps.

I really don't know that I'll ever go back to the theater.

Totally agree. Haven’t been to a theater in decades.

I love the basement. It's cold, all year, and full of movies, watchable at an hour when I'm probably not afoot in the big bad city. It's my haunt for late night. I don't sleep very much, which is OK.

Yep. You got it.

You like being cold?

Not really, but I rarely actually am cold so it's a novelty. For better or worse, I'm a warm blooded person.

Do you eat a lot of spicy foods? Every time I eat hot peppers in a dish I end up feeling very warm even if I felt cold before...Especially if I've eaten habaneros....then I'm hot!

Oh yeah, I eat spicy, but that only excites body heat when I'm doing it.

Some folks just don’t feel the cold. My sister & a former boss being two of them.

Half of "out" is out of the house specifically, going somewhere, seeing a different environment than the front yard. As a guy who has spent most of his life working in a downtown environment and has loved it since about my third month (an adjustment required from a suburban growing-up), having dinner somewhere nearby, hearing the trains coming and going, and seeing a movie (even though it IS indoors), etc, really IS 55% of the reason to see a movie. I can stream in my basement (I do that too), but being out is its own reward. If I do go to a suburban multiplex, it has to be a busy one.

I went to the theatre for the first time in awhile yesterday.


I will report back that other people still make sounds.


Unfortunate.

When I saw Killers of the Flower Moon, I could hear the Taylor Swift movie in the adjacent theater.

For the most part though, theater trips tend to work out fairly well for me. There are probably some sounds which other people make, but most of the time, I find that either the movie drowns them out or you have to really focus on them to notice them.

Yep. For sure. That's why I like going out in the big bad city. Things happen, and some of them don't go according to the plan and I have to adapt. It keeps the mind agile. So far, I'm still alive. Actually, I've spent my adult professional life doing frequent trips to DC and New York and living in Baltimore, so cities are my element. That's a good thing. Getting out is a good thing.

I'm lucky enough in Baltimore to have several good movie venues that show off-the-mainstream movies. I don't know if they're actually "film", but the point is making it into somewhat of an occasion with food, movie and "out".

Baltimore must be an interesting place to live. I only know it from “The Wire”, which was a brilliant show.

It is. I love it. It's not as big as New York (which I've spent plenty of time in), but it has many of the same virtues. Where I live, 10 minutes by car from downtown via the "JFX", I'm next to a lake and country roads, but a short walk from restaurants and the train to downtown. The Wire is just part of the place. Most of us don't do crimes.