Theater screw-ups

Here's what happened to me when I went to see The Mummy Returns:

First off, I live in Montreal and they just opened the Pepsi Forum (which is actually the old Montreal Forum, just re-done into an entertainment complex). They have 22 AMC theaters! I went when they first opened and they had The Mummy Returns playing in 7 theaters. ???

Anyway, I figured I'd get a large Pepsi (what else? it IS the Pepsi Forum after all), and a hot dog. I go in and sit down. First thing: my large drink won't fit in the cup holder in the seats. Hmmmm. I had to put my drink on the floor. Second thing: my hot dog was barely warm. And not that great either.

So I start watching the movie and I'm really getting into it. I'm at the part where their son is trying to escape the train through the toilet. All of a sudden a bell goes off in the theater and the movie stops, and the lights come on. Everyone's freaking out and we're wondering if there's a fire or something, then the manager comes in about 5 minutes later to tell us it's nothing bad. There was still some construction going on in the building and they did something to set off the alarm.

But it pissed everyone off because EVERY theater had the movie cut off. So we had to wait another 10 minutes for the movie to come back on. It really got me heated because it killed the "vibe". I and I'm sure everyone else in the theater was really getting into the movie then all of a sudden they do this.

They should have at least given us some free nachos or something. Or at least explain why the cup holders are too small for the drinks.

So, what sort of theater screw-ups have you guys experienced?

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That's not butter they put on your popcorn...

I saw Cast Away in this run-down, punked out theater known as the Cineplex Odeon Manassas Mall 7. I mean this theater was so bad you sat down, and couldn't get up for the next 2 hours because your feet were stuck to the sticky spilt soda all over the floor. The screen itself was about as big as those large-screen TVs they have on display with the really comfortable chairs in Best buy. Too bad the chairs here were disgusting, ripped and smelling like rotten milk. Using the armrests was impossible, because they were insanely slippery from all the popcorn butter that seemed to have been smeared over the entire theater.

So anyway, the movie starts, except it isn't framed correctly. Half the picture is on the ceiling. They get it right after the trailers, and I'm not so angry because that has happened to me before. I'm ready for a good flick. Then, almost to the second reel (I'm estimating), The flick starts playing backwards. I see everything that I've just seen, yet the dialogue moves forward! This goes on for at least 5 minutes! The projectionist finally wakes up (what else could he have been doing?) and fixes things. Only, things don't get fixed. The picture is on the ceiling again. We get dragged outside by the manager and are informed that some reels of the film are missing and we will be issued a refund, along with a pass to see the picture the next evening for free.

I came back the next night, ready for a good movie. And guess what? It sucked.

Side: You actually enjoyed Mummy Returns?

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**** the Lakers!

Aw c'mon, you're telling me you didn't enjoy Mummy Returns? I don't want to get into a debate or anything but I really enjoyed it, it was just as good as the first.

But that sucks about the theater you were in. With an experience like that I wouldn't have gone back even if they did give me a free pass. No sir.

I haven't seen Cast Away yet, is it really that bad? It seems that it wouldn't be THAT bad considering it's Tom Hanks, BUT I can't see a whole movie being made about a guy stranded on an island. At least Lord Of The Flies had some stupid-*** kids killing each other!

Nah, the first Mummy had a story that was discernible, and the action sequences grew from it. The other one was just to showcase the special effects, which, by the way, weren't very good.

Everyone I know but me enjoyed Cast Away. So, chances are, you'll like it.

I didnt like Castaway that much. Pigsnie says that if you are stranded in an island for 4 years you will lose a lot of weight like that Japanese soldier stuck in the philipines for 20 years after the war was over. When he came out the soldier was sooooo skinny. You just cant gain weight on an island eating coconuts & fish. Anyways I was bored by the volleyball bit & the prancin around after he made fire & why was it that he wasnt traumatised when he reutrned to civilisation?

Hummmmm, bad things that happened to me at the movies. Well, once they ran out of butter for my popcorn, hahaha. And then I dropped Pigsnies wallet on the floor in the dark & when I found it, it was covered with sticky stuff. And then while I was bent over in my seat lookin for somethin, Pigsnie accidentaly knocked me over & I busted my lip on a seat. Or maybe it wasnt an accident, hahaha. There was also the time we were in the philippines & I wanted to watch a movie , and the words never matched the lips of the actors for 2 hours! And the snow cones tasted fishy!!!

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God save Freddie Mercury!

It's VERY strange that you happened to start this thread, Rat. I've been running into a lot of annoying theatre problems recently. Things out of focus, mis-aligned, and other such things. It's happened a couple times this year. I can understand it to a degree, but one of the people in the theatre should NEVER have to get up and tell anyone -- which is what always happens.

That's nothing.

Durham, where I am at university, is a very old city. A lot of the buildings don't have the most modern construction.

There was a showing of Mummy Returns in the local cinema (I wasn't there, but it was reported in the student newspaper). Half way through the film, raw sewage starts coming up through the floor! Everyone had to leave the theatre as it stunk of... you know what!

That's a bit worse than something slightly out of focus .

That theater does suck indeed.

There has only been two times when the theater messed up where it actually bothered me. The first was in The Thin Red Line. They were storming a hill, the big hill they needed to take. They had just set off, everything was getting intense, then the power went off. When it came back on they had already taken the hill, but no one knew how they had done it. To boot the theater didn't bother to rewind it or give any sort of compensation.

Second thing that pissed me off was also at Cast Away(at Hoyts though). Towards the end of the movie, when hes talking about everything that happened(I think it was to a friend), the bulb in the projector blew and the screen went black, but we still heard the audio. I thought this was the way the movie was supposed to be. It worked out pretty well actually, but then once I realized that wasn't how it was supposed to be I was angry!

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Horror's Not Dead
Latest Movie Review(s): Too lazy to keep this up to date. New reviews every week.

My beef isn't with the Theater itself, cause it's the best one within a short distance. The one where I live sucks. Anyway's, I went and saw Pearl Harbor, and right when it gets to the attack scenes they have this little slide show that comes on right before the movie starts, well it came on then too. It was kinda funny.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg