How do you like to watch your movies?

So, a lot of the hollywood bigshots complain about "the death of movie theatres", and while i've had a great time attending theatres i don't miss them that much. The transition from movies to computer screens has in my opinion lead to more diversity in movies in general, and while this is a serious issue for the industry, much cheaper films as well!

I currently like to use either netflix or pirate bay, i definetly think netflix is the best streaming service hands down, even though it pisses me off how they will remove a lot of content i fell in love with. Pirating is still the ultimate medium in terms of user control, i still like to even buy DVDs off ebay with those rare or largely unsuccessful films...


Streaming services are popular now adays for their series, i would like to include this as part of the discussion too...

Overwhelmingly streaming now.

I used to love the theaters, but they've become filled with talk and cell phones.

I used to love physical media, but as time goes on I love fewer new films (which makes sense, as you see more) and value convenience more, only purchasing physical copies of my favorites and/or for special features.

Never thought I'd get quite to this point in either front, but I have. I hope we have VOD same day releases, even pricey ones, for lots of mainstream films over the next decade or two. I'll utilize that quite a bit.

Definitely in a theater. I'm OK with the various types of home viewing, but given distractions, small screen, and the lack of an audience with which to gauge what is, after all, "audience response" (meaning more than one person), watching at home just doesn't have the same impact.

Seeing a movie in a theater is also a social event, often accompanied by dinner or after-snacks. It's being out in the city lights, traffic, taxicabs, and, in my favorite local indie-film theater, seeing and hearing the coming and going of trains in the Amtrak station next door.

Streaming definitely sits in the corner of the basement, along with stockpiled toilet paper, cans of chicken noodle soup and long, quiet nights.

I'd go back to "real" movies in a heartbeat. Movies have become pretty darn grim.

Even though I've had some bad experiences and even though it costs too damn much, I miss going to the theater. I find it a much more immersive experience and some movies are just better on a larger screen. The audience has rarely been the problem for me at the cinema and there are far more distractions at home (family members, pets, noisy neighbors, etc.)

I don't watch TV/series, but I do stream quite a few movies at home. I generally avoid pirated copies though for a number of reasons -the biggest being that I don't have a way to stream them to my television (something I can do with Netflix, Prime, and YouTube) and I hate watching on the computer. I also still buy physical media, but these days I reserve that for movies that I really love.

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Of course, movies were meant to be experienced in theaters, but going to movie theaters today can be a pretty expensive venture. There's a whole lot involved in going to the movies these days other than tickets, which I think are around $10.00 or more now, now there's parking, babysitting, and let's not even get into the ridiculously priced snack bar. When I was a kid, my mother gave me a dollar so that I could go to the only movie theater in town and see Mary Poppins. The ticket was a quarter and I was still able to buy a large bucket of popcorn and a coke. On the other hand, I do love watching movies online, where I can stop, start, pause, and rewind. There are some websites where you can pause a movie and not go back to it the next day and when you go back to it within 24 hours, the movie begins right where you paused it. I love that.

Definitely at home, stopped going to the cinema some years back - far too many ill-mannered eejits that ruin the 'experience' imo. Would still go to matinee viewings whenever in Vegas though as my experience has been that I'm normally sharing the screen with a maximum of 4 or 5 others who tend to be there to watch the movie rather than 'socialise'

i like to watch them for free on the movie websites espcially the tv shows i can watch them for free with no commercials and dont have to wait for the release on the internet instead paying netflix,amazon and other streaming services wasting ur money

Russia, enough said

I am fortunate to have several real theaters nearby, that play a variety of non-mainstream films, have good sound and projection, enforce behavior rules and have a literate clientele, as well as drinks and decent coffee. My occasional forays into suburban cineplex theaters generally leave me unimpressed, but that's why I like my city theaters. It becomes a night out and not just the question of who streams it cheaper or has it first.

Some of this morphs into social criticism, however, because the trend of Americans hiding in their hives and not going out into the scary world has been happening for a long time and the plague has spawned a weird combination of fear AND denial. In better times, I use transit sometimes, work downtown, ride on trains, live in the city, go out and generally enjoy it. If not for that night-out part of movies, they're just long TV shows or streaming shows that don't have 20 episodes. Paying to watch new movies in my basement seems like some sort of paranoid revenge. Once you have delivery food and start buying everything on-line, it becomes home detention, which is sometimes used for minor crimes in Maryland. At least, so far, I don't have to wear an ankle bracelet that tracks me, but as soon as this is over, I plan on losing the metaphoric bracelet.

As for long-term, I just don't know. The virus has changed a lot of things, but for how long remains to be seen. Previous plagues and wars have changed things, but what happens after isn't always predicable before or during. We seem to be hobbling our way through the worst possible response, maximizing both disease and isolation at a time when other countries are making their cautious return.

I guess, for the moment, I think that big box office mega-movies are postponed, smaller ones that can hit some sweet spot in the economics of streaming are the thing of the moment. As much as I dislike spandex movies, I'd at least think about selling my soul to the devil to go back to the big events.

LOL! I'm going to take that as a compliment


So yeah i really enjoy reading people's responses here, i feel even better about having canceled my Netflix account because i don't use it that often, everything becoming a netflix, amazon, or apple movie (even though HBO has come out with some nice stuff seeing their streaming selection makes me cringe so i didn't want to pay way too much for that) definitely has some very boring and disturbing implications. Pirating > Payed Streaming.



As far as in person screening i really like what ALAMO drafthouse has done over the past decade, before the virus me and my mom would go watch movies there, yet the idea of going to any movie theatre right now is a little bit of a turn-off, just imagining how you can't eat/drink anything in the theatre possibly



But in the end i guess i just feel that our lives are the movies, it's up to us now to be the characters and **** everything up!!!

"I used to love the theaters, but they've become filled with talk and cell phones."

Exactly why I prefer streaming this days.

I don’t go to movie theaters. I am a dvd collector so I watch movies that way & I still use my Netflix dvd queue.

I stream a lot. My favorite thing is that you can go in & out of the streaming services: HBO, Hulu, Netflix, etc. and you’re only locked in for a month at a time. I once thought that I would permanently subscribe to HBO, but that hasn’t been the case. The days of HBO’s greatness are over IMO. I go in for a month, see everything there that interests me & then cancel again.

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

At home, on my big screen, and preferably via cable... Even when my laptop was half-way decent years ago, it would lag.

I love seeing a film in the theater.

I especially love going to little theaters that show older films (when I was in college I basically lived at the Brattle Theater).

I was lucky enough to live near an AFI theater, and that was also pretty awesome. Getting to see films with a crowd that is genuinely pumped to see them is really cool.

I do have to say that I quite enjoy watching a movie at home with friends. It's nice to be able to talk, to go back and rewatch a scene, or to pause for an intermission/bathroom break without missing anything crucial.

First choice - cinema. It remains the optimal viewing environment for films. You just can't beat the huge screen, great sound and the general atmosphere. I've only rarely had problems with people talking and being disruptive, maybe that's more of an American issue. (in England we don't cheer or boo or applaud during films... it's so uncivilized ). Unfortunately the cinemas near me only show new releases so for older films I usually buy the Blu-ray or DVD. I'm old school. I like having an actual physical item on my shelf, not to mention the bonus features and superior audio/visual quality. I do watch the odd film on streaming services but I don't rely upon them because ultimately you're at their mercy as to what films you can watch. With Blu-rays I can watch them any time I want and they're usually pretty cheap.

Lately, whatever's on Netflix and Amazon even though most of them are sat on my DVD shelf.

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lately i stream a movie on my phone before i sleep, 6,8 inch screenon my note 10 plus XD

Like some other have said, I used to prefer going to the theater to watch movies, but high prices and rude people have made it impossible to enjoy the experience anymore.

Now I prefer watching movies at home, either on cable or on DVD, but streaming when necessary. There's nobody around to talk during the movie, and I can start and stop the movie as necessary.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

What I like too is that if I run out of time I can return to the movie the next day. Or the day after the next day.

Sitting down.