Movie at a theater

[StarvingForHDTV]

Last night I went to a movie theater for the first time since acquiring my home theater.  Yikes!  I was shocked at the horrible sound quality, curved screen, and the annoying film flicker.  For me it's not worth returning.  Is the Menomonee Falls movie theater representative of the quality of other area theaters?  Has anyone else experienced this type of post home theater disappointment?

[picopir8]

Last night I went to a movie theater for the first time since acquiring my home theater.  Yikes!  I was shocked at the horrible sound quality, curved screen, and the annoying film flicker.  For me it's not worth returning.  Is the Menomonee Falls movie theater representative of the quality of other area theaters?  Has anyone else experienced this type of post home theater disappointment?

I have not been there but the Ridge on the south side is pretty good, IMHO.  But all the milwaukee area theaters pretty much suck compared to those in the Chicago area.  None of the theaters here have DLP projectors.  Only the AMC theater at Mayfair Mall is THX certified and I think only one or two are certified because I was in one theater and I could hear noise from a neighboring theater (a big problem that would prevent getting THX certified).

My biggest complaint with theaters is the advertising.  I dont mind the slide show type advertising before a show, but if Im paying about $7-10 for a ticket and $7-15 for refreshments, I dont beleive I should be subjected to 10-20 minutes worth of commercials.  I can handle commercials at discount theaters because Im only paying a couple dollars.  To me its just not worth to pay premium prices to sit in a relatively subpar theater and get advertised to.  So I generally stick to the discount theaters or go to the Hollywood Video.

[murdoc]

Compared to watching a DVD at my home, the movie theaters just look like crap.  And I agree that Men. Falls theater is horrible.  I wish I could go to the Ultrascreen all the time, but it's over an hour drive. :-(

[Paul S.]

The Rosebud still rules with your honey!

[Mark Strube]

If it's not on the Ultrascreen, I prefer going to Mayfair. They seem to have the least problems when compared to Marcus theaters.

I had some friends over and I was showing them a couple trailers from HDNet... and then we watched a DVD, having been to a movie at Mayfair and seen some of the same trailers less than a week earlier. They made the observation that both the trailers and the DVD had a much clearer picture than anything they've seen at a theater, and they'd prefer to just watch movies at my house from now on (that could be a blessing or a curse heh).

I don't mind the movie trailers (I'm a bit of a movie trailer buff myself), especially because they pertain to movies in general... but the ads they now play before that really annoy me. And then there's the gamble of whether you'll get an annoying audience or not... people just don't know how to be polite in theaters, no matter how many "Shhh" animations or creative ways to say "Turn of your cell phone NOW" that they use. It's like... I don't pay $8 to listen to YOU talk on your cell phone... and now the big question, why are YOU paying $8 to sit and talk on your phone and be annoying with your friends? Go to Starbucks and let me watch my overpriced movie and eat my stale popcorn.

So go figure. I'll still go to the theater if I REALLY want to see a movie (for example Constantine, I definitely want to catch that on the Ultrascreen), but besides that, I definitely prefer my home theater. (Or I guess I should call it bedroom theater.)

[StarvingForHDTV]

I figured it wasn't just me, but I wanted to check.  I'll have to check out some of the other theaters mentioned here at some point.  

One thing had improved since I used to go, and that is the seating.  The seats were stadium style so if you sat behind a really tall person it wasn't a problem.  That I liked better than previous designs.

I enjoy my home theater so much it's hard to go to a public theater.  Once HD-DVD (in whatever format) gets traction, it will be that much more difficult to convince me to leave home to see a movie.  Especially if HD-DVD supports 1080p and I have a large 1080p display in my home......

[Paul S.]

And then there's the gamble of whether you'll get an annoying audience or not... people just don't know how to be polite in theaters, no matter how many "Shhh" animations or creative ways to say "Turn of your cell phone NOW" that they use. It's like... I don't pay $8 to listen to YOU talk on your cell phone... and now the big question, why are YOU paying $8 to sit and talk on your phone and be annoying with your friends? Go to Starbucks and let me watch my overpriced movie and eat my stale popcorn.

Thats why I stopped going to the Mayfair theater- too ghetto and they can't shut the hell up.

[tazman]

Last movie I went to a theatre for was the Passion at the Paridise theatre's in WestBend.  I basicaly can't sit in any theatre for more than an hour.  My back won't let me.  I also agree with the other comments about the sound quality, it's horrible.  I believe that in ten years if not less indoor theatres are going to have to make the veiwing experiance more relaxing and in my case more comfortable for the back.  Otherwise they will face the same fate as the drive ins.  With the ever improving quality of HDTV sets and their declining prices.  Gathering group audiences for a show is going to be a harder and harder thing to do.  You gotta figure if your sitting 2/3 of the way back from the screen in a theatre, for me anyways is about the same field of view as my sitting 8 to 10 feet back from my 60" HDTV.  Most DVD's I have watched on my setup look nearly as good as what I watched at the theatre.  

PS  I've never seen the projector operator stop the film for a bathroom brake either.

[Ralph Kramden]

The only theater I attend is in my basement. Infocus X1 projector with a 106" diagonal screen.