"They can see where we pause, how many times we rewind, how often we start again altogether. Most tellingly, they know when a critic checks out completely: said critic lets the movie play all the way through the credits.
No one watches a (non-Marvel) movie all the way through the credits.Watching at home just encourages bad habits. It introduces kids, laptops, pets, phones, doorbells, Twitter, bathroom breaks, endless distractions.... But studios and filmmakers are correct to counter writers’ desire for greater convenience with the fact that watching films at home is simply inferior to doing so safely in a theater."
From
"No more home screeners. Critics should watch movies in theaters like everyone else" by Sonny Bunch (WaPo).
The most depressing part of that was "(non-Marvel)."
Top-rated comment: "Any movie worth a damn can withstand the slightly 'atomized' experience of a home theater. This is 'old man yells at cloud'-level nonsense." What about all the old men who can't sit through a whole movie without going to the bathroom?
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Ugh. How can anyone take 'critics' seriously when they're reviewing comic book-based 'movies'?
How can critics take themselves seriously anymore?
Movie critics absurdly overpraise every new movie, or at least 90 percent of them. They're all industry flaks, even the ones at the New Yorker. So what does it matter how they view the movies? They're going to LOVE them anyway.
Some movies are better seen in a theater - like Star Wars or Dunkirk or a good comedy. I've been able see many classic film comedies in a theater, and its much more enjoyable hearing the laughter and applause. I suppose that's also one good thing about live theater, live interaction between real honest to god actors and the audience.
OTOH, a lot of serious dramas are better seen at home so you can take a break or FF or rewind and re-watch. I don't think I could have gotten through "You Got Mail" or "sleepless in Seattle" except at Home. If I'd gone with wife to a theater, I would fallen asleep or gone to the lobby for 10 candy bars.
Marvel places a teaser scene during the credits of its films. So all he's saying is that critics watching screeners, like the rest of us, don't generally watch the credits, but make an exception if they know there's more to come. Me, I usually watch the credits if a song plays, but not for instrumental music.
The spouse fast-forwards through all the credits and any slow scene. I can't believe it. If I want to watch a movie I want to experience the whole thing. Like I watched Nomads last year but it put him to sleep of course.
But there are damn few movies I want to watch so.
Excellent stuff. You're on fire in your new blogging year. When we were dating, I drove my wife crazy by wanting to see the closing credits. Locations, music credits, actors popping up unexpectedly. This of course eventually made me very interested in Turner Classic Movies and IMDB. (Back and forth if I have the little TV on in my study). And yes, I would have trouble getting through a movie in a theater without going to the bathroom.
When we watch a movie or TV show together, my wife insists on having the TV/Blue ray player control. She knows me too well.
When it comes to judging movies for awards, these same studios have no problem with people watching from home. They sent out DVD's (now it's links) to potential voters who could watch the movie at home and decide if the movie warranted an award. If it's a good enough way to decide if the movie the best picture of the year, it's good enough to say if it's worth the bother of seeing in the first place.
I have a great idea. Make a movie that is best seen in a theater. Grand sweeping vistas, screen filling action. Make a movie like it is made for TV and people will want to watch it on their TV. OF course some people have movie theaters at home now. So I guess technology has changed. Once thing I don't understand is how all my kids can watch their movies on their phones. Ugh. I have the gumption to chase them off my lawn.
Screeners are for Pirate Bay
Most of the movies I see advertised fill me with a great urge to urinate all over everyone involved.
part of the point of the film going experience is the feedback from the others in the audience, i know that's too much of a vulgar sentiment,
Movie experiences vary depending on the theater, time of day, age/gender/education-attained. Nothing has changed. We've just added another variable and if a critic thinks that studios/directors/producers don't think about viewing on a small (or not-so-small) screen at home ... they should think again.
Having bid adieu to Teachout are you reading Bunch to see if he’s worth your time?
I wish they'd get data back from everyone who watches at home. Then maybe they'd see how many people have to have the close caption turned just so they can figure out what's being said. People used to complain that Brando mumbled, but he never mumbled dialog the way actors do today. And while I'm at it, most sound engineers need a good ass-kicking for seemingly going out of their way to make sure the sound effects and music make it even harder to hear the mumbling!
Yeah, I always turn on captioning.
Back when I went to movies in a theater I always stayed through to the end of the credits; not to see who the assistant carpenter on the Thailand set was, but to listen to the music and to let the movie sink in. Invariably, I was the only one in the theater to do so.
As to "doing so safely in a theater", we are immune to your gaslighting WaPo. (Tell us again how the lab-leak theory has been thoroughly debunked).
Many years ago I took my two young children to the new Sesame Street movie. Ebert had given it a poor review. My kids laughed and giggled and kept their attention on the movie the whole time. I haven't paid any attention to "movie critics" since.
"I AM big.
It's the pictures that got small!"
Sent from my Android phone.
Critics should watch movies in theaters like everyone else.
Who is this everyone else the writer is referring to? Even for a long time before the pandemic theater attendance had been sparse. While I agree there is an experiential difference between watching something at a theater or watching something at home, let alone on a laptop, we shouldn't pretend that everyone else is watching the movie in a theater or that the theater is the preferred venue people want to watch a movie in. I think it is pretty uniform among most people I talk to that if given the option they would prefer watching a movie on release at home rather than trekking out to a theater and watching it. Also I share others' sentiment that movie critics aren't particularly useful. In fact I thoroughly enjoy seeing wide disparities on the rotten tomatoes website between audience reviews and critics reviews. It confirms my suspicion that critics largely publish their pieces to demonstrate that they have the 'right' opinion about a movie and it's larger social context, rather than actually evaluate the movie for whether most audiences would enjoy it.
"What about all the old men who can't sit through a whole movie without going to the bathroom?"
FFS - I saw Dune several weeks ago. First movie I'd been to in years. Went wearing adult diapers - no way was I missing a minute of that movie. NASA Pants are the best thing since sliced bread. Highly recommended for long drives as well.
Dune is totally a big-screen movie. Would love to see it again at home but glad I saw it on the big screen. My gripe is the 30 minutes of previews for gawd-awful movies you'd never give more than a moment's passing thought to. My god there are some shitty movies out there, and halfway through the preview segment it almost borders on parody, they are so bad.
Perhaps those pauses, rewinds, and so forth should be signs that you need to ask that viewer why he did that at that point. There could be a lot of information on where writing or direction could be improved. And on ending before the credits roll all the way through? Tough that other people don't care to know who is the key grip, but stay strong and you may pull through.
I will never go to see a movie in a theater ever again- done with it altogether.
Seems like the studio would want to know which scenes really caught the screener’s attention. Like some others here, I’m dubious of the claim that if the film runs through the credits, then nobody was watching the movie. Most auteur-types I know watch the credits. I used to watch the credits in theatres if my date let me and I’m often annoyed that Netflix makes it difficult to watch the credits on shows, preferring to shuffle you into the next thung before you have a chance to turn it off.
Of course they should have to watch the movies in the theater. I'm amazed it was allowed to be done any other way.
Watching the credits does allow everyo e else in the theater to leave first, and when the credits are done you got a clear way out.
(I'm not a fan of crowds.)
North:
most sound engineers need a good ass-kicking for seemingly going out of their way to make sure the sound effects and music make it even harder to hear the mumbling!
I am rewatching the Mission impossible series again. I have my hand on the sound buttons so I can crank the volume during dialogue and shut it way down during other scenes.
Very frustrating to have my ears blown out at the same time I can't hear what people are saying. Mumbling or not, the sound people could make sure dialogue is heard when mixing the sound. No excuse.
How do the studios know the people stayed? Or weren't on their phones?
They should use the Ludovico Technique
People watch the credits in the Marvel movies because there are short scenes related to the series buried in there. I generally don't watch the credits even if I leave them running for the sound track. If I'm interested I go to IMDB and look for the writer or costume designer or the actor and get their bio and links to other movies they've worked on.
I recall watching the entire credits roll the first time I viewed The Big Lebowski, enjoying Townes Van Zandt's version of "Dead Flowers."
Yancey Ward said...
I will never go to see a movie in a theater ever again- done with it altogether.
I!concur. Back in the day when the big screen was in the theatre that was the way to go. Now the big screen is in my living room, with fresh popcorn and a clean comfy couch.
…and I don’t need other douchebags to tell me how good/bad the movie is…
"Back when I went to movies in a theater I always stayed through to the end of the credits; not to see who the assistant carpenter on the Thailand set was, but to listen to the music and to let the movie sink in."
Many years ago, I went to see a movie called "Final Countdown" in the theater. It stared Kurt Douglas and involved the USS Nimitz finding itself off the coast of Hawaii on December 6, 1941. The plot itself was pure hack writing, but it included lots of footage of flight operations on the real Nimitz. The end credits were full of this footage. Without actor dialogue to distract us, most of us in the audience stayed in our seats to enjoy the uninterrupted military porn. It's the best end credits experience I've had outside of a Marvel movie.
it was written by martin caiden, the guy behind the 6 million dollar, yes it's not the most elegant writing, the book has kirk douglas's character as a fmr vietnam pow
Watching the credits does allow everyo e else in the theater to leave first, and when the credits are done you got a clear way out
You’ve lost minutes if your life you won’t get back…unless you’re gratified you know who the gaffer on the 2nd unit was…
Is it weird that organizations and companies who send me emails can tell that I haven't read them?
Can they also watch me in the shower?
*
I wonder if movies might be a victim of the attention economy -- besides being victims of COVID and the economy economy. We take in so much information and so much experience every day, that it's harder and harder to set aside time to go to a theater, when it's so much easier to watch at home. And things that we used to watch at home in the early days of home video -- silent movies, classics, art films -- really benefited from being seen in an actual theater where they had our full attention, so we watch them less and we watch actual movies less, preferring long arc television stories. That's how it is with me anyway.
Knowing who the gaffer and the best boy are isn't a big deal, but don't you sometimes really want to know where a movie was filmed?
And doesn't it really suck when you go to the movies with people who don't share that interest, and you want to stay, but feel like you can't and you can't tell them why either?
I may explore the #urination tag later. For now it's comforting just to know it's there.
"Critics should watch movies in theaters like everyone else"
Like everyone else? Everyone else is watching (non-Marvel) movies at home!
I didn't know Martin Caiden had anything to do with "The Final Countdown"--and IMDB doesn't mention him there. His wikipee says he wrote the book--maybe he novelized the screenplay, which IMDB credits to others?
When I was a regular movie-goer, I stayed for credits if I liked the movie at all. Music, locations, etc., interested me.
A cousin used to depend on The Critics for good movies. If The Critics liked it, he said, it probably sucked.
I don't think movie theaters will go the way of Blockbuster or vaudeville. They are bigger than regional theater, but they just barely qualify as mass entertainment....You enjoy a good movie more when you see it in a packed movie house on Saturday night, but is it worth all the extra hassle and expense. And that was before you could catch a fatal disease in a packed movie house. I can see how a concert or sports event is worth the hassle, but not so much movies....The streaming service has definitely changed the way I watch movies. I define a very good movie as one I can sit through in one viewing and can remember having seen a week later. An okay movie is one I can watch in snatches and finish in a week. There are a bunch of movies I abandon after about twenty or thirty minutes.....When I rented a movie, there was the sunk expense and I would generally persevere to the end. I'm far more ruthless now.
Narr (6:42pm):
My parents had a similar method to your cousin's. If Time recommended a movie, they stayed away; if Time hated it, they went. They found the method pretty much foolproof. This would have been the '80s or '90s, I think: they died in their early 80s ~10 years ago, and may not have seen a lot of movies in the previous decade, at least in theaters.
Any movie containing the death or near death of Leonardo DeCaprio is a worthy date movie.
Don't ask me why, they just are.
Wife briefly nodded off during a movie. I had quietly moved to a seat two rows behind her. Pretty funny.
A couple of people I grew up with are working in the movie industry. So I'll stay for the credits to see their names if I know they worked on that film.
This evening watched a film on DVD for which worth sticking around for the credits: Cloud Atlas. Some real surprises with who played whom.
Perhaps the most noteworthy closing credits watching experience in my life was at the end of THE WILD BUNCH. If you've seen the movie--and like the song "La Golondrina" (I want it sung at my funeral)--you know what I mean.
Back when my youngest was still young, one of us would have to wait outside with him until the previews were over, before going in to see whatever G-rated "children's movie" was playing, because the previews were so loud, violent, and terrifying. It didn't matter if the movie was about Paddington the Bear or Sesame Street--the car chase, explosives, battle slaughter previews ran, at brain-numbing volume, nevertheless.
I usually volunteered, because I hated them as much as he did.
What Althouse has noted is that there is now an interactive format available for use by movie makers - the behavior of the audience in a home setting. What would make the audience pause, rewind, or fast forward?
Jamie Lee Curtis has a scene in Trading places where she disrobes, exposing her breasts. When the movie was released on video tapes that moment could be frozen on the more advanced video players, but was blurry on older technologies of tape players. Or so I recall reading.
Denise Richards has a disrobing and sex scene or two in "Wild Things." On "Housewives" she recalled having to speak to her kids about it, as that scene was featured at least once, at parties her kids attended with classmates.
Once you get past the sex stuff, which has been around for decades, what else can you imagine being fun for the home audience to participate in viewing, reviewing, pausing, fast forwarding? A movie could become a mystery where re-viewing scenes would reveal clues in the background. Think of the movie "The Conversation" where understanding of what is seen and heard occurs only after many other details fall into place. Now do that with modern cinematic techniques.
Movies could also become viewer-directed. At points in the movie, choices could be made by the audience about what path the plot takes. Books have been written this way, why not movies?
And so on.
My favorite movie theater experience was watching "The Shining" in a tiny 50-seat mall minitheater full of 10-16 year old kids in Atlanta. They participated! Shrieking, arm waving, leaping from seat to seat, warning the actors to watch out, hiding in their seats when the elevator doors opened. There were maybe 3 other adults there, and we all joined in the fun.
My favorite movie experience was kissing my wife-to-be for the first time at the end of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood, as seen on a tiny Black & White television in my basement apartment.
Movie magic is a variable, which fits itself to many situations.
I went to see Nightmare Alley last week with the wife. There was noone in the place...not even an employee at the ticket counter. We wandered around till we found the room it was showing in. Apparently the digital projection is completely automated now. The two of us sat in the otherwise empty theater, watched the movie, and left.
How anyone is making money from this, I can't imagine.
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