Curse of the Cellular Ringtone - Page 3

I will fight you, Devin. I'm gonna fight you. We'll get together, and we'll fight. I wanna fight you. I'll make you fight me. We're gonna fight. I wanna fight you, Devin.

Dude, I was in a sold-out theater where the ENTIRE theater was screaming at this motherfucker to get off his NEXTEL TWO-WAY. He refused, and everytime that thing chirped, there was 90 seconds of 200 people yelling at him. The theater manager asked him to stop; he refused. The fucking COPS had to be called to drag him out of the theater, and he was arguing all the way out that he "paid (his) money" to get in. That's how bad it's gotten.

On the flip side, my wife once walked from her seat up to two chatterboxes and, sweet as pie and smiling, said "Hi, sorry. Can you two please stop talking? We can all hear you." And they shut the fuck up. Results vary.

Sorry to hear that happened, but you gotta admit that this is really fucking funny.

Seconded. Also I think the analogy about the kids being dropped off is spot on. Parents in this nation are lazy.

cell phones we be the worlds demise

I can easily second this. Also, once you walk out of that theater, cell phones are frickin' everywhere. Everyone's got one, and using it constantly. But somehow, they manage to put 'em away once they're in a theater. Incredible, eh?


Overall good post!

Amen to that. When I went to see X2, there was some fucktard sitting directly behind be, chuckling during the OPENING CREDITS. It got worse when Hugh Jackman appeared on screen at Alkali Lake, with his hair all puffy from god knows what. The guy kept on chuckling.

Sometimes I wish I had the courage to fling my semen on someone, like that guy in Silence of the Lambs.

Anybody know if the Japanese jam their theaters?

The addition of DLP projectors to my local theaters is THE ONLY thing that even gets my interest piqued about going there and rubbing elbows with the unwashed masses.

I chalk going to the movies with going to Wal Mart - typically unpleasant, but occasionally necessary and worthwhile.

Damn, so much for applauding the Japanese on their restraint. Since about 1999, Japan has been jamming cell phones in movie houses and music venues.

I asked my bf, who has family in Japan (Tokyo).

Think this has something to do with the dropping age of the average moviegoer? Most friends of mine above a certain age avoid theaters like the plague, now...not to be all "you damn kids" about it, but if an audience is mostly 15-year-old kids out on the town with their buddies the vibe's going to be a lot different. The attention paid to the screen isn't going to be as great.

Maybe this isn't so much the case in larger cities...but it seems like legal adults are avoiding the flicks more than ever. I am, for one.

Holy fuck, it's a green gorilla.

I can see jamming going over really well. But instead of cell phones ringing you'd hear a dozen or so "I can't get no SIGNAL!" from the audience. For about a year.

It all depends on what theater you go to around here. Any suburban cineplex is pretty much a day care facility for teens. The indie/art theaters tend to attract people who are actually there to see a movie. I rarely ever have problems with folks there.

Not with phones, but the old folks at my art house matinees do like to talk to each other during. Usually it's ABOUT the movie, but still.

So I work in a movie theater and it's my job most Friday nights to monitor the theatres or teach kids to do it, who will actually have the backbone to do it. We walk one end to the other and repeat. I will admit I am a total bitch. I've turned around on a pack of kids after a warning when they giggled and tossed out the whole row because I simply wasn't going to wait until they disrupted the entire movie again to do it. I've walked into a theater with a 2 year old jumping up and down the stairs in an R rated movie and said "who does this belong to?" A man raised his hand and I said get it and leave now. I was applauded on the way out. We have a person dedicated, usually more than one on busy nights, we toss out, we don't refund, we talk to parents who usually yell at us because "their kids would never do that". The worst offenders the adults who act like they fucking own the place with their flashing blue tooth phones and dragging babies into not only R rated but late night movies and then complain when I dare charge them because "I shouldn't have to pay its sleeping." I don't fucking care, have manners. When I have to challenge adults it's just incredible how worse they are then the teens. At least I can intimidate the teens. Adults usually require a police officer behind me. I've been doing this years and until we get legislation and won't get sued for blocking cell phones, nothing will change. Trust me our theatre damn well works HARD at it and we feel beat down all the time. We win battles but we are being overwhelmed by the numbers.

All I can say is help us. Say something to the fucker the next time they open their phone and blind three rows back. Come get us. I spend 3 minutes each in 18 theatres and repeat and get pulled away for emergencies and fill in's. It's tough to always be there.

Keep fighting the good fight, MovieImp.

I don't understand why you wouldn't say something to someone. Especially if it's a bunch of punk kids. They scare easily.

I find it fascinating that other countries don't seem to have this problem.

In some cases. In many, kids today have no respect for authority or their elders. It ain't like it used to be in good ol' 1955 Hill Valley.

It is interesting that other countries don't have the problem, but I can't say I'm all that surprised to read that Americans are the most rude. Not surprised at all....

We have a massive problem with talkers in the UK, mobiles tend to get turned off but you get tons of people who come into the cinema just to have a chat. Happens a lot where I live with young muslims as it is realistically the only place they can hang out without elders interfering, while I understand why it still doesn't make it any less irritating when you're trying to watch Broken Flowers and you have people chatting each other up three rows behind. I guess I deserve it for going to see Broken Flowers though.

I work in a movie theater as well. Spot-on comment.

Oh and if you ever want to say something to get someone to shut up, just say 'excuse me, I and(however many people are in the theater) paid to watch the movie, not to listen to you talk.' If that doesnt shut them up tell an usher you said that to them. If they make one peep while the usher is there nine times out of ten they'll get tossed out.

I always put my cell phone on "Silence All" before I go into the theater. My vibrate on my phone is pretty damn loud, and I don't want anyone in the theater to get annoyed by me, especially because I show such disdain when they annoy me. Seriously, I love having a cell phone, it's incredibly convenient, but what did people fucking do before they existed? Did the world only start when cell phones were readily available? A Rooney-esque article sure, and as much as I laughed at Slater's posts, I guess if there's one thing appropriate for Devin to whine about it's this. On the other hand, I read articles like this (and I agree with the article), and I think how fucking spoiled we are in this country. Like, if there were some destitute person reading the article, thinking how nice it must be to have a life where a cell phone in a theater was such a travesty. Then I think, hey, destitute guy, how did you get on the internet?

One of my shining moments was at an opening night screening of 8-Mile. Theater full of little Eminem wannabes. Everyone was yapping through the opening credits, then the movie started... everyone's still talking- so I bellowed "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

Theater was quiet the rest of the movie.

One question about cellphone jammers...
What kind of range do these things have?
The only downside I could see is if the signal is still blocked outside the theater. Say some teens go to a late screening and have to call their ride, or something has come up. They wouldn't have to walk to the wrong side of the tracks or whatever to get a signal again, whould they? I mean thanks to the wonders of cell phones, payphones have pretty much gone the way of the dodo(annoying when, like me, you don't have one). There aren't payphones at some of the theaters I've been to recently, which was kind of shocking.

Can pagers stop cell phone movie chatter?
The Reuters link.

I really like that idea.

The problem with that is some people will treat it as a toy and buzz the staff just for the hell of it, causing even more disturbance.
Why don't they just get an usher to firmly ask people, just before the movie starts, to turn off their phones or they will be ejected from the film.

Good point.

Here's an ide: they could start a VIP program for frequent movie-goers of that particular establishment, and hand out the buzzer as part of achieving a certain tier within the program.

Thank you.

Good call.

That sounds ridiculously complicated. No cinema will make that effort. How will they know whether the frequent movie-goers are quiet ?

They'd be the ones bitching about others' phones. It's a vigilante task force. That people are actually considering these measures depresses me. I'd like to throw up my hands and say "home theater time", but I like seeing movies in theaters. And I don't want to dodge spoilers and such online until the damn movie hits home video.

Another reason to hate Larry King: