Thursday, November 13, 2008

An Incremental Uptick In Civility Should Be Welcomed

::Cannibalising this rant from my Quantum of Solace post in order to keep that epic a teeny tiny little bit more focused. Apologies for looking like a lazy bastard by reprinting something as a new post::

As I said yesterday, we saw finally saw Quantum of Solace many days after it opened (which is torture for a Bond fan). While the main reason was sheer lack of the pounds, we also balked at seeing it in the midst of a seething mass of ill-behaved douchebags, which has happened way too often over the years. We went to great trouble to see the movie at our local Vue, which was offering an over-18s only screening, which, according to the jerkoff who wrote that Guardian article, is the kind of behaviour only fun-hating assholes could possibly want. Fine, I'm a fun-hating asshole, but I'm a fun-hating asshole who was absurdly happy last night. Only about forty people attended the screening, but with an employee on hand to keep an eye out for bratty kids (the traditional bad apples that spoil the bunch) sneaking in and causing havoc, for the first time I've ever experienced in a big chain cinema, there was a feeling of happy community as we all got on with watching the goddamn film like we wanted. I've had too many shitty experiences going to the cinema, and it's the main reason I don't go as often as I used to. Quint had a memorable rant on Ain't It Cool News a while back, and I love that the talkbackers were almost 100% united behind him, something that almost never happens.

Paint me as a curmudgeon all you like, hack Guardian loser, but I'm sick of going to the cinema only to have to endure ice cubes thrown at my head (Ocean's Thirteen), kids having a party three rows in front of me (William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), threats of violence (Blade), incessant phone use (The Dark Knight, which was, other than that, a superb experience), or sitting in the middle of what felt like a flash mob gathering designed to create the maximum amount of carnage, misery, noise, and disruption possible (Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer, which was exactly like that scene in Gremlins where they all watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, except scarier). I'll pay the extra pound just for some enforced civility which, of course, didn't need to be enforced because the people who bought tickets were eager to watch a movie without distraction and not have a get-together with their mates. It's fucking science. Kudos to Vue for making the experience feel a little more special than it usually would.

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