Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

I love going to the movie theater. I love the experience. There's an electricity about being a part of the crowd when a great new movie has just opened. There's the thrill of seeing something so much larger than life projected onto an enormous screen. There's the excitement in the previews that prepare you for upcoming films and there's the satisfaction of watching the credits scroll at the end of a fun movie as you leave the theater, rapidly discussing with your friends and family all of the good and the bad of the movie you've just enjoyed.

Then, there's reality.

I've been to see two movies this week, King Kong and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (third time, but what can I say?) and I have to comment on the waning courtesy in our society. It's killing me.

I took my eight-year-old daughter to see Harry Potter this time and she was great. We didn't have to leave the theater for a potty break (though the film is over 2 hours long) and she was stayed involved and interested. In fact she did better than some of the adults in the theater. It never ceases to amaze me how many people refuse to turn off or silence their phones even after the cute segment about "a single phone can ruin a movie". I'm also constantly confused by the number of people who play with their phones throughout a movie (whether games, texting, checking messages, etc).

When my wife and I went to see Kong, we arrived early, found the perfect seats, took bathroom breaks before the show and got our snacks in perfect time to be ready for the opening previews. That's how it should be. However, as is becoming more common, at least a quarter of the people arrived to find seats during the previews. Most of them walked in, looked surprised to find a nearly-full theater and then made a couple of passes back and forth in the front of the theater trying to find seats for their group. One lady arrived with three children whose ages I would guess to be two, four and six. One man and a teenager who may have been related to her arrived later, but sat in a row ahead of them. This group of people spent at least ten percent of the movie playing musical (or theatrical) chairs. Another ten percent of the time was spent standing/walking -- not in and out of the theater all of the time, but in and out of the theater and back and forth between the rows and just walking randomly. The kids talked, yelled and cried at various points throughout the show, but even during the crying, the mother did not take the kids out.

I have several questions in no particular order:

• Am I crazy to expect people to behave better in a movie than what I see?
• Has it gotten worse, or am I just getting crankier?
• Who has the money to burn that they can pay to see a movie, but not actually watch it?

Here are the rules of movies. If you follow them, everyone will be happy:

• Don't bring kids to age or content or length inappropriate movies. If your kids might get scared or bored, get a sitter.
• Don't bring infants to a movie ever. I have two kids. It sucks if you have to miss a movie because you can't take the kids, but if you take the baby, you might end up standing in the hallway anyway. Wait for the DVD.
• Never use the phone in a movie -- for conversation, for texting, for games, for pictures, for anything.
• If you have to talk, whisper. If you have to have a conversation leave.
• If you've seen the movie already, don't say anything about the movie during the movie at all. I don't care if the upcoming scene is cool or funny.
• Don't go to the movies if you're sick.

There are probably more rules, but you get the point. Unfortunately I have little hope for the future. I'm seeing people are growing less and less courteous in general (have you been on a coach-class flight lately?). If you're the type of person that goes to movies but you don't actually watch them, please just send your extra money to me. If you think you're a courteous person, but you still "have to take that call" or "just missed what they said and now have to ask my boyfriend what just happened", you need to re-evaluate what you consider to be courteous. Lastly, if you can't find a sitter, go to the Harkins theaters at the Chandler Fashion Center. They have in-house child care.

If things don't get better, all of the enjoyment of the movie theater is going to be gone and we'll all just wait for the DVD -- and that would be sad.

Oh, by the way, if anyone knows of a theater that has figured out how to "raise the bar" a little to make sure that everyone enjoys the movie, I'd love to know about it.