We don't mind audiences where everyone is into the film and enjoying it together, but have no hesitation telling people to shut up (well, asking them to "please be quiet" initially) if they are talking irrelevant rubbish. We had to do that for The Spirit last week as a couple were talking loudly right from the start. To be fair, we didn't hear a peep out of them after that. With food it's more difficult because the cinema has probably sold them the food. When we saw Chopper we were sitting next to the world's loudest popcorn eater. It's irritating because you start tuning into that noise and missing out on the onscreen action. We generally go to early screenings to avoid audiences, although Defiance at the Showcase was surprisingly packed this weekend.

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It's very rare that I hear people talking during a film - probably only young kids who are there without their parents. I wouldn't like that at all, though my own offspring would forbid me from saying anything.

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It's not often that we have to ask people to be quiet (TBH the arts centre usually has the most inconsiderate audiences and it's claustrophobic in there) and it takes a bit of courage for us to do it but we do get so fed up with people just chatting. They don't even whisper. We are always polite when we first ask. If they don't stop we then let them know we are going to tell the cinema;s management - that has generally worked.

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Oh yes - Warwick Arts centre can be appalling, I'd forgotten that. Academics love the sounds of their own voices :-)

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I think the way people eat in cinemas is disgusting. No one would dream of eating in a theatre, and quite right too. And while I understand that it's the cinema's fault for selling food to them in the first place, I still find it revolting.

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The bulk of food the guy behind me was eating boggles the mind. He must have got through several thousand calories. I am extrapolating calories from rustling and chewing noises.

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Yeeuch!

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It can't have been boiled sweets because you wouldn't need another one right away.

But that's just how these people eat - as soon as one thing is in the mouth, another is taken out of the packet. It's purely mechanical eating, not for need, comfort or pleasure but a sort of habit of the hands. If they weren't porking they'd be smoking.

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Yes, the mindless habit is part of what annoys me I think. Also, why don't cinemas sell quiet food?

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azdak: but people DO eat in the theater, that's why they're called Opera Creams! One of the offenses of Matinee Girls was loud sweet-eating. (And trays of tea but that's in the interval.) Of course Victorians used to eat during performances, especially in the halls.

One reason that I very seldom go to the movies is that there's *always* somebody loudly explaining the plot wrong. (I still remember a childhood instance, where one viewer constantly reassured another that they couldn't kill Richard Burton in "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold" because, after all, he was not only the star he was Richard Burton.)

communicator: I read that there is a whole category of obese children who just eat continuously the whole time they're awake and not in a situation (e.g., school) where food is not constantly available.

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Overhearing bad plot explanations! Sheer torture for a busybody like me. Deliciously awful.

I wonder if that 'eat constantly' thing is an urban myth, though.

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And this is why I go the the luxury cinema where the leather seats are in pairs and well away from other rows if the film's a popular one or may attract kids. If not, the local seaside one is fine.

I don't mind shared reactions, but I hate the constant rustling of cellophane bags (which is probably what you could hear--why the hell don't they ban cellophane in cinemas?), the talking, the small of popcorn, and kids kicking the back of my seat. And then there's the occasional infuriating idiots who think it's cool to bring a laser pointer in, and I'm always the one who goes to get management to throw them out.

Re the cellophane bags, when I've occasionally bought sweets in them, I ask for a small drink container to decant them into. That was always OK except for one cinema which wanted to charge me for the drink cup. I told them I was trying to respect their patrons, which they obviously didn't, and they could refund the sweets if they preferred, and they grudgingly gave me the cup. [rolls eyes]

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I don't generally go to films where there might be children, and I think if I go to a real kids' film, I have to fit in with their ways. For instance I saw Wall-E in France, in a rainstorm, so the place was packed with little french kids. Literally, there was not an empty seat in the place, and I had a whale of a time.

That's a good idea about the cup.

I had to laugh at people taking in a laser pointer.

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Kids go to comedies and action films. The worst experience (apart from screaming babies who should be banned, dammit--they must pick up germs in there anyway) was at a Star Trek film years ago when I had to climb into the next row down because the brat behind me (there with his parents) wouldn't stop kicking my seat.

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