movie manners

Last night Andy took me to see The Day the Earth Stood Still because, he figured, we might only have a couple of months to still enjoy a movie out together. I liked the movie, but it could have been better. I'm not going to pick it apart because I don't feel that I gave the movie the attention it is due, if it is to be criticized. This is because, horror of all horrors, someone had bad movie manners and I had a bad attitude. The first wrong committed was sitting directly behind me. The heater was broken in this theater and so not many people were in it, in fact, when we showed up only one other family was there and maybe five families total came to the show. So why did this family have to sit directly behind us? And, put their feet up on the chair next to my head? I figured I would get over this, and I probably would have, if they had movie manners from then on. But nooooooooooo. The least offensive thing was their chewing popcorn, slurping drinks, and digging for candy in their plastic wrappers (i.e. making a lot of noise) during the scenes where there is little or no sound. Directors do this for effect, to build suspense, to move you closer to your boy toy or to the edge of your seat, NOT to be annoyed at people happily, but noisily, munching food. When you're in a movie, you're supposed to be in the moment, not worried about shoving food in your face! I don't mind people eating in the theater as long as they do the noisy parts either during the previews (like I did) or during the loud parts of the movie, such as when things are being blown up. The worst offense was that one member of this family, the person sitting behind me and on my right, laughed at the most inappropriate moments. She would make a grunt-like scoffing "humph" every time something awful was happening to someone or to mankind. One time she made two laugh-grunts, and think this is when people were being eaten my those revelation style grey insects or maybe it was when the alien killed a police officer by ramming a car into him. I almost got up and moved, but, chicken as I was, I only complained to Andy about it in a whisper. You may be surprised to know that this isn't my worst movie experience (did I tell you about the time I grabbed a kid's leg because he was rhythmically kicking the back of my chair -- I didn't even turn around, I just reached behind my chair, held his foot for a second and then let go. I'm sure I freaked the kid's poor mother out) and I did actually enjoy my evening out with Andy. We had a good laugh about it earlier. The movie itself, however, didn't produce much discussion. We talked about other doom and gloom alien movies (alien movies are the only scary or suspenseful movies I love) and about the laugh-grunt lady. The only thing I noted from the movie is that the alien seemed to change his mind because of the behavior of the little boy, not his step-mom's as the movie seems to lead you to think. Because, really, his was the boy's behavior that changed, not the woman's. So, I liked it. It wasn't the best alien movie by far, but the special effects are worth the two hours you'll spend.