What do you do most often with movies? Wait until they come out as new releases on video, then buy them or rent them? Or go to the movie theatre to see first run movies as often as you can?

What's your local movie theatre like?

How often have you bought a movie without watching it first?

Have you seen any movies lately that you found impressive and would recommend others to see?

I literally never went to the cinema in years, but since January I've been more times than I can remember.

It's a different experience now. We used to have a handfull of  small cinemas and a very nice edge of town Warner Bros multiscreen that has since been demolished (it was only built 12 or so years ago - which in the UK, is a very short life indeed for a commercial building).

Nowadays although the screenings are better, the location is less pleasant. You have to go into town, battle through the bars and pizza joints before getting to the flicks. It's really not a family location in my opinion, especially at weekends, with a football ground next door.

As for films themselves....

I've never rented any films. There isn't any particular reaosn why not, it's just something I never really thought about doing.

I'd say a good 40% of my collection is made of of films I'd never seen before and simply bought on spec in the shop.

The most recent movies I've seen were:

'Snakes on A Plane' - not destined for classic status.

'Miami Vice' - I wish I'd not bothered. A good 90 minutes in and I was still wondereing when it was ever going to get off the ground. It was also perhaps tainted by the fact that I'm old enough (just) to remember the TV show of the same name. Other than the character names and basic premisce, the two had little else in common.

There used to be several large cinemas in my town, and when I was a young  kid would go to one or other of them every week. Inside they were very ornately decorated, and had a glamorous feel about them.

Unfortunately they've all gone now, to be replaced by a multi-screen cinema.  I'm not too keen on modern movies, so don't go now very often.

I admit to being a "mature" Harry Potter fan, and there's always a great atmosphere when they're shown - packed audiences of kids and adults alike! Another I saw there was "The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe."  Another great one.I bought the DVD's of both movies, well worth it for all the extras.

So even though there is nothing to compare to watching a movie on the big screen, I do tend to buy DVD's more. Mostly older movies that I always wanted to see, but somehow missed.

When I grew up in Russia in the late 80's-early 90's, my friends and I used to go to the movies all the time and watched only a few on video at home. The prices were so cheap then, we could go and see the same movie 10 times. Since I've come to live in the US, we started to rent movies more often than not, also check them out at the library, and now it is a toss between renting and buying.

I see what you mean about multiscreen cinemas replacing the old one-screen movie theaters. When we lived in a bigger city we had a similar problem as Cuffy described, when the theater was located in a bad part of town and going there in the evening was not a pleasant experience, having to always watch your back in fear of running into a gang. Then they built a brand new beautiful Carmike theater in the good part of town, right before we moved to a smaller town.
To our pleasant surprise we discovered that the town has one of not many still functioning one screen movie theaters built in the 30's which has been completely restored. (Here is a pic I found on the net ). Since then we made it a point to go there and see movies on a more regular basis. They don't show anything past PG-13 rating, which is good for a small family community, and the owner was nice enough to show us inside the projection room when we were walking past the theater one day and they were not showing anything, so he had some time to kill. The theater also doubles as a play house. We saw "The Sound Of Music" live play there, which was done very well.

The latest movie we watched there was "The Pirates Of The Carribean", the sequel. Not really my kind of a movie, was a bit too far out for a pirate movie, it was more like something you'd see in Harry Potter (magic, weird creatures, that type of thing).

I really wanted to see "The World Trade Center", but unfortunately we missed it. I'll make it a point to rent it though for sure.

Cuffy, I saw previews of "The Snakes On The Plane" and it all sounded to me like a spruced-up 'B' movie, lol. I wondered, how did those snakes get on the plane and then get loose?    :smt017

Sunny wrote:Cuffy, I saw previews of "The Snakes On The Plane" and it all sounded to me like a spruced-up 'B' movie, lol. I wondered, how did those snakes get on the plane and then get loose?    :smt017

Thats right. What I hadn't appreciated beforehand, but rapidly became apparent soon into the screening, was that it was meant to be viewed in the B-movie style. I know it wasn't meant to be taken too seriously, but even with that in mind, it really didn't work for me (even as a novelty).

The build up to the story was done in short segments with a couple of gaping big plot holes intentionally (but irritatingly all the same) worked in. And then.... wham, we're on the plane and it all takes place.

The whole snakes concept was a bit strange. The snakes were stored in the hold, relased by a time delay device and made their way up to the cabin by following the scent of pherenomes that had been sprayed onto complimentary Hawaiian leis given to the boarding passengers.

Cuffy wrote:
The build up to the story was done in short segments with a couple of gaping big plot holes intentionally (but irritatingly all the same) worked in. And then.... wham, we're on the plane and it all takes place.

The whole snakes concept was a bit strange. The snakes were stored in the hold, relased by a time delay device and made their way up to the cabin by following the scent of pherenomes that had been sprayed onto complimentary Hawaiian leis given to the boarding passengers.

Either this is too deep for my simple mind or the story is waaaay too far out.  :smt103 I went through a phase of wanting to see plane adventures where people would survive in the end. Strange the way mind works sometimes, I am terrified of flying and was deeply touched by what happened on September 11, yet there was a certain fascination about watching that kind of thrillers. But snakes on a plane - nah, I think that's the thrill I'll pass, lol.  :smt003