Denialism

Who is going to see the Simpsons Movie?

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by

MarkH
in

I can’t quite come up with a good reason to see it, considering seeing movies in C-ville is usually a desultory experience. Our local chains, Regal and Carmike, typically play 10-20 minutes of advertisements before the trailers. Being a Tivo fan, my tolerance for commercials has decreased dramatically over the years, and the insipidity of the movie commercials is horrific.

So I find I really have to want to see a movie in order to justify suppressing the rage at being forced to watch bad commercials for 20 minutes for a movie that I’ve already paid 10 bucks for. With the Simpsons, the best I can come up with is that I owe them for 20 years of free television, but at the same time, since I can get it for free why would I want to spend 10 bucks? Is a sense of guilt enough reason to go?

Comments

  1. Dunc

    With the Simpsons, the best I can come up with is that I owe them for 20 years of free television

    If you watched the ads, it wasn’t free. Or have you been Tivoing them for 20 years? (In which case I’d like to borrow your time machine…)

    Reply
  2. Bronze Dog

    Thankfully, my local theaters limit the commercials to about only 10 minutes. Most shocking was that the new local theater limits those commercials to *gasp* movie trailers!

    Anyway, I’m going to see Simpsons because I haven’t been to the theater nearly as often as I used to. Kind of getting to a point where I feel television is superior to the theater: On TV, you can take your time with plot points. In the theater, you have to cram everything into an hour and a half because people can’t stay focused on anything for longer. (I think we need to bring back long movies with intermission.)

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  3. Dave Munger

    I no longer attend movies in theaters because of the stupid commercials (“pre-theater entertainment”) before the show. I’d rather wait six months for DVD/pay per view and watch with a glass of wine in the comfort of my own living room.

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  4. hinschelwood

    It’s pretty funny, it that’s a good enough reason. Saw it last night and laughed almost all the way through. Well worth seeing more than once, I think – there’s a lot that I probably missed.

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  5. Ian B Gibson

    Why don’t you just turn up 10 minutes late, so the adverts have already finished?

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  6. MarkH

    Maybe if I caught it late in release in a matinée. It probably will sell out for most of the showings this weekend. Finding a seat in the dark, and getting a crummy location is even more annoying.

    Reply
  7. Dave Munger

    Why don’t you just turn up 10 minutes late, so the adverts have already finished?

    I could do that, but then all the good seats are taken so I’d have to sit in the back row or 10 feet from the screen.

    Plus, every theater runs on a different schedule so it’s difficult to time — some start the ads before the official movie start time, then start the movie exactly on time. Others start the ads at the official start time, and the movie starts 20 minutes late.

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  8. Rev. BigDumbChimp

    I’ll go once the mass hype induced hysteria dies off somewhat. I like not having to be crammed in next to some mouthbreather who I fight for the armrest all movie long.

    But I’m definitely seeing it.

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  9. decrepitoldfool

    It’ll come out on DVD eventually. Patience, Weedhopper.

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  10. Valhar2000

    Your reason (not excuse, but reason) for watching the Simpson’s Movie is that The Simpson’s kicks some very serious ass,m and has been doing so for more than 15 years. Do I really need to explain this?

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  11. Spook

    I’ll just catch it when it goes to the second-run theatre. For $3 and two trailers at most (with no other ads!) it’s really the only way I watch movies anymore, short of borrowing them from the library.

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  12. Gaby

    Ugh… the Regal Cinema here in Richmond had about 15 minutes of commercials,then crappy movie trialers. But I have to say the movie was well worth it. I haven’t laughed like that in a long time. (well at least since the last funny movie I saw)

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  13. Kagehi

    Bah.. The solution to the stupid commercials before a movie is either a) video and/or music on an iPod or b) some games on my Palm pilot. lol What commercials? 😉

    Reply
  14. Ian B Gibson

    I’ll just catch it when it goes to the second-run theatre. For $3 and two trailers at most (with no other ads!) it’s really the only way I watch movies anymore, short of borrowing them from the library.

    I used to do that, but those theatres tend to use projection bulbs that are on their last legs, and I found the irritation caused by the dark picture far outweighed any advantages of such places.

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  15. Callandor

    I go to the theatre roughly every week to see at least one movie if not more than one — I still emphatically maintain that nothing compares to a theatrical experience, unless you have your own personal movie theatre. My friend has an absolutely top of the line entertainment center that I know cost at least 10,000 dollars if not far more. It still doesn’t compare to a theatre.

    As for commercials, I love trailers. In most instances. Bad trailers suck all the time, everytime, and only get worse with repeated viewings. I don’t consider them commercials truly.

    But the theatre that I go to locally does play commercials even before the trailers. Luckily, it’s pretty much on the low-end of their numbers. For instance, when I went to New York to see a movie, there was at least 20 minutes of just commercials, and then like 2 trailers. Despicable. At most I’d say there are 3-5 minutes of commercials that play at the theatre before trailers here. Bearable, if annoying. I simply head to the restroom when they start, and hopefully return when most of them pass.

    I mean who wants to see New York puppet shows or idiotic military recruiting commercials for the 263rd time?

    Reply
  16. Callandor

    Oh, I forgot to add, I’m going to the Simpsons tomorrow while also seeing Sunshine. Coincidentally, I’ll be seeing Sunshine at the Sundance theatre….

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  17. Jessica

    Dave raises a good point, Mark, in that if one waits till it comes out on DVD one avoids the previews *and* can bring one’s own booze 🙂 Plus going to the movies is so expensive and people talk in the theatre. I think Homer would appreciate the decision to wait till you can watch it inthe comfort of your own home, with your own beer.

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  18. ChrisC

    I confess! I saw the film on opening weekend!

    I was very sceptical. In my opinion, the last 5 or 6 seasons of the Simpsons have been the worst. They have definatly jumped the shark. However, my local cinema was showing it, so I thought “what the hell”.

    The movie is actually quite good. Definatly worth the $15 (Aussie dollars) for the ticket. And, I got there 10 mins late (I thought an extra 10 mins in the theatre bar might make the jokes better) and so missed all but the very last of the commercials.

    The movie is much better than the recent TV seasons. Worth seeing, although it’s not a movie that will lose alot in the transistion to DVD.

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  19. bushpigeon

    I just saw it- my first film since moving to Edinburgh. Not only were the tickets 6.50GPD (17.50 NZD!!), the ads lasted nearly thirty minutes. I won’t be going to another film in the UK for a while.

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  20. fearlessleader

    As the movie opens, Homer asks why on earth anyone would pay to see something that they get for free on TV anyway? I laughed throughout the movie and, more than 24 hours later, I still laugh when I think about it — that’s why. And I paid $3.50 US for a matinee, got a darned good seat without mouthbreathers or seatback-kickers, and saw only trailers of upcoming films. It was 3:30 p.m., after the earlybirds had already gotten their worm, and the nightowls were still recovering from the previous evening’s hoots. Be sure and sit through the credits, because the show ain’t over until it’s REALLY over. Doh!

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  21. Gerard Harbison

    You should see it. At the beginning, the gags (and I mean good ones) come at a rate of one about every three seconds. I was sure they couldn’t keep that up, and they didn’t, but it was still a hilarious movie. Well worth the $6.50 for a matinee ticket*. It has a lot of very clever digs at the credulous, too.

    *(Hey, it’s a perk of living in Lincoln, NE)

    There were no more than the usual number of trailers.

    Reply

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