The Most Absurd “X-Men: First Class” Pre-Show at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 #NaBloPoMo

My most recent visit to Regal’s movie theater in Plymouth Meeting, PA was a disgrace due to their 47 minute long pre-show. Yes, you read that correctly......47 (friggin) minutes!

On Tuesday, June 21st, a friend and I bought X-Men: First Class tickets at the Regal Plymouth Meeting movie theater in Pennsylvania. These tickets totaled $22 and were for the 10:00pm show. We were seated a little before 10:00pm that evening as the pre-show began, starting with this movie theater’s First Look Program that lasted for approximately 25 minutes.

Next up on the pre-show schedule was commercials that included an advertisement for a mega church. I looked at the time on my cell phone and noticed that it was well after 10:00pm and there was still no sign of a movie until the theater gets darker and title credits start rolling on the big screen. It looks like The Green Lantern is coming on and I get relieved until my friend tells me that the previews are starting now.....which made me realize that I forgot that we came to see X-Men: First Class, not The Green Lantern. Now, you know you’re sitting in a movie theater too darn long when you forget why you came there in the first place.

A second glance at the time showed 10:38pm as movie previews continue at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10. Several movie previews were shown that evening, making the wait for X-Men: First Class even longer. I could've stayed at home or went to a friend’s house and watched two half-hour sitcoms or a one-hour crime drama during the time that I and fellow audience members spent sitting in this movie theater, watching commercials and advertisements for what seems like an eternity when all we are doing is sitting in a room while companies try to sell their wares to us. I did not spend money on this movie ticket to watch commercials for 40+ minutes straight!

X-Men: First Class finally started at about 10:47pm

The movie theater pre-show at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 was so long, I wrote the majority of this blog post on my iPod while sitting in the theater waiting to be entertained. This experience almost makes me want to reduce my visits to movie theaters and rent more. Another solution to prevent a similar experience in the future may be to only visit movie theaters who screen short pre-show programming and just rent whatever movies I want to watch that they don’t have playing there.

The average movie theater probably shows 15-20 minutes of pre-show content before playing a movie; probably less than 15 minutes if it’s an independent movie theater or small arthouse cinema. Granted, this particular screening was not sold-out but Regal Plymouth Meeting 10 had several people including myself waiting for twice as long as movie theater audiences should have to wait when they show up for a specific showtime.

“Are you not entertained?” - Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) in “Gladiator”

NO, I was not and am most certainly NOT entertained....at least when it comes to movie theater pre-shows at Regal Plymouth Meeting 10.

What was the longest movie theater pre-show that YOU ever experienced?

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Alamo Drafthouse uses Voicemail for No Texting Policy PSA

Kudos to the Alamo Drafthouse for taking a stance against rude movie theater audience members in a time when other multiplexes tolerate everything from fighting, talking and unruly children to loitering. This Texas theater chain recently kicked a customer out after she continued texting despite their previous warnings for her to stop. The customer later called the Alamo Drafthouse and left an angry and profanity laden voicemail for them, which they in turn used in a Public Service Announcement called “Don’t Talk or Text.”

They made a censored and un-censored version of the PSA and the former seems to be more comedic, in my opinion. Either way, it is probably refreshing for Alamo Drafthouse customers and movie theater audiences in other areas of the country to see that rude behavior is not accepted at every theater.....at least not in Texas. Their policies and actions for dealing with rude customers show that the owners and staff value the interests of movie goers as a collective and they work to ensure that a visit to the Alamo Drafthouse is an enjoyable experience for customers who want to watch a movie without being annoyed by people who obviously have no sense of courtesy for others.

The theater turned an annoying situation into something that can serve two purposes.....a PSA to deter future audience members from exhibiting the same behavior as the moviegoer that they kicked out and also let them know in advance how the theaters handle rude audience members.......and....it also serves as an effective form of advertising for the movie theater. Tim League, CEO of the Alamo Drafthouse has the following response to the booted texter's voicemail:

"Ma'am, you may be free to text in all the other theaters in the Magnited States of America, but here at our "little crappy ass theater," you are not. Why you may ask? Well, we actually do give a f*$k."

Here is the un-censored version of the "Don't Talk or Text" PSA:

.....and here is the censored version of this PSA:

Which one has the more powerful impact on YOU?

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Hyland Cinema Showcases Festival Darlings from Oscar Season

London’s Hyland Cinema was highlighted on this blog in April for a nice movie review that offered visitors a glimpse of the venue from a customer’s perspective. This weeks lineup at the theater continues to show how much little known films from around the world are given a chance to shine next to Hollywood box office hits that are screening and getting most of the media attention. Starting Friday, Hyland Cinema is showing Oscar contenders in the Best Foreign Language film category as well as a late night screening of Bruce Lee’s famous film “Enter the Dragon.”

Among the foreign language films are “When We Leave” about a mother and her son trying to live a better life but face tragedy as a result of the conservative religious and cultural beliefs of their family. This movie, which won Best Narrative Feature at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, is said to be based on a real-life honor killing that took place in Berlin.

The other foreign language film that put a bid in for Oscar gold is “Even in the Rain” from Spain (hey, that rhymes! nevermind.), a film about Christopher Columbus’s voyage to America. The subject seems to expand into multiple stories since the movie made during a time when Cochabamba, Bolivia was going through a water war. In April, The Wine Country Film Festival showed “Even in the Rain” as part of it’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Now that the Hyland Cinema is bringing these films to more audiences, it gives those who missed the film festival screenings another chance to see titles that many locals were likely unfamiliar with while watching the Oscars back in February.

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