Movie Watching Etiquette

    I truly love watching films and especially watching them in a movie theater. The amazing rush I get from seeing the big screen and the ability to have a loud surround sound system adds so much to the enjoyment and fulfillment of my movie watching experience. I like getting a bag popcorn and a soda now and then. Well, I really like going to my favorite theater, Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar in Austin, Texas. The place is great! It has classic movie posters and memorabilia hanging all over the theater and the walkways into the individuals theater rooms. It's a place that has a full dining experience with an inspired and creative menu and usually has themed entrees and drinks that go along with new releases and classic and offbeat repertory screenings. I love the fact that its a theater that you want to be there early for and see what previews are truly all about. If its a certain film with a cult following, or in a certain genre or sub-genre you get to see old (anywhere from 10 to 50 years old) clips, interviews commercials, trailers that might relate to that film that is playing or time period. I mean the place is enormously great, but one of the greatest things they do is put PSA's up right before the film starts. They'll have ex Governor Ann Richards and the fantastic Peter Bogdanovich, who have taped these announcements stating the audience needs TO BE QUIET DURING THE MOVIE!!!
     Movie watching etiquette is important to me. I love going to the movies and want to be able to enjoy it without the nuisance of annoying, disrespectful moviegoers that don't appreciate or have respect for the movie or the other people in the theater. The Drafthouse is so great about "kicking your ass out" if your being disruptive, talking too much or being just a plain, rude asshole during the movie. Here is a short list of my main pet peeves when watching a film:

1. BE QUIET!!! Do not talk. Do not even whisper. It is so annoying and you need to be quiet and not speak during the movie. It's the most distracting thing during a film at a theater, other than terrible sound and projection.
2. If you are eating at the theater do not chew all loud and smack your food. Have some respect and anyone that orders a nasty, disgusting, stinky ass hot dog needs to get kicked out right away. I do not want to smell that.
3. Really, why do people have to go to the bathroom three or four times during a two hour film. I hold it. I do not want to miss a single frame from the beginning of the trailers to the end credits.
4. Do not bring newborns and infants to a showing in the evening or late at night. Come on people. I'm sure you want to get out of the house but find a sitter or wait. We do not need little babies and young kids at violent films late at night or any films for that matter that late. 
5. DO NOT USE YOUR PHONE!!! No texting or talking on your phone. Pretty self explanatory why this is so annoying.
6. If your at an early showing or in a theater where there is only a few people in it don't choose to sit right next to me. Give some space please. We've got the whole theater to sit in and your going to sit right next too me. Please.
7. And last, but not least... SHUT UP!!! No talking during the movie. Its rude, disrespectful and extremely annoying.

     Going to the movies is very important too me. When I moved from Wisconsin to Texas in the early 2000s I didn't know a lot of people. It took time for me to make new friends being way too shy, a lot shier then I am now. I went to the movies every weekend and usually once during the week. It was an outlet and a way for me to learn not just about film but about perspectives from the world. My tastes in film have refined quite considerably since those days, but just the act of getting to go to the movies and smell the popcorn and be in that dark, cold movie theater was just everything too me. I love the movies and in that time in my life I found out what I was passionate about. Film and film history are my love, my hobby and writing about that has become very important in my life. So please, when you go to a movie, understand and have respect for everyone in the theater. Don't talk or text or eat food annoyingly loud. Going to the movies is a great experience and we need to have respect for everyone in the theater.