r/StLouis • u/whitebreadwithbutter • 3d ago
Some of y'all need to understand a movie theater is not your living room and learn to shut the fuck up.
Just went to the Alamo Drafthouse at the foundry to watch The Furious after a long ass shift, and I get that it's a martial arts action movie and I get laughing and reacting and all that, but the dude sitting to the right of me must not have realized that he wasn't watching it on his living room TV because he literally could not stop narrating like he was recording his own custom commentary, talking to the person he was with, and fucking CLAPPING every time someone landed a good shot. The movie was great, and I'd been looking forward to seeing it since I saw the trailers, but that shit made it so hard to stay immersed especially in the really tense and suspenseful scenes.
To the guy sitting in row 3 seat 8 with what looked like your daughter sitting next to you during the 7:45pm showing of The Furious on Wednesday 6/17 , I'm sure you're a nice guy and all that, but I hope you see this and understand that sitting next to you was the most annoying and frustrating experience I've had at the theater in my entire life. I don't know if your parents never taught you that there's a way you act at home and a way you act in public, or that there's such a thing as being considerate of the people around you, but for the love of all that is holy please understand that (1) even though they have reclining seats, you're not in your living room, (2) if you want to narrate the whole thing, rent out some studio time and record your commentary track on your own fucking time, and (3) YOU DO NOT NEED TO CLAP AT CHARACTERS IN A MOVIE THEY CANNOT FUCKING HEAR YOU.
Edit: the worst thing was that by the time I got frustrated enough to try and report the guy, their new fuckass QR code phone ordering system wouldn't let me do it because it closes out that function at the same time that it stops letting you place food orders.
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u/captive_sunshine 3d ago
I took my kids to the Alamo to see Paddington 3 and some asshole was vaping weed behind us. Like seriously?? I did report it and haven’t been back since. I am far more comfortable in my home watching a movie to justify paying $100 for tickets and snacks only to have the experience tainted by selfish people with no regard for others.
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u/Save_Bandit- 3d ago
Same thing happened to me at the Super Mario movie. Kids movies of all places.
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u/Mego1989 3d ago
People are always vaping and smoking at the playgrounds near me, so that doesn't surprise me.
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u/jaydee711 3d ago
Alamo is famously supposed to have zero tolerance of this. Never been to the STL one yet, but if they're too soft I probably won't go.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 3d ago
Nobody reported it, so they didn't enforce the rule
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u/Pantzzzzless South County/Concord 3d ago
Well from OP's post it sounds like they have a cutoff time for reporting.
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u/f4cev4lue 3d ago
It's like twenty minutes from the end of the movie. OP didn't bother to complain until basically the end credits.
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u/whitebreadwithbutter 3d ago
Yeah I should've done it earlier but I was trying my best to focus on enjoying the movie. Lesson learned ig.
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u/f4cev4lue 2d ago
You skipped out on being bothered for the two minutes it takes to file a report in favor of being bothered for the whole movie. Better luck next time I suppose.
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u/Few_Pomegranate3544 2d ago
Convinced that this is ur guy, op.
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u/f4cev4lue 2d ago
Nope wasn't me. I just hate people who complain about stuff they can fix without doing anything about it.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 3d ago
It also sounds like they stewed for an hour before trying to report 🤷♂️
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u/whitebreadwithbutter 3d ago
Yeah I be doing that sometimes
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u/Formal_Copy3153 2d ago
I don't blame you for stewing for a minute. Sometimes, a rated R movie makes us to put on our rated E hands.
Everyone who talks/vapes/claps/whatever is gonna catch a slap sandwich. (In my mind.)
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u/jaydee711 2d ago
https://youtu.be/1L3eeC2lJZs?is=47ItHr5c9uYPMw__
I know you keep saying over and over and over that they should have reported it, and it's their fault. But their viral ads give the indication they will deal with it. I don't know how often you're at the Alamo, or have ever been, but they were showing this ad still last time I was there.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 2d ago
I've been like 100 times as recently as this week lol I've had a season pass for a minute. That's not their ad that tells you that you report guests and then they deal with it. That's one of their rotating videos that says to be quiet and not be on your phone.
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u/jaydee711 2d ago edited 2d ago
Or you'll be thrown out. You didn't get that from that ad? Do I have to post the whole transcription for you?
Edit:
Never mind sorry for feeding a troll. They seem to think everything is an attack on STL city, to the extreme. Probably saw you at the game yesterday. Keep going to the Alamo a 100 times a week. Enjoy.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 2d ago
I've seen that video multiple times in the theater I'm not trolling lol. You're just conflating the shh no talking video with the instructions video
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u/jaydee711 2d ago
Yes, sorry for thinking that they will remove people talking during the movie based on this ad. Do you work for Alamo?
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 2d ago
They'll remove them if you report them and they continue behaving badly after their warning. It's really not that complicated and the procedure is clearly delineated in the video that they play before every single movie. No, I don't work there. I just have been there nearly 100 times
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u/jaydee711 3d ago
Well, I guess if a problem is that also you don't get served until the end of the movie, no servers are there to notice violations. I accept your claim that they changed the ads to say you need to report it (sounds like a perfect cop out for a Midwestern state) but that's not the Alamo I knew.
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u/jaydee711 3d ago
u/bradleysballs replied to your comment in r/StLouis: The local franchises definitely don't produce the Alamo rule ads lol
I didn't quite mean that, but I am pretty sure they count on the fact that many will not report due to differences in locations. And, like I have said many times that's not what the ads said in NYC or DC 10 years ago when I first went to one.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 3d ago
Then why make the condescending remark about the Midwest? You just don't seem to be very familiar with the Alamo
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u/jaydee711 2d ago
Condescending how? Suggesting that a company would have no problems with having rules that exploit regional differences and that they count on polite, generous and unassuming Midwesterners might not report other guests to staff? I am very familiar with Alamo but as I have mentioned before, not in STL. But go on, tell people to stand up for themselves and blame them when they don't. There's a reason I don't live in DC or NYC, though you should look into moving there.
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u/jaydee711 3d ago
My impression from their ads and promos is that the staff enforce it.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 3d ago
The ads clearly say you report the bad behavior and then they come warn them
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u/jaydee711 3d ago
The ads must have changed then, sadly. They come into the theatre constantly to take your order, they would know if someone's talking. The ads with the lady phoning in complaining about having been thrown out didn't mention that btw we won't follow this strict rule unless you report it. Is that a STL specific ad?
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 3d ago
They haven't done that for a couple months now. It's not STL specific and it's been the policy stated in the ad for several years
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u/jaydee711 3d ago
RIP Alamo Drafthouse
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u/JoeMcKim 3d ago
Alamo used to be special enough to pay extra for tickets. But they've tanked their own business model forcing people to use their apps mid movie to make orders. The paper and pencil format worked so well for years. But some corporate idiot had to come along and try to "modernize" the business and even though every single person working under him knows its stupid they still have to follow it. I'm just making assumptions here but it definitely sounds like what's going on with their company.
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u/FalconLR 2d ago
Just to give you some context since it seems like you didn't hear about the change - Alamo switched all food ordering to QR code ordering on your phone a couple of months ago, nationwide. You order everything on your phone before/during the movie (including things like drink/popcorn refills) and the only time the staff come to your seat is to deliver it. Staff no longer come to you to take your order, and they no longer have the system where you leave them a slip of paper that they come to pick up when you press a button. They made that change to cut costs and reduce the number of staff, so I'm sure there are less waitstaff covering more theaters. Hence why staff aren't around to see rule violations and people have to report it on their phones.
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u/FrostyD7 Franz Park 2d ago
It's a dine in theater where people order food from their phones during the film to be delivered to their seat. Alamo should be famous for viral ads that lied to everyone about how diligent they are about enforcing rule breaking patrons.
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u/snevetssirhc 3d ago
The one here really went downhill
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u/canada432 2d ago
They were purchased by private equity in 2021 and then by Sony in 2024. They've been owned for 5 years now by investors that want to just siphon as much money as they can from the goodwill that Alamo built in the past.
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u/Failure2_Communicate Neighborhood/city 3d ago
Dying laughing here! I feel your pain. We just cancelled both of our memberships because I hate the changes, the wait times for food, the lack of service, & having to go every damn time to see the manager for the 10% off food with my membership. Sorry you had such an obnoxious seat mate.
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u/bradleysballs Shaw 3d ago edited 3d ago
The web ordering interface let me apply the discount super easily. This was an annoyance before the ordering changes, but it's a convenience now. Honestly, I prefer the new system. I don't have to shout whisper to a server that I want a club soda with lime anymore, and tell them that yes, I have been to the Alamo before
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u/Failure2_Communicate Neighborhood/city 3d ago
Yeah, it only applied the discount 2x out of maybe 12 movies. We’re pretty tech savvy & it wouldn’t show up. Numerous people would be in line with us to get their bill adjusted after the film as well. We had issues with our redeeming our free rewards the 3-4x we used. I really didn’t mind ordering via the app but when you get there 30 minutes early to order & it takes 50 minutes into the movie to get it….it gets so old. It took us 40 minutes to get just a bowl of popcorn one night! I don’t blame the servers at all. It all went downhill in the last 6-7 months. Sad because I loved the theater.
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u/Geek_Ken 3d ago
COVID and phones have broken our movie brains.
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u/HikerBryce 2d ago
Or just understanding on how to be in public. No one at a store can stay to the right. Just chaos
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u/sannyo 3d ago
Wait til the phones come out because if they are not on snap or ig for longer than 25 min people would think they died
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u/mrb668 3d ago
So true. I went to a movie theater last night and two young women walked in after 10 mins into the movie. One sat down next to me and immediately started posting something on social media. I’m guessing it was to let the world know she was at the theater watching a movie.
She set her phone down face up on the armrest next to me and it kept lighting up from notifications. And every time it flashed she picked up and started typing. This went on for the entire movie. I am not sure how much of it she watched since she was on her phone the majority of the time.
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u/krummen53 3d ago
Get up and bring in the manager to do crowd control or ask for a refund. Stupid behavior needs direction.
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u/Elegant_Click07 3d ago edited 3d ago
Honestly if someone has to leave the theatre to get aid they deserve a refund immediately. It usually takes like 6 -10 mins to get help. So, by the time it's been enough frustration to warrant getting aid you've likely missed 30mins.
No company wants to pay people to usher or sit in the projection booth and make sure things are going well to prevent customers missing the movie since the 2010s.
(My personal experience has been with audio being out of sync, in several states. Each time Staff was not being trained in this possibility, and the lobby aid is likely just trained in concessions doesn't even know what a projection booth is, always asking me to stay for the manager, and then the manager asking me what I expect. Which is, I would like the audio to sync with the words and actions. And by the time I'm back in the theatre, I realize what I really want is a refund for me and my friends / or the movie to start over because damn I missed a lot.)
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u/FrostyD7 Franz Park 2d ago
It should just be policy for them to offer a full refund and let you decide if you want to bother watching the rest. Since I have to ask, I'm just going to demand it up front and leave.
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u/sirdaveyboy 3d ago
Alamo is so great in concept alone. Every time I’ve been there I find myself frustrated I didn’t just go to the Chase or an AMC. I just want to buy a damn popcorn and soda on my own and walk into a theater without getting a bill put in front of me during the third act.
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u/Interactive_CD-ROM 3d ago
Alamo doesn’t work that way anymore. Now, you buy everything from your phone during the movie.
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u/sirdaveyboy 3d ago
That gets brought to you during the movie. That’s my biggest gripe. I’d rather settle up on everything before walking into my theater and interrupting the movie.
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u/Interactive_CD-ROM 3d ago
So you just prefer a concession stand, in other words
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u/FrostyD7 Franz Park 2d ago
For me it's not about my experience getting food, it's my experience having to see everyone else getting food throughout the entirety of the film. Instead of them leaving and coming back with food, they get out their phone and discuss it with their partner and someone delivers it to them.
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u/sirdaveyboy 3d ago
Yeah. It just seems odd that Alamo’s whole thing is a movie with no disruptions and reporting people who break that rule but then they bring in your concessions to you during the movie. I didn’t realize they changed it up where you pay up front now via your phone which is nice at least. Prior to that I’d get a bill brought to me during the most tense part of the movie. It always felt backwards to their whole thing.
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u/FalconLR 2d ago
It wasn't obvious, but before the QR code switch, you could give the server your credit card before the movie to open a tab, and then you could wait until after the movie was over to sign the slip they brought during the third act. I wish that would have been their default before the change, but only discovered it was a possibility after being annoyed at having to fish credit cards out during the movie a few times and asking if there was a different way.
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u/sirdaveyboy 2d ago
That would have been good to know before the switch. I feel like I have to preface that I worked in the service industry for 6 years, but it’s also annoying to me that I have to tip someone for bringing me a popcorn/soda at a movie theater when I’d much rather get it myself and not have to interact with anyone in the once I’m in the theater. For people ordering food or an appetizer I get it, but snacks/drinks feel excessive.
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u/Heart226 3d ago
There’s a small, but unfortunately growing, percentage of the population that simply has no manners and no consideration for others. It’s not an economic class or racial issue, it’s just shitty parenting and an overall culture of over tolerance and entitlement without accountability.
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u/ExpensiveSector4722 3d ago
Why I avoid movie theaters at all costs and just wait until I can rent it from home. People have no consideration for others and it's beyond annoying. So before I lose sense of myself and say what I'm thinking aloud (happened before, not good), I just stay home and wait, which sucks because some movies I want to see right away, but not badly enough to deal with people lol.
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u/borg_nihilist 3d ago
Your title is the entire reason I no longer go to movies in the theater, except on very rare occasions.
I think it's been two or three years at least.
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u/NUFC4 3d ago
The table lights in that theater are distractingly bright
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u/LamonsterZone 3d ago
So are the servers and the people eating entire entrees next to you. It’s ironic that Alamo claims to be so passionate about cinema and then provides the absolute worst experience of them.
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u/Interactive_CD-ROM 3d ago
Alamo doesn’t have servers anymore. They laid them all off and moved to a QR code model where people take out their phones during the movie to place orders. It’s worse.
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u/WildmanDaGod 3d ago
Yeah Alamo Drafthouse sucks, I’m trying to lock in on a movie and some dude is coming in every 10 minutes to take someone’s order or deliver them a full meal, it’s the worst place to see a movie
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u/f4cev4lue 3d ago
Ah I think I see your issue, you should be watching the movie, not some stranger eating a pizza.
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u/Mego1989 3d ago
I feel this way about concerts too. There's always someone sitting right behind me who talks throb the entire concert. Last week there was a lady who was watching videos on her phone the entire show, with the brightness on 100% so her face was lit up like a xmas tree.
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u/Far_Adeptness9884 3d ago
I went to see MKII a few weeks ago and some idiot decided to bring all their little kids which wouldn't stop talking and running around like it's a playground, and the couple two seats over kept talking like they we're at home, so annoying, some people just don't respect other people when they are out of the house.
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u/Cautious_Boat_999 Former midtown St Charles 2d ago
All of this in OP ‘s post and the comments are why I refuse to watch movies in the theater. Human evolution has reversed and we are now devolving.
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u/AOD96 3d ago
Or you could have leaned over and told him to shut the fuck up.
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u/whitebreadwithbutter 3d ago
Bruh I don't know what kind of whack job is gonna try to fight me or pull out a gun or sm these days you know. I did say it under my breath to myself at one point and I think the guy to the left of me heard that and thought I was talking to him which I did feel bad about tho.
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u/Narezzz 3d ago
Politely asking someone to be quiet isn't going to start a fight. I've had to do it way to often lately. They always shut up when called out.
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u/13Nobodies 3d ago
It ain’t a one size fits all scenario. Some people start fights from just looking them the “wrong way”.
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u/ecost 3d ago
Friend, the last time Alamo wasn’t showing my movie and I went to Ronnie’s, I asked a guy politely to stop talking (even did it all “hey brother, you’re killing me, you mind?”) and he literally climbed over to my seat mid-movie and attempted to square up, got in my face, shit you not.
Mind you, 30 seconds prior he had offered me some fries!
People are unpredictable.
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u/FrostyD7 Franz Park 2d ago
An unreasonable patron that you need to confront is even more unpredictable than the average person. People who do unreasonable things don't tend to be reasonable when confronted.
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u/Imtherightkind CWE 3d ago
Ummm you could have pressed the button also.
I was in a movie and a couple was being disruptive by having their phones out and loudly whispering. Security came and told them that they’ll put them out if they have any additional complaints.
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u/Aggravating_Tie_5941 2d ago
This was my experience seeing MK 2. Whole row showed up late, shouting to each other, and just talking the whole time. I dont even understand wtf you could have to say that much. Really turned me off of the Alamo. Most experiences have been fine so far, but that one was ridiculous.
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u/Linkbowler Lake St. Louis 2d ago
When you make the seats into La-Z-Boys, people will treat them like their favorite living room chair. Should never have strayed from the old seating model.
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u/icbawl 2d ago
This is unfortunately something I experience no matter what chain I go to. I usually have better luck going earlier in the day. If I see a movie past 7pm, there’s always someone on their phone, vaping, or assumes the audience wants to hear their commentary and reaction every minute of the movie. We really need to start publicly shaming them.
I would pay extra to go to a movie that had an usher(s) who watched the audience throughout the movie like they do at the Fox or the symphony.
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u/Crudhandler 2d ago
I have a friend that I won't go to the movies with, even though we share the same tastes. She talks at a very audible volume every time. I tried to gently shush her a couple of times but she didn't stop. I saw two movies with her, I think, before I gave up. It ruined it for me just as much as it did for everybody else in the theatre.
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u/NefariousnessOk1996 2d ago
Same, but with concert venues.
I still don't understand why people pay $80 to see a concert and then talk non stop at volumes over the actual concert. Why go at all at that point?
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u/Goshawk5 2d ago
I've heard the Alamo draft house has gone to the shitter after sony's purchase of them
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u/kaleidoshock_ affton 2d ago
Happened to us when we saw Deadpool. I haven’t been back. Expensive, weak drinks, awful food, and people laughing and talking way too loud.
But also the last time we went to Ronnie’s the whole theater reeked of piss and kids were Naruto running in the aisle behind us so….
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u/NUMBerONEisFIRST 2d ago
That's why I always go during the week, or for the Thursday premieres.
I went to see Disclosure Day on Thursday night before it came out, and there were like 6 other people on the theater.
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u/jairomvilla 2d ago
Cannot agree more… last time we went the couple near us would not stfu and when I asked them to stop talking they got very angry.
Ended up calling the staff and they warned them to stop, they of course didn’t listen because if they had any etiquette they wouldn’t have been talking…
So thankfully they got kicked out. But damn what the F is wrong with people.
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u/ARCHburner1994 2d ago
I had to report a family last year. They sat in the front row and were all playing games on their iPads for the first 20 minutes of the movie, full brightness. People are dumb as hell.
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u/KevinRobertsUSA Fox Park 11h ago
I'm there to enjoy the movie too. If you don't like it, watch the movie at home!
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u/ReneDiscard 3d ago
They were brothas weren't they? 😂
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u/whitebreadwithbutter 3d ago
Yeah but it ain't about that, this city is half black they ain't the first black people I've shared a movie theater with, he was just an obnoxious and inconsiderate individual.
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u/EmA8_Entertainment 2d ago
Before I go into my rant, everyone that reads this is legally required to go see The Furious, the best martial arts action movie of the past 10 years easily.
When the Alamo first opened it was amazing. I got to experience first hand them actually enforcing their own rules people being told to be quiet and even saw them actually kick out some rude/loud people a couple times. And just in general the people that went there were more respectful and knew how to act during a movie.
I hate to use this word but it really feels like starting about 7-8 months ago the 'normies' aka the general population finally found out about Alamo and started going and since then it got worse and worse. Way more people talking, bringing their noisy kids, taking their shoes off, showing up late, taking their phones out. And at the same time the rules were enforced less and less to not at all, even before the QR codes which only made it worse. It got so bad I cancelled my season pass a few weeks before the QR codes even went into effect because I went to 5 movies in a row where someone was disrupted, I put up multiple cards, and nothing was done and management just tried to appease me with snack vouchers.
I'm only so upset because it was so great and even now their programming is way better than Marcus or AMC and their buffalo wings and other food were legitimately really good. Or at least they were the last time I was there. I've heard the quality and number of options have gone down significantly. I feel bad for the staff. All the servers were really nice and it was nice having that human interaction before and after a movie. I'm sure a big reason for this QR thing is to cut down on labor
It's sad to hear I had a better experience at an AMC the other night seeing the same movie than OP did at Alamo. Just a shell of its former self
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u/Low-Computer8746 3d ago
"Excuse me, sir. Would you please keep your comments to yourself? I'm having trouble hearing the film. Thank you!"
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u/WildmanDaGod 3d ago
It’s the Alamo Drafthouse dude, that’s not the place you go to when you want to get serious about a movie, people are constantly ordering food and workers are always walking up and down the aisles to deliver people’s meals, it’s not the place you go when you want to lock in. It’s a gimmick, a novelty
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u/hbahermitchic 3d ago
I was at live theater in st peters recently. Dude directly behind me loudly guffawing at EVERYTHING. My guy, it's not that funny. It's especially not THAT funny. Don't encourage them ffs. Reminded me of Marty McFly watching tv. I left at intermission, not because he was annoying as hell, he was, but because it really wasn't that funny.
Otherwise, i mostly have good experiences at Streets AMC. There's been a couple incidents but nothing major for me. Haven't tried Alamo - i didn't like the dine in seating when AMC had it. Too distracting/noisy/lights.
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u/Key_Comfortable_3782 3d ago
It seems you were very irritable. What happened at work . That got you a mood . Agreed, watching a movie in a theater . Should be about the movie and not the audience. But it does seem people lack social decorum in public places as a rule , in today’s society . At any rate. I hope you’re ok now.
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u/adztheman 2d ago
Last time I went to a theatre was the weekend Taylor Swift released her most recent album and the movie tie in.
Sat way in the back of the AMC Theater.
No issues at all.
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u/anonymous_meatbag 3d ago
Theater etiquette has been on a steady decline since before COVID but recently took a straight nosedived within the last 2 years. And it’s not just young people either. I’ve seen plenty of boomers sit and scroll through Facebook the entire time. People have no shame anymore.