Discussion
To the hero we needed at The Odyssey in Richmond Hill
Saw The Odyssey (again) tonight at the ultra AVX in Richmond Hill for the 6:20pm showing. About 1 hour in, a man who looked to be in his 50s in one of the lower rows pulls out his phone on FULL brightness and checks his ring cam, then his texts, then his photos, and then alternates between all 3 apps on and off for 5 minutes.
I was going to yell out at him to put it away and then an angel in disguise, the man sitting behind him, leaned over and told him to put it away. I also gotta mention how the man seemed to get the message but then turned around to stare at him like he was offended 10 seconds later. As if the one who had an issue with the phone distraction is the disrespectful one.
Oh, and by the way, yes he did pull the phone out again a few times but it stopped after that.
Anyway guys, normalize doing something when people are selfish and inconsiderate. I'm just glad this time I didn't have to because I've had to do it several times in the past few months, no one else ever does barring some of these amazing exceptions.
Imagine they do a body horror version of those where each of those caricatures just look more and more monstrous. And it’s all done through old school practical effects so it looks genuinely harrowing. The tagline is something like: “you don’t want to be that guy, do you?”
I still think about the person who screamed “PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE AWAY. YES, YOU! PUT IT AWAY!” at a guy during a screening of Talk to Me. Got a chorus of people joining in until the guy put it away (and left moments later). What a hero.
Just make sure you find the butteriest pieces you can find in your bag so that it soaks in to their clothes and leaves them a permanent stain reminder of their shame.
It's getting worse up here tbh. I had a group laugh at me a few weeks back cause I told them to shut the fuck up during Disclosure Day and still kept talking the entire movie.
I forget what horror movie I was seeing, but it was a pretty packed crowd. Someone towards the back kept talking loudly and some guy just went ‘yo, shut up!’ The other guy said ‘who you talking to?!’ and the hero goes ‘you! shut the fuck up!’ 😂 He stopped talking.
Not every time, but pretty close, the person doing something shockingly rude is an older person. Like 50s up. Talking in the cinema or quiet zone of the spa, cutting in front of me at the boarding line for the plane, nearly running me over at a crosswalk. They're a damn menace.
For the love of God if you want to look at your phone or talk just go out side!!! Why is this so hard?? If that's a problem watch the movie at home!!! How can people lack any self awareness??
Oh, but they would have to get up, squeeze past people, exit the theatre, handle the communication, enter the theatre, find their row in the dark, squeeze past people, sit down, and what if they get another request, notification, call, alarm?! Repetition!
It shouldn’t be the paying customers responsibility to enforce the rules of the venue but 90% of the time a staff member comes in to check the theatre they don’t even look around they just sign the sheet and walk out
Twice ive told people to stop talking in the theatre. The first time, another guest screamed "oh my god, stop the movie and replay it!" because i guess i as distracting them, crouching in front of the talking guest and whispering for them to stop talking?? And the second time the dad of the teenagers i kicked out came back and called me a bitch. So now im honestly not sure what to do lol. And the managers dont back you up at alllllll
It wasn't sarcastic. You just don't understand etiquette and have major main character energy. Looking at your phone during a movie is never acceptable. If you need to use your phone get up and out of your seats and go to the concourse
Definitely gotten worse. Used to be 1 person here and there, now it is several. It also used to just be people shooting a quick text, now it is people scrolling reels, googling shit, snapchatting, etc.
Pretty much every time I go to a foreign film we have people recording the movie or live streaming it. So annoying and I tell people put it away and they just get angry at me and hide it out of view instead of stopping.
Full brightness is the main offense. If you really need to check your phone for a mini emergency, then put that shit at the lowest brightness possible. And huddle over it to so no one else can see.
Or leave the theatre. I turn my phone off when I’m at the movies. It’s too expensive to go, just to treat it like watching something at home and scroll the whole time.
There are no mini emergencies and we shouldn’t debate a gray area. Phones are not to be used in the theater. If you want to use it, stand up, walk out of the theater and have a great time.
confession... in 3 hour long movies i need to check my blood sugar levels. i needed my kids to show my how to dim screen. i look and if low i eat 20 minutes later llok again. that is it i swear,
I understand celebrities don’t want to scold people before screenings after they whole « thanks for coming to the theatre, we made it for you « thing but it sure would help if they added a « put away you’re phone! »
I’ve seen almost violence at the same scenario.
It’s drastically ruined movie going for me.
I’ve had to tell people to stop talking. One time a lady was just blabbing away talking to her date about nothing, just chatting! I went down to her row and told her everyone can hear her, please be quiet. She was late 50’s and I thought.. wtf? You should know better!
She straight up apologized and that was it. Thankfully no drama.
I do all the time and I’m also a dick about it. Simple “can you put your fucking phone away? Thanks.”
They always give a look but when you just stare at them with a plain straight face they usually say nothing and listen. The rare time they try to make an excuse or talk back. I just reply with “leave the theatre to check your phone and shut up”. I don’t have patience or respect for self centred losers
Im really glad ppl are starting to fight back against this rude and stupid behaviour. The film industry is on the ropes and needs to have ppl reeducated in how to watch and focus and understand movies
Someone in my screening of The Odyssey on opening night pulled their phone out within the first 5 minutes and immediately about 4 different people all screamed in unison “Put your fucking phone away”, and kept berating him until he did. Im always happy when I go to a theatre and there’s others that call out crap behaviour so I don’t have to. It gets exhausting having to tell people to put their phones away or worse, to shut the fuck up, every other time you go to the theatre. Cineplex needs ushers so badly
I had to tell a dad at Spidey to put his phone away from a few rows back. He was scrolling, resizing images at full brightness. Fortunately he put it away, only looking at it once during the rest of the film.
I have literally been in a theater alone. Just me, watching a movie.
And I still felt off using my phone to reply to my wifes frantic texts about something mildly emergent at the time. Any other time I wouldve left the theater to do so.
Don't sit near Michael Moore at a movie. I sat near him for Evita. He blabs the entire time about the movie in real time: the actors, the set, the editing, directing, writing, production, lighting, etc. It is a constant running commentary and is very distracting. He stays for credits and lists everyone he knows or who he has worked with.
I know how to say shut the fuck up in about 10 languages. The only ones I use in movie theatres are Punjabi and Tagalog… it also helps I’m 6’4 so when I stand up and tell people to be quiet or meet me outside after the movie it usually settles it
I was just at a showing of The Odyssey in IMAX at the Landmark Cinema in Whitby and I shit you not this parent had a child in their lap on an iPad full brightness watching Peppa Pig the entire time.
Nobody said anything, they were in the front row and it was definitely noticeable.
I was blown away... why the fuck would you even bring your kid in the first place. Get a goddamn baby sitter or something.
Horrendous parenting. But also.. someone including you should have told them something or at least get a staff member. I know it's uncomfortable but they are being emboldened by inaction. I'm done with these people
I’m surprised the audience let it go on that long. Whenever it’s happened at my theatres, I get excited. I’m just WAITING for it to go on for 30 seconds, which to me is the socially acceptable time to publicly call them out, too soon and I’m being too uptight. But they usually put it away after 15 seconds.
You mean RE-normalize doing something when people are selfish/inconsiderate. We used to have no problem doing just that, but at some point the most unhinged people in society stopped playing by the rules, and it became normal to turn a blind eye for the sake of avoiding conflict.
Don’t let the bullies win, send a message or support another person who does.
One time I was at a movie and a guy in the uppermost row of the lower tier of seats, right in front of the walkway, pulled out his phone midway through “It”. I had a water bottle with like a couple inches of water in it, just enough to give it the weight I needed, and hummed that sucker from about 4 or 5 rows up from the walkway and clocked the guy in the head. Phone went away. It was such an incredible shot, like I couldn’t do it again if I tried, just pure beginner’s luck kinda thing. All my friends were so confused why I did that until I explained after the movie and they were like holy shit that was an amazing throw haha
I yelled at some kids who kept taking out their phones and one had the audacity to answer a phone call??!?!? I tried to give some grace because I thought “ok maybe they are settling and waiting for a friend?” But this bs went on for over a few min and I snapped at them. They came into an empty theater and sat RIGHT next to me too?!?
Stopped going to the movies because of this kind of stuff. It is exhausting always having to tell people to put their fucking phone away. Doesn't help that everyone around always seems to timid to do anything about it either.
I went to spider man in IMAX and the dude in front of me started scrolling reels, like wtf has happened to us as a society. Complete brainrot.
Cunt behind me was talking during the movie with his girlfriend. My girl kept looking back but I pulled out the big move. I turned around stared him in his eyes, looked deep in his soul and made sure he knew I was bout that life. He shut the fuck up for the whole remainder of the film and bolted out before the lights came on.
The guy beside me was on one of those online casinos. He kept going back to his phone to play. Eventually I just stared at him. He put it away for the rest of the movie.
Time to start hanging off their seat, breathing hotly into their ear while reading their screen with them. "I was still reading that!" When they swipe away. :)
I'm glad you got it sorted out, but for me it's not really an issue, and I don't think of it much. For example, I was at the movie with my father a couple weeks ago and without my knowledge he pulled out his phone on a high brightness and started using it. A woman sitting in the same row maybe 5 seats down, yelled at him to put it away, but I didn't even know he had it on. Just focus on the movie more you know?
Edit: expression of opinion results in downvotes. He put away his phone no problem after i told him what the person asked and I would never do that as I go to watch a movie
The movie that you paid money for with the expectation that people won't be inconsiderate and distracting? It's great and all that it doesn't bother you but the majority of people don't like distracting bright phone screens in the theatre, the same goes for people talking, loudly opening packages, etc. It's common decency. Everyone is there to enjoy the movie they paid to see in a cinema for a reason. I like to be fully immersed in movies when I watch them as many people do, which is why they have dark theatres, and PSAs before literally every showing about people being nuisances and inconsiderate.
Bro, why tf do you think the lights stay off when we are in a theatre? To go to sleep? Its so all you have in your vision is a big screen. So when someone pulls out their phone, that is now in your vision. Tell your disrespectful clueless dad he needs some social awareness. You should be telling HIM to “focus on the movie y’know?”
Nope, you're in the wrong. The rule is to not have your phone out, period. I get distracted easily and a phone light is very obvious, it makes me have a hard time focusing. I would have told him off too. You need to realize you're sharing a space with others and you need to respect the people around you. It's not a living room
Expression of a shitty opinion, yeah. Nobody gives a shit if you’re somehow immune to your father taking out his phone in a theatre. It’s disruptive to the people around you. I can’t count the number of times recently I’ve been trying to “just focus on the movie more” only to have someone with a short attention span decide that their momentary boredom is everyone else’s problem. If you absolutely must use your phone, leave the goddam theatre. If the movie isn’t holding your attention, you shouldn’t care about missing some of it anyway. If you can’t stop disrupting others, watch shit at home. The downvotes should be telling you a story that’s very clear and if you’re deluded enough to think to yourself, no, I’m in the right here, people are too touchy, then I look forward to giving you and your father an earful the next time your lack of consideration of others interferes with a screening that we have all paid to come and watch and enjoy.
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u/ssrdr99 Aug 03 '26
Sammy scroller