Is going to the movie theaters worth it?

Necro freak

Necro bump.

I was working in one before it closed and honestly like time off, plus glad it was forced to close too because my GM thought this virus stuff was overblown and probably wouldn't have shut it down unless forced to. Worse yet, I work in one where each seat has its own tray table to eat off of, and we have no sanitation procedure for cleaning them, but even worse, when we do theater cleans we really only wipe down each tray table and seat with tap water and a rag, no sanitation solution or cleaning agent or anything, and we use the same dirty rags on all the seats and tables between each auditorium through entire shift, which is essentially just spreading germs from one surface to the next, each seat and table in each auditorium all day long. And whether those rags get washed at night is also something I can't say gets done regularly, they always seem to be in a perpetual state of rancid.

As our area became an increasing hot zone for coronavirus infections, I inquired to know if we'd be beefing up our sanitation and was told no. I tried writing a detailed complaint letter to the county health department but my complaint was rejected because it was over the character limit for submissions through their online portal. I tried calling directly and it took a week to just talk to a health inspector who was none too interested on pursuing my concern. Luckily by then the governor forced a shutdown. I am pretty sure our cleaning policies violated local health safety rules even without pandemic concern, but just unimaginable under current circumstances.

Thought I'd mention this just in case you thought of going to any theater still open. Or one that might re-open during a cooldown period. I bet too most theaters don't really do things any differently.

Sick people come to movies all the time, I pull countless snotty tissues out of cup holders when we do "clean" them (remember no sanitation is exercised). I also see people do things like pour popcorn in the same cup holders to share with their partners. Such places are ground zero for a virus resurgence, I am not sure I want to return to work if lockdown order lifted. And if I do return and no sanitation policy is updated to what it should be, I think I'll pursue my complaint with health authorities again, and if they won't do anything, call the local news, that last one might get me fired but I am fine with that if they're not going to keep the workplace safe for customers or workers.

black panther is a must watch.

Well, not at the moment it's not.

Yes

That snekky necromancer ^__^

I do want to take the opportunity to tell people that I tried for the first time a 'service cinema' and that was actually a really fun experience.

Essentially I had to pay $30 p.p. (so no, I wouldn't do it often, just for a special occasion), BUT you get to sit very comfortably and you get all food and drinks included. And you can pick from a service screen near your chair what you want to order at any time during the movie, and a snekky waitress brings it to you. They had toast, buns with stuff like spicy chicken, all sorts of snack food, candy/crisps, tea's, coffees, beer, soda's, wines, lot's of stuff. And I highly recommend trying that some time.

Do keep in mind that because everyone is ordering and eating it is not very well suited for a highly emotional movie or one that demands your full attention at all times. (Though I would like to try it with a horror movie with lot's of jump scares one time to see if people accidentally fling their food ^_^) But this felt actually worth taking the trip for and much more comfortable than a normal cinema, so I loved it!

I like to, though I don't often (maybe that's why?).

It really depends on the theatre, and especially the seating. I'm a big dude so I need those spacious full-sized reclining chairs, and frankly I think everyone else likes them too haha.

The theaters around here all converted to them. It's nice. I also have an IMAX about 30 minutes away for when I really want to see something awesome.

If you go to the Central Valley of California (Modesto, Fresno, etc) for some reason movie theaters are really nice out there; you can get food, beer and wine, and a really nice chair with a little table and stuff.

*Depends on the movie, too. As @theone86 said there's no real point seeing something dramatic or intelligent in the theater because all that stuff is wasted on me; I'd rather watch it out home where I can pause it, think about it, rewind if I need to, put on subtitles if I can't understand what they're saying, and so on. But an action movie or something with some special effects? Yeah that's worth it.

**What I really miss are drive-in theaters. The one I used to go to, man it was so great, they had two movies to show for 10 dollars. And they were NEW movies, not like old ones. My friend would pack up a living room into his truck (some old couches and some floor speakers, even an old persian rug) and we'd offload it, plug the speakers into his truck, and get drunk with a cooler full of beer and watch movies for five hours or so. Such a good time.