please empty your brain below

Remind me to post something really controversial the next time the comments system goes down for 12 hours...

generally i agree with you. however:
a. several visits to the cinema this year have been ruined by yobs.
b. i can't resist the overpriced treats.
c. the cost of two gentlemen at the cinema (and their snacks) is more expensive than the cost of buying a dvd.
d. renting at blockbuster is even cheaper.
e. we have a big screen at home.
f. the type of films i like best are great at home (clever, witty, script-worthy films don't need to be seen on the big screen like those horrid big budget special effects films (Charlie and the Chocolate factory excepted)).
g. buy a movie. watch it. watch it again with a friend. lend it to someone at work. get it back. sell it on ebay.
h. the times they are a changing.

One thing, DG, and for me it's a dealbreaker: DVDs obviate the need for costly babysitters.

Heh, heh... I was slightly worried that my comment might appear in the end about 15 times.....

Anyway what I was going to say earlier was.... Doesn't the economics of it all depend on the household size? To take the four planarchists to the local cinema costs £22... somewhat more than a DVD from Sainsburys.
Luckily I think that the cinema still offers a superior experience for the vast majority of fillums.

Oh, and I buy very few DVDs that get watched fewer than three times.

With the way DVDs are going now there is no guarantee that you get control at home. DVDs include ads, and prevent you from fast-forwarding through bits the producer thinks we should watch - always the copyright notices, but recently and VERY annoyingly the animated sequences leading into the main menu. Some are good the first time, but none are worth watching more than once. However, the FFWD button stops working until the end of whatever it is that we are supposed to be watching.

Soon we will be tied up in front of the screen with our eyes held open, Clockwork Orange-style...

dave - it won't be long before they start packaging DVDs with popcorn and nachos attached (for an extra tenner). Not good for selling on eBay though.

Ant - I wonder how our parents ever coped before the advent of video... or maybe we were just all better behaved then.

NiC - DVDs are clearly a bargain for families of four or more, particularly if (like you) purchases are made selectively.

Dominic - I live in fear that one day DVDs will force us to watch Simon Bates running through the classification system and copyright laws every time we want to play them.

Our just-changed-UGC-into-cineworld offers unlimited cinema for £11.99 a month. Hopefully to last given that a single is £6.

As a side, sweets cost the bomb. I wonder where the real money is

And some people bypass paying altogether by just downloading the full DVD before it is even released... How does that work?? I know not, officer...

dave: I work in a cinema - we do try and stop the yobs, but there's only so much you can see from the bottom of a dark screen...

I can, however, assure you, that if you went and told a member of staff, they'd get a lot of pleasure from chucking them out for you.

O.k. D.G. but when you qualify for your bright orange travel pass ‘is it half past yet’ you will appreciate subtitles

But they do subtitles in the cinema too. I went to a captioned screening of Signs in Leicester Square once, by mistake.

But only of one film a week, if you're lucky and turn up at the couple of performances it's on, and the projectionists don't forget to put the DVD in...

I love my DVD collection - though I prefer cult TV, stuff like Star Trek, Simpsons, Red Dwarf etc sure it's shown on TV a lot but the ads hack them up (have you tried watching Lost!?) I far prefer to watch them on DVD which often contain better quality versions, scenes TV had to edit out and better sound (5.1) Also... no ads. I'm one of the lucky ones that has a DVD that skips copyright notices.

You can also watch them in the proper order at your own pace.

I tend to wait a few months for the price to come down so often much much cheaper than cinema. Also believe me they get watched a lot more than 3 times!

I must say that I never get the same thrill from a DVD that I get from seeing it on the big screen. The darkness, the volume, the size of the screen - you just can't replicate this at home. Most cinemas near me are independent or arthouse, so no yobs to spoil the atmosphere.

One of Melbourne's premier independent cinemas is in the same building as my work, so I occasionally pop down and catch a movie during lunch or after work!

The only DVDs I have ever purchased are the entire Futurama collection.

Actually what I meant was me and the Mrs can watch a film together in the evening without having to go out. But it's true, DVDs are also a great way of calming the mini-hordes.

Maybe it's just me that doesn't buy DVDs then. It's not just the price - I rarely feel the need to watch something again when I already know how the plot develops.

I did buy the utterly brilliant Blackadder 2 on video about seven years ago though, but I've still only watched each episode twice.

What a single person's perspective you have, DG! I have made contact with breeders and I am assured that children's DVDs are watched many times over. (I was on the phone to a parent earlier today, and the DVD of choice at that moment for his offspring was Strawberry Shortcake. No, I have no idea either.)

Rather shockingly, over half of my DVDs haven't been watched at all. I think I buy them for a rainy day, but the rainy day never comes; I always have something more interesting to do.

I also know someone who has DVDs of any film within a few days of it being released in the States, so there's no need to wait for anything...

I buy DVDs of good comedy (Blackadder and the like) that I watch an enormous number of times.

I tend to rent DVDs of films. The local video store, or even the Library if it's not a new release, is much cheaper than a trip to the cinema. If the film is really good, I might see it in the cinema to get the benefit of the big screen.

I agree with your post and now with the advent of BitTorrenting you can see the movies even sooner. But the cinemas have themselves to blame too.

I used to go and see all the blockbusters at the Brighton Odeon. It boasted the biggest screen south of London for a while. Then they decided to make the big screen into two smaller screens, using the argument of choice and diversity of course. The one thing that really differentiated the cinema V the home was removed.

I hardly go to the cinema these days.

My last visit to the cinema :

2 Tickets : $26.00
2 Cokes : $ 8.00

Total : $34.00

The last DVD I bought? $25.00 with several hours of extras. Viewed it on the big screen at home in surround sound.











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