Foolish Acts People Pull at Movie Theaters Across America

Movie tickets are too expensive these days for anyone to have to put up with rudeness at the cineplex. Yet, it’s common to find men, women and teenagers acting a fool in theaters across North America.

Someone brought their screaming baby to a theater where the Sci-Fi action film Insurgent was playing. Miles away at another theater, one woman played video games with the volume turned up on her cell phone during a showing of Marvel’s The Avengers; as if other people in nearby seats didn’t get enough of her earlier antics including scene-by-scene commentary with another moviegoer about The Hulk’s size.

Then there are those folks who recorded the big screen using their smartphone (Um… Isn’t that illegal?) when the martial arts action adventure Falcon Rising was on the festival circuit. Just a few states away, someone pulled the fire alarm during an evening showing of the romantic comedy Couples Retreat. It was the type of foolishness that caused movie goers to be evacuated until firefighters could determine it was a false alarm. One guy at a theater where the comedy Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain was playing decided to catch up on his Zzzz and started snoring so loudly that you couldn’t tell if it was part of the jokes or not.

A is for AmericaThese real life occurrences of individuals who didn’t think to be considerate for others around them include instances of people deliberately disrupting everyone else’s movie going experience. Even in everyday activities, it’s the simple things that really matter in the difference between whether we hold being respectful toward others in high regard or not. The foolishness going on at movie theaters in America is a prime example of how our “civilized” nation still has a long way to go in being the model of what we collectively like to deem good behavior.

What's the most annoying incident YOU ever experienced or witnessed at a movie theater?

Monday Movie Meme – Backyard BBQ

As the Fourth of July weekend approaches, the theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme focuses on one of the most common Independence Day celebrations in America: Backyard BBQ.

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring cookouts, barbecues or whatever these casual parties are called in your neck of the woods.

The BBQ scene doesn’t have to necessarily be set in someone’s backyard but a character in the film must be firing up something on a grill. Here are my selections for this week’s Backyard BBQ theme.

Poetic Justice

A group of friends crash a family reunion, where they help themselves to barbecue food, drinks and new acquaintances in this romantic drama starring Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur and Regina King.

Boyz n the Hood

Friends in an L.A. neighborhood discuss reading books, AIDS and letting women eat first, at a backyard cookout celebrating Doughboy’s return home from prison in this drama starring Laurence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Morris Chestnut.

What movies have YOU watched featuring people cooking out at a barbecue?

Monday Movie Meme – A Military Memorial

The theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme is dedicated to the deceased servicemen (and women) of the United States of America: It’s Memorial Day. Share on your blog or in the comments section, the first movie(s) that come to your mind when you think of Memorial Day.

Here are my selections for this week’s Memorial Day theme.

We Were Soldiers

Of all the most heart wrenching scenes I remember from this movie starring Mel Gibson, the one where an Army wife gets that dreadful visit at her front door but despite the obvious, she refuses to accept that her husband is not coming back home – and is indeed another casualty of the Vietnam War – is the first scene that comes to mind when thinking about Memorial Day.

Pearl Harbor

Among the many deaths that occur during this war movie, starring Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnet, is that of an Army pilot.

Courage Under Fire

Cover-ups and skeletons in the closet are revealed during an investigation on whether or not a female Army Captain who died in The Gulf War is worthy of a Medal of Honor, in this dramatic thriller starring Meg Ryan and Denzel Washington.

When Memorial Day fell on a Monday in 2012, the Movie Meme focused on characters that were wounded while working in the armed forces. At that time, I didn’t fully understand the differences between Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. Here’s hoping that the nature of this week’s Monday Movie Meme theme honors fallen soldiers properly in 2014!

Can YOU name any movie(s) that come to YOUR mind when thinking of Memorial Day?