The Alamo Drafthouse chain of movie theaters has long had a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to texting and talking on the phone during a film, as commemorated in maybe the greatest anti-texting PSA ever. Now the company is asking you to unleash that annoyed auteur that’s dying to get out and tell people to shut the &*#( up. [More]
movies
Alamo Drafthouse Giving Everyone Chance To Make Their Own “Shut Up, Stop Texting & Watch The Movie” PSA
By 10.25.12
Target Sells Lots Of Reservation Cards For ‘The Avengers’ Blu-Ray, Forgets To Order Discs
By 10.4.12
Target stores offered customers the opportunity to reserve their copy of the super-awesome Blu-Ray box set of “The Avengers” by purchasing reservation cards in advance. What the stores forgot to do, though, was actually stock the discs. It’s fine if they want to only get a few copies of a hot new movie in and sell them to employees’ nephews or people banging on the door at opening time or whatever. It’s not cool to sell reservation cards that you don’t intend to honor. [More]
What's The Best Way To Deal With Obnoxious Moviegoers?
By 9.14.12
With movie ticket prices continuing to increase — and the home theater experience getting less expensive and more immersive — you can understand why consumers would get upset if their night out at the cinema is spoiled by some mouthy jerk, or by that person three seats over who can’t seem to stop texting. But how best to handle these people — Shaming? Violence? Ninjas? [More]
'Sale' Is Not French For 'Charge $15 More'
By 8.23.12
Shopping at Best Buy, Arthur noticed this odd shelf tag for DVD copies of “The Adventures of Tintin.” The double printing on the left indicates that something isn’t quite right with the sign. Yet it made its way onto the shelf in the real world, where people can see it, making everyone who has seen it just a little bit stupider. [More]
Theater: If A Man Brings Bag Into Movie, He's A "Possible Shooter"
By 8.8.12
UPDATE: The owner of the theater has issued a statement to Consumerist regarding the situation: [More]
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Rite Aid Retail Archaeologist Uncovers Full-Price VHS Movie
By 7.10.12 — Updated: 8.15.13
It’s not out of the question that someone might want to purchase a copy of the film version of “A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s not difficult to imagine that they might even pick it up at Rite-Aid, and that they might be willing to pay $20 for an eight-year-old movie. What caught reader Jay’s attention, though, was that the film was in his local pharmacy’s discount DVD bin, at full price––and on VHS. [More]
Slapping A Loudmouth 10-Year-Old Is Not The Best Way To Get Him To Shut Up In A Movie Theater
By 5.22.12
What happens when two bad consumers come in conflict with each other in dimly lit movie theater? One ends up with a bloody nose and lost tooth, while the other faces assault charges. [More]
Does 'No Outside Food' Discriminate Against People With Food Allergies?
By 4.26.12
Domenica is gluten intolerant, and there are a number of other foods she can’t eat as well. During a recent visit to the movies, she was caught bringing in outside food and argued with the manager. There isn’t anything available at the concession stand that she can eat without becoming ill. Sure, a private business can set their own rules. But is it discriminatory? In spite of what theater owners might tell you, buying snacks at the cinema isn’t mandatory, and no one’s going to go hungry after a few hours. [More]
Netflix Explains How It Comes Up With Its Recommendations
By 4.9.12
Sometimes Netflix is able to peek deep into your soul and tell you exactly which movies you’ll want to watch next, and other times it suggests Power Rangers Samurai. The company is now offering a behind the curtain to explain how it plays matchmaker with you and all the lonely movies out there. [More]
Illinois Attorney General Twists AMC's Arm, Makes It Accommodate Disabled Moviegoers
By 4.5.12
It took pressure from the Illinois Attorney General, but AMC Theatres agreed to make adjustments that allow blind and deaf people to enjoy movies in more of the chain’s theaters in the state. The chain agreed to add captioning and audio-description features to 460 screens. Before the deal, only a couple dozen AMC theaters in Illinois offered the technology. [More]
Amazon Instant Video Hitches A Ride On PS3 To Hit More TVs
By 4.4.12
Access to Amazon Instant Video’s streaming library has been a nice perk to signing up for Amazon Prime. But the service was never particularly useful to many customers who like to sit back on their couch and watch stuff on TV rather than stare at a computer screen. Now Amazon has cut a deal with the PS3 that draws it closer to competitors Netflix and Hulu Plus, which both stream on the Wii and Xbox 360 in addition to Sony’s console. [More]
10 Ways Blu-ray Is Letting Movie Lovers Down
By 4.3.12
Studios have had nearly six years to perfect the manufacturing, packaging and selling of Blu-rays, yet they’re still having trouble getting it right. The dwindling amount of movie lovers out there who still buy their movies in physical form — rather than rent or stream them — put up with quite a few customer-unfriendly practices. [More]
Cineastes Bicker Over Virtues, Drawbacks Of Darker, Grainier New Casablanca Blu-ray
By 3.29.12
Since the dawn of home video, movie lovers have debated the implications of screwing with old movie prints to make them look better. The advent of Blu-ray has drawn a line between traditionalists who adore the rough-hewn, old-school look of grainy images and those who prefer technicians to buff out the grain in favor of sharper, smoother visuals. The latest battlefront in the debate pits the new dark-toned, supposedly more true-to-the-original Casablanca Blu-ray release, which follows a brighter, cleaner-looking 2008 edition. [More]
AMC Says It Will Let Kids See Unrated "Bully" Movie With Parental Permission
By 3.28.12
In a nod to internet rage over the Motion Picture Association of America having slapped an R rating on the documentary Bully — a move the Weinstein Company has responded to by opting to release the movie as unrated — AMC Theatres is letting it be known that it will buck the rules and allow kids to see the film. [More]
Report: Pay TV Giants Won't Carry Netflix Service
By 3.12.12
After last week’s rather stomach-turning news broke that Netflix was trying to get in bed with cable companies rather than compete with them by offering its streaming service in the manner of a premium channel, now there’s a report that pay TV companies aren’t biting. [More]
2 Big Studios Won't Float In Apple's Movie Cloud
By 3.8.12
Drowned out in all the hullabaloo over Apple’s unveiling of the next iPad was its announcement that its cloud storage of movies had gone live. Those who have bought movies from iTunes can now stream their films onto their Apple devices. Two studios, though — 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures — aren’t letting their films come out and play for now. [More]
Movie Price Madness: How To Save Money On A Trip To The Theater
By 3.7.12
Unless you’ve been living a hermit-like existence, you’ve likely stepped out to the movie theater at least once recently, and once there, perhaps the skyrocketing price of tickets and the exorbitant cost of snacks shocked you right back into staying home (or into suing theater chains). There are ways around shelling out $13 per ticket and emptying pockets on popcorn, however. [More]
Report: Netflix Wants To Piggyback On Cable Services
By 3.7.12
If reported deals between Netflix and cable giants go through, the company’s streaming service will be offered as a bonus to cable packages. Netflix is said to be negotiating with several cable companies to add its service as a possible premium on-demand option. [More]
