We went to see Shazam last weekend. This isn't about that.
(Well, a little about that (no spoilers):
- Big cuteness points for dealing with how both D.C. and Marvel both have a Captain Marvel.
- I felt there was too much of a personality difference between the superhero and the day-to-day incarnation of the superhero.
- Too many boys - three - in the first half hour. Can't keep that many brunette boys straight. It was like the Thin Man Returns -- in which every man is dark-haired with a thin mustache.)
Anyway, we got to the theater for the 9 a.m. $5 show, which was about half-full. And the screen was dark. "Well that's odd," I thought, "There's usually something on the screen all the time, like movie trivia or interviews or ads or trailers. But, it is 9 in the morning, maybe things are different for the first show."
So, everyone sat and stared at the blank screen. For twenty minutes. You notice certain things when you are in a quiet theater.
- Popcorn is very noisy.
- Candy is very noisy.
- People are very noisy, especially men who were fishing earlier and feel that merited a recap.
Eventually I realized that those things weren't particularly noisy that day, just that they are usually drowned out by the ads and trailers.
Eventually a woman left, came back, and announced to the crowd, "THEY SAY THEY'RE WORKING ON IT."
Everyone in the theater, including me, bellowed "THANK YOU" back.
Ten minutes after that, a man made a foray and came back with a field report: they had called in the person who could fix it. Scattered applause and whooping (fishermen) from the crowd. We were all friends by then.
Ten minutes later, the pre-movie trivia/ interviews / trailers / subliminal advertising roared up and we all clapped. I realized, "I guess that means we have to sit through a half-hour of this filler and then fifteen minutes of trailers too? Good thing I have nothing else to do today." Almost immediately, a mom hopped up and went out to talk to management. Moms have other things to do.
Management came in soon after, and made a puny effort to raise her voice above the Dolby stereo sound, and said they were sorry about this, we have to watch everything because that's how it's programmed, and here are some free passes for your inconvenience. It was awesome.
We're saving our pass for a 3-D IMAX 7:00 Saturday night show. I feel like I was in a class-action lawsuit: everyone else did the complaining and I reaped the benefit.
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