Would you like to take a survey?

[yendi]

Oh, dear lord. For future reference, if someone from Nielsen Media Research ever calls you up and asks if you'd like to take a survey about movies, the correct answer is actually, "no."

An acceptable alternative is, "only if you pay me $100 first."

I just spent half an hour on the phone with someone who couldn't read his own bloody script, nearly choked trying to pronounce the names of some foreign movies, misunderstood at least half my answers (including one question where he misheard "eight" as "seven"), and thinks the director of The Departed pronounces his last name "SCOR-see."

The only reason I stuck around was to give negative opinions on all the tripe that I hate in an attempt to balance out the millions of folks who are likely to say things like , "yes, I really want to see Michael Bay's Transformers movie," and, "yes, seeing a movie in the theatre is still a great experience."

Comments

[lbitw.livejournal.com]

I disagree with you on one small point. I believe seeing a movie in a theater can still be a great experience, if you are not the one shelling out $14.00 a ticket, $20.00 for two small sodas and a small popcorn, someone has actually cleaned up from the previous 20 shows, there is copper mesh in the ceiling blocking all cellphone signals, no children under the age of 10 are at the particular R rated movie you are watching, and you are drunk. Of course, the movie still must not suck, so not last year or this year.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Hey, I know of several good second-run, art-house, and classic movie theaters where seeing a movie is still a great experience. Some of which additionally show first-run fare.

You're in Boston now, so check out Somerville Theater, the Coolidge Corner theater, the Capitol in Arlington, the Brattle, the Embassy in Waltham, and the Kendall Square theater.

[stephen-dedman.livejournal.com]

Having worked as a market research interviewer myself, I always try to co-operate with them - time permitting, of course. Telemarketers, OTOH, instantly irritate me: when one refused to believe I didn't want a free cellphone and kept talking, I just put the phone down, walked away, and hung up after she realized she was talking to dead air.

I voluntarily do surveys about movies online periodically, for payment in gift vouchers. Oddly enough, while the vouchers can be used for buying DVDs, they don't seem to have thought of offering payment in cinema tickets.

[yendi]

Alas, that wasn't one of the options on the survey. Or possibly one that's even possible to encounter in real life anymore.

[yendi]

I haven't been to any of those (or the one in Belmont that's supposed to be good), but I've rarely found that even the indie theatres can make a first-run experience good, as the audience is a big factor in why the experience sucks. Art-house and classic theatres are usually worthwhile, but the survey was definitely focusing on first-run.

[yendi]

I also do various online surveys, an experience I like not only because there are rewards, but because I feel much more in control of my time that way.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

But...I do, and it is. However I might fear it, I know I am going to see that movie in a theater. And I do really enjoy going to a theater, sitting in the front row, and being in a movie for a couple of hours.

[darth-spacey.livejournal.com]

I take every opportunity to take part in legitimate surveys. Trials are decided by those who deign to serve on a jury, wars are won & lost by those who show up, and corporations base their actions on the answers of those who give them.

Whether I'm voting with my wallet, or helping some phone jockey get through his script, I'm helping -- in my small way -- shape businesses to my will: to make them make me as happy as possible.

[sir-alf.livejournal.com]

..."yes, I really want to see Michael Bay's Transformers movie," and, "yes, seeing a movie in the theatre is still a great experience."

Am I to take it you disagree with these two statements?

As to the first, I want to go see it. I also don't read spoilers and avoid trailers. I want to know nothing about the movie before I walk in and I'll take the chance of it sucking for not having any warning.

As for the second, i do think there are movies that still are better on the big screen. Some scenes just don't have the impact unless they're 23 feet wide. But this is my opinion, of course. Your milage may vary.

Peace.

[yendi]

I haven't seen spoilers either (and I do avoid them like the plague), but I hate Michael Bay with a screaming passion.

For the second, I'd agree if it were just a matter of the screen or the sound system. Unforunately, too many other parts of the theatre-going experience (the audience, the state of the theatres, the cost, etc) tend to make it less than ideal for me (and, as you note, ymmv).

[yendi]

That was a major factor in sticking around. Otherwise, the odds are that the next person would have shitty taste, and given the way surveys work (my opinion would effectively represent that of thousands of people), I wanted to have an impact.

(And I've never understood why people hate jury duty -- it's something I've enjoyed every time, although I've never actually gotten selected for a jury).