Jeepers!

Yesterday our friend Alan came into Rotterdam for a minor “Movie Marathon”. All three of us have the Ulimited Movie Card so we decided to go see a few movies, since we can see as many as we want for “free”.

First we saw Over The Hedge, which was hilariously funny and totally pic worthy.

I won’t say too much about the movie because I know some of you haven’t seen it yet, but I had to post the above pic because it was one of the funniest moments for me. This movie just totally cracked me up and there were so many things I liked about it. The animation was fantastic, the characters all had their own unique and comical personalities and they really did choose great people to do the voices for each of them. I loved that they chose Wanda Sykes for the voice of Stella (the skunk)! I first saw her in Down to Earth and love how she speaks. She could be talking about the weather and still sound like she’s getting her bitch on.

Anyway, love love love this movie. I think everyone should go see it. I’m already looking for a download so I can watch it again.

We also went to see Poseidon which was pretty good but not really pic worthy. It was 99 minutes of entertainment and I didn’t leave complaining about it, but I wasn’t raving about it either. The effects were ok, the acting was ok, the story was ok… Lets just say I’m not sorry I saw it but I’m not hunting for a torrent for it either.

So my mini movie marathon left me with one question…

WHY THE FUCK DO PEOPLE GO TO THE MOVIES TO HAVE A CHAT?!!

I’m sure I’ve bitched about this before but goddamn it… it’s like a plague here in the Netherlands. I shit you not, 9 times out of 10 when I go to the movies there is someone there that pisses me off and makes me want to leap up over the chairs Jackie Chan style and kick them in the teeth. Last night was no exception.

During Over the Hedge there was some chicks in the back who (no lie) talked nonstop from the beginning of the movie to the end. I don’t know if they were talking to each other, on their mobiles or what. Through the entire movie all I could hear from somewhere in the back of the theater were the voices of two young girls. Two young girls I wanted to grab by their ponytails and drag out of the theater. Two young girls I wanted to throw down, put my foot on their throat and force their mobile phones down their throats.

Yes, cinema rage is the new road rage here in Holland, don’t you know?

During Poseidon there was two groups of teenagers. One further up in the same row as us and another two rows back, directly behind them. In between these two groups, some late 20’s-ish bald guy and his girlfriend. The back-pack started talking right away at the previews and it was SO irritating! They continued on during the start of the movie, and when they weren’t chattering on, the front-pack was. It wasn’t long before bald dude told them both to shut up though, which they did… for about 5 minutes.

About 3/4 of the way through the movie everyone was getting irritated with them, Xander especially. The front-pack was just a few seats over from him and I could see the tension rising in him. At one point they got even louder than usual and when I went to turn to say something to Xander all I saw was him flying out of his seat and going over to the guys, saying something along the lines of “SHUT THE FUCK UP OR GET OUT!”. *EYES WIDE*

Was that really my Xander? My don’t rock the boat, that’s not how it’s done in Holland – Xander?! Holy shit!

The teens stared us down for a minute or two, looking over at him in that “DUDE, who da fuk are you to be tellin’ us to shut up, yo!” way but eventually settled down and watched the rest of the movie.

Unfortunately, Xander didn’t settle down. See, when he gets that angry it stick with him and his I’m-Pissed-Off vibes were coming across loud and clear. I never really know what to do when he gets like that because 99% of the time he’s the most laid back and easy going person I know. Do I try to soothe him, do I shut up and watch the movie and let him calm down on his own, do I give his hand one of those gentle wifey squeezes… I don’t know!

So I offered him a drink of my yummy blue water.

Yeah, I won’t be giving anger management seminars anytime soon.

After the movie I went to have a pee, when I came out I saw Xander, Alan, bald dude and bald dude’s girlfriend cornering this cinema employee. She basically told them that they can’t be everywhere at the same time and if someone is causing a problem in one of the theaters that they should go out and tell them so they can do something about it. Not really the most logical idea seeing as they’d not only see us going to “snitch” on them, but by the time we got out of there and found someone to tell and got back, who knows what we’d miss! Plus, it’s not our job to make the movie-going experience a good one, it’s theirs. bah.

I’ve been trying to think back to when I was a teenager and remember if my friends and I were such a pain in the ass in the theater. I don’t remember anyone really getting pissed off at us or saying anything so I think we were ok. I’ve also been thinking back to when I was in Canada in my 20’s and if there were so many irritating teens around then, and I don’t remember it being an issue.

I’ve heard many expats complain about the movie going experience here in the Netherlands. Is this as much of a problem everywhere? Are the Americans, British, Germans and Swede’s suffering from this like we are? I really am interested in hearing if teens in the movies is a global issue or if it’s like I think it is, and the teenagers in the Netherlands are just seriously lacking manners and in need of a good swift kick in the arse.

What are your cinema experiences like where you live?

(P.s. I made it through both movies and only had water! YAY! No coke and no maltesers… I made it through my chocolate cravings. GO ME!)