The horror stories at the movies can come from the audience

I think Ms. Creamer has missed one REALLY bad influence that has caused audiences in theaters to be ultra-rude: the comedy show Mystery Science Theater 3000.

As a result of MST3K's success, too many moviegoers are wont to do a mock running commentary on the movie being shown on-screen, which really annoys other audience members to no end. And you wonder why sales of non-CRT rear projection TV's and home theater systems have gone through the roof lately.

I had a door to door salesman maybe 2 weeks ago offering a deal from the local theater. Buy so many tickets and get so many free to help folks who think the price is too high.

I told him the price was just a small part of why I didn't go. Difficult parking, outrageous consession prices, rude audiences with cell phones and talking, politically biased product.

Half.com DVD's and PPV are how I see movies now.

I'm the type of guy who stays for the credits at the end of the movie. However, I went to a Godzilla movie a couple of years ago. There were a small handfull of people in the audience and, as the movie was, well, a Godzilla movie and therefore completely awful (in a fun way), we began to talk back to the screen ala MST3K. There was plenty of opportunity for comment and we took full advantage. It made the film a lot more enjoyable.

Now, had that happened at any other film, I would have been very upset. But this was Godzilla and it added to the fun. So there are exceptions to the rule.

Haven't been to a movie theater in over 20 years. The long lines, people cutting the line and being served. The prices of the ticket and then the concession stand. Then I get to sit behind or in front of people that want to carry on conversations, or listening to a squalling baby during the movie. Ahpt, can't forget the bored child running up and down the aisle and crawling over you while playing with other bored children in the theater. That was before people really started using cell phones.

I'd rather rent the DVD and watch a movie at home.

I like going to the movies - for the right movie.

About 3 years ago my daughters and I would hit a movie about once every two weeks. Now we're down to about once every 4 months.

Why? In addition to your observations there is the 20 minutes of adds, commercials, previews and food adds (God, I hate that Fanta-Fanta add) and the large groups of people who wander in after the lights go down and then expect everybody to change seats so they can sit together (not with us they don't).

But the key reason is the new movies are crappola.

As a hard-core Mystie (over 100 shows on tape), I take umbrage at your comment. However, you're also quite correct in that Mystie wannabes yak too much, but they'd yak even without an illustrious predecessor.

Best mistakes of all time

You may have noticed the "vote" buttons after every mistake on the site. If you've got a favourite mistake, vote for it to help it to the top of the leaderboard. Only one mistake per film is listed. For anyone confused as to why the Harry Potter film is listed as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", please check the Harry Potter page - the reason for the different title is explained there.

Rank Film Mistake

1 Star Wars When the stormtroopers break into the control room, watch very carefully and you will be able to see a storm trooper nearly render himself unconscious by smacking his head off a door frame. This is now so notorious that on the new DVD there's an audible "bump" when he hits it.

2 Commando The yellow Porsche is totally wrecked on the left side, until Arnie drives it away, and it's fine.

3 The Rocky Horror Picture Show The criminologist describes the events of the movie as taking place "on a late November evening". In the very next scene, Brad and Janet are driving in Brad's car, and President Richard Nixon's resignation speech is playing on the radio. Nixon resigned in August of 1974.

4 Gladiator After the battle with the Germanians, the next morning after the tavern, he is walking in the army camp and he feeds a horse a piece of apple. If you look closely between Maximus and the horse, there is a crewman wearing a pair of blue jeans.

5 Charlie's Angels When the Angels are fighting the "Creepy Thin Man," right before Drew Barrymore lifts up Lucy Liu to spin her around and kick the thin man, to get Lucy's attention, Drew hollers out "Lucy!" even though Lucy Liu's character's name is "Alex."

6 Spider-Man In the scene where Mary Jane is being mugged by four men, Spider-Man throws two of the men into two windows behind Mary Jane. Then the camera goes back to Spider-Man beating up the other two guys. When the camera goes back to Mary Jane the two windows are intact.

7 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines In the scene where John & Catherine are in the hangar at the runway, the Cessna's tail number is N3035C. When the plane is shown in the air, the number is N9373F. When they land, the tail number has changed back to N3035C.

8 The Matrix In the scene where Agent Smith is interrogating Neo, after Smith has sealed Neo's mouth shut and he is backed into the corner, when the camera cuts back to Smith you can clearly see a reflection in his glasses of Neo still sitting down in the chair.

9 Black Hawk Down Near the end of the movie when the convoy is heading back to the Pakistan Stadium, a Humvee stops briefly to allow a man to walk across the street with a child in his arms. When the shot changes and the Humvee begins driving again, a crew member or cameraman is seen inside the Humvee wearing a white shirt. All of the men who entered the Humvee were wearing fatigues.

10 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone When Harry, Ron and Hermione rush to Hagrid after the end of the year exams, and Harry is saying something that ends with, "Why didn't I see it before?", Hermione is mouthing his lines.

11 Titanic The lake that Jack told Rose he went ice fishing on when she was threatening to jump is Lake Wissota, a man-made lake in Wisconsin near Chippewa Falls (where Jack grew up). The lake was only filled with water in 1918 when a power company built a dam on the Chippewa River, six years after the Titanic sank.

12 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Merry and Pippin were bound when taken by the Uruk-hai, and the bonds weren't cut until after they managed to escape during the fight. Yet, when the horse almost crashed down on Pippin, he had his arms spread out up near his face, not bound, even though they weren't cut until later. In the next shot, his hands are bound again.

13 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets At the beginning of the scene near the end of the movie with Lucius Malfoy fuming at Dumbledore in his office, Malfoy's hair is fanned back behind his shoulders. The lighting in the room illuminates the back of his neck, where you can see his real, short brown hair.

14 American Pie In the bedroom scene the girl is holding a clear cup full of beer. The camera goes off her and when it comes back she is holding a blue cup. The camera goes back off her then on her and the cup is clear again.

15 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring In the scene where Sam and Frodo are in the field with the scarecrow, you can plainly see a car cruising past in the distance, from right to left. Further comment - there are two different shots which show the car moving from right to left. One starts at the top right distance, and in a shot a few seconds later the car has traveled down the road a bit and is more easily visible. Complicating matters is that the dust thrown up by the car looks similar to smoke from a chimney in the right distance, making some people think it is just the chimney. But chimneys don't move, and the smoke from the chimney is separate from the moving vehicle. [It is deleted on the DVD, but you can still see an obvious bit of image fakery on the hill just left of the smoking chimney. One can see the hill, tree, and surrounding area move up and down and shimmer slightly where someone has done a cut and paste to cover up the auto. The "car inclusive" scene appears on the National Geographic documentary Beyond the Movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Also, watch the music documentary on the extended dvd - when it shows this scene the car is still in it. Bizarrely, in his commentary Peter Jackson said he never saw a car and doesn't know what people are talking about, but the production/post-production team say in their commentary that despite not thinking anyone would be able to see it, they took it out anyway.]

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