Friday, December 7, 2012
#FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS DESK: Look--I love Fandango--it's an easy way to check not only what's showing at local theatres but also to know whether things are selling out before I make plans. However, when a movie is showing in multiple formats, there is no way to get all showtimes in all formats displayed on one page, as Fandango considers each format a separate film. For instance, The Hobbit is showing in four formats in the NYC area next week--2D, 3D, IMAX 3D, and High Frame Rate 3D (it's also apparently showing in IMAX 2D in some markets, though not in NYC)--that means I have to look at each format's listings separately or browse by theatre to get a full list of showtimes. Any reason they can't fix this?
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A completely reasonable complaint. Then again, I would never look at anything but the first page.
ReplyDeleteRelatedly, which damn version am I supposed to see?
ReplyDelete2D. Always 2D.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is, it depends.
ReplyDeleteThe film was shot in HFR 3D, but there have been decidedly mixed reports on how that looks (some find it too "glossy" and there have been reports of vomiting). At least in NYC, HFR and "regular" 3D are the same price.
Select Imax 3D locations will have only one trailer, the first 9 minutes of Star Trek Into Darkness (http://www.startrekmovie.com/imax/)--if you need to refill the Strategic Cumberbatch Reserve, that might be appropriate.
I find this more of a feature than a bug--the separate pages make it harder for me to mistakenly buy 3D tickets.
ReplyDeleteMe, I'm still struggling to summon much interest in a nearly three hour movie that's the FIRST OF THREE PARTS of an adaptation of a book I really don't care much about. But maybe that's just me.
ReplyDeleteWell, since Hobbit IMAX 3D tickets are really just Star-Trek:-The-First-Nine-Minutes-Of-Into-Darkness-and-Then-Some-D&D-Themed-Thing tickets, it kind of is a separate film...(/sarcasm)
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, it would require a massive change to the hierarchy of the app's listings. Because this affects not only the listing but the e-commerce parts of the app, there's probably a lot of rejiggering to do to get it there.
Word. It seems to me totally ridiculous to make a children's book of about 300 pages into ~9 hours of film. I liked the Lord of the Rings, but this is just kee-razy town to me. A big pass on this one. And the next two.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I want Fandango (and Movie Tickets and the rest) to do: when I buy tickets to a movie, I want it to tell me how many tickets have already been sold to that showing (against how many seats are in the theater). Or alternatively, what percentage of the seating capacity has been sold. That way I can get a sense of how popular the showing is, and figure out how early I have to get on line to get decent seats. (Something I screwed up when going to see Life of Pi, and ended up in the front row. I feel like I heard that movie, but didn't really see it.)
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the title of this post, and I think it should be its very own post. What's your favorite first-world problem? I'll start. 1) Braces for my children, or 2) this from my coworker during the aftermath of Sandy--"My pilates class was cancelled."
ReplyDeleteAs for the Hobbit...sooo not my kind of movie, and I LOL-ed when Bristlesage responded to Randy by saying "Word." My "word" exactly.
That being said, Matt...I appreciate your posts and can't wait until we can all talk about Les Mis, which IS my kind of movie.
I've gotta say, I wince whenever I hear the term "First World Problems." While it's slightly better than its cousin "White People Problems," it's some fairly loaded language with some nasty implications.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite first world problem of the last couple of weeks: I got back from the Paul McCartney concert to find that the hotel I was staying at no longer has turn-down service. POOR ME!!!
ReplyDeleteI call it "Problems of Privilege" - because it's specific enough to not have too much baggage.
ReplyDeleteThe only way I would see The Hobbit is if I was dating a guy who was really into it and he threatened to withhold sex. Even then, it would depend for how long.
ReplyDeleteWhat if I hate all those locations? (Basically anything that isn't Lincoln Square/the weirdo theater at Lincoln Plaza/the Paris.)
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure I'd walk away from that guy, but I have a pretty inflated sense of what my time is worth. And nine hours is two pretty good books, or almost a whole season of Breaking Bad.
ReplyDeleteBut it's supposed to be loaded with some nasty implications. "Third World" may be loaded in many ways, but "First World" is pretty evocative of the kind of privilege and entitlement it is supposed to convey. An impoverished person in any country is unlikely to refer to him- or herself as a citizen of the third world, but people who would refer to themselves as first-worlders are exactly the kind of people whose trivial problems can be mocked as first-world problems.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, "I have too many movie format options to fit on a single Fandango page" definitely qualifies as both (a) something Fandango may want to fix for commercial reasons; and (b) not an actual problem.
One should walk away from anybody who threatens to withhold sex. You can have sex or you can not have sex, but threatening to withhold it as punishment for something unrelated is gross. Yes, I'm looking at you, LYSISTRATA.
ReplyDeleteAlso yes.
ReplyDeleteBut by using the term "First World" you aren't just saying "man, I'm glad I'm so well off that most of my worries are trivial," you do by making a racist post-colonial comparison. I get what you are saying (if I read you correctly) that in using the term, you are mocking the people who would use it, which--while it doesn't quite hold water with me--I can accept. But if that's all you are trying to do, why do it with derogatory, pejorative language? Why not take a cue from Watts and call it "Problems of Privilege"?
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, they have regular theaters, 3D theaters, IMAX and IMAX 3D in the "Third World." Apparently it's not just for white people.
Any guy who that into Tolkien is never going to be in a position to withhold sex.
ReplyDeleteOK, maybe not all Tolkien superfans are mouth-breathing D&D playing nerds -- Stephen Colbert, who is in fact a tremendous LotR fan, did just do a whole week of Hobbit episodes with McKellan, Freeman, Serkis, and Jackson.
I like Tolkien and I loved the Peter Jackson LotR films, since I thought they did a great job of tossing the unnecessary and expanding the threads given short shrift. But to make the ~300 pages of The Hobbit into the same amount of film as ~1200 pages of The Lord of the Rings seems like a Bad Idea. Of course, I am going to see it. After all, it can't be nearly as bad as the last major prequel trilogy to a popular movie trilogy.
Isn't Lincoln Square the only real IMAX theater in NYC aside from AMNH?
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate 3D, I will see the HFR 3D version of The Hobbit, as much out of curiosity as anything else.
To clarify - the only reason I saw the LotR movies 1 and 2 was because I was married and the husband wanted to see them and wanted me to see them. I was no longer with him when the 3rd one came out, but I had to know how it ended and I sure as hell wasn't going to read the book(s).
ReplyDeleteMy problem is that I am willing to/want to have relations with Tolkien fans.
ReplyDeleteSerious question: what's the deal with turn-down service? I've never actually understood what it is, why I would care, or why anyone would want it.
ReplyDelete