Okay, I normally don't mind trailers... I don't seek them out, but generally the kinds of trailers that give away the whole film are for stupid comedies I'm not likely to go see or that won't suffer from plot spoilers.
But the new Prometheus trailer before MIB3 was ridiculously spoiler-packed. It gave away major plot points, significant movie events, which characters are going to be affected by very bad things, and more. I went from Prometheus being my most-anticipated film of the rest of 2012 to feeling like I know what's going to happen, and putting it on my "boycott because it has Charlize Theron in it and, she ruined most of the last season of Arrested Development" list.*
So I know Tom manages to completely avoid trailers, and there are others here who do it as well. It's easy to skip past them on TV, but how do you deal with them at theaters? Do you call the theaters to find out when the movie really starts? Even that doesn't seem workable for a popular film, since you'll be stuck with horrible seats if the theater's crowded.
Tom, do you just close your eyes? Have a friend who doesn't mind spoilers grab seats for you? Avoiding theater previews seems difficult.
PS: F*CK whoever put together the most recent Prometheus trailer.
* Not a real list
Yep, I close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears. Since trailers are often ridiculously loud, I usually have to wiggle my fingers. I've been told I look like an angry autistic child, but I'm pretty sure I don't rock back and forth, so I don't believe this.
It's awkward, but it makes a big difference in terms of how you watch and enjoy movies.
-Tom
You could probably use ear plugs.
Fingers in ears, chanting "I'm not listening!" works well when I'm with my wife, but when I'm by myself I look like a fucking lunatic. So yeah, canal earphones plus loud music on my iPhone while averting my gaze works just great
Speaking of Arrested Development's third season:
The answer was in front of you all along, Denny.Originally Posted by The O-P
Wait a week or two, then show up late to the movie ;)
I used to just show up 10 minutes late to every movie I saw, which was possible at the little theater I frequented. (I was occasionally the only patron, & often there were less than 20 people in the theater.)
But the most assaultingly advertised movies' trailers would still get to me, so for the past couple years I've been closing my eyes & plugging my ears. It helps that I have a bit of tinnitus.
I've avoided the Dark Knight Rises trailers even through The Avengers!
I usually show up 15-20 minutes "late", unless I know it's going to be busy. In that case I just listen to a podcast and play games until the movie starts. God I hate modern trailers.
I stare at the ground. I can't remember when I last did this (I think it might have been for each Matrix sequel, of all things?) but for movies where they're intent on trailing the cool action scenes, you don't really need to worry about hearing them.
I guess if I wanted to avoid hearing one as well then I'd whack on my iPod for the duration.
And people turning up once the trailers have started is just so annoying! :)
Remember how awesome the trailer for The Phantom Menace was? So much better than the movie.
I did this over the weekend, but the volume on the Prometheus trailer was so frickin' loud I could still hear it. Pretty annoying.
Seconded.
The last time I went to a movie in the first week it was in theaters was The Two Towers, and that was more to hang out with my buddies who went than for the movie itself. There is no movie that I cannot wait two weeks to see, by which time the crowds are gone and I can show up 10-15 minutes late without worrying about a good seat.
You have to also hum and wiggle your fingers. And no, I'm not kidding. Much like you have to change the frequency or modulation or something of your phasers when you're attacking a Borg shield, you have vary your pitch and tune while you're humming or the dialogue will start to sneak through. I find Ode to Joy and the Imperial Death March work best as they let me get the resonating bones in my skull vibrating to good effect. The good thing about trailers being so ridiculously loud nowadays is that you can hum at a decent volume without disturbing the folks around you. At least until that inevitable moment in every trailer where there's that needle-scratch sound effect and it goes silent for a second. Learning to surf past that safely is strictly for professionals, though.
This is why I love trailers like the early one for Fincher's Dragon Tattoo movie, because it's all pounding music, or the teaser for Battle LA, which had that awesome music in it. For those you can just close your eyes and enjoy the music.
-xtien
Yep. I catch up on my podcasts.
You're not fooling anyone, you know.
-Tom
I stopped going to theaters. I can smoke butts, get high, eat chicken, and pee anytime i like. Beats Imaxx I tell you what.
Yep. I walked out on the new Star Trek movie because of the obnoxious kids running up and down the aisles. Got my money back too. Haven't been to a theater since and I don't miss it.
If I'm seated in a sufficiently accessible place, I usually step outside for the trailers. I have had little success with plugging my ears, but I haven't gone so far as to actually bring earplugs or headphones like other people mention. A lot of the employees at the movie theater I frequent now know me as "that guy who doesn't watch trailers" because I am usually pacing the hallway multiple times per week and have to explain why I don't need help with something.
You have no idea how much better I feel knowing that others close their eyes, put their fingers in their ears (and wiggle them around) and hum things loudly at different pitches to muffle out dialogue.
I watched Prometheus tonight and when I got back home I watched the trailer for it which I'd managed to avoid (using the technique above) a couple of weeks ago when I went to see The Avengers. Thank fuck as well because it really does spoil a lot.
My girlfriend also works at the cinema so she tells me how long trailers are supposed to go on for but after watching The Raid earlier in the week where the projectionists started the picture early, causing us to miss god knows how many minutes of the film, that knowledge isn't something I can really rely on.
Last edited by geggis; 06-03-2012 at 05:16 PM.
Yell FIRE
WHAT!
LULZ were had.
Short answer: I don't. I love trailers and consider them a high point of the movie-going experience. One of the more amusing aspects of hanging out in the Movies section of this board is recognizing that I'm in the extreme minority in this perspective, but I just consider the good trailers little jewels I keep to myself.
There's a pretty good article on this discussion posted today at The AV Club, the writer articulates my perspective much better than I could.
A good trailer is fantastic. The problem is that most trailers these days are spoilerific garbage.
A trailer should make me want to see a movie, not feel like I've already seen the movie.
Ah, hadn't seen that review of the Smart Case, Pogue. Jeff, you might want to go back to my original Incipio Smartfeather/Smart Cover suggestion. I can vouch hands-on for that combo. The Apple thing looked like it would be similar, but surprisingly, it sounds like Incipio handled the fit better.
I'm not going to argue that there aren't really bad trailers - I still remember when I saw the trailer for The Negotiator, that movie with Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey, and it essentially laid out the plot of the entire film in a single minute. But for me, dodging trailers completely to avoid the bad ones is just too drastic a solution.
Never try to pass a semi making a turn.
I'm also a follower of the hum and close your eyes school of trailer avoidance. Its rather frustrating, but I've successfully managed to enjoy the movie experience so much more ever since, without knowing every story beat of the film beforehand. Its gotten so far that I'm starting to avoid reading the blurb on the back of books from authors I enjoy, because those also tend to spell out much of the plot beforehand...
That's actually a good example because there are two trailers for that film. One of them, which runs about a minute and a half, basically says "He's a negotiator who is being framed, takes hostages" which is about as simple as you can get and still tell the audience something about the movie, and it shows some action, nothing (if I remember correctly) from the final act. I suppose they could pull all the way back to "He's a negotiator who takes hostages" and leave motivation entirely out of it, but I think this shorter trailer is still pretty good. The other one, which runs nearly 3 minutes, essentially lays out not only the frame idea but also shows which people are framing him and includes footage from the final parts of the film (when they move from one location to another) and clearly shows you that both Sam and Kevin are going to be working together (where the other trailer barely introduced Kevin at all so you didn't know he was purposefully an outsider). It's the second trailer I object to.
And more and more trailers are following the second format.
In my opinion, trailers should be more like what gets released as teasers.
I don't try to avoid trailers, mostly because I have a terrible memory for plot points and I never remember what was in the trailer two days after I saw it. Also because most of the movies that get big trailers are Hollywood trash so who cares if it gets spoiled. Is it really going to ruin my enjoyment of crap like Prometheus if I know whatever the dumb twist is?
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