A History of Violence

Last night two friends and I went to see the new movie "A History of Violence". Went to the 7:30 PM showing at the theatre, which meant we paid full price, something we don't normally do.

The number of commercials has increased since I was there in August-- a full ten minutes of commercials followed by 20 minutes of alternating commercials and trailers.

Then about half-way through the movie, the guy in front of me had his cell phone go off. It rang a number of times, while around us people offered suggestions that he turn it off.

Five minutes later it goes off again. Now people are irate. He figures out how to make it stop ringing after 3 or 4 rings.

Two minutes later it rings again. This time a guy a few seats over in my row moves over so he can kick the back of this guy's chair. A helpful young man yells out that if dimwit can't turn off his cell phone, then he'll come over and do it for him.

At this point, cell phone guy stands up and says "Hey, you want a piece of me? You want a piece of this?"

Helpful twenty-something stands up and says "Yes."

Both men yell insults, and both men are restrained by their dates, who wrap their arms around them and plead for reason. Since this is happening immediately in front of me, I get ready for a quick exit.

Behind me an imposing woman stands up and says "Sit down. Watch the movie. Learn from the movie. It's all about violence." She repeats the mantra several times in her very best "I deal with small children all day so don't mess with me voice," and eventually both guys settle down. When the ushers finally make it into the theater, all is quiet and remains so for the rest of the movie.

Overall good movie, but someday I'd like to see the 5 minutes in the middle that we missed...