Thu, July 17, 2008
Front Row Joe: My Hero—12:36 PM
Those of you who live in modern cities may not be familiar with Cinemark Theatres, but they're one of the larger movie chains. A moronic cat named Front Row Joe is their mascot – the only one I've seen that makes AMC's "Clip" the filmstrip man seem like a nuanced and engaging character.
Nevertheless, I fell in love with him yesterday because Cinemark has released a new animated intro which specifically admonishes against talking during movies. Most theatres will tell you to silence your cell phone, as if leaving it in the car is too much to ask. But FRJ now goes a step further: he asks you to avoid texting, explaining the distraction the backlit screens create; he shows how to silence your phone; then he specifically says "don't talk."
This last is huge for me, because I've always been boggled that theatres aren't more explicit about that problem. They say things like, "Please be quiet and courteous to others," or, "Don't spoil the movie by adding your own soundtrack," but they don't just say, "No talking." There's a segment of the population that thinks talking in the movies is normal (no, not that segment; I mean movie talkers in general) so they're not going to understand that talking – any talking – violates "quiet and courteous" and qualifies as "adding your own soundtrack." The best thing to do is hire attentive ushers to eject people who can't be shushed, but failing that, you have to tell people talking is not cool.
Joe Mulder — Thu, 7/17/08 2:09pm
Also, that segment.
"joemack" — Fri, 7/18/08 7:12pm
This makes up my mind on where to see The Dark Knight, out here FRJ works with Century Theaters. I wonder what his voice sounds like.
Bee Boy — Fri, 7/18/08 9:08pm
Oops, I was quoting him metaphorically. He continues his oafish pantomime, and the narrator fills in the details about the horrors of texting. I'll be interested to hear if the new intro has made it out your way yet.
"neaaaaaaafus" — Sun, 6/14/09 2:29am
i work for frj he's a biooootch! and century theatres is included in cinemark