There’s this idea that the only movies worth seeing in a theater are big screen epics. This saddens me.
Granted, movies like Troy and The Day After Tomorrow are ONLY worth seeing in the theater – the only thing these movies have going for them are sweeping, large-scale visuals that don’t translate to the smaller screen.
But that’s not the only kind of movie that can (nay, *should*) benefit from the large screen treatment.
There are quite a few differences between watching a film in the theater and seeing at “at home on tv”. Here are just a few:
1) Focus – when in the theater, there’s only one thing to pay attention to: the movie on the screen. When you’re watching a movie at home, you can multi-task, the phone can ring, the dog can hump your leg…all things that remove you from entering the world of the film completely. Suspension of disbelief is lower, and it’s far less immersive.
2) Contagion – ever notice how some comedies are just a lot funnier in the theater? It’s because there are other human beings in there with you, and the laughter is a feedback loop – the more each of you laugh, the more the rest laugh. I watch comedies at home by myself all the time, and rarely laugh out loud (even though they are hysterically funny). But in the theater, my laughing experience is always much higher, and so is my enjoyment.
3) Scale – one thing to remember: on the theater screen, things are larger than life. On your TV, they are *smaller*. A good director has created his work to be shown on the larger screen, not a TV. It’s a different experience.
I have seen documentaries in a theater that will blow your mind. Often times the immersive nature of the darkened theater enhances the emotional experience, whereas just watching them on TV relegates them to just that – another thing on TV, like “Friends” or “Everyone Loves Raymond”.
What do you guys think?