All About The Joy
All About The Joy is a weekly hang-out with friends in the neighborhood! We share insight, advice, funny-isms and we choose to always try and find the positive, the silver lining, the "light" in all of it. AATJ comes from the simple concept that at the end of the day we all want to have more JOY than not. So, this is a cool place to unwind, have a laugh and share some time with friends!
All About The Joy
Dear AMC Theatres: Critiquing the Movie Experience and Why You Keep Losing Customers
Choosing peace over chaos this Thanksgiving, I decided against the typical travel frenzy to embrace a more restful celebration. Instead, I treated myself to a refreshing matinee of the musical "Wicked," underscoring the joy of prioritizing one's sanity and meaningful connections outside the traditional holiday bustle.
However, not everything is serene as we shift gears to a critique of the current movie theater landscape, especially spotlighting AMC's missed opportunities. From the underwhelming incentives for matinee showings to the barrage of ads that test one's patience, these elements are key to understanding the drift away from theaters. Yet, the magic of the big screen remains unmatched, and it's a call to action to appreciate films as the creators/artists intended. And before we wrap up, we dive into music, sharing an appreciation for Kendrick Lamar's latest album, "Gen X," with its captivating track "Luther," urging listeners to broaden their musical horizons and experience its profound artistry.
At the end of the day, it really is All About The Joy! So whether it's hanging out with friends and family during the holidays or how we need to enjoy the movie going experience, this episode will address ways in which things can always be better! And, as the great Maya Angelou said, "...when we know better, we do better...".
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Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth
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Hey everyone, welcome to All About the Joy. This is Carmen Talk and I'm your host, carmen Lisette. This has been an amazing, an amazing holiday weekend and we did not have a live stream on Thursday because it was Thanksgiving. So I hope everyone who was listening to this had a wonderful, if not very restful, holiday weekend, although I tend to think that the holidays are not very restful, but for me this year, beautiful. I had a beautiful, fantastic, very quiet holiday.
Speaker 1:I made the decision years ago not to travel anymore on the holidays. There was a time when I was traveling and, look it, I'm grateful to have such friends who are my family, and I always am very blessed with the possibilities of going somewhere for Thanksgiving, and I made the decision years ago. After flying out to Pennsylvania every year, I was like I cannot do the stress of the holiday. I have never been a fan of traveling anyways, like, if I'm going to travel, I'm very bougie about it, right, I'm first class, I'm, you know I don't like there to be a lot of people. I am the worst person in an airport, actually, because I get very quiet and I just anyways, I'm rambling on too much about traveling. My point is I had a very restful Thanksgiving. I hope you did too, and if you didn't, then start rethinking that for next year. Because, I'm telling you, time is precious and, yes, spending time with your family is important, but you know what else is important. Your time with your family is important, but you know what else is important your sanity. So find a different time to spend time with your family, and that's kind of what I'm trying to do. I try to spend time with my family and friends at different times of the year and not on the holidays, so that might be a weird thing, but okay, with that said, I did see Wicked.
Speaker 1:Now I am not going to sit here and review this movie, because there are so many other places that you can hear much more profound, much better articulated reviews of this amazing musical. And yes, I know the minute I say musical, there are some people who are not going to watch it. I'm talking to you, alden, but here's the thing that I do want to talk about regarding this movie specifically. One is do something for yourself, make sure you do something for yourself. For me, going to go see Wicked was a treat for myself. I played hooky from work when I had to work and I went and saw it and I didn't tell anybody and it was just such a beautiful time and I went by myself and I went during a matinee during the day which, by the way, does not save you any money anymore and that was fantastic. Now here's what I do want to talk about regarding that movie, though I did a whole TikTok about this, and this podcast really is geared towards AMC theaters. I also would encourage that other theaters think about this as well, and I don't know where along the way, people who work in the theater world and I'm not talking about actors, I'm talking about actual movie theaters, right In that kind of corporate conglomerate where, along the way, you did not realize why people don't want to go to the movies. It's so obvious to me I rarely go to the movies anymore.
Speaker 1:I used to go all the time when I first moved to Los Angeles. I would go two, three times a week, and that's when I had no money. I would find a way to go. I remember AMC had the cards. I think now they have a club thing as well, but used to have those like. They looked like credit cards and you would get like a sticker or a punch on it or something, and then it would get a free movie. And I was always getting free movies because I would go two, three times a week and I always went to a matinee, which back then, my God, I guess I, you know what we always end up to be like our parents, huh, because I'm like I remember back in the day when a matinee was $5.
Speaker 1:But that's what I'm about to say. Because they were. They were so much cheaper because nobody would go during the day, because they'd be working, and that's when I had first moved out here and I had like all these different part-time jobs and I was working as a bookkeeper at different places, and so I had a lot more freedom to go during the day and it was just amazing. But going to a matinee now is not going to be any cheaper really. So that's my first complaint is, if people go to a matinee now is not going to be any cheaper really.
Speaker 1:So that's my first complaint is, if people go to a matinee and when I say matinee I say I mean like 9.30 in the morning, you know, I think this movie was supposed to start at 10.45 AM, right, that's not even a matinee, because I think a matinee is supposed to be at like 12 or something. Anyway, it doesn't matter, it's early in the morning, right? So you're going to a movie and it's going to cost you the same amount of money now as you would go at night, like it doesn't matter, okay, so that kind of sucks, but whatever, that's not even what I'm upset about AMC. I think this podcast is really just for AMC, but I don't know. I hope people don't mind me sharing this information. I already did a TikTok about it, but this is going to be a little bit more detailed.
Speaker 1:Look it, the reason why people aren't going to the movie theaters anymore. I honestly do not believe it has anything to do with quote unquote how bad the movies are. It's not. Are there a lot of sequels? Sure. Are there a lot of places where maybe, stories are just getting kind of done over and over and over again? Sure, whatever. But moviemaking is still moviemaking and it's still entertainment. It doesn't matter how many times I go to a baseball field, right. If I go and watch a baseball game, you're always hoping that something exciting and new happens, but it's still a baseball game. So it's the same thing with movies. This isn't about that. Movies have gotten worse. Actually, I would say movies have actually gotten more detailed and there's so many more places to see streaming and stories in general that movies just have to up their game now.
Speaker 1:But the reason why people people like myself are not going to the movie theaters anymore when I used to go all the time has nothing to do with having my own home entertainment. You know what I mean. That's like saying, oh, I have a backyard and a wiffle ball and bat. Why would I go see a baseball game when I could just play it in my backyard? Right, that's stupid. The reason why people are not going to go see movies is because you make the experience so horrendous that nobody wants to go anymore. So I went to a matinee to see Wicked and at the matinee it was packed as well and I got there on time. Okay, so I got there on time. You know I'm sitting there, people are piling in, whatever. Finally the lights go down and, quote unquote, the movie starts. Of course the movie doesn't start because it's commercial after commercial after commercial. It is, and I timed it.
Speaker 1:I looked at my watch 33 minutes of previews before the movie even started, 33 minutes. So A couple of things about that? Number one, let's just talk about all these previews and trailers. I understand that AMC and all of these theater chain want us to come back to the movies, so they want to promote the movies to us. Here's what I'm going to tell you.
Speaker 1:This is not the way to promote movies anymore. Back in the day, there were three to five minutes of previews before you saw a movie. Okay, I just Googled that three to five minutes and then it grew to 10 minutes. But now it is standard that it's between 30 and 33 minutes or 35 minutes for previews to movies. And here's the other part of this that is so mind boggling to me. Not only does that take up so much more time in the day for someone to watch a movie, because the movie already has a two-hour time frame. Some movies even have more than that, but on top of it now it's like you don't want to run out of the movie theater to go to the bathroom or whatever. Right. It's like logistically ridiculous to make people sit there. But it's not even all that. What makes us even worse is that all of the movies that were shown in the Wicked movie theater right? So I went to go see Wicked.
Speaker 1:All of the movies were not tailored towards the group of people that were there to watch Wicked. I know that I am older and that you could care less, which is really stupid because we're the ones who have the money. But whatever, gen X are people who have money to spend on this crap. But I understand you want a lower demographic or a younger age demographic. I should say that better, not lower, but the fact of the matter is it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1:Nothing that was being shown was geared towards people who were watching that movie, and all of the actual trailers are number one way too long and they're also too much information. Like I can watch an entire trailer and I know from beginning to end what's going to happen, because you've included everything in the trailer. There used to be, I think, an art form to people who created trailers because it was more enticing. It enticed you to go see it. It wasn't like here's the entire story, we hope you'll come, and what I said on my TikTok was also the same thing.
Speaker 1:The only movie trailer that I thought was at least a little bit clever I didn't say why I thought it was clever, but it made me at least laugh was Mission Impossible. Now here's the thing I'm not the demographic for Mission Impossible. I've never seen Mission Impossible in a movie theater. I usually see it when I'm traveling somewhere on a plane or I catch it on TV or something some random. You know if I'm homesick or something, but I am not someone who is going to go to the movie theater to see Mission Impossible.
Speaker 1:And yet the thing that was clever about that trailer was, after the long-winded bullshittery of the same crap that you know, mission Impossible is going to always be sorry for the fans who love that franchise, at the end of it Tom Cruise says something like just give me one more chance or something, and clearly it's a line from the film. But they're using it as kind of a double whammy to the crowd, right To the people in the theater, to say please come and watch it one more time. I thought that was clever and funny and whatever. But I honestly don't remember or even care about any single other movie that was shown during that 33 minutes. Maybe I remember Moana only because that's when they told us to put on our 3D glasses. But even still, I was going to go see Moana anyway because I think Lin-Manuel Miranda is attached to it.
Speaker 1:So it's not going to be because of that situation where I was sitting there, if anything, I was so annoyed because then I had to take off my 3D glasses, because then we had to watch and let me just tell you, amc this is definitely the podcast for you here Nicole Kidman, that whole Nicole Kidman crap thing that you guys do, where she I don't even know what that's about. It's creepy as fuck, it's lame, it's old. It's time to change that shit up. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to swear. Yeah, I did, I did, I swore. I always swear. I don't know why. I'm apologizing for that, but here's my thing. It's just done.
Speaker 1:I am exhausted already and we haven't even started the film yet, right, and I just paid like $27 to come see this movie, right, because of parking, and my ticket was like $21 for some reason. So I haven't even bought any popcorn or any soda or anything, because I don't want to spend all that money there. And so we are now 33 minutes in. I'm already exhausted and pissed about having to watch this movie. You know, and here's the thing Wicked is amazing, but that's not always the case, the movies that we normally go see at the movie theater. For those of you who always go are not always going to be top tier like this, right? Because movies have ebbs and flows. They have, you know, some are great, some are not, but some need to be seen with other people or on a big screen. And yet I probably will not go see Wicked 2 in the movie theater, because I was so disenchanted by my experience at the theater Because, look, here's the thing there's a lot of people in the theater, you know.
Speaker 1:People are talking or laughing. Clearly, there are people trying to explain what Wicked is, what the storyline is. You know, it's just human nature when you're in that environment. Now, I did shush the people next to me at one point because I was so sick and tired of the conversation, and they did. They were respectful and they stopped. They realized they were being too loud, so that was fine. But those are all the normal things that happen in movie theaters that probably make some people not want to go, especially because everyone has such great televisions at home and streaming is such an option, right?
Speaker 1:So why not do everything you can to make the theater going experience something we really, really, really want to do? It's kind of like the same thing with music Like. As much as I love listening to music, nothing is going to change. Actually going to a concert and seeing someone perform live right Like it makes me want to see them live, even though I can listen to their music over and over and over again at my leisure at home. But my point is is it doesn't matter whether the movies are great or bad, or action or whatever I mean. Of course people are going to gravitate towards a movie like Wicked, which is just an incredible movie, or something like Black Panther, because everybody went and saw it and it's word of mouth and whatever.
Speaker 1:But every movie would have a better chance if you made the experience of going to the movie theater something we actually wanted to continue to do, because we enjoyed the crowd experience and we enjoyed being in a theater that had a different type of sound system that really catered towards the movie's technical beauty or whatever. I don't even know what the right wording is. But as much as I love my little home system here, nothing compares to being in a theater when I can watch a movie, especially a movie like Wicked that really, really jumps off the screen with its absolute beauty and just everything that John Chu, the director was able to encapsulate in that movie. It does not remind me of Barbie, but that same feeling of joy, right and just, it was so massive. Everything about it was so big and so massive, and so you want to enjoy that in a movie theater.
Speaker 1:But how do you do that when you're so worried about trying to advertise to us every five seconds that you've now made it not a fun experience right at the beginning? You know and here's the thing about advertising to us the reason why I went to go see Wicked had nothing to do with me seeing it in a preview at a movie I had seen, because I haven't been to the movie theater for a long time now. So the real change here is that content creation and social media platforms and word of mouth are always going to be the better way to go, and I bet you would get more people to go to the movies if you actually cut down all of these movie previews that are just way too long and they make a two and a half hour event into an almost three hour event and that really is hard on people. I know it is for me and I can't imagine that I'm the only one. Actually, I know I'm not, because I've gotten a lot of feedback on TikTok already about it. So it's just something to think about. And for those of us who do stay home and watch movies, we are missing a lot when we don't do it the way, we don't go and see it the way in which the artist has presented it to us, right, I mean, I think there's something to that too. I want to see the art in the way in which the director wants us to see it, and sometimes on television it doesn't really translate in the same way, and you know, again, I get that, but I am no longer willing to sacrifice my time like that. 33 minutes is a long time, especially for a movie that's over two hours to sit and watch With.
Speaker 1:That said, I really do encourage people to go see Wicked, and I know a lot of people dismiss Wicked. I know a lot of Christian right, I'm just going to say crazy people are dismissing Wicked and it's because you don't know the story, unless you hate the Wizard of Oz, I don't know how you could not just absolutely be enthralled by the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch. Right Glenda, right Glenda. How? Just the extraordinary ability. For someone to have written that backstory after watching the Wizard of Oz is quite amazing, and he did a brilliant job. And Wicked has been out, I think, for a long, long time since like 2000 or so I don't even remember when it was, but the play and the musical were amazing. But John Chu, the director, has really outdone it. I mean, I was completely impressed. So go see Wicked. Stop being nonsensical about it. There are plenty of beautiful stories out there that don't have anything to do with being demonic and blah, blah, blah. They're just stories. My goodness, people are crazy. I don't understand.
Speaker 1:But the other thing that I want people to do something for themselves I was saying that earlier some gifts you can give yourself this year. One of them is Go See Wicked, if you can stand it, or wait for it to come out and then watch it. But it's great is also if you have not listened to Kendrick Lamar's latest album that just dropped. It is remarkable. The name of the album is Gen X, but it actually stands for Grand National Experiment, which is a 1987 Buick or something. I think it was also the same year that Kendrick Lamar was born. But I have to say my favorite song on that album is Luther. I also like Dodger Blue, but Luther is just unbelievable. And whether you like hip hop or not is kind of irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. Or if you're not a fan of rap, if you just listen to the first 45 seconds of Luther, you're going to understand why so many people are just loving it. It is so well done, so beautifully done, and the melody just incisors on on it. Look it, just check it out. Just do something for yourself. Go see Wicked and go listen to Kendrick Lamar's latest album, at least the single song called Luther. It's really great.
Speaker 1:So during this holiday season, try to do something for yourself. A lot of people do so much for their families, their children, their parents, and I really think this whole concept of you know, self-love and self-care we really need to hone in on it and actually do it, and one of the things you can do is buy yourself a little gift as well Make sure you take care of you. I feel like you know, skipping work that day and just going to go see Wicked was so liberating and, you know, listening to Kendrick Lamar's album over Thanksgiving for myself was just such a joy to just sit and listen to that song and then listen to the music. It was just like not caring about anything else, just being in that space, like when you were a teenager, where you know you thought the world revolved around you, but that was why you could, so be in the moment at times. You know, that's kind of what it reminded me of. I just let go of work, I let go of everyone family, friends, whatever and just did something for myself, and it was amazing, it was brilliant and it was so much fun. So make sure you do that for yourself, especially right now, during this holiday season.
Speaker 1:This is where it gets really, really tough. This is where a lot of stress comes in because of family, because of all the gift buying and all the money spending and all of the drama that goes with this holiday season. So be in front of that right. That's kind of where I'm at right now. Be in front of it and do what you need to do to protect your space and protect your essence and your aura and prepare for 2025. I cannot believe. It is so right around the corner. I'm so excited about it.
Speaker 1:So, again, we're going to have a show next week on Thursday. We're also having a guest had I realized that we were going to have Thanksgiving I probably wouldn't have had the first show back with a guest, but we're going to have Christy Holt on the show and she is someone who talks a lot about relationships and does a lot of coaching on different types of relationships, so it should be interesting. I've never met her, so it'll be the first time for all of us, but it'll be fun. I've never met her, Um, so it'll be the first time for all of us, but it'll be fun. And uh, of course, we'll have Rick and Cynthia on the show as well and we'll have a conversation about relationships. So hopefully you'll be able to stop on by and, uh, give your two cents in in the chat. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Uh, make sure the website All About the Joy and check out our store there. And if you could buy a t-shirt or a hat or actually the mug is the thing I have to buy it myself. I have one of them, but the mug that says, at the end of the day, it really is All About the Joy is the cool mug to get, so see if you could stop by there. Also, if you're not following us on YouTube, we really could use some followers on YouTube. So you know, like, share and subscribe, do what you can to help us out on that end, and I guess that's it. Just remember that at the end of the day, it really is all about the joy, and I'm so grateful to have this show and to have so many people listening and hanging out with us. I really did say grace for all of you this past week, so, okay, until next week. Thank you, bye. Thanks for stopping by. All About the Joy. Be better and stay beautiful folks. Have a sweet day.