It hasn’t been a great start to the year for movie theater owners. There was the bizarre dust-up between the National Association of Theater Owners and the studios which advocated a shortened window of exclusivity before launching their films in homes On-Demand, but more so than one event, there’s a general feeling of outrage at higher ticket prices (which, as John Gholson explained on Reject Radio, have almost nothing to do with theater profits now) and higher-priced hotdogs. Plus, there’s the overall miserable experience that most theaters deliver. Now Boston.com has a truly disheartening story about theater managers not even bothering to switch out lenses between 3D and 2D films. The result? That 2D movie you saved money on by refusing the 3D up-charge is 50% darker than it should be. Read the entire article for the full take (and definitely listen to that Reject Radio episode for more illumination), but this seems indicative of a larger problem going on in movie theaters – a lack of incentive to make anything enjoyable. Audiences are coming for the movie, and theaters are delivering little else in the way of enticement. It’s no wonder that ticket sales are dropping. With the transition from reels to digital projectors, gone is the knowledge that came with understanding how the projection process really works. It took serious understanding to be behind the glass, but now it requires pushing a few buttons and reading an Archie comic.

It seems like a no-brainer: putting the movie memorabilia in the same place as the movies.

This is just a letter to all of those people out there that think life should be fair and easy. Life is a bit different than that, especially since James Cameron decided to take us to Pandora.

Thomas Jane deserves more respect. Allow us to present the first trailer from his upcoming movie Give ‘Em Hell Malone as further evidence of this fact.

One of the most anticipated films of the Holiday movie season, Twilight, opens up this Friday, and the fanatics are already beginning to line up for the premiere on Tuesday.

Robert Fure loves the dark and thinks your glowing cell phone is the douche equivalent of the Bat Signal.

I have been to some cool movie theaters in my travels, but it looks like I might have to find a reason to go to Hong Kong. Just wait until you see what the ladies room looks like.

Everyone loves a good popcorn movie. But we must ask ourselves, does that popcorn love us back?

You have to be young to love movies. You can have hundreds of candles on your birthday cake, you can have a 401K, you can be John McCain’s golfing buddy, but you still need a young mindset to fall in love when the lights dim and the screen tells you to turn off your cell phone.

We got an entire movie theater to ourselves. This has never happened to me or anyone I know. Then again, everyone I know is a tool so that either means God smiles on people who aren’t the biggest tools or there is no God and we’re all on our own.

By now, since we can only imagine that since you are an astute fan of film who ravages the halls of the interwebs daily to find the most interesting movie news and tidbits, that you have heard of this new “luxury” movie theater chain that plans to charge upwards of $35 per ticket in exchange for some world-class amenities. It makes us curious: What is your ultimate movie theater experience?

There’s something missing from today’s movie multiplexes other than quality films, sticky theater floors that don’t feel like the killing floor of a slaughterhouse and money in your wallet after you leave.

Let’s all go to the lobby and acquire ourselves some debt!