Note from Nick: This article recently linked to this article. If you like Devin Faraci’s work he can be found here.
What kind of a douchebag Twitters through a public showing of a movie? Alex Billington, the guy behind the website First Showing, that’s who.
Tonight Alex joined some local comedians at a midnight screening of Crank 2. They all Twittered their reactions to the movie as it was going on, pulling out their cell phones during the screening to share their priceless comedy with the masses. If you’ve ever been to a theater where someone texts during a screening you know just how annoying that blue light can be, just how distracting. It’s one thing for a bunch of comedians to do it, but for a film critic?
If Billington worked for someone other than the parents who finance his lifestyle, I would demand he be fired. Using your phone during a screening is inexcusable, no matter what the movie is. That theater had people who paid their money to see the movie, and whether you think the film is a joke or not it’s unbelievably rude to behave that way. And who is Billington to decide which films are worthy of respect or not? He believed The Dark Knight was a ‘cinematic revolution,’ but what if I thought Twittering through that film was fine? What if I didn’t think the movie and the audience deserved the basic respect of keeping my fucking phone off?
Anyone who has been to a movie theater in recent years knows that the experience is getting worse and worse. People text, people talk, people bring their infants to R rated movies. Going to a movie can be a real hassle – you pay ten bucks to have a bunch of kids chat the whole time, distracting you. A person who loves film should want the moviegoing experience – for ANY movie – to be better, not worse. But Alex Billington tonight took part in making a trip to the theater worse for everyone else. If I thought this guy could feel any shame I would say he should be ashamed.
And the worst part is this is the kind of retarded nonsense he was Twittering:
Haha ‘the famous Chelios heart’ awesome subtitles yes! And that heart is covered in KY jelly… #twitflix
Real genius, pal.
If you love movies you wouldn’t use your phone during them. Alex Billington is a fraud, a fake movie lover. Drop him an email at Alex@firstshowing.net to let him know what you feel about him pulling out his phone during a movie. And I swear to you that if I am at a screening where Billington uses his phone, he’s going to need to buy a new one.
I know there are people out there who will say ‘It was funny! Chill out!’ These people are wrong. If you want to Twitter through a movie in a private screening or at home, go nuts. But we’re already dealing with absolute assholes who make going to the movies less and less enjoyable – now we need to put up with movie critics being annoying as well? If there’s any person who should know better, it’s someone who writes about movies for a living.