I love the differences between movie theaters in different parts of the country. Ours are all so utterly crappy, and the people who work at them are often subhuman. A couple of them are pretty dangerous. I had "I hate you fuckin' white boy!" yelled at me once when I was coming out of a movie with my wife and a friend of ours, used to regularly hear gunshots at another one that's now closed, and other fun stories like that. I snuck in beer once, we used to regularly sneak in hamburgers and stuff, and once we even managed to get a freaking pizza in. I have no idea how we pulled that off.
Movies really are expensive these days, though... puts me off from going a lot of the time, especially if I'm not completely sure about the movie beforehand.
As for the now-old discussion... I get why people would sort of think I'm anti-popular-stuff, scott, just not so much the people here because I would figure they'd see that I like a lot of popular stuff too... but I guess not. I think it comes down to the fact that most people immediately forget when you like something popular because so does everyone else. But the minute you dislike something popular, that stands out, especially when you're sometimes vehement in your displeasure as I often am with something that I think is actively negative or bad. But it never has anything to do with popularity whatsoever. I do sometimes worry when things I like get popular after not being so, but that's because I worry that the popularity will change the thing, not just because "Oh damn, now I like something that's popular... I better start not liking it". You know?
But yeah, nick and I are on the same page as far as CG. I put up with it with certain things, and there are sometimes effects that can't really be achieved without it, but for the most part I prefer my movies to be a CG-free as possible. Sure it's another form of artistry, but it's one that's used at the expense of other methods of craftsmanship that I think achieve much better-feeling results.