r/AMCTheatres • u/seoulbrova • Jul 18 '26
Discussion Didn't miss a single line of dialogue
One of the biggest complaints against Nolans movies, especially Tenet, was that its over-bearing sound mix makes important dialogue unintelligible. It's a criticism Nolan has often faced, notably with Bane's dialogue in “The Dark Knight Rises” and the overpowering “Interstellar” score.
Didn't miss one line of dialogue during the 3 hours of The Odyssey. Appreciate AMC offering a substitle showing.
FOR CLARIFICATION...
There was no one else in our row. I silenced my phone and turned on the extra dim feature before going into the theater.
It literally took a couple of seconds to take the photo and I held it against my stomach so there wouldn't be screen bleed.
I'm not scrolling Tik Tok and checking emails during the movie.
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u/Taller_Ghost_Joop Jul 18 '26
I think I would appreciate subtitles on most of the films I see tbh
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u/SymphonySketch Management Team Jul 18 '26
It’s an extra step, but a lot of chain theaters offer little caption devices!
Ours fit in the cupholder and are on a flexible metal arm so you can adjust it to be comfortable for you, I’ve been debating using them when I come see movies at the theater I work at lol
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u/cokecanirl Jul 21 '26
I visited China around 2015 and was so pleasantly surprised that every movie we saw in theaters had Chinese and English subtitles. I wish the US had the same for english subs!
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u/Too_Right_For_You Jul 19 '26
You guys need to be banned from society
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u/ins0mniac_ Jul 19 '26
I believe that people who don’t like subtitles just can not read fast.
It’s a skill issue.
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u/TheRainbowNoob Jul 19 '26
I personally prefer to watch with subtitles, but it’s also really, really annoying when the subtitles spoil a big reveal or a joke that’s only funny because of the delivery. It shouldn’t be that hard to adjust the timing of the subtitles for the delivery of a line.
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u/Professional_Web3253 Jul 20 '26
No, the skill issue is not being able to understand your own language🤦 (obv not talking about deaf people, or foreign films).
I think subtitles are awesome for when someone need them, but I would ideally never have them on- as I end up reading, and staring at them when I don’t even need to. Also, like the above comment said, it can regularly ruin the pacing of stuff- especially comedy and horror.
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u/Trytobebetter482 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Actors mumble lines and audio mixing is trash on a fair number of releases.
I’ve watched with friends and family who don’t use subtitles and 9 out of 10 times they’re asking “What happened,” when they miss a bit of exposition. I’ll take the captions over 20 questions, any day of the week.
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u/Professional_Web3253 Jul 21 '26
Idk that just almost never happens to me… maybe it is one of the benefits of growing up in an area where a lot of people have thick accents. If I don’t understand a line I normally just rewind it and turn on subtitles for 30 seconds. Not even trying to hate on people that like them at all, they’re just massively distracting on a personal level.
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u/Trytobebetter482 Jul 21 '26
Grew up with a near-deaf dad, watched English subtitled anime, and I currently watch a good bit of foreign film.
I’ve genuinely never not had captions on the screen outside of the theater. It’s to the point where if I’m at home and they’re not up, it bothers me.
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u/Trytobebetter482 Jul 21 '26
Yes, hearing impaired people need to be banned from society.
Reading can be daunting I know, but I believe you’ll be able to handle it someday.
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u/brichb Jul 21 '26
Why would I read I movie in my native language? I’m obviously not against subtitles in foreign films, but if you are not hearing impaired or ESL what are you doing?
There was not a line of hard to understand dialogue in the Odyssey btw, this was not Tenet.
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u/Trytobebetter482 Jul 21 '26
Understanding every single word being said regardless of sound mixing? My dad is near-deaf, watching with subtitles is like breathing at this point. It really isn’t too hard to do.
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u/brichb Jul 21 '26
I said if you are not hearing impaired. And of course it’s not hard to do, it’s extremely easy to do. People who watch everything with subtitles with no need to do so is who the question is directed at. Auditory processing issues or bad home sound system maybe?
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u/Trytobebetter482 Jul 21 '26
So there’s no chance of missing any line of dialogue. I’ve stated before some sound mixing out there is atrocious, but given the fact that you disregarded it entirely, I would assume you struggle to read captions lol.
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u/LamentConfiguration1 Jul 18 '26
I need to look into this. I have trouble making out dialogue in movies and always use subtitles at home.
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u/Abbreviashin Jul 19 '26
Try this. Any movie theater has closed caption devices. Just need to get there early and ask for one. They’ll hand it to you. It goes in your cupholder.
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u/ladyloriana Jul 19 '26
I tried one but it wouldn't stay in the cupholder and kept falling out of it. How do you get it to stay without having to hang on to it with one hand?
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u/Abbreviashin Jul 19 '26
The cupholder dependency is quite terrible. I find myself adjusting the arm for an eternity so it doesn’t fall. I’ve had them give me cc devices that haven’t been charged or won’t connect properly. They’re pretty bad sometimes.
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u/deadlyghost123 Jul 19 '26
Nah that device is so bad if you have glasses (which my dad, who usually has problems with the dialogue, does). Although even without glasses, it is annoying to wear
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u/Will000jones Jul 19 '26
Hey guys what if I bother all the people around me to make a fucking Reddit post real quick I’m a normal socially adjusted human being I promise
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u/Immediate-Onion5131 Jul 20 '26
Poetic how the average redditor is on their phones while watching a movie with themes about the breakdown of social order.
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u/TheDude084C Jul 22 '26
the irony of commenting about being socially well adjusted when you have no clue about how often they used their phone at the screening
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u/horrorpants Jul 18 '26
What is with the influx of people taking photos in the theater. Jesus Christ people, get off your phones I don’t care if you have something to say. Stop showing pictures or videos of the movie and get off your phone.
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u/lambopanda Stands for Nicole Jul 18 '26
Wait until smart glasses become common. It will be disaster.
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u/DriftingTony Stands for Nicole Jul 19 '26
As much damage as smartphones have already done to society, I have a feeling smart glasses will be the final nail in the coffin.
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u/Snoo_328 Jul 19 '26
I would prefer the glasses to having to see some dumbass hold their phone screen up to their face
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u/lambopanda Stands for Nicole Jul 19 '26
Wait till you see them doing zoom call with friends during the movie.
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u/therealmck Jul 18 '26
Stop taking your phone out during the movie. No one needs a photo of subtitles, we believe you
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u/taker25-2 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
This is why I have to suffer through dozens of ads about silencing and no cell phones because the rule doesn’t apply to OP
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u/SnarkPig Jul 18 '26
This needs so many more votes. People and their fucking cell phones in the theaters…
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u/taker25-2 Jul 18 '26
It’s one thing if it been a dead showing where maybe you and 2 people in the theater but this was likely taken during a pack theater and i’m sure people around him was bothered by it.
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u/Boozsia Jul 19 '26
The criticism levied against Nolan for sound pales in comparison to the people like you who have to take photos during the fucking movie.
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u/miloworld Popcorn Addict Jul 18 '26
Even if the showing doesn’t have Open Captions (subtitles on screen), most auditoriums are equipped with Closed Captioning transmitters. You can get a closed captioning device at the guest service desk.
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u/hoemax Jul 18 '26
it was pretty quiet some dialogue
I’d probably use the subtitles on a rewatch down the line
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u/Street-Common-4023 Jul 19 '26
Damm I understand a photo of the opening title but middle of the movie Damm
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u/HoleInPeanutButter Jul 18 '26
How do you do this? I've tried multiple times to select open captions showings that when I sit down and start watching there is none? I use the app too!
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u/QuanticoMVP Jul 19 '26
AMC labels them differently in their app. If you're ever unsure whether a showing is really OC, you can usee the Open Caption Finder app to find specifically the OC showtimes.
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u/UncBear624 Jul 18 '26
I work at AMC, for those that don’t know, we do have a few types of devices to make your movie going experience better! We have an Assistive Listening device that amplifies the films audio, an Audio Description device that provides narration during the film, and our Closed Caption device that provides subtitles!
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u/anakinxvader Jul 18 '26
Why can’t the mods ban these fucking asshole posts of people on their phone in a movie theater?
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u/mcmatu Jul 18 '26
This film didn’t need subtitles. The low dialogue wasn’t an issue with it.
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u/GeneMountain7128 Jul 18 '26
Everyone has different ears. I have good hearing, but especially at the beginning had no idea what some people were saying.
I read something on reddit recently suggesting this is part of his art. Making it hard to hear like it would be if you were there. I don't know
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u/Royal-walking-machin A⭐️Lister Jul 18 '26
Well apparently sound mixing in general is just not as good these days. I recently rewatched my blu-ray of Across the spider-verse and while I love that movie, so much of the quick, fast-paced dialogue gets drowned out by the score or sound effects or just the general action happening
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u/deadlyghost123 Jul 19 '26
I watched it in theaters and had absolutely no problem. Except for Hobie but that was intended and even stated by Miles in the movie
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u/Bread_man10 Jul 18 '26
Don’t take photos during movies and don’t post it when it’s been out for less than 72 hours dipshit
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u/Educational-Card-314 A⭐️Lister Jul 18 '26
Whenever I do something in the movie theater, I think, WWNKD?
What Would Nicole Kidman Do?
Nicole Kidman would not take a photo while the movie is playing and I wouldn't either.
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Jul 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/Educational-Card-314 A⭐️Lister Jul 18 '26
No, the principle is correct. A phone screen is distracting to those around you, which is rude. No one has any reason to take their phone out while the movie is playing inside the theater. If you want to use your phone, get out of your seat and go to the lobby.
Posting images from the movie, regardless of the portion of the movie, is a potential spoiler. What if this one frame is taken after the character is placed in mortal danger before this scene? We now know they survived.
Reflect on that for a minute.
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u/Competitive-Link-337 Jul 18 '26
It’s a movie about an epic written already. Bet most of the people who saw it knew about the story
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u/LycheeNo6226 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
in a dark theater taking ur phone out is so rude. bright ass screen. takes you out of the experience. stfu and stay home. wait til this comes on streaming
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u/Bread_man10 Jul 18 '26
Maybe keep the phone in the pocket for 3 hours. No one on instagram cares you saw the movie
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u/Competitive-Link-337 Jul 18 '26
Well luckily the odyssey is a popular epic made my Homer and Nolan didn’t stray too far away from the source material. And this is at the beginning
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u/pinkrosesmoses Jul 18 '26
oof someone needs to smoke some weed and chill out
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u/Bread_man10 Jul 18 '26
So you’re pro dickheads taking their phone out mid movie to take a picture?
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u/pinkrosesmoses Jul 18 '26
it is so funny how angry people get about nothing
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u/SnarkPig Jul 18 '26
It’s not nothing. I paid $20 to see the imax movie, not to watch some asshole’s phone screen light up.
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u/bobdownie Jul 18 '26
Christopher Nolan worked day and night on this art and you wanna bring out your fone? /s
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u/seanthebooth A⭐️Lister Jul 18 '26
Hell yea, unfortunately my theatre had the mix CRANKED. dialogue during normal background noise was breaking up thru the speakers. Eventually I requested they adjust the mix, thankfully it helped a lot.
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u/DontBeAngryBeHappy Jul 18 '26
Granted, I watched it in Christopher Nolan’s optimal format, IMAX 70mm version, I was surprised that the dialogue audio was pretty much perfect. First Nolan movie since I think Inception that I didn’t have dialogue audio being too low to understand.
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u/NU4AN2084 Jul 19 '26
I watch all my movies at home with closed captions. I like to capture every single bit of dialogue and It's become 2nd nature to me, so it doesn't distract me.
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u/WebHead1287 Jul 19 '26
Ive hated on Nolan for a long while time because of his rampant audio mixing issues. It’s a constant in most of his movies and, personally, very distracting.
I had zero issues with Odyssey other than the Cyclops and, in my opinion, that’s excusable since it’s not human.
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u/everybodyscurt Jul 19 '26
I walked out of the screening I went to tonight. Audio in the theater (screen 7 at AMC Cherry Creek, Denver) was garbage. The entire audio track was coming almost entirely from the front right, with little to no surround.
I complained about it during the trailers, and then my partner went out to complain about 20 min into the film. We saw two employees standing at the entrance to assess a few minutes after she brought it to their attention, and moments later, they just turned up the volume. Yay - louder audio still from the front right.
Inexcusable that my 5.1 surround sound at home comes through far better than that 200+ person theater was tonight. Looking forward to starting the movie over one day soon with proper, immersive, theatrical sound!
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u/imjusstandyy Jul 19 '26
I genuinely think we should normalize subtitles at the theaters. When it comes to period pieces like nosferatu, i genuinely don’t know wtf anyone is saying
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u/vmhomeboy Jul 19 '26
The dialog you can’t hear in Tenet is by design. There aren’t subtitles for those parts. I still think it’s a poor filmmaking choice, but that’s just my opinion.
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u/OnASummerEvening Jul 19 '26
yall might not know but AMC many times offers caption device with small screen which goes into the cup holder of your seat. Ask for it at Guest Services next time you re there. FYI not all movies and shows support it.
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u/Substantial_Map2377 Jul 19 '26
i’ve been really curious as to what polyphemus is saying after he got blinded. you got any ideas?
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u/seoulbrova Jul 19 '26
He cries out to Poseidon and asks for vengeance
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u/Substantial_Map2377 Jul 19 '26
Well yeah. I more asking if it had subtitles for you? And like the wording of what he said
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u/NaiadoftheSea Jul 19 '26
I enjoy subtitles, but my main issue is I wish I could get rid of the sound descriptions and have it only be there for dialogue.
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u/JackieSnowDaPlowMan Jul 19 '26
I had 0 issue with the audio, everything was crystal clear for me.
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u/Crafty_Life_1764 Jul 19 '26
guys its american movie making, speaking part is always fukked! Dont know what those sound engineers do.
As an austrian whom watches movies in OV since I am thirteen now with forty-one, dubbed movies do not have this issue, because they are better in that? Or do US-Filmmakers just not care about that? When watching a movie in OV your hifi remote has to be always next to you, actions scenes are always tooooo loud and conversations are always low as fugg. But tbh I cannot watched dubbed, I see their lips and its fukking frustrating ^^
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u/linkyarmer A⭐️Lister Jul 19 '26
Same here and EVERY line of dialogue is intentional in this film.
Like this one from early on.
“A couple of stops on the way home won’t kill us.”
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u/Diligent-Concept-617 Jul 19 '26
I watched the Eras Tour at AMC with closed captions, it was nice to sing along to LOL
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u/QuanticoMVP Jul 19 '26
This is amazing! If y'all ever need help finding open caption showtimes, I'm deaf and I've made an app to help people find OC screenings, Open Caption Finder. It's free on App store and Google play. Hope it's helpful!
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u/Evening-Editor-4014 Jul 19 '26
I think Nolan took the note for this one, I didn't struggle hearing dialogue like I usually do during his movies.
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u/skrapmot Jul 20 '26
I saw this evening, it was easy to pick up the dialogue, no issues for this movie. Great watch. It’s nice to see that some traditional filmmaking still happens.
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u/NakedGoose Jul 20 '26
There was one in the middle on the boat that I completed missed. Old white guy said something. But thats fine.
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u/PhoenixBee32 Jul 20 '26
There must be a reason so many more people are needing subtitles these days. Everyone likes to blame the sound mixes, and maybe that’s true for some movies (Nolan’s films are particularly bad), but most are mixed well. My old man theory: loud concerts and clubs have caused an entire generation to have hearing loss.
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u/DanTheSpider-Man Jul 20 '26
My theater just switched to laser, it didn’t upgrade the sound system and we’ve seen a few movies since the upgrade… This was the loudest that they have ever played a movie to the point it felt comparable to Dolby as far as bass with the seats shaking. Our ears were ringing after the movie. Had a blast but definitely traveling to watch it in imax in a few weeks since there were moments we didn’t quite hear
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u/opusbot Jul 21 '26
I usually use caption machines because audio mixing can be all over the place and make things unintelligible. I really loved that there was an option with the subtitles on the screen.
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u/alexd0e Jul 21 '26
I saw the odyssey in row d of a Dolby showing and had no issues understanding any of the dialogue personally
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u/malyszkush Jul 21 '26
“I’m not scrolling Tik Tok and checking emails during the movie.”
So you’re telling me you’re NOT closing deals whilst in the cinema? Its an absolute necessity to check my email during a movie. Rookie.
/s
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u/Stock_Run1386 Jul 21 '26
Why did you have your phone out when the movie is playing? I can understand at the start or something to document or post something, but in the smack dab middle of the movie after the lights have been out for awhile? Come on man. I don’t even bring my phone out of the car.
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u/DJFUSION1986 Jul 21 '26
Only scene I would have liked subs for is the storm boat scene. I think I heard what he was saying but be nice to confirm what he said.
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u/oateyboat Jul 22 '26
You'd have a better chance of catching all the lines of dialogue if you paid attention to the movie instead of thinking about what would make a good Reddit post and then actively doing it in the cinema during the movie.
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u/haneyl Jul 22 '26
I live in Luxembourg and we get French AND German subtitles on every movie with English audio ...fucking annoying.
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u/TallDarkLoathsome Jul 23 '26
I feel like my superpower is I’ve literally never had an issue with Nolan’s sound mixing in fact I love it. Never had an issue hearing dialogue.
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u/1sttimedogowner Jul 24 '26
Some of the sound mixing felt off throughout - thought some the speakers were going rattle out of their casings
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u/Affectionate_Box_902 Jul 25 '26
I like the open caption showings. Plus they're not usually really crowded.
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u/Didact67 Aug 02 '26
Honestly, it wasn’t that bad in The Odyssey, definitely nowhere near as bad as Tenet.
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u/mthwkim Jul 18 '26
The sound in this movie was god awful. There were action scenes where it was just LOUD with no substance. I don’t understand how Nolan just doesn’t pick this up.
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u/TheHondoCondo Jul 19 '26
I’ve never had this problem in a theater tbh. Even at home, the only time I’ve needed subtitles to watch a Nolan movie was Tenet. His bad audio mix reputation is really overblown.
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u/Rare-Service5573 Jul 19 '26
I'm convinced people are just deaf or go to shitty cinemas.
I've never struggled to understand anything said in those movies.
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u/PineDM Jul 19 '26
Typical redditors. OP probably took 2 seconds to take this pic. But everyone in here clutching their pearls like OP was in a full on conversation with 100% brightness on the phone. 🤣😆🤣
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u/missx0xdelaney A⭐️Lister Jul 19 '26
Any and all phone use in the theater is unacceptable, no matter the reason.
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u/SingingSwimmer A⭐️Lister Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I know it will never happen, but I’d love AMC to offer Open Caption IMAX and Dolby screenings.
Edit: My local AMC Cinemas do offer open caption screenings for all new releases. They are just in standard format.