I had the same experience when I saw Basic Instinct. The audience was laughing and laughing at some horrible, brutal, painful moments.

Somehow being the only person in the theater appalled or saddened by the violence or tragedy onscreen is worse than being the only person in the theater who is laughing at the joke.

The fuck, Sean? I mean, it's not that the dwarf didn't at times deserve some laughs with his dark snarky contempt for Edmund. But intrinsically comic just for his dwarfism, by full conscious intent of the director? Um, no.

Somehow being the only person in the theater appalled or saddened by the violence or tragedy onscreen is worse than being the only person in the theater who is laughing at the joke.

This. Individual humans = mostly loveable. Crowd behavior = frequently unnerving.

People laughed at the same places in our showing, JZ. Although the Alma scene you mention got as many audible groans of concern, so that made up for the laughs.

I mean, it's not that the dwarf didn't at times deserve some laughs with his dark snarky contempt for Edmund. But intrinsically comic just for his dwarfism, by full conscious intent of the director? Um, no.

Exactly. There were times I laughed with Ginnarkbrik, but I didn't feel there were times we were supposed to laughing at him.

Yeah, I didn't get the comic relief impression off of him at all. The only laugh where he was concerned that I heard that seemed out of place was when Susan shot him. Of course, I could have been distracted by the horde of 14 year old girls sitting directly behind me that were endlessly chattering throughout the entire movie and going to the bathroom en-masse every 15 minutes.

Of course, I don't have a lot of respect for the general public as audience members, anyway. The first time I went to see FoTR I had a bunch of stoned frat boys sitting next to me who said to each other "Dude, look at his feet. Look at his feet!" every time a hobbit was on screen and had numerous debates over whose turn it was to go to the concession stand.

And then there's the geniuses who mindlessly giggle at everything a local theatre group does, even though some of their stuff is deadly serious or tragic.

What the hell is wrong with people?

Speaking only for myself, as someone who was at least tempted to laugh during that first scene where Alma first sees Jack and Ennis together, I think part of the reason for the laughter was the way it was played. Even though I knew it was unappropriate for the moment, there was just something about the actress's expression, at least at first, that came across as somewhat comic. I can't pinpoint why, but I did get a flash of Dawson's creekness just then.

I'm not at all surprised by the reaction, JZ. Gay men are capable of horrific misogyny like anyone else, yeah?

I've had the experience of gay men talking about women as filthy creatures. "But, oh, not YOU, honey." Whatev.

It's sort of similar to the looks of death white women sometimes get from black women when they're dating black men. Like we're this awful witches STEALING from them.

I was talking to a friend about Brokeback, and that I expected there to be the reaction you got, JZ. He was doubtful, but some of the ugliest misogyny I've heard expressed has come from the mouths of gay men.

I'm not shocked at all, just saddened. I plan to go on a weeknight, avoid the big crowds.

I can't pinpoint why, but I did get a flash of Dawson's creekness just then.

Maybe it helps that I've only ever seen two episodes of DC in my whole life, one of which didn't feature her at all and the other of which involved her slow painful death? So the only blip she's ever made on my radar (though I didn't even consciously remember it was the same actress until reminded) was already weighted with tragedy and death. Even if I didn't quite remember why, possibly I just came in to the film primed for Sadness Response instead of 90210-Knockoff Response at the sight of her face.

Ugh, Allyson. That kind of cozy "You can understand me and laugh at the rest of your kind because you're not like them even though you're one of them" is depressing and nasty in all its flavors. Of which, unfortunately, it has way too many.

Oh yeah, there's definitely a contingent for whom the horrible In Living Color insults aren't over-the-top behavior.

I think Alma may invite some hostility later on if they filmed that kitchen scene where she's taking shots at Ennis after building her own life away from him, but when she first runs across Jack Twist she should be a completely sympathetic character who's being wronged .

The Chicago Tribune movie writers have their top-10 lists up, and one of them has Serenity at #10!

OK, so I'm letting my freak flag fly here. But Joss Whedon's sublime sci-fi mini-epic gives his groundbreaking "Firefly" television series a proper sendoff.

Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") marshals his cast of outlaws to take on an intergalactic government tinkering with human DNA. The end result is a shocking (not everyone makes it out alive), pulse-pounding space thriller that puts a brick on the gas pedal, then dares you to jump out the airlock.

Mr. Whedon, sir, may we have another?