Film Cinema vs from the couch

What would you say the pros and cons of going to the cinema (or "the movies" or the theater or what you want to call it) to watch a grand movie are, vs watching a movie in your home?

"Couch"

Pros:

- Can pause whenever you want for a snack / toilet break (I have to watch what I eat before going to the cinema, not fun)
- Cheap
- You only watch the trailers if you want to, rather than sitting through 30 minutes of adverts for cinema seating that SHAKES!!! (Like seriously, why would you pay extra for that) interspersed with trailers.
- Probably Cleaner
- I feel like for a comedy or drama, rather than a bit action spectacle or an epic, you don't really need the huge screen.

Cons:

- Family coming in and shouting over the movie / demanding the volume lowered (I have poor hearing) / demanding to watch something awful like Mrs. Brown's Boys
- Easy to get distracted by all the other screens and miss something.
- In my case, also easy to get distracted by pets either being cute or jumping on me. I imagine this is also a risk for about 50% of people on this site.
- Can seem a little less "special", especially if you have a smaller television - my family has a huge one, but my one in my room at university is quite small, when I finally got Star Trek Beyond on DVD, it was nowhere near as good as watching it on the cinema screen, or it would have been on our huge tv (even if that would make me encounter the first of my cons list, combined with my dad's "not more of this sci-fi crap its not even real" protestations).

Cinema

Pros:

- Can just make the whole experience seem a bit more "special", particularly if like me you rarely ever go to the cinema (seriously I think before I had my own car the only films I saw in the cinema were the last two Star Wars prequels and Kung Fu Panda and The Tigger Movie).
- Sometimes, and you only understand this if you've had this happen, there can be a great energy in the room that just enhances the experience. For example, when Furious 7 came out and the tribute at the end played, a strange atmosphere sort of came over - I guess most of us in there were real fans of the franchise. For a more positive thing, when I saw The Force Awakens everything about it enhanced the experience. My small, local cinema probably earned enough to keep it going for the next decade while that ran - it was below 0 celsius yet people were queueing out the door, you somehow just knew when things like the title crawl and the Millenium Falcon first appeared that everyone else was smiling as widely as you were, and there was a loud cheer when they flew to see Maz Kanata because the lakes in that section are only about 5 miles away from where I was watching the movie. I found Han Solo's death a few seconds too long (the wait before he stabbed him, that is) but the children a few rows back reacting to it was hilarious, even though most times anyone talking would be irritating as hell.
- Anything with a sense of grandeur; whether in terms of the scenery, or because it has a lot of explosions, can seem enhanced. Space movies in particular seem best in the cinema. Interstellar for example seemed to drag on home video whereas in the cinema (a particularly ornate London one, which may have helped), the soundtrack is overwhelming at times and things like the black hole just suit the screen.

Cons:

- Can't pause it for bathroom breaks.
- Because you tend to build up the cinema experience more than you would watching something at home, the rare occasion they do mess up it has far more of a negative effect. I took my mother to see TFA (for my 2nd time) and some idiot had programmed the lights wrong so that they came on for the duration of Han Solo's death scene. Ruined the whole thing.
- It's just getting far too expensive now.
- Just how having other people there can boost the atmosphere, they can also ruin it. When I saw Civil War some rude children kept kicking my chair and talking all the time - at 2hrs30min that's not a great experience.
- The trailer bloat is real. Just like how all movies have far too many over-done studios' branding at the start now, there are far too many trailers before films (especially in my local Cineworld trying to sell us on those vibrating chairs and stuff).

Sorry for the long post, I care about film a lot so I had quite a bit to say. There may be some doubling up, which was inevitable I guess.

The biggest differences are the genre of films I watch and how I use my phone. If I go to see something at a cinema, I'm generally going for some big budget Wow Experience that I can't replicate to the same degree at home, that butterfly in the chest feeling which is much easier to achieve with the loudness and expanse of the cinema. That shared 'FINISH HIM!' experience with the audience when watching the villain get their just desserts cannot be replicated to the same level in the comfort of my room.

The other difference is that my attention has to be fully on the movie at all times, no breaks. So I can't pause to check my phone for plot details/finding out who is who/pausing the movie for my own convenience. I have a very poor attention span and so I get antsy after about 40 minutes in a cinema, lol.

to me, going to the movies is a big deal and one of my fav ways to hang out with people
there's not a lot of socializing involved so there's no pressure to keep conversation but also it's just a super fun experience that's loud and exciting
plus with some movies it's like the other people in the theater are in a little club with you (when you laugh together, clap etc)
bad things? last time i went it was just my husband + two sets of teenagers in the back making out/etc

home watching movies usually ends in me sleeping or getting distracted, but at home you basically have whatever you want to watch at your disposal so i guess there's that

I like going to the cinema but I don't go often and only tend to go see a movie I've been waiting for ages to see. That means it can be more a letdown if its not as good as I thought. Most movies I wait until I can watch at home.

Cinemas are time consuming and here rather expensive, and you don't have the full choice over what movies to watch. However I prefer the cinema because that's the only place where I can pay full attention to 1 to 2-hour movie; at home I just get distracted and lose interest.

Honestly the cinema is one of my favourite places to when I hang out with friends. It's hard to beat the experience of such an enormous screen, epic sound and weirdly cool atmosphere. Even terrible movies seem better at the cinema.

I wouldn't want to do it too often though. It's way too expensive for what it is and I love being able to watch a movie from the comfort of my couch.

The only good part of going to the cinema for movies is the incredible popcorn. Other than that, I wait for the Blu-Ray release. Haven't been to a movie in years.