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Endgame Peetimes – RunPee vs the World

captain america understands that reference
One more thing to check off his list.

The 3+ hour run-time of Avengers: Endgame inspired numerous sites to publish their own Peetimes for the  massively long and greatly-anticipated movie. In a three hour span, most people will feel their bladders calling, and it’s better to know when to go, than sit there squirming,  unable to enjoy a great film.

Here’s my experienced analysis of their work, based on the experience we’ve gained after doing Peetimes at RunPee for 10 years now.

(It’s hard to believe that we’ve been around that long. That’s like 79 in Internet years.)

Here at RunPee we had four highly-qualified MCU-loving Family members submit Peetimes for Endgame,  just to get it perfect for the fans. There was a spread of suggestions…however, everyone agreed on two of the three Peetimes that were eventually added to the RunPee database.

Obviously, a website (as opposed to an app) is far from the ideal format for sharing Peetimes, because the Peetimes are useless if there’s no provided synopsis of what you might miss, and that involves spoilers for the movie — sometimes huge spoilers. A website just isn’t dynamic enough to handle this properly. We found this out in our early years, before moving our Peetimes from a website-based platform to a cell phone app.

The highly useful RunPee app is able to work around this, because you only see the synopsis for a Peetime if you choose to. Beyond that, the websites we list below gave vague, or sometimes zero “Cues” when their Peetime started. This is kind of important when your attention is focused on the movie, and not reading a web page on your brightly-lit phone. (Our app silently vibrates to let you know when to look for your Peetime Cue.)

The Peetimes in the RunPee app are accurate to within 30 seconds, and we have a built-in Timer to remind you when a Peetime Cue is coming up.

One last warning — major Avengers spoilers ahead. Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen Endgame yet.

Here are the websites that tried to make Endgame Peetimes, with our grades on their choices:

BuzzFeed
8 minutes into the movie, when Iron Man and Nebula get some help.

Analysis: we don’t start looking for Peetimes until about 30 minutes into a movie. There’s absolutely no point in having a Peetime only 8 minutes in. Plus, the scene that you’ll miss is crucial to the relationship between Iron Man and Cap. This gets a Peetime fail on all fronts.
Peetime Grade: F

BuzzFeed, Vulture
20 minutes into the movie, after the first scene with Thanos.

Analysis: Still, much too early in the movie for a Peetime, but otherwise it would have been decent. The group therapy scene with Cap and the civilians is necessary to set up Cap’s emotional tone five years after the Snap, but as Peetimes go it’s not a bad choice. The Peetime spills over into the scene where Ant-Man comes out of the quantum realm, but that’s easy enough to summarize.
Peetime Grade: C+

Vulture
22 minutes into the movie, when you see San Francisco on-screen.

Analysis: again, a bit too early, but otherwise not a bad Peetime. It’s pretty easy to describe what’s going on. But, if you’re going to miss this scene, then it would be better to start a few minutes earlier, as in the Peetime above, so that you’ll be back for the emotional reunion of Scott and his daughter.
Peetime Grade: D

RunPee
34 minutes into the movie, when *Someone* says, “It’s fine actually. Mom never wears anything I buy her.”

Analysis: This is our Emergency Peetime in the RunPee app. It’s not a horrible Peetime, but it’s only 3 minutes long, and is mostly exposition.
Peetime Grade: C+

Vulture
37 minutes into the movie, when you see Hulk at lunch.

Analysis: Yeahhh, this isn’t a scene that is good to miss. At least not for the first minute or so, where Bruce/Hulk goes into talking about his “unification”. The photo shoot with the kids is completely missable; unfortunately that part of the scene is far too short — just over one minute — to work as a Peetime, because what follows is another classic Iron Man moment you should not miss.
Peetime Grade: D+

BuzzFeed
40 minutes into the movie, after Tony figures out how an “impossible” theory comes true.

Analysis: I knew going in Iron Man died at the end, so I knew that every scene he was in would be precious — at least in retrospect, after you see the movie. The scenes during this Peetime are nothing but Tony and his family, and these scenes can’t be missed if you’ve been following the MCU for 11 years. Plus, this is when we hear, “I love you 3000.” These are the sort of building blocks in a story we consider essential to see, and not just read in a synopsis.
Peetime Grade: F

IGN.com, Vulture
54 minutes into the movie, when the setting changes to Japan.

Analysis: This is a great 2 minute Peetime, but it’s followed by an important scene between Hawkeye and Black Widow. And, due to what happens later with Nat, this is kind of important to see. If only Hawkeye’s fight had gone on for another 45 seconds, we’d have a pretty decent Peetime here.
Peetime Grade: C+

RunPee
1 hour and 1 minute into the movie when a young girl comes downstairs and says, “Dad?”

Analysis: This is our Recommended Peetime. It’s an hour into the movie, so hopefully our fans could use this as a “preemptive” Peetime, and then coast to the end. All the scenes in this Peetime have characters talking about the Infinity Stones, essentially summing up previous movies. Very easy to summarize if you’ve seen the previous films. There’s a tiny bit of humor, but nothing emotional.
Peetime Grade: A

IGN.com
1 hour and 3 minutes into the movie at Avengers HQ, when the team is talking about Infinity Stones.

Analysis: For my money, this is the very best Peetime in the movie, and the one we recommend to our users over the other two we offer. The only issue I have with it: they should have started it a few minutes earlier. Our Peetime starts at 1 hour and 1 minute, when a young girl comes downstairs and says, “Dad?”
Peetime Grade: B

IGN.com
1 hour and 10 minutes into the movie, when the setting switches to Asgard.

Analysis: Yes, good choice, except that it’s too short, and comes just a few minutes after a much better Peetime that IGN themselves chose. There’s no point in having Peetimes this close together. Too many options confuses people. It’s much better to just go with the best choice. Also, saying “Asgard” is kind of a spoiler.
Peetime Grade: C-

BuzzFeed
After it’s discovered there’s a glitch with Nebula’s cybernetic parts, in particular her memory projector.

Analysis: The following scene on Asgard is crucial to Thor’s character arc in the movie. It’s easy to sum up, but you just can’t get the depth of meaning necessary to see how the God of Thunder gets his act together. That said, we did consider using this Peetime, but we have a much better option coming up in about 17 minutes. So we went with that. We felt that giving users only a few really good options for Peetimes would be better than peppering the movie with a bunch of Peetimes that weren’t as good.
Peetime Grade: D

IGN.com
1 hour and 40 minutes into the movie, when the setting changes to New Jersey.

Analysis: This Peetime has potential. I even wrote it up to include in the RunPee database, but upon review decided against adding it, because there’s a better option coming up in 14 minutes. Also, this scene involves Tony Stark meeting his father, and again, we don’t want to miss any of these emotional moments with Iron Man.
Peetime Grade: B-

BuzzFeed
Somewhere around 1:45 into the movie, after Nebula does her little switcheroo.

Analysis: Seriously? Are you kidding me? This builds up to one of the big 6 Avengers — who has been around since Iron Man II — sacrificing herself. This is a good Peetime? Have you seen an MCU movie before?
Peetime Grade: D

Vulture
About an hour and a half into the movie, when War Machine and Nebula arrive on Morag.

Analysis: Please, this call back to the first Guardians movie is awesome sauce.
Peetime Grade: D

Vulture
When Hawkeye and Black Widow get to Vormir.

Analysis: Personally, if there were no other good options for much better Peetimes coming fairly soon, I would have used this one in the app. Sure, it’s crucial to what happens soon after with Black Widow, but they do spend a good long while figuring it out, so if you hustle, you’d be okay.
Peetime Grade: C+

RunPee
About 1 hour and 54 minutes into the movie when *Someone* wakes up alone in a pool of water.

Analysis: Boy, this was a hard choice. It’s a powerfully emotional scene, which usually exempts a scene from being used as a Peetime. However, we felt the emotional content was pretty obvious. You would normally want to see this scene, but if you miss it, then the synopsis will catch you up without any confusion when you return.
Peetime Grade: B-

Getting good pee breaks isn’t for amateurs!

I extend kudos to the people who attempted to get Peetimes for Endgame when they’ve never done it before. There’s no doubt this was one of the hardest movies we’ve ever had to do Peetimes for.

Here at RunPee we’ve done Peetimes for 10 years, and for literally over 1,500 movies. We have frequent conference calls to critique each other and offer feedback. When we sit down to watch a movie at home that another one of us did the Peetimes for (in the theaters), we make note of their choices and then give feedback, both positive and negative.

I always tell the RunPee Family, “We’re only as good as our last Peetime.” One of the things that pleases me most is the lack of negative comments we get on our choice of Peetimes. We’ve yet to get a complaint on our Peetimes for any movie this year, including Endgame. And believe me, when we make a mistake, we hear about it. Don’t bring up Frozen to RunPee Mom. 🙂

Movie Review – Avengers: Endgame

A Open Response to Kevin Feige (re: Using the Bathroom During Endgame)

Avengers Cameo – That random kid in Endgame is someone we’ve seen before

Avengers: Endgame – What was that hammer sound in the credits?

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Warning – Avengers Endgame is not going to be Peetime friendly

Avengers: Endagem-Hold The Spoilers
Did we say no spoilers?

You might be surprised to learn that finding Peetimes in a movie isn’t the hardest part of the RunPee job. Ofttimes we find great Peetimes but get stuck on picking out the best Peetime Cue: a brief line of dialog — or description of some action — that stands out to signify the beginning of a Peetime.

A good Cue might be: When Jack says, “Can I have the extra-spicy onions on my burger?”

It’s short, distinctive, and non-spoilery.

An example of a bad Cue would be: When Jack chokes to death on spicy onions. 

I don’t think I have to explain why we could never, ever, use a Cue like that.

HULK NO LIKE SPOILERS

There’s a lot of middle ground we struggle with, and try to find ways to describe the important, almighty Cue, without giving something away.

How we avoid spoilers in our Peetime Cues

Like in Avengers: Infinity War, one of the Cues is: Thanos says to *someone*, “I like you,” then vanishes. That *someone* was Star Lord, but if we used his name, you would have seen the Cue and thought to yourself, “Well great; I guess I know that Star Lord and Thanos meet at some point. Thanks for spoiling that.”

Later in the movie there was a great Cue: Black Panther says, “And get this man a shield.”

That line was delivered time and time again in the movie trailer, so you knew it was coming. It’s a great character payoff, with a multi-film buildup.

Now, that brings us to Avengers: Endgame. Right off the bat we know none of the Cues can start with: Spiderman says…

Spiderman got Snapped. Everyone presumes he’s going to be un-Snapped, somehow. But we don’t know for sure, and we don’t know when. So we can take his name, and everyone else who got Snapped, off the Cue list.

For that matter, we don’t know if Thor, Iron Man, Banner/Hulk, Captain, et al., will survive. Using their names in a Peetime Cue — at least after the midpoint of the movie– is problematic. We hear time and again from fans, begging them not to spoil anything. As big fans ourselves, we get it.

Whose Name can be used in a Peetime Cue?

At least we can assume Captain Marvel has a big part to play in the upcoming MCU movies, so I think her name is fair game. Beyond that, expect a lot of Cues that read something like: *Someone* says, “Hurry — throw me the sonic screwdriver.” And *Someone else* replies, “I got it, but the battery’s dead.” 🙂

If that wasn’t a big enough challenge, I admit it — finding good Peetimes in last year’s Avengers: Infinity War was no picnic. It was undoubtedly the hardest MCU movie to do Peetimes for so far, mostly because there were so many simultaneous story-lines to juggle.

Music montages are a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow for Peetimes, but I think we can safely assume there will be no music montages in Endgame, unless Star Lord hatches a plan to distract Thanos via dance-off at some point…Oh wait, Star Lord got snapped. Well, there goes that.

We will have Movie Pee Breaks before the opening night of Endgame

Rest assured, we’re going to make our best effort to find good times for you to make a pee break. Shanee Edwards, our Hollywood film critic, will provide us with Peetimes days prior to the public opening. She doesn’t do Peetimes for many movies, and she’ll be working alone, but she knows her stuff and will give everyone going to see the movie opening night something to work with.

Then we have four People, myself (Dan), Jill, RunPee Mom, and Vera, all seeing the movie opening night so we can collaborate on choosing the very best Peetimes. Friday morning we’re going back see the movie again so we can come home and polish the Peetimes until they shine like an Infinity Stone. Plus we’ll get Peetime feedback from Dana and Shani over the weekend.

I tell everyone who does Peetimes for RunPee: we’re only as good as our last Peetimes. That’s never been more true than when the fate of the universe is at stake.

#WhatEverItTakes

Did YOU Survive The Snap? You may as well get this over with…

A Open Response to Kevin Feige (re: Using the Bathroom During Endgame)

Avengers Infinity War – Whose Fault is the Snap?

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A Open Response to Kevin Feige (re: Using the Bathroom During Endgame)

Kevin Feige and Avengers Endgame at comic con
We love your work, Kevin Feige, but RunPee WILL find Peetimes for Endgame.

Dear Mr. Feige,

We here at RunPee love Marvel movies more than Nick Fury loves cats. And flerkens. We are super excited for Avengers: Endgame. So much so that we did two breakdowns of the first trailer:

  1. Avengers 4 Endgame – First Trailer Review
  2. A Slightly More Than Casual Fan’s Reaction to Avenger 4 Trailer

We also haven’t been able to stop ourselves from speculating on what Phase 4 of the MCU might hold. And we especially love Spider-Man: Homecoming.

There is always time to pee.

However, we must take issue with your statement that there won’t be time to pee during Endgame. While we expect that Endgame will be action-packed, emotional, and perhaps our favorite movie of the year, there is ALWAYS time to pee. Since we established the RunPee app in 2009, we have offered Peetimes for over 1500 movies — and all of the MCU movies. We offered Peetimes for roughly 169 movies last year alone, including three Peetimes for Avengers: Infinity War. No offense.

You might want to recall Captain America: Winter Soldier had one of the best Peetimes ever in RunPee  history. Not that it was an unnecessary scene, but it was very easy to summarize what happened. You do challenge us to find a scene we can sum up, but we’re up to it. Every time.

No intermission?

You’ve chosen not to give Endgame an intermission, and thus not put it in the same league with masterpieces such as Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And why would you? It’s only a movie about THE FATE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

However, just because you’re not giving people an opportunity to pee doesn’t mean we can’t. We never failed to find a Peetime before and we will not fail now. We will do #WhateverItTakes.

We will not fail.

We realize Endgame is not Suspiria, for which we found an epic twelve minute Peetime. However, we have found Peetimes for such thrilling movies as A Quiet Place, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Mission Impossible: Fallout  — and we WILL find at least one good Peetime for Endgame.

(Don’t worry – we summarize what people will be missing during their few minutes away.)

We will guarantee at least three pee breaks, although two of them may be “emergency-only” Peetimes. But we promise you won’t have to make anyone squirm in their seats during your assuredly excellent movie. We’re superheroes at RunPee too. 🙂

One last thing.

By the way. I am severely disappointed you have not released any footage of Howard the Duck and Spider-Ham helping to save the day, but I trust you are saving that as a surprise for the theatrical release.

We here at RunPee wish you the best and we look forward to watching–and peeing during–Avengers: Endgame.

Sincerely,

Golden Man

—–

[…Learn all about the RunPee app…]

Endgame Pee Planning from Rudd, Ruffalo & RunPee

Peetimes Coming for Avengers Endgame BEFORE OPENING NIGHT

The 59 Hour MCU Rewatch Marathon Means the RunPee App is a MUST Have for Your Bladder

Did YOU Survive The Snap? You may as well get this over with…

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Endgame Pee Planning from Rudd, Ruffalo & RunPee

Paul rudd and mark ruffalo talk endgame
With all due respect to Ant-Man and The Hulk, RunPee has a  better pee strategy for Avengers: Endgame.

Avengers: Endgame is a looooong film. Even the MCU actors are perplexed by fan questions about peeing during their three-hour movie extravaganza. Producer Kevin Feige just claims you can’t leave your seat ever, not at all, and must stay to watch Every. Single. Scene.

Thanks, Feige. This isn’t like some Jedi Mind Trick that works best on the feeble-minded. Marvel fans tend to be more savvy.  But there are ways around this unrealistic edict.

Two Endgame actors came forward to be “helpful”

  • Paul Rudd – Ant-Man – says to pee in your popcorn bucket under the seat.
  • Mark Ruffalo – The Hulk – suggests sitting in your excrement for three hours wearing adult diapers. Which maybe the Big Green Guy would consider, but we doubt Bruce Banner would do it.

I kid you not. Rudd and Ruffalo offered these tidbits on Jimmy Kimmel when asked when to ‘go’ during the three-hour bladder-busting runtime of Avengers: Endgame.

That’s not including the half hour of surely the best trailers to come out this year before the film even starts. So…plan on 3&1/2 hours of butt-time.

More unpleasant pee options for Endgame and your bladder

Besides the clear indication these actors are joking — and besides knowing from personal experience that no adult diaper can contain a FULL BLADDER’s worth of contents (don’t ask) — I wouldn’t try either option. I guess you could insert a catheter and attach a bag to your leg….but…come on. I dare anyone to go that route.

This leaves you either suffering/squirming, or going in absolutely dehydrated, or dementedly sprinting off at what will undoubtedly be the worst moment ever in Endgame’s monumental epic.

How about something easier, more sanitary, with less chance of getting you arrested for public exposure? (Sorry, Paul.)

With respect to Rudd and Ruffalo: may we suggest a third option to the pee bucket and a cold, wet pair of Depends?

RunPee: Because movie theaters don't have pause buttons.Try using the RunPee app instead. Seriously.

RunPee has one mission: to help every bladder on Earth during the movies.  The RunPee Family watches every wide release film on or before opening night, and curates a handful of Peetimes where you can slip out out to the loo, read the brief synopsis of what you missed, and sit back down without ever being confused or missing something crucial.  The app also tells you what happens in the 1st three minutes if  you’re running late, and covers the Extra Scene details, all without spoiling a thing. You’ll know when to go, as the app silently vibrates in your lap. Just grab your cellphone and go.

This is the RunPee app’s 10th Anniversary, so back when Iron Man first woke up in a cave in Afghanistan, RunPee’s been steadily building a library of thousands of Peetimes and movies….including, of course, each film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Avengers Endgame Peetimes will be posted before opening might, with  — in a film this long — several Peetimes to choose from, stretched across the movie.

RunPee is the only realistic option if you want to be comfortable in any long epic movie. Kudos if you can hold it that long with no discomfort, but now you don’t have to. And you can get all the sodas and beer you want, run out to the concession stand for food, or just stretch your legs a minute. All without getting arrested from indecent exposure by peeing in a popcorn bucket…

Learn more about the RunPee App and try it for free. 

Once More, with Ant Man. Why him, and why now?

Mark Ruffalo Sneaks in a Hulk Movie

The 59 Hour MCU Rewatch Marathon Means the RunPee App is a MUST Have for Your Bladder

Learn More About The RunPee App

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MacGuffins Bars at AMC Theaters

If you’ve been to any AMC theater lately, you’ve probably noticed they serve booze now. The little bar areas near the entrance  come with the inside-joke name of MacGuffins (A MacGuffin is any plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, be it a Ring of Power or a mysterious glowing suitcase). MacGuffins sounds like an Irish pub, but it’s really a clever movie pun.

These mini-bars serve not  just beer and wine, but full cocktails, some of which are created specifically for the movie franchise in question. [pullquote]AMC had the “Twig and Berries” drink for Deadpool 2 (and yes, it’s intended to recall exactly what dirty thoughts you’re thinking)[/pullquote]; two drink options when The Last Jedi came out — a blue Jedi drink vs a red Sith drink, each with tiny glowing lightsabers; a dino-themed bevvie when Jurassic World 2 was showing; a creepy cool Venom drink most recently; plus a ton of other interesting creations that I’m personally too broke to order.  🙂

None of the beverages are what you’d call a great deal. The draft beers offer the most bang for your $7-$9 bucks with full pours, and there seem to be about five taps, with one rotating seasonal option, and usually an Angry Orchard Cider to boot. The wines are kind of expensive for what you get, hovering between $7 to $14, depending on whether you get a half glass or a full. The specialty cocktails generally run around $13 and up. The prices do fluctuate in different cities. On an recent trip to Florida, I found I could get a super large brew for around $10, making it a better deal than two $7 beverages.

So, they’re not so cheap, and there’s no happy hour, but it’s nice during a long movie to be able to sip on something more grown-up than a soda. I’ve noticed that a typical-sized beer can be nursed through a three hour movie. Usually I’m too caught up in the film to remember there’s a drink handy. But I like having the option. [pullquote position=”right”]It still feels like a novelty. Remember the line in Pulp Fiction that you could get a real beer at the movies in Europe? Well, we have them now too.[/pullquote]

One nice thing about MacGuffins is they usually have a couple of stools at the bar, and often some bistro tables to sit at with friends. This is really nice if you’re early for a movie and waiting for it to start, or if you’re seeing more than one film and want a convivial place to hang. An extra plus: there’s usually no line to order, unlike the overcrowded, chaotic popcorn/hot dog/soda concession stands. It’s a much more peaceful affair.

I’ve been to an Edwards Theater recently, and there was no bar. [pullquote]I’m so used to those being around now that it seems weird to not have a MacGuffins at hand. When you think about it, it’s a little crazy for the other movie chains to miss out on that extra income.[/pullquote] I assume Regal, Harkins, and Edwards will probably follow suit from AMC’s example at some point. They’re just throwing easy money away if they don’t.

Anyway, of course, having beverages of ANY sort turns into a trial of holding your full bladder, to the point where you kind of want the characters to die and get over it — just so you can run to the bathroom and relax again. Seriously.

However, since there’s the faithful RunPee app, this is no longer a problem. Yeah, I’m going to plug RunPee here.

RunPee exists to service your bladder. The app (on both iPhone and Android phones) discretely vibrates when its to time go to the bathroom during all the wide release movies, every week and every year, and for the last ten years.

There’s usually between 2 to 4 “Peetimes” — depending on movie length — and the app provides a synopsis of what you’ve missed during the 3 to 5 minutes it takes to run out, do your business, and get back. There are Recommended Peetimes, Emergency Peetimes, and even Alert Peetimes (which warn you if there’s a unpleasant sort of scene coming up, like something featuring torture). The “Extra Scene” feature is very popular, telling you if you need to wait during the end credits or not.

In any case, [pullquote position=”right”]RunPee goes together very well with MacGuffin’s beers, wines, and cocktails. You can’t pause a movie, but now you don’t have to worry about when to go, or if you should just sit there in agony. [/pullquote] 🙂

I think a good idea for AMC’s next iteration would be an upscale barista counter. It would be nice to get a latte during an evening show.

Have you seen the MacGuffins bars? Do you think this is a good idea for movie theaters, and have you ever ordered anything?

[Photos owned by RunPee.com]

Related Articles: 

Movie Theater Review – AMC Fashion Valley in San Diego

The RunPee App, Explained

RunPee’s Movie Selection Process

Best Movie MacGuffins Explained

RunPee’s “Golden Rule”

Whether it’s choosing which Peetimes to use from our notes, or how to carefully word the “getting up” Cues so there’s no spoilers, or what to put in the Synopsis, or the Meta details, or anything else, we have one Golden Rule we keep in mind to guide us:

We imagine ourselves sitting in a movie theater, re-watching a film with a good friend who hasn’t seen the movie yet, and simply ask ourselves, “What would we tell our friend they missed if they needed to pee during this movie?”

It’s as simple as that. We keep that in mind when tweaking the app, so we can provide personal information — just as if we were sitting there next to a friend.

When we think about writing a Peetime Cue we ask ourselves, “What if a friend asked us when it would be safe to pee during this movie?” We’d want to give them a Cue that is memorable, and noticeable, but not a spoiler.

When we think about writing our Peetime Metas (the short description below the Cue),  we imagine a friend leaning over and asking, “Hey, I have to pee. What sort of scenes happen for the next 3-5 minutes?” To which we can respond, “Nothing important. Just some dialog,” or, “Just some kissy scenes followed by a little morning after conversation,” or something like that. We pick things that are easy to summarize, so you won’t be lost when you sit back down. Our Peetimes run between 3-5 minutes, which everyone can handle if they don’t dally. Hence, the Run part of RunPee. 🙂

When we write the Synopses for a Peetime, we play a mental game of tug-o-war between providing enough detail to keep you caught up with the movie when you get back, and keeping it terse enough that you can read it in 30 seconds — while you run pee to the restroom, get a beverage, make a call, or whatever you need to do in the theater. We’ve been doing this for 10 years now, back in the Pleistocene of the web, so we think we’re pretty good at it.

And no, the humor is not lost on us that RunPee has a Golden Rule. 🙂

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Alert Peetimes – How to Avoid Torture and Disturbing Scenes in Movies

One common request from users over the years is to help them avoid graphic scenes in movies that might disturb them. For years we tried to do the best we could to create Peetimes during scenes we found to be over the top, or really  disturbing (as compared to the rest of the movie). Now we have made it quasi-official by marking these scenes as Alert Peetimes.

This solution comes with a few caveats.  First, this is obviously very subjective. What may be disturbing to one person isn’t even noticed by another. However, I think there is a lot of common ground. We focus on scenes that have sexual violence, animal cruelty, or torture. (Hopefully there’s never a scene that involves all three!)

Also, this is contextual. If you’re watching a gangster movie with lots of torture scenes, then what’s the point of making Alert Peetimes for those?That’s what the movie is about. But, if there happened to be a scene involving animal cruelty in a gangster movie, then we’d try to alert you to that.

Second, we can’t have Alert Peetimes that might cover every conceivable thing someone out there might be sensitive to. For instance, if you were recently in a terrible car crash, it might be traumatic to watch a movie and then unexpectedly see a car crash. My suggestion for anyone with an issue like that would be to talk to someone who has already seen the movie, and ask them if one of their trigger scenes is in it.

Third, we make it very clear in the RunPee app that we won’t be held responsible for catching every scene that might trigger someone. We’ll do our best and invite our fans to provide feedback, good and bad, on how we are doing with the Alert Peetimes — but we’re not interested in hearing criticism that blames us for not protecting them from a trigger scene. Again, we’re doing our best with it, but this isn’t our core purpose when getting Peetimes for a movie.

How RunPee Makes Memorable Cues For Peetimes & Movie Breaks

https://runpee.com/help/peetimes/

Download the RunPee App free at Android or for iPhone. 

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Watching movies, because we have to!

Don’t get me wrong, everyone in the RunPee family loves movies, but sometimes we really dread going to the theater because, you know, it’s a job.

One of the first things we learned about getting the best Peetimes for a movie was to make sure that we at least see movies within our favorite genres. For instance, in general I don’t like horror movies. And the ones I do like usually span across genres in some way. So if I’m forced to do Peetimes for a horror movie I have a hard time selecting the best Peetimes, because I don’t know what people like about horror movies in the first place. Thank goodness for my sister — Christene Johnson — who loves horror movies. Good or bad horror (mostly bad these days), we count on her to get the best Peetimes for horror films because she knows what fans of that genre like and don’t like.

Likewise, I see most of the science fiction and action movies, along with Jill. RunPee Mom sees most of the kids’ movies. I guess it’s a little ironic that the elder in the family sees the movies for kids, but she really loves them and has trained herself to see them like a child — even going so far to talk to families about a movie afterward — to get a feel for what sort of scenes stand out for kids,  so she can be sure to not use those scenes in a Peetime. Over the years she’s gotten pretty good at it. (Let’s forgive her for her Peetime in Frozen. How was she to know Let it Go was going to become such a hit?)

Now, when we watch a movie, it isn’t like we can relax and enjoy it. We literally sit there with pen and paper and take notes, jotting down the time and possible cue for a Peetime, and hoping we can go at least three minutes without running into a scene that’s important. If that happens, and it usually happens about twelve times a movie, we cross it out and start looking for another possible Peetime.

It varies from movie to movie, but it’s not uncommon to have 10-15 potential Peetimes in a two hour movie, of which we’ll cross out most of them, and hopefully, be left with 2-4 that are worthy of becoming Peetimes.  On some occasions we have multiple people seeing the same movie so we can debate with each other which Peetimes would be best and why. Then we further weed out the selected Peetimes by seeing how they are grouped. If there are two Peetimes in a 10 minute span, we usually select the one we think is best and discard the other.

Possibly the hardest part of the job is reviewing our notes and writing the synopsis for each Peetime. We have to make judgement calls on just how much detail we put into each synopsis, because we realize that someone using the app only has around 20 seconds or so to read what happened while they were away. Plus, we have to be very clear with our pronouns and such. Too many he/shes and suddenly the reader is left wondering, “Wait, who? What?” That’s not good. We write our synopsis and proofread it, and then it gets edited by Jill (our Editor in Chief).

As subjective as all this sounds, you would think that we’d get lots of complaints about this scene or that one being in a Peetime when it shouldn’t have been. I certainly expected that sort of criticism would be commonplace, but it isn’t. I can honestly count on one hand how many critical comments we get each year about a chosen Peetime. And it’s not because people don’t want to take the time to email us. We get plenty of user emails and corrections for the slightest detail mistake — which we’re always thankful for. So it seems we’re doing something right. 🙂

As hard as this job is to keep up with every week, every year, we love it because we get so much positive feedback and thanks from the fans who use the app.

Download the RunPee App free at Android or for iPhone. 

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RunPee Reviewed on You Tube (A Lot!)

We love seeing reviews of our fine and fun app on You Tube: We’ve Been Reviewed! We feel so grateful for the attention. RunPee is a small, family-run business. We see all the wide release movies each (and every) week, sit there with our clipboards and timers, to give you two or three times you can safely make a break for the bathroom. It’s a lot of work! And we don’t get to pee at all…so you can. 🙂

So, we love all these little videos people made. Take a look. Really cool. And really, thank you.

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An Interview with RunPee Mom

Dearest – RunPee Mom – enjoying a press day in Aruba.

Ginger “Sarcasm is my middle name” Gardner, AKA Dearest, best known here as RunPee Mom, is a staunch supporter and utterly crucial pillar to the RunPee enterprise. She sees movies every week – sometimes more than one film – and carries the ball for the business when the rest us of have to drop it. She most often gets Peetimes for the kiddie flicks, but is happy to see serious dramas, lighthearted comedies, and (almost) anything in between, as needed. RunPee Co-Creator Jill decided to highlight her important work and history with us.

Jilly: Hey, Dearest. Do you like seeing movies for work each week?

Ginger: I love it. It’s what I live for. Because I love movies, and enjoy providing a very good service for movie-goers. And I love to be proud of my son [RunPee Creator Dan] for having developed it, and I am proud of being a part of it.

J: What are your first memories of RunPee?

G: When my son told me he had this idea in his mind, I thought, “Well, I’m not going to discourage him. He sets his mind to something – it will happen. He takes kooky ideas and makes them great.” I remember the first movie I did Peetimes for: Drag Me to Hell. It was a nerve-wracking experience. I was not accustomed to watching a movie and writing. My learning curve was, “What makes a good Peetime?” I’ve now seen movies for RunPee all over the United States.

J: I remember you were the first person to think to get us real publicity for RunPee. What was your idea?

G: I remember on Saturday mornings I would listen to Leo Laporte’s AM radio show. I was addicted to listening to him – I loved his voice and his tips. He loves new things. I called Dan and told him to call LaPorte and they did an interview, and that was when NPR heard it and also called on Dan for an interview. It really took off when Dave Barry heard about RunPee and got involved. That was huge.

J: Lol, true. There even was a RunPee limerick posted on Dave Barry’s site. That was cool. What is your favorite part of this work?

G: Actually watching the movies – watching them with a critical eye. Not seeing movies just for pleasure, but for others to see my work. I try to do as good a job as possible, to provide a pleasurable experience. Truly, a critic should rate a movie based on the target audience. There are no movies out there for everybody. Sometimes I am at a total loss myself as to who the target audience is. Like with Moonlight, I walked out of there furious. Who was the audience? Then there is The Good Dinosaur. A really good little movie, but the critics slammed it for ‘having been done’. The target audience is CHILDREN, and for them it hasn’t been done. They are a new audience every year.

J: I know the professional critics are a “thing” with you. I like your reviews, and how you direct them at the audience who would most like the film in question. Besides those critics irking you, what would you say is the worst part of working for RunPee?

G: I can’t go run and pee during a movie. I have been known to make a two-minute run and come back in – I wait until I get a really good Peetime first.

J: What are your favorite movie genres?

G: Historical movies. But they can be frustrating because you know the true history, and they get it wrong. Take Braveheart. They took a lot of latitude with the real story, but I love it. I think Private Ryan is THE real historical movie to go see. It’s a damn fine piece of historical drama, even if it is fiction. I can watch about any doggone movie. They don’t make me cry – that never happens to me. Except recently The Shack made my heart clench – it was heart rending – I did get choked up in this one scene.

J: And your favorite movies?

G: I have quite an eclectic list. The Green Mile, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, Shawshank Redemption, Hacksaw Ridge, Signs, Fargo, Close Encounters, Lincoln, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 12 Years a Slave, Thelma and Louise, Toy Story (all of them were extraordinary), Snow White, Cinderella. All of those are my top movies. And Wizard of Oz – wait, no, save that for RunPee Sis!

J: You can have it too. What would you like the future of RunPee to be?

G: Becoming more widely used throughout the world. I think there will be an increase in the number of downloads. It’s not a very old app – only 6 or 7 years – it’s not reached its peak. It’s exciting to see! I look forward to it becoming a household word. I expect that it will. I know it will have reached its peak when it becomes the final Jeopardy question – “The Category is Apps.”

J: We WERE an answer to a question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? As I recall, the contestant got that one wrong. Poor dude. He should have known. 🙂 So, what would you like to tell people about RunPee?

G: RunPee was developed by a family, owned as a family-run operation. We saw all the movies and got this off the ground ourselves. We put our heart and soul into this. We’re no conglomerate. We take so much pride in the family business.