what is the difference between "films" and "movies" anyway?

Nothing.

It's been the pratice of the last few decades to actually used cinema as the elitist term.

It seems to be mainly "movies" these days.

Movies are a step up from "flicks", films are a step up from movies, and cinema is shown only at Art Houses and you have to put up with a lot of pretentious people.

You talking about me, Acquiunk ?

What I've come to dread about many movies are those very, very thin story lines cut & pasted together with bits of pop music. And then you're supposed to rush out & buy the soundtrack. <sigh> Bring back good script writers, I say! I don't care whether it's called a film or a movie but that's what I long for!

Quote: "What is the difference between 'films' and 'movies' anyway?"

The price of the ticket.

And if you're ever in Tinseltown, talking to anyone in "the industry", don't ever, under any circumstances, refer to a film as a "picture."

The cinema is the place I go to see movies.

I go to the picture theatre!

Ah, Beth, I see you're a "Coronation Street" fan! My wife and I spotted it right away!

Let's review the terms:

1. Picture
2. Motion Picture
3. Film
4. Movie
5. Cinema
6. Flick

Can anyone think of any others?

The art house I go to see foreign and independents is across the street from the major shopping mall in the OC, South Coast Plaza. I don't find the crowd particularly pretentious -- they just want to see finely crafted films that don't rely on big name stars, overdone special effects and scripts that were written by a robot. Not that indepedents or foreign films are always successful at what they set out to do. It's surprising that such an expertly crafted film like "Kingdom of Heaven" brought in only $20M in the US and $56M overseas. It's the best of the recent historical epics, making "Troy" and "Alexander" look like slickly made, ponderous junk movies.

My mom called it the show.

Mine too.

My aunts still call a movie "a picture show."

Ah yes, the old "picture show." Taking someone out to a dinner and a show usually means to the movies. It could also mean a Broadway musical, a ballet, a play, et al. I've never heard any of my freinds or family say, "We're going to the cinema," unless they say "the cineplex."

Do people really say "cineplex?"

Everyone knows what it means, but I don't think I know anyone who uses the word.

The Century Cineplex near Disneyland. The Krikorean Cineplex near Knott's Berry Farm. However, I've heard multiplex more than cineplex. It seems cineplex is reserved for more than enormous venues.

There are two in Hartford I go to with some regularity. One is on a college campus, the other is in a gallery/studio complex. In both place it can get rather "thick" at times.

Ah, yes. The show. That used to be a popular expression. When I first came to this country, at the age of 11, I was familiar with both 'cinema' and 'the movies.' But it took me a while to figure out what people were talking about when they mentioned 'going to the show.' What made it doubly difficult was that you hardly ever saw that expression in print. I read a lot in an attempt to improve my vocabulary, but 'show' was mostly a verbal, not a printed, expression.

Yes, Acqui, I have been to the USC and UCLA screenings where the audience was a bit austere for my taste.

One other that I can think of is Variety jargon:

Pic

Yeh, and 'pix' (not 'pics') for the plural.