Who wants to pay a small fortune to sit in a movie theater snacking on high-calorie popcorn, unable to pause the action for a bathroom break, watching a film that's going to come out on DVD in several months anyway?

I do!

Because I'm deaf, I couldn't enjoy most movies in theaters until recently. Now I can, thanks to AMC Loews Waterfront, which has introduced to the Pittsburgh area something called Rear Window Captioning.

As much as I love movies, it's painful to sit through one without understanding everything. It's no fun if everyone is laughing and I missed the joke. Waiting for movies to come out on DVD sometimes feels like an eternity. Many movies have special effects that are better seen on a big screen. And when my girlfriends talk about going to see a movie together, I feel left out when I can't join them.

Once I realized that going to the movie theater was futile, I stopped going, except to see foreign films with subtitles. But Pittsburgh isn't exactly teeming with foreign-language movies and many of them are gory and depressing, so I rarely go to the theater.

Now Pittsburgh has technology that will allow a whole new demographic to go to the movies: People who are deaf and hard of hearing and who can't use assisted-listening systems.

This doesn't just include people who are deaf like me. Many of us have families who don't go to movie theaters because we don't. And, as Teresa Nellans, president of the Hearing Loss Association of Pittsburgh, has pointed out: Hearing loss is common among recent combat veterans.

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Instead of looking like subtitles -- which many hearing people find a distraction -- Rear Window Captioning is viewed on a clear, reflective plastic panel. This panel is mounted on a flexible stalk placed into a seat cup holder. The user positions the panel so it reflects captions shown on a display mounted at the back of the theater.

RWC usually comes with DVS Theatrical System, which provides descriptive audio narration for patrons who are blind or visually impaired. Together, these systems are known as Motion Picture Access, or MoPix.

Only one theater chain in the Pittsburgh area currently uses RWC technology: AMC. There are about 12 theater chains nationwide that use it at all or some of their locations, whether voluntarily or because of court orders or settlements.

Theaters in the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey and Ontario offer RWC under court settlements that resulted from litigation or the threat of litigation, according to John Stanton, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who has filed briefs on behalf of the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. No cases have been brought in Pennsylvania, though.

So why is MoPix at AMC Waterfront?

"AMC has a long history in being the first to incorporate new technology to reach guests from all walks of life," AMC Waterfront General Manager Rob Bartosh told me.

Hopefully, more theater owners will follow suit.

"Business people don't understand that ... they can attract customers for dinner, shopping and a movie by providing accommodations so we are in the mainstream of society," Mrs. Nellans said.

Captioned showings are noted on AMC Waterfront's Web site (amcentertainment.com/Waterfront). People also can contact the theater by phone (412-462-6550, option 0) or e-mail (2587@amctheatres.com, Subject: "MoPix Question").

"We have two auditoriums with this equipment installed, so each week we will be trying to diversify the titles that we play in those auditoriums to reach out to as many guests as possible," Mr. Bartosh said. "If no new titles are present, we will keep movies that are capable in these auditoriums. Most movies are made to work with this system, but some are not, and some movies are made with only RWC or DVS."

AMC Waterfront currently has about 90 RWC reflectors.

This doesn't automatically mean that every movie eventually will be captioned. The Media Access Group at WGBH, which is responsible for MoPix, decides which movies to caption.

According to Outreach Director Mary Watkins, "It really does come down to the eagerness and willingness of the staff at the theater. All general managers like to hear that the systems are being used, and are happy to hear about the positive impact that they engender in the community."

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I recently watched an RWC movie at the Waterfront with my (hearing) children and husband. I didn't expect to have the opportunity to do this with the kids while they were young. I always thought this would happen in their teenage years when we'd be watching an angst-ridden foreign film. It was infinitely better to join them at "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" for their first movie experience.

Thanks to RWC, I now have choices and can go anytime I want, but it's not without its problems. It takes time to adjust the reflector. I had to decide between having the display just below or on the movie screen. The choice was between occasionally missing some of the action by looking down or being distracted by the display. Maybe with practice, I'll get better at it.

In the meantime, it's a small price to pay for going out to the movies. I guess I'd better get used to shelling out for that popcorn!

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.