A Night At The Movies...
Sep. 5th, 2007 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhythmaningYesterday, I went to the movies. It was a while since I had been to the cinema – a few months, anyway. A friend dropped me an email: he had tickets to a preview, and he couldn’t make it, so he asked if I’d like to go. (Actually, he asked several people if they wanted to go; but clearly, I’m the only one without a social life, because they were all busy!) He runs a film website, Filmstalker, and the quid pro quo was that he wanted me to write a few words about the movie for him.
The cinema was at Fort Kinnaird, and that alone was nearly enough to stop me going: it is a large shopping centre to the east of the city, out by the ring road, and it isn’t easy to get to: I was going to have to get a bus from my place of work into the centre, and catch a train back out.
As it was, I mentioned this to someone I work with, and she said she was thinking of going along the ring road to get home, so she gave me a lift. So from thinking I wouldn’t make it in time, I had an hour or so to kill.
I wandered around the industrial, barn-like stores. I thought about going ten-pin bowling. (OK, I didn’t, but still…) I thought about going to a plastic fake-American bar. Instead, I found Borders, and spent a long time wandering around. I obviously don’t like Borders, though: despite finding many books I wanted to buy, I didn’t buy any of them. Perhaps this is why they are closing down in the UK. There was something about the shop that didn’t scream “buy me! buy me!”. The books didn’t look loved.
The cinema was a another industrial barn: concrete floor, slightly tacky carpet. I sat down, and then smelt the hot dog that the couple in front of me were eating, and I had to move. (I get quite fussy about where to sit in a cinema, torn between sitting on the left side of the auditorium and sitting on an aisle, so I can stretch my legs out.)
It got quite busy. I had imagined – in my romantic, rosy view of previews – that this would be a press showing or something. It was actually a film club – press reviews probably happen at 10 am, and in London, I would guess. The audience was full of ordinary people. (So journalists are ordinary people, yeah, but.) They had popcorn and coke.
During the movie, I noticed a glow several rows down, on the other side of the cinema: someone was videoing the movie. This made me very angry – piracy is piracy. However much I dislike the bits at the beginning of DVDs telling me that piracy is wrong, I agree with them. This guy was being completely blatant about it, and it annoyed me. It must have really annoyed the people behind him too – if I could see the glow half way across the cinema, it must have been really bright for them. No one stopped him, though.
Anyhow, here is what I thought about the film – what I wrote about 3:10 to Yuma for Filmstalker.
By the way, Richard, anytime you want me to look at other films, feel free to send tickets my way… Oh, and I’m very grateful!
The cinema was at Fort Kinnaird, and that alone was nearly enough to stop me going: it is a large shopping centre to the east of the city, out by the ring road, and it isn’t easy to get to: I was going to have to get a bus from my place of work into the centre, and catch a train back out.
As it was, I mentioned this to someone I work with, and she said she was thinking of going along the ring road to get home, so she gave me a lift. So from thinking I wouldn’t make it in time, I had an hour or so to kill.
I wandered around the industrial, barn-like stores. I thought about going ten-pin bowling. (OK, I didn’t, but still…) I thought about going to a plastic fake-American bar. Instead, I found Borders, and spent a long time wandering around. I obviously don’t like Borders, though: despite finding many books I wanted to buy, I didn’t buy any of them. Perhaps this is why they are closing down in the UK. There was something about the shop that didn’t scream “buy me! buy me!”. The books didn’t look loved.
The cinema was a another industrial barn: concrete floor, slightly tacky carpet. I sat down, and then smelt the hot dog that the couple in front of me were eating, and I had to move. (I get quite fussy about where to sit in a cinema, torn between sitting on the left side of the auditorium and sitting on an aisle, so I can stretch my legs out.)
It got quite busy. I had imagined – in my romantic, rosy view of previews – that this would be a press showing or something. It was actually a film club – press reviews probably happen at 10 am, and in London, I would guess. The audience was full of ordinary people. (So journalists are ordinary people, yeah, but.) They had popcorn and coke.
During the movie, I noticed a glow several rows down, on the other side of the cinema: someone was videoing the movie. This made me very angry – piracy is piracy. However much I dislike the bits at the beginning of DVDs telling me that piracy is wrong, I agree with them. This guy was being completely blatant about it, and it annoyed me. It must have really annoyed the people behind him too – if I could see the glow half way across the cinema, it must have been really bright for them. No one stopped him, though.
Anyhow, here is what I thought about the film – what I wrote about 3:10 to Yuma for Filmstalker.
By the way, Richard, anytime you want me to look at other films, feel free to send tickets my way… Oh, and I’m very grateful!
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-05 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-06 05:42 am (UTC)We used to frequent Waterstones in Stratford when it first opened and things were different then because it was pre-interwebs (for us at least) and certainly pre-Amazon, but I remember how exciting it was to see all the possibilities there, books we didn't even know existed. And their deliberate policy of slightly overcrowding the shop and leaving the stock around in piles was so attractive and comfortable, and the classical music was played quietly and was a novelty. I think really they took as much as was practical from the secondhand bookshop experience and added that to a fantastic range of new stock. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2007-09-07 11:55 am (UTC)Honestly press screenings aren't anything exciting, I'll get you to one yet, but it's just like a quiet cinema although they can often be less considerate audience members.
Oh and they do happen at 10-10:30 in the morning.
That cinema is truly awful though, the free previews are starting to happen elsewhere thankfully.
Can you believe no one else wanted free tickets? Speaking of which I've just dropped you a note on how to get some for Death Proof.
So if you enjoyed it so much, do you fancy doing some Film Festival writing next year?
no subject
Date: 2007-09-08 10:09 pm (UTC)I have to admit I like the Borders in Glasgow. It is quite a happy feeling place.