Havn`t been to the pictures for yonks. Last time I went there was an intermission and girls stood at the front with illuminated trays. You could buy weak squash in a plastic container with a straw and 10 woodbines. Then go back to your seat and use the floor as an ashtray because the ones provided were too small

 

I take it that the films were shown in black and white

 

My local pub has it's own cinema and it's free , well, it seats 16 in proper cinema chairs and as long as you've had a meal or drink there it's free to watch the nightly movie - recent releases and pre-release DVD. They play blueray on a mashooosive screen. They are also a hotel, so I may take there mrs there one day for a dirty weekend away - can walk home in the morning too

 

I prefer tesco's salt& sweet mixed popcorn and a can of Fanta Zero when I go

 

but what does faye have??

sorry couldnt resist...............

 

You can`t beat watching a good film on the Sky Screen in the O2

As far as prices go, the cinemas make very little on the ticket prices and so depend on revenue from food and drink unfortunately.

 

They really need to raise their game then, it is so lazy and crap, they need a serious rethink.

 

Going to the cinema these days is a truly horrible experience. The last one I saw in a cinema was Kill Bill II. We keep saying we're going to go to the Rex at Berkhamstead, but haven't got around to it yet.

 

We have never had any bad experiences with our cinema visits. Cinema halls are virtually empty these days due to more and more people watching films on DVDs at home. The people who we ever sat next to have been sensible; old or young. I haven't spotted any notably offensive chav activities in cinemas up till now. Perhaps I haven't seen enough yet. Perhaps I have been too busy watching cinema. The only moan I have is when a tall person sits in front of me, with a huge head to obstruct my view. I now buy premium tickets for higher seating in the back row, so that no tall person can spoil my enjoyment. I can always take a cushion with me, I suppose.

I don't justify the cost of the cinema food TBH. But I don't mind it that much. Its not that we go to cinema that often, so burning a hole in my handbag once in a while doesn't bother me. One doesn't have to have cinema food, anyway. One can take butties and LiDL pop from home in a plastic bag, if one likes. Once the film has started and its all dark around you, no one cares.

 

More the reason for us to gatecrash your neck of the woods, Graham

 

I never eat in the cinema, we always have lunch first. Isn't that the obvious solution Jacko? Have your meal before or after.

The kids will always want popcorn anyway and one large diet Coke does all four of us.

Watched The Avengers Assemble today. Good fun but four prebooked "VIP" seats in Imax cost £55!

 

Crikey! They used to put the lights on part way through and offer us an ice cream in a tub with a piece of wood to eat it with!

It is a rip off though.On a par with motorway service stations.£20 for a full english type thing.Who bloody pays it??!

 

Ahh the days where a usher girl would stand at the front at the end of the trailers to sell you little tubs of ice cream.

I don't know why, but the cinema seemed so much better back then. The main screen at the old cinema was huge...easily twice the width of the average auditorium these days.

These days it all pre book to get a few quid off, wearing my hiking coat and smuggling in giant packets of minstrels and skittles with bottles of drinks in the pockets. That is unless we get the VIP seats for discounted rates, in which case food is complimentary.

 

Talking about motorways, frigging Little Chef are rip offs. Even when I now have their club card, they charged me 20 quid for 2 breakfasts with 2 teas lately. I am not going there again. Not only on motorways, check out the food prices on public transport places, even. Food costs fortune on trains. An Arriva tea is at least £1.60p FFS. They don't even give more than 2 milks per tumbler. A baguatte is at least £4.50. I think we ought to make our own butties now; for everywhere.

 

its easy with food, i always take in my own.

if questioned i say you dont serve nutritional food, and thats what i want. hence i brought my own.
altho its never went that far im sure you could argue nutritional content over whats sold as food at cinemas tbh

 

The last film I went to see was apollo 18, it was utter tosh and I would have slept through it if the cinema was not full of idiots with their mobile phones going off every 5 minutes.

 

I think they don't question people for bringing their own food because they must feel highly obliged for those people have at least bothered to attend the cinema. Most don't bother any more.

Its all junk foods sold in the cinemas, no doubt. Those pick n' mix sweets are highly replulsive and toxic looking with all that colouring. I like their Tom & Jerry ice creams and popcorn but I know they are also full of cr@p. Then again, we only live once, and no one knows for sure if the phenomenon of reincarnation does take place for real. Therefore I don't consider very occasional consumption of non-nutritious foods over the pictures as too harmful. As long as we don't eat that rubbish all the time, I think we should be okay. If they sold sausage rolls, pasties and pies instead of icecream and popcorns in the cinema places, I'd decline outright. Then I would take my beetroot butties and spinach smoothie in every time.

 

Reminds me of the time I saw Starter for Ten. Gouging my eyes out would have been more fun but it robbed me of the strength to do it.

 

One of the last films I watched with my ex down Kent way had an usher appear, selling ice cream. I thought I was seeing things

 

Paid £15 for two tickets for the Avengers, then a medium pop corn and drink £6.10 .. ffs

 

Seems so easy to just take sandwiches or whatever you might want to eat.

Les

 

Is that the one with the sofas, that's our next cinema outing. Only 10 mins up the road.

 

lol, i eat my fair share of processed rubbish , but if dieting or i feel like it, i take what i want - ive taken in 2 litres of milk and tubs of chicken and rice before lol,
but it should e the persons choice, although im sure most of the revenue they make comes from food sales - hence the ludicrous prices.

 

Yeah, I can see your point Les but it isnt "cool" is it turning up with your butties and flask, teenagers dont want a picnic, they want expensive, branded ****e.

My thinking really is that perhaps they could go a whole 2 hours without a meal !

I miss the old cinemas, ours was the Tatton in Gatley, all faded grandeur and plaster mouldings, manky velvet and a little kiosk where you could get the aforementioned Kia-Ora and Poppets, there was a bar and remember the shonky ads for the local Tandoori (just 2 minutes from this cinema), the random features that was on before the main film, usually about an American Scrapyard in the backwoods or the Idatarod Sled Dog race, little views of a bigger world.

The Intermission doesnt happen now, not sure why, was a good opportunits for a ****, now the drinks are four times bigger and no intermission, I remember when a can of Coke seemed massive, ,I remember the little refrigerated tray they used to come round with, full of stuff that was too expensive, I remember my grandad getting me a Mint Cornetto once, may as well have been Rolex, lollies back then were a Cider or lemonade one for 10p off the ice cream van, or if funds were limited a mug of Vimto stuck in the freezer, if things were really bad and you hadnt remember to put one in too freeze it was just Vimtop with the all the frost you could scrape off the inside of the freezer, it had a flavour all its own

 

Yeah, that's the one, Cooks.

It's a bugger to get tickets if there's something popular on. Very civilised though, you can have a drink from the bar etc. Our projectionist works there in the evenings as well, and keeps nagging me to go there.


Further to the whole food thing....... quite honestly, I don't understand why people just can't spend a couple of hours without shoving stuff down their gullet.

 

Indeed mate, I can thoroughly recommend the steak and chips @ £8.45 including a beer on a Saturday night, then a few beers in the cinema.

 

Mmmm, no HDTV is as good as seeing in a proper big screen, expecially the new ones. And the sound, well, I have yet to see any sort of home sound to rival what's in a cinema (unsurprisingly really considering the cost).

I think you can't beat seeing a film in a full cinema though. It's a social thing, enjoying the laughs and the frights with others. You cannot re-create that at home.

As for food prices, ridiculous. But, just take your own. Aldi do cinema style popcorn for 80p a bag, and it's huge! And it's exactly the same as the stuff you get at the cinema. Gives you an idea of how much Vue/Odeon etc are making, 'cos Aldi will be making a tidy profit in that 80p.

As for parking, where charges for parking? I can't think of a cinema withing 20 miles of here that charges for parking!

I do agree that cinemas have got lazy though, don't know what the answer is.

Geezer

 

i must admit i like the going to cinema experience

im not a regular, but really cant recreate it at home imo.

apart from the cost lol

 

Totally agree on all points.


There's one around here that charges for parking i.e. at Wrexham. That's where one would usually park to get to the Odeon inside the Eagles Meadow buliding complex. Its only a quid to park after 6pm, mind. To evade that quid, I once left my car after 7pm at the closeby Halfords car park for 2 hours, and got fined 40 quid. Never again.

 

LOL that's quite cool, actually.

I think so, Jef.

I am taking my own chicken and rice next time. 2 ltr milk has to be replaced with some tea in flask LOL.