Be Excellent To Each Other

I was going to see Inside Out with a couple of friends. It's been years since I've been to the cinema. In fact, I think the last time I went was possibly when I went with somebody to a free screening of Lions for Lambs, which was perhaps the worst thing I've ever seen. It might have put me off the cinema for life (if not films entirely).

£8.90 for an adult ticket? It's a bit much, especially for a little out-of-the-way-ish place, isn't it? Are there any codes knocking about for the big chains? The most local cinema to me is called 'The Light' but I don't think its got any discounts.

I went to see Terminator: Sega Genesis edition and I was charged £10.99 at Vue Cinema. And then the fuckers charged me for 3D glasses. I was not happy. But that's because Terminator:G is shit.

I haven't been to the cinema in years and yes, the prices are putting me off loads.

I'm guessing that cinema audiences have dropped in recent years but I have no facts to back this up. It's merely a guess.

I recently changed my bank account. In lieu of a decent interest rate, they gave me six cinema vouchers. Might make use of them.

Is that not Lloyds? They give 6 cinema tickets *and* a good interest rate.

Do they? Which account is that then?

You could always do what I do, and pay £16.40 a month for a Cineworld Unlimited card that lets you go to the cinema as much as you want. At their normal ticket prices you only have to go three times for it to be paying for itself.

Of course, if you do go down that road, don't do what I do, and not go to the cinema for months at a time.

Club Lloyds.

The prices are pretty ruinous these days. As a couple with a small child, we probably go to the cinema as much as we did before she was born - but almost exclusively to kids films. We never get to see adult films because the ticket cost combined with the cost of a babysitter makes it a £100+ evening out. Which, as good as Mad Max sounded, was never going to happen.

Doesn't sound like you're in London, but if you are, get down to the PeckhamPlex and it's a fiver a ticket. Though it can be a fairly raucous experience, with nuff whooping and hollering. Wasn't expecting that at Paddington.

The nearest cinema for me now is a 4/5 hour drive away, so I've not been to a cinema for months. I miss it, especially when Mad Max was on.

I'd usually make a trip to the cinema for a movie from one of my favourite directors, or something that I know I need to see on a massive screen.

Eh, I only go to the cinema now and again for the 'bigger' films (i.e. Marvel stuff and the like) so although it is a bit expensive I don't really begrudge it. And you're only charged for 3D glasses if you don't take your own with you, so just do that instead.

Also £8.90 for an adult ticket is technically cheap given that I was charged £11.12 for Ant-Man last night, and that's with a small discount.

4-5 hours? Where do you live?

Oh, yeah! Did you move to Cambodia?

If I'm really interested in a film, I'll go but these days I average about 1-2 trips a year.

I've done more of the live theatrical broadcasts in recent times, which I think is a brilliant idea and worth the price. Perhaps this 'tele-vision' thing is more than just a novelty.

I stopped going as I got in a grump about going straight from work, hanging about Leeds or Bradford for 90 minutes until she shoes up and eating out and the price of tickets and then it was £80-90 night out.

Haven't bothered going for years now.

Things that put me off are the preponderance of people tapping on their phones (often with keyboard bleep turned on!), having little group discussions during the film, and - this happened quite a few times before I gave up - the film starting with the projector out of focus!

Why bother? Just buy the DVD when it comes out, and watch it in uninterrupted comfort.

My reasons are the obvious: seeing a film earlier (given how seemingly long stuff takes to come out on Bluray these days) and on a better AV setup than I've got at home. I don't know if the Glasgow audiences are more polite than elsewhere but I've never experienced any issues from other folks as you describe here. Mind you, I rarely see a film in the first few days it's open and equally rarely on a weekend so I'm almost certainly minimising my risk of sharing a cinema with the worst offenders.

I got one of these cards a few months ago - I live ten minutes' walk from a Cineworld, and if I wait a couple of weeks and go on a Thursday evening I generally have the place to myself. It's awesome. Everyone should live near a cinema.

I do.. unfortunately it's always busy.

Our local cinema does half price tuesdays and the usual Meerkat Movies on Wednesdays as well, so more often than not we are only paying £4 to see a film.

It's now got an IMAX screen which is a more substantial £13.50 per ticket for an adult. I've not tried it out yet, but probably will for Mission Impossible.

A bomb scare or hazardous chemical spill will fix that in a jiffy, then you can watch in peace!

Seriously, I went to see Moomins On The Riviera three times.

Our local cinema has switched to allocated seating. Which is massively annoying because of the weird people out there that seem to use the 'where to park in a car park' approach. I've been in the cinema with less than 20 people in it before, and booked my seat in an empty row. When I get there, someone has booked the seat right next to me. Just weird.

Is it always the same man?

They are called "friends" Cras.

Are you always picking a 'good seat'? By which I mean one that's central to the screen and not too far back (or, indeed, too far forward)? If you're choosing a seat in prime seating real estate then it's more likely someone else is going to sit near you as they want the best viewing experience as well.

Well yeah, but in an empty row you'd think people would at least leave a seat or two of separation.

Aye, true enough.

Depends how much they wanted to piss you off I guess?

I think sometimes people just buy a ticket and the staff put them wherever. If the place is half empty then I just sit where I want, even in a VIP seat when I only paid for normal

£8.90? Bloody bargain. I seldom get away with less than about £11 these days.

Just checked: £10.89 for a Saturday adult ticket. £9.29 weekday.

£12.90 for my local. Lucky non Londoners.

Aye, tropical paradise by the beach. Phnom Penh is the nearest cinema.

I don't go that often these days either

So I went to my local Vue online and did a booking to see Ant Man

£11.49 per adult or £13.49 if you want a VIP seat.

Then a £1.50 booking Fee, is this to compensate them for not having to have extra staff on to manually process tickets?

So just short of £30 for VIP seats for 2 adults, then of course they would be babysitter, £4 worth of parking and £15 on pick and mix

I'll wait for the Blu Ray

If you buy anything at all from the cinema apart from the actual tickets then you're a mug of course.

£10.10 at Bedford Cineworld.

Still, Movies for Juniors (a special showing at 10am for people with kids) is still £1.75 each. I might take the Grimlet to see Home.

Ah, the less popular sequel to 3.10 to Yuma.

I rarely go these days. Money's much better sank into a big ass telly and AV receiver.

I know, my wife however is mesmerised by the wall of pick and mix, so fills the bag

I'm told I'm mean and we never go out etc if I try to stop her!

At the cinema in Glasgow city centre the various paper shops round about have got in on the game by offering pick and mix and popcorn and the like for a fraction of the price the cinema itself offers.

£6 at the university cinema, £5 at the local town's tiddly one, £9 or something at the Vue, but that's where my freebie bank account tickets work. So I go quite often.

We do this quite a bit when Chloe comes over. It's pretty cool.

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