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I'm sure we can all take a moment to appreciate this. Fair warning if you've anything resembling a heart it definitely strikes at it hard.

I miss being in a cinema and the experience almost as much as I miss being at live music shows.

I wonder if they'll stop demanding such a large cut of opening run ticket sales from cinemas and let them get back on their feet? That's been slowly killing the medium for years.

I don't hate cinemas per se, but the best experiences have been ones with bars and no kids, and with news of how the Electric in Birmingham treated staff last year am not inclined to go back unless it changes ownership. Chains don't have comfortable enough chairs to sit in for over an hour and I'm sure I'm not the only person with old injuries, plus the desperation with which they try to compensate for ticket revenue sharing with snack prices makes you embarrassed on their behalf. Would generally rather watch most things with friends and pausing for cups of tea.

Denyer wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 7:06 pm I wonder if they'll stop demanding such a large cut of opening run ticket sales from cinemas and let them get back on their feet? That's been slowly killing the medium for years.

I don't hate cinemas per se, but the best experiences have been ones with bars and no kids, and with news of how the Electric in Birmingham treated staff last year am not inclined to go back unless it changes ownership. Chains don't have comfortable enough chairs to sit in for over an hour and I'm sure I'm not the only person with old injuries, plus the desperation with which they try to compensate for ticket revenue sharing with snack prices makes you embarrassed on their behalf. Would generally rather watch most things with friends and pausing for cups of tea.

you do have to wonder what sort of impact Black Widow having a "additional fee" release on Disney+ will have on their income in that respect.

I hear you on the comfort thing, they're not great in that respect compared to comfort of home. That said, the everyman in Leeds was all double couches and you could order pots of tea to where you were sitting etc was one of the most surreal cinema experiences I've ever had.

Marvel movies (and kaiju movies to a lesser extent) are now the only movies that are "must see" at the cinema for me now - unless it's a real spur of the moment thing.

The Electric was similar, about half rows of armchairs and half sofas. Coffee, cocktails, antipasto, handmade cake, etc. and not pretentious with it, a studenty place. Lots of screenings of classic films as well as new releases. I could've gotten tickets to see the premiere of a Ghostbusters documentary I backed a crowdfund for and met the husband and wife producing it, that sort of thing. Just a shame the current owner seems to be of the ratbastard variety.

The Commodore in Aberystwyth is another good one, although I hope they've upgraded the equipment by now. Bad films are much better with beer.

I think a lot of people will pay for streaming if it isn't a price gouge, and studios know they can't sustain things on just streaming at the moment so it's worth their while to keep the cinema chains around. But both sides are in somewhat shaky negotiating positions.

i can't wait for cinemas to open. I love the little Light cinema we have in Bradford. Hipsters come in and introduce the film. Cute! I did consider streaming, but it's not the same and Amazon were charging more than cinemas do to watch at home, so no thanks.

Don't know how excited I am for Marvel Phase 4. Looks like they're dusting down some right old D-listers for the next run. Hope for a live action Death's Head yet, then...

I'll probably wait a bit before going to movie theaters in person again, but I'm really looking forward to it.

grandmasterfunk wrote: ↑Sat May 08, 2021 8:07 pm I'll probably wait a bit before going to movie theaters in person again, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm in no real rush to get back to "normal" and hope that cinema still respect social distancing in their ticket sales and placing of people in the theatres

Been out to the pictures twice! It were alright. Saw A Quiet Place part II which was unbearably tense. Both in terms of what was on screen and the atmosphere in the cinema. It was everyone's first time back, and a lot of people were crammed in as the Vue in Leeds where I went had the worse luck of a leak which had taken out a bunch of their screens, so this was a 'second choice' (I was quite happy, as my mate had originally wanted to see some Conjuring thing). There was enough space to distance, but it just felt that people weren't so comfortable being close to other people after so long. Mask thing was confusing too - have it down to eat/ drink, but otherwise have it on. Seems a bit redundant, as the damage is done once masks are down and just treated it like going to the pub/ restaurant.

All of which is a long pre-amble to say I went to see Black Widow when it opened in at The Light near me in Bradford. Hardly anyone went there anyway, so audience numbers don't look to have changed much before and after the pandemic. I'd say Black Widow was a middling Marvel film. It was good, and I liked all the usual quippy banter and character work, but it wasn't super blow you out of the water. I think if this hadn't had it's showing delayed, I'd probably have thought a bit more of it. Mind you, I'd not really enjoyed Spider-Man Goes To Europe With Some Funny Glasses as much as I expected to either. I think, in a strange way, it's because Endgame felt like such a capstone that going back to these characters feels a bit unnecessary unless you're going to do something a bit more interesting than the usual bunfight fisticuffs, which Black Widow didn't. Other than set Yelena up as the new Black Widow (probably) and maybe tease at a possible Thunderbolts/ Dark Avengers (which would be nice, but only if it has the sass of Warren Ellis' comics).

I don't have Disney+ so haven't seen any of the Marvel shows everyone says are the second coming, so dunno about them. There were a couple of trailers for Shang-Chi, which looked alright. I'll go see it, but I'm more interested in Eternals, which looks interesting.