#Cineworld Secret Screening

[milliondollarbaby87]

Scrapper (2023) Review

Having to deal with the death of her mother, 12 year old Georgie has been living alone in her London flat and covering it up but when her father Jason arrives everything is about to change. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Continue reading Untitled

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

Scrapper (12): Of childhood grief, bike theft and talking spiders.

#onemannsmovies #filmreview of "#Scrapper". A novel and funny look at childhood grief but with an uplifting ending. Out on Friday. 3.5/5.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Scrapper” (2023). Seen as a Cineworld ‘Secret Cinema’ event (where you don’t know what the film will be before it starts) “Scrapper” is the debut from writer/director Charlotte Regan. Looking at the feedback from that screening, it is clearly a “marmite” film, with some loving it and some hating it. I found it brilliant in places but frustratingly lacking in…

[cultfaction]

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

My partner, Ali and I both have Unlimited cards with Cineworld.  It allows us to go to the cinema whenever we want as often as we want.  It also gives us the opportunity to see advanced screenings of films a few days before they go on general release.  We were intrigued by the advertisement on our phone app of an “Unlimited Secret Screening”.;  I suggested we should go for it as it could be fun,…

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Crawl (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: This isn’t the type of movie that warrants two reviews, so I’m just going to give a general overview of the movie but may go into spoiler territory slightly, so if you don’t want to know what happens before seeing the movie then don’t read on until you do.

General Reaction:

I had absolutely no intention of seeing this movie, I saw it as a Secret Unlimited Screening which I get to go to as a Cineworld Unlimited member and was sat in the cinema waiting to see what movie it was going to be. At one point I genuinely thought it could have been It: Chapter 2, which I know is coming in just over a month and I know I will be seeing but I have just over a month to get myself ready for that.

With Crawl, I knew absolutely nothing about the movie going into it, I guessed it was a horror movie featuring an alligator...I was partially right, because apparently there were a f”$k ton of alligators going spare or just technology has come along rather well because every gator that showed up I was genuinely concerned.

Alright so “concerned” is probably the wrong word but for me my relationship with the gators here was a lot like my relationship with the Weeping Angels in Doctor Who. The first episode we see the Weeping Angels I was terrified to the point where it took me a good seven years I think to watch that episode again, yet I was fine with the later episodes featuring them because after a while their shtick got old, here was the same because in the first half of the movie these gators were terrifying but towards the end, particularly with the one that comes flying through the window, it did get slightly ridiculous.

Honestly there were two points in this movie, both in the third act of the movie and rather close to each other, where I genuinely was thinking this movie was trying to drag out to reach that 87 minute mark runtime. The first was after the father and daughter stars of the movie make it out the house and are on a speedboat, but then this raging water sends the boat and them flying back into the same house they just escaped only now the main house is flooded as well as the crawl space so the gators could be anywhere.

Again that second point is when the gator comes flying through the window because the father and daughter make it to the first floor landing where she thinks she sees a helicopter so uses a flare to try and signal it down from the inside of the house, but then a gator comes flying in through the window...it did border on both the ridiculous and the thrilling.

That being said I did spend the majority of this movie with my fingers in my ears because I genuinely cannot stand jump scares, particularly a movie that simply relies heavily on jump scares. Now that’s not to say there isn’t a decent suspenseful atmosphere throughout this movie, particularly in the first half, but there’s only so many ways a gator can make me jump surely?

Also, particularly in the second act of the movie and when that traffic cop tried saving the two main characters only to get eaten, my main concern was if the dog was going to die. In fact after the boat came crashing into the house and the three of them fell out Sugar (the dog) went drifting through the house and at that point I thought they killed her.

Fortunately she survived, along with Kaya Scodelario and Barry Pepper and at the end of the movie, which is a rather abrupt ending by the way, the song that plays over the credits is “See You Later Alligator!” which almost had my audience burst out laughing, I don’t know if that was the song playing on the radio but to hear it at full volume was quite humorous.

My final point is on the real-world similarities to this movie. This movie is set in Florida and, despite living in the U.K. I know full well how natural disasters have affected certain parts of America recently. I don’t know whether or not the natural bad weather would mean starting the Planet of the Alligators but that real-world reference does add some gravitas to the movie.

Cast:

Kaya Scodelario is probably in her finest role here since Skins, I really thought her character was established well early on as a competitor and a fighter which led to her fighting her way through the storm to get to her father’s house and then surviving against the alligators to get out of the house.

Barry Pepper meanwhile is an actor I’ve never taking note of before but here he portrayed the distant father role rather well. I thought the relationship between Kaya and Barry was rather organic for the type of strained father-daughter relationship it was but this isn’t really a character driven movie and so they gave us enough without focusing too much on it.

Recommendation:

If you’re not a fan of water or alligators or natural disaster movies then this isn’t the one for you. But keeping in mind this is produced by the same guy who directed Spider-Man 3 and understand when I say he does a rather artistic job at what could have easily been an otherwise bland movie.

Overall I rate the movie a 6/10, it’s an enjoyable suspense thriller movie and I see it having a strong future on streaming, which isn’t a negative but I feel it will thrive there.

So that’s my review of Crawl, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[gxxld-and-sugar]

Cineworld Secret Screening 2 - Take 2!Cineworld Secret Screening 2 – Take 2!Date: Wednesday 11th...

[pcwerandcontrol]

blcndwolf replied to your post: blcndwolf replied to your post: ...

I saw it in tuesday at renfrew street. It was the cineworld unlimited secret screening.

i heard that it was playing there after it was done, i was so mad at myself for not seeing it. now i gotta wait three weeks

[kentstartt]

jack and deans 2017

heres a masterpost of everything (i think) jack and dean did in 2017, everything is linked if you so wish to see them also the dates might be a day off bc im in Australia and i cba getting the timezone correct. follow me on twitter @jackhowad for me and @jackandean for updates x (this took me like 3 days to put together id really appreciate if u read it xo

January 

6th- deans 25th birthday 

8th- they uploaded ‘the good the bad and the just plain sh!t parts of 2016′

13th- dean and his brother daniel went to a Nintendo switch event in london (x,x,x)

16th- deans ass is now available on vinyl & dean followed me on jack and dean updates

27th jack saw moonlight and mark hamill liked his tweet 

28th jack and hazel saw the lego batman movie

30th hazel uploaded “a lovely night” cover with jack

February 

9th the trailer for drunk history, which jack and dean were in, was posted (x)

10th they posted a photo revealing raleigh richie was going to be in jadoat & dean was on bbc radio 1 talking about games

11th jacks 25th birthday

12th dean did a twitch stream (the only clip i have from that is him saying he wants to fuck tom hardy so, enjoy) & jack and hazel went to the baftas (x,x,x)

13th superglued was the first jack and dean video to hit 2 million views & dean first drew the heart guy

15th bertie took some nice photos of dean (x,x,x,x)

19th dodie posted a cover of ‘someone in the crowd’ with jack and co

20th dean wants to eat ass?

21st they had a screening of jadoat season 2 for cast, crew and friends (x,x,x)

22nd dean posted the first designs for what would become his merch

23rd cayleigh posted the 120 chicken nuggets challenge with dean

27th dean posted the first “We Need To Talk About Games” podcast with bertie

March

1st the poster for jadoat season 2 was posted

3rd dean got his nintendo switch and died a bit inside

6th dean posted the second episode of the “We Need To Talk About Games” podcast with his brother daniel

9th the jadoat tralier was posted on youtube

10th jack went to stay in a cabin in the woods with hazel for the weekend

14th jack posted a vlog “naked man at the gym”

16th jadoat season 2 went online along with season 1 being posted in full on fulscreens facebook page

18th jack and dean (and co) went to dodies gig in london

21st jack posted a vlog “dont talk about it”

23rd episode 3 of jadoat went on fullscreen

26th dean finished playing zelda breath of the wild

27th jack and dean posted a #spon sketch “living room shootout” ft bertie and hazel

29th jack and dean were on hannah wittons fubar radio show (x,x)

30th the 4th episode of jadoat went on fullscreen & they were on the greg james show on radio 1

31st dean posted a vlog “Dean Updates You”

April

1st jack posted a vlog “my bad acne”

6th jack posted a vlog “hasnt seen the matrix" & dean posted the first dean draws ‘Dean Draws A Slime Ghoul’

7th jack and dean went to vidconEU in Amsterdam (x,x,x)

12th jack and dean did an interview with maximum pop

13th jack posted a vlog “movie directing secrets with gareth edwards”

14th dean did the photoshoot for his new merch store

15th dean posted “Dean Draws Space Elephant POTUS”

21st jack and dean posted jadoat S1E3 to youtube as “babysitters”

22nd dean posted ‘Dean Draws A Top Hat Mermaid’ & jack posted a vlog “things go wrong”

25th dean started his patreon back up again (go donate) & jack met james gunn (the director of gotg2)

26th their episode of drunk history aired & jack posted a vlog “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Thoughts/Review”

28th dean posted “Dean Draws A Candle Samurai Shark”

May

3rd jack hosted a roundtable thing with Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender & he met billy crudup & katherine waterson

5th dean flew to playlist live in florida

6th jack posted a vlog “whos the best chris” with hazel

7th daniel j layton posted “baking with layton also jack howard” & dean did a m&g at playlist live

8th jack and dean were on cbbc to play “say what”

9th jack was on an episode of reasonable beef to talk about guardians of the galaxy

10th jack posted a vlog “theres NOT hope for us all”

17th dean posted “Dean Draws Jack Howard Cthulhu” & jack was on another ep of reasonable beef to talk about spiderman 3

20th deandobbsstore launched 

21st jack posted a vlog “if wonder woman fails”

24th dean posted “Dean Talks #1 - Merch, Patreon, Jack & Dean and the next Dean Draws”

27th dean posted “dean draws a broccoli dinosaur”

28th jack and dean posted a sketch “bed head”

29th jack posted the bts/bloopers of bed head to twitter

June

3rd jack posted a vlog “bad brain days”

16th dean drew this adorable pic of him and jack

17th jack and hazel saw hans zimmer in concert

18th hazel posted “talking pictures” with jack

21st jack and dean flew to LA for vidconUS

23rd jack and dean attended viconUS in Anaheim

25th jack and dean hosted part of the vidcon livestream (x)

27th dean got his jacket embroidered with DAD (his initials) 

28th jack and dean officially became real youtubers when they were on “youtubers react to the nicki minaj challenge”

30th jack and dean posted a sketch “nazi bar” (which got trending and pissed off all the alt right piss babies)

July

1st dom fera posted a sketch “banana shirt” with jack

4th nazi bar was featured in philip defracos “today in awesome”

7th jack saw spider-man homecoming

13th jack and dean (& co) attended the dunkirk premiere (x) and jack met tom hardy

14th jack and dean were on another episode of youtubers react “Try To Watch This Without Laughing or Grinning” & nazi bar hit one million views so jack posted the deleted scenes to twitter 

15th jack posted a vlog “wonder woman review” & was on another reasonable beef to talk about spider-man homecoming 

16th jack posted a vlog “spider-man homecoming review”

17th jack posted a vlog “i love Christopher Nolan”

August

2nd jack and dean were in “youtubers react to 90s internet comercials”

4th dean attended sitc on his own for the first time ever

7th the fratocrats posted “Jack Howard, Muggles Vs Wizards and Roy!“

10th dean drew theresa may babbadook for a dean draws but the file for corrupted

11th wetheunicorns posted “dean dabbs”

14th jack announced that there wont be a jadoat season 3 :( (x)

17th dodie posted “in the middle (acoustic)” with jack 

27th jack and dean posted a sketch “handful”

29th jack posted the outtakes to handful on twitter

31st jack and hazel went to ireland

September 

7th jack attended the premiere of “Mother” (x)

8th deans week long gaming IG project started (x,x,x) & jack met Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Aronofsky in paris with hazel

15th dean posted  "Dean Draws A Mystery Movie Poster - Cineworld Spon”

23rd jack posted a vlog ‘a chat with matthew vaughn’ 

24th jack posted a vlog “Kingsman: The Golden Circle - RANT & Review”

26th jack and hazel celebrated their 2 year anniversary 

27th jack was on reasonable beef to talk about kingsman: the golden circle

28th jack was in a video on school of life “Why we should show our hurt rather than argue” & jack and dean flew to toronto for buffer festival

29th jack was on the jackmaate podcast

October 

1st jack and dean posted a sketch “self conscious computer ft anna akana” after screening it at buffer fest

3rd jack posted a vlog “why do we binge” & timH posted a sketch “we’ve all been there” with jack and dom fera

11th josh edwards posted “game show” with jack and dean

16th dean did a photoshoot for season 2 of his merch

19th dean attended an event for mario oddyssey (x)

27th deandobbsstore launced season 2 with chill one hoodies and eat people beanies & dodie posted the official video for ‘you’ with jack and sav

28th dean attended MCM comic con in london 

31st josh edwards posted “houndz of the BASTARDvilles“ with jack, hazel, dan and dodie

November

3rd jack went on the orient express

5th dean posted “dean draws chill one (a really bad how to)”

14th jack did some baking as promo for daddys home (i think)

16th jack posted a vlog “the problem with marvel”

17th hazel posted “would you rather” with jack

28th they shot a new video

30th dean was on radio 1 talking about games

December

3rd jack and dean posted a sketch “cup phones”

idk if anyone will actually read this far, thanks if u do. also congrats to the lads who have had a p sick year, i’ve had a great time updating it. also s/o to felicity who proofread this for me, i appreciate it, even if i didn't use any of her changes. follow her on twitter, shes whipped for taron like me but its more sexy from her 

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (12): King Phoenix Buchanan!

#onemannsmovies review of "Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves" (2023). #DnDMovie. Rollicking good fun. 4/5.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves” (2023). I saw this well ahead of its 31st March release date thanks to an unexpected Cineworld Secret Screening event: one where you don’t know what the preview film is going to be before it starts. I did have a backup booking for 30 minutes later in case the film wouldn’t be suitable for The Illustrious Mrs Movie Man and…

[lozhashersay]

Hey there Tumblr, its been a while! It has also been a while since I went to see this film so the scenes are a little faded but my love and admiration for this film has settled.

I am not the type of person to watch a murder mystery at the cinema. I love nothing more than sitting at home and watching one on telly at my leisure one autumnal afternoon. However I saw the trailer during one of my frequent visits to Cineworld and decided right there and then that I would see The Limehouse Golum on the big screen. And do I regret that? No. I. Do. Not. 

I did not expect all the clever little twists and turns during that narrative, which was obviously the point, but my god they managed to fit so much information in and still sway your judgement without making it messy or complicated. I accused many a suspect during this film and I found myself once again pointing a finger at my original suspect Dan Leno. I’m pretty sure that I haven’t personally seen Douglas Booth in anything since he played Pip in Great Expectations back in 2011 and I enjoyed his performance back then too just as much, if not more in this film. 

So the story follows Inspector Kildare trying to crack two murder mysteries. Initially he is assigned the case of the Limehouse murders, but then finds himself trying to prove the innocence of Elizabeth Cree who was accused of poisoning her husband John, a suspect in Kildare’s original case. There are so many things I want to explore and mention about this film but I can’t bring myself to spoil the thrill of this masterpiece. 

What I will say is that the overall mystery was so successfully achieved. They had me guessing (wrongly) who the murderer could be the whole time until I finally thought I had cracked it. Then another twist and we found ourselves at the reveal, and seconds before the character confessed it clicked.

What I liked apart from the fact that I, a self confessed murder mystery genius, could not figure out the killer, was that the whole establishing a suspect was performed so cleverly. Each sinister suspect narrated an extract of the Golum’s diary, then we watched them act out the extract, allowing us to match them to the crime or discard the suspect completely. It was such a different approach to forming a suspect which was why those scenes engrossed me so.

Another thing I enjoyed was the ending, although at first I didn’t understand Kildare’s decision to keep the true murderers identity a secret, I then found a perverted form of justice in it. He prevented the murderers final intentions, in more way than one. However this then formed a moral injustice as a victim was then remembered a murderer, leaving the murderer as a consequential victim. This formed a conflict within me that I enjoyed, but it haunts me, however I do like that it adds to Kildare’s character, such a moral man making such a hard decision made it far more real for me.

When mentioning justice, something else in the film tickled me in a twisted way. The death of Aveline Ortega, I felt it was truly deserved, and in a way she was partially responsible for the Golum. I liked that she met the exact same fate as Elizabeth, almost an equal death for a woman she always tried to out do. What really got me was how at her time of death she was impersonating Elizabeth, which I felt was almost a win for the woman beyond the grave. The death of her rival in the way she wanted. This win was short lived as I then realised that in a way Elizabeth got the death she wanted, even if it wasn’t truly her, but at the same time Aveline again won in a twisted reveal of fate, her death got the audience Elizabeth craved, once again Aveline got what Elizabeth strode for. That was left playing on my mind way after the film had ended.

I feel like there are so many meaningful routes I could explore when talking about this film, and I have never been left so conflicted about the ending of a murder mystery and that is the truly horrifying thing in this horror-mystery. The sole reason I have tried to refrain from detail is that I just can’t bare to spoil it, once I buy it on DVD I will 100% do a follow up post on either here or instagram exploring the finer details in depth. Even though the film has been out in cinemas a while I still think more people need to see it and until that chance has snuffed it then I shall keep my major spoilers to myself. 

Anyway.. The Limehouse Golum has changed me, although the MM genre is still one I prefer on the little screen I will definitely be viewing those that appeal to me at the cinema, in fact I’m looking forward to November as that brings the release of Murder on the Orient Express! (Also I’m a sucker for Johnny Depp and Judi Dench...) 

Now for the important bit. I rate this beaut a solid 10/10. I really feel like it deserves it, it pulled off so many twists and despite what my partner says, it partially concealed the true killer until the very end. SUCCESSFULLY. And that in itself was worth a high rating. 

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Incredibles 2

Disclaimer: Alright so I am going back to my old formula of a non-spoiler and spoiler review for this movie because I saw this movie at a private screening before mainstream audiences in the U.K, I know it has been released in the US but if you haven’t yet seen it over there and because you will probably not yet have seen it over here and want to avoid spoilers then this review is for you.

The spoiler review for this movie will be posted the day the movie airs here in the U.K.

General Reaction:

Finally, after 14 years of making us as fans wait for a sequel to what is considered not just one of the best Pixar movies but superhero movies of all time both by fans and critics, Disney finally delivers and oh boy did they have a lot to live up to, both with anticipation and their first outing. But did it deliver all us fans have been waiting for patiently all these years?

It, for me, is a knockout sequel. What Incredibles 2 does to not only top what it did in the first Incredibles by introducing this superhero family as a relatable everyday family who happen to also be superheroes but also delve deeper into the moral politics of what being a superhero means and the consequences that come with the pros is nothing short of incredible. Yes I said it! It sounds super cheesy but there are no other words to describe my excitement after seeing this movie. Even more so than the excitement in my anticipation of seeing it.

Now, particularly as the movie approached its release date for me and especially as this secret screening came about, I did start to question whether or not a lot of my excitement and personal hype was due to “Nostalgia Goggles” both for the first film and the superhero genre; but what seeing this movie reminded me is why I loved the first movie so much and that is that while yes the superhero genre is very much a factor for my love of this franchise more so than that it is because The Incredibles portrays the genre I love so much in an original way. I love Marvel, I will always love Marvel, but the fact they copy a lot from DC in terms of characters and story as well as the other way round makes the genre stale over time. Yes there are already superheroes with the powers that these characters have, even the new heroes introduced, but there have been so many superheroes and superpowers introduced in the last century I challenge you to create a new power without it being lame. The heart of this franchise is the focus on family and no other superhero property has done that as well as The Incredibles.

Turning my attention back to Incredibles 2, and with all the praise I am gushing about this movie, you’re probably reading this thinking “This movie is perfect!” Well it isn’t, there are one or two aspects I didn’t care for in this movie and both come from women. Firstly, Violet’s story-arc in this movie does make her come across as plain annoying at times but it is an arc and she is going through relatable teenage drama just with added superhero influence so I applaud the movie for portraying that but she does get slightly grating. Also the movie teeters ever so close on feminism saturation both with the fact Elastigirl becomes the poster girl for Supers but also with a couple of the new female characters introduced. Both points are nothing too big to damage the enjoyability of the movie in any way but they are there and will be covered fully in the spoiler review.

Ending this section on a hilarity note, the comedy in this movie outshines the first movie by a mile, largely coming from Jack-Jack of all places. Edna Mode is still a comedy diva and she’s fabulous as ever which we’ll discuss but Jack-Jack discovering his powers is potentially my favourite scene in the movie. Frozone is also funny but that is down to Samuel L. Jackson, and now that he is also Nick Fury I can only see him like that, one scene in particular. The hijinx that ensue with Bob trying to be a stay-at-home dad are fantastic, especially when you add in that he is so put out that he isn’t the one being the face of Supers. The whole movie is just very entertaining, I’m trying not to say incredible or incredibly too many times.

Cast:

The returning cast slip back into their roles like they never left...and again it’s been 14 damn years so you could forgive them for slipping slightly but all of them keep it as though it has only been 30 seconds since we last saw them as this movie picks up straight after the first ends. The only exception of course is the voice of Dash because Spencer Fox, who portrayed him in the first movie, is now 25 and so his kid voice has well and truly gone. However Huck Milner does a surprisingly good job at sounding like Spencer Fox and probably is the reason why Dash is slightly underused in the movie to ensure no one can properly tell the difference.

The new cast are good, but none have real standout quality for me. The two I took note of were Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener who play the two new main supporting characters but Odenkirk stood out because he reminded me a lot of James Woods which made me question why Hades was in Incredibles 2.

Cineworld Experience:

So as I said before, this was a private screening for fans like me who are part of Cineworld Unlimited. It was in their biggest screen, there were drinks and snacks provided by Café Rouge and all in all it was a great experience. We did not know what the movie was going to be until literally the card saying the film and the rating etc comes up and I kid you not, the second that card comes up and everyone reads “Incredible 2″ everyone in the cinema cheered myself included. I am 25 years old, most of the people in this screening range from my age bracket upwards because you have to have an Unlimited card and I don’t know the age range on them but I didn’t see any kids so to see all adults getting so excited about Incredibles 2 was epic.

Now I did buy drinks at a shop and eat before coming to the cinema but it didn’t stop me from enjoying what was provided. Also at the end of the screening I went out and spoke to a friend of mine who works at the cinema who I hadn’t seen for a while and he asked me to describe the movie for him and I said “It’s worth the wait”.

Which is how I would describe this movie to anyone as being worth the wait, yes it was 14 years but now that’s behind us and the movie is upon us it is absolutely worth it. Just don’t make me wait another 14 years for the damn third movie!

So that’s my non-spoiler review of Incredibles 2, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews, including my spoiler review coming in a couple of weeks, as well as other posts.

[gxxld-and-sugar]

Cineworld Secret Screening 13 - Possible Films

[thejacksmit]

Projection Room: how can one chain dispute with 2 distributors?

12/02/19: the story has a happy-ish ending

So, this story eventually went mainstream thanks to Simon Brew (the founder and former editor of Den of Geek) and his reporting on it over the last 2 days on his new venture Film Stories- and it’s definitely worth a look. Long story short, this dispute is very nearly over, as both parties came to an agreement on showings for How To Train Your Dragon 3, and the promotion of other Universal films has resumed on Vue’s social media channels as well as in-cinema. As for Mary Queen of Scots... well, only 43 of their cinemas are authorised to show it. Your move next, Chiswick.

The following views are those of TheJackSmit.com and not those of any employer or cinema chain. Obviously.

Back in October I wrote this piece on how Vue Entertainment’s dispute with Warner Bros. kept a big chunk of the British cinemagoing public from seeing A Star is Born. What you guys didn’t know was that this was one of the many reasons why I decided to go with the #BornIndependent campaign this year and break free from what was becoming quite a restrictive environment, because I knew it would happen again. And it has.

Once again, Vue have got themselves into some hot water over contracts, revenue splits and terms to show Mary Queen of Scots- and every Universal film that is available to pre-book at other chains. Obviously as I was associated with the Vue chain for nearly 15 years as a customer, and the last 5 years as the resident critic at one of their cinemas, I have to look at both sides of the argument, so if you’re expecting me to rip them apart, for the sake of my friends who work in various roles within that company, that ain’t gonna happen.

On one hand, this can be seen as Vue using their corporate might to send a message about how much control they have in the UK market- they do have 90 cinemas around the UK and Ireland now, making up a good 20% of the market (with Odeon and Cineworld having a little under 25% each in terms of pure market share). They’ve taken to aggressively pricing down cinemas in some areas, with their £4.99 offering currently running at 40 of their venues- all of which have some form of competition, and seriously, don’t get me started on what they’re doing to cinemagoers in Carmarthen where they have the monopoly. They pride themselves in being the first choice in their unique brand of ‘big screen entertainment’, hell, they don’t even refer to themselves as a cinema anymore. This is their way of saying to competitors that it’s the film buyers who control this industry... and believe me, that’s far from the truth.

However, like I said in October, this sort of dispute does set an alarming precedent for customers to all the major chain cinemas. It took Vue and Warner just over 11 days to come to an agreement on A Star is Born and Smallfoot- the two films affected by the crossfire last time. But this is a much bigger deal. It’s Universal we’re talking about here. And they have a huge slate on offer for 2019. This has already prompted them to stop pre-books for How To Train Your Dragon 3- which at the time of writing has some very prominent poster placement in Vue’s cinemas, and if a deal is not made in the next few days (which, let’s be honest, will only happen if hell freezes over), these cinemas will miss out on some of 2019′s biggest films, including Jordan Peele’s new film Us, The Secret Life of Pets 2, and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw- if they don’t get that last film, then a storm will arise amongst cinema’s key audience: the 15-24 demographic. They have, and they will, lose customers to other venues. Just a glance at the Vue Help account on Twitter tells you everything.

So, to close this up- head offices of Vue, Odeon, Cineworld and smaller chains, listen closely. For years the customer has been the central focus of this industry, but of late, you’ve focused too much on the retail side of things. It’s nice having bars, reclining seats and full renovations, but where cinemas have to impress is in the selection of films. Some people don’t care about 4 screens worth of Mary Poppins. It’s time to up your game. Independent venues like The Palace in Longridge- just 40 minutes away from the Vue cinema where I honed my craft- are upping their game, and it’s working for them exponentially. Get negotiating. Get the films we want to see on at the times that suit us. And maybe we’ll take you up on that £3.99 Monday ticket deal... wait, it’s £4.99 now? Sometimes breaking free from a place you know incredibly well feels like the best move.

[tubemapchallenge]

Back in the game!

It’s been a while since we went on a big session to visit lots of Tube Map Stations so we decided to make amends during this Bank Holiday Weekend. We decided to complete the Eastern end of District line starting from Barking. 

We made to Upminster, which had a nice Signal Box shown below.

We decided to get to Goblin (Gospel Oak to Barking LINe) from Blackhorse Road. I have already ticked this station off, but Emma Hadn’t and this counts as we arrived on the Victoria Line from Seven Sisters and exited the Gate Line to get the photo.

We arrived at Barking then headed out for a quick stop at KFC before heading back into the station to complete the District Line!

First stop along was Upney.

Becontree

Dagenham Heathway

I’ve never been to Dagenham East before, but all these stations were starting to see very samey! an exit at the Eastern End of the platform leading to a single exit on a main road...

As with most of stations along this part of the District Line, there didn’t seem to be much around Elm Park when we left the stations to explore the local areas.

Hornchurch

Upminster Bridge

One of the joys of doing the District Line was the S Stock Trains! When you are in Zone 6, its not too uncommon to have a whole train to yourself, which makes a fun selfie opportunity...

We made it Upminster in a sooner that we though we would. There was plenty of daylight and we had time so decided to visit a few more stations.

Our plan for the evening was to see Fast & Furious 8 at a Cineworld as we have unlimited cards. Originally we thought about going to Ilford, but as we had time to decided to head to the O2 instead, and get more stations in!

We took a train all the way East Ham and continue ticking off more district line stations

It’s been a few years since I was last at Upton Park, Emma’s driver a rail replacement bus here a few times but last time I visited was when we stayed at hotel in the old West Ham United Stadium.

Plaistow

After heading out then in again to use West Ham’s Gateline barriers, we switched over to the Jubilee Line and continue out journey towards the O2.

There was a lot of interestingly dressed people at Canning Town. It turns out there was a Secret Cinema screening of Moulin Rouge...

Our final station for the day was North Greenwich! We headed into the O2 to grab some dinner and see Fast & Furious 8, a pretty awesome film, surprisingly funny!

After another fun day of visiting stations we got to 15 more, well 16 for Emma! I managed to cross 100 different stations during this sessions, bring me closer to that half way mark...

My grand total thus far is 110!

[milliondollarbaby87]

Cineworld Secret Screening 11 - Possible Films!

The first secret screening of 2024 taking place at Cineworld which is the 11th Secret Screening (that is open to everyone, don’t forget these started off being Unlimited Secret Screenings that you had to be a member for). Date: Monday 22nd January 2024Time: 19:30 Just a reminder that the rating and running time listed on the website does not link directly to the film, just because it has a 15…

[xyzentertainment-blog]

Cineworld Unlimited Secret Screening 10

Cineworld Unlimited Secret Screening 10

Last night saw Cineworlds tenth Secret Unlimited Screening, recently we have been treated to some very good films such as Love Simon, Incredible 2 and last Christmas saw Molly’s Game being shown, this year was a wide open as there is a lot of good films coming out but with the booking being opened for Aquaman and Mary Poppins Returns this to me ruled them out so I was then thinking it could be…

[bob-the-movie-man-film-reviews]

Hatching (15): A Finnish horror where ET meets the Brothers Grimm.

#onemannsmovies review of "Hatching" (2022). #Hatching. Classy Finnish language horror that flips the ET story on its head. 4.5/5.

A One Mann’s Movies review of “Hatching” (2022). (Original title “Pahanhautoja”) This was the latest in Cineworld’s “Secret Screening” where the audience don’t know what the film will be before it runs. What would it be? “See How They Run”? “Don’t Worry Darling”? When the audience found out it was the subtitled Finnish horror film “Hatching”, there was a mass exodus for the doors! Probably about…