This afternoon I am going to do something I haven't done for 23 years. Go to the cinema on my own. Does this make me a very sad person?The last time I did this I was living in Germany and went to see a film called MR MOM in Heilbronn. I was the only person in the cinema - a very lonely feeling! My partner hates going to cinemas and prefers to wait for the DVD. The last time we went, I sympathised. I can't remember the film but I ended up turning round and telling a 15 year old behind me to shut the **** up after enduring his less than quiet whispers throughout the first half of the film. His mother looked rather shocked.
Anyway, I'm going to see 28 WEEKS LATER this afternoon and am preparing myself to be scared out of my wits. I gather it's rather more shocking than its excellent predecessor 28 DAYS LATER. I'm not normally into violent and gory fims like this, but I've always liked futuristic apocalyptic type movies. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW and INDEPENDENCE DAY remain two of my favourite films of all time. As you can see, my cinematic tastes are not exactly intellectual. Bet you're surprised...
UPDATE: I'm back, recovering... Not as good as 28 DAYS LATER but far more scary. I won;t say any more than that!
25 comments:
The first time I went to the cinema on my own was embarassing: asking for 'one ticket' was like asking for a packet of condoms at the chemist. Now I do it a lot - going to the cinema alone that is, not buying condoms - and so do a surprisng number of peeople.
Iain,
Given your genre interest you must have seen Al Gore's 'An inconvenient truth'?
Was it just another Hollywood apocalypse blockbuster to you or were you persuaded by its plot?
See here
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2007/03/great-global-warming-inconvenient-truth.html
Thanks for your link Iain,
I do wish you could be successful in getting such a debate going. I, for one, have spent a few years looking at the science and find I agree with the C4 programme. However I also know that the programme was panned by the 'consensus' scientists.
I think it a case of various vested interests being a bit selective in their 'data' (and computer models). But that is nothing new in politics - and it is now all politics.
"As you can see, my cinematic tastes are not exactly intellectual. Bet you're surprised..."
Not really ;)
Enjoy the film Iain, not my cup of tea personally; as a matter of fact your favourites match that of my teenage son. Spooky.
Can you stand a horror show today and then again tomorrow in manchester Iain?
I prefer going to the movies/theater/museums alone. That way I can concentrate and not feel need to talk to the person with me.
Are you sure your not trying to get some sort of "Government of the Living Dead" thing going here Iain ? Just when you thought the Labour party had been decontaminated - along comes the socialism virus ....
Beware, Mr Dale. Visit
http://www.cronaca.com/
and scroll down to "Death by popcorn".
Cinema is a pretty anti-social activity anyway - unless you go and get drunk and chew the fat afterwards.
I have been a few times on my own - especially when abroad!
28 Weeks Later and horror films.
Just wait until the Gordon Brown documentary due to be released at the end of the year!
Only 28 weeks until the Christmas special charting his first months in office.
I would say going out to dinner in your home town/city on your own on saturday night would beat a solitary visit to the cinema for tragedy.
Topped only by christmas lunch in a restaurant on your own , and having to pay the waiter to pull your cracker.
This is not unusual at all. Many people go with a group to see shite multiplex fodder when they are not that concerned about what they see.
Then go and see the films they are really interested in, or have had a great review on their or as a couple.
Good films don't get a long run, as they don't have the huge marketing budget of, say, Superman 3. Seeing a film by yourself is no different to popping out to the kitchen to watch Question Time if your partner wants to watch Newsnight. My guess is that the British film industry in particular would be in better health if more people went as 1s, 2s or 3s, so people aren't reduced to watching lowest common denominator Hollywood crap.
Sorry Iain, a bit off-topic, but why do people imagine that people on their own, watching films, listening to concerts, having a meal, going for a walk in the country or whatever, are "tragic"? There is an assumption that you don't exist without others, you don't signify, your life is sadly incomplete. It is somehow unimaginable that some people actually prefer to be on their own and are even happy to be so. Solitude is inconceivable. Why is this?
"pay the waiter to pull your cracker."
I bet you've paid a few people, to
"pull your cracker"
Mr Hitch?
Going to the cinema was a social thing when I was a kid. Seeing such classics as RockyIII and Ghostbusters! But when you get older, you tend to take your woman, when you want to go somewhere relatively cheap, and you don't have to hear her her yacking all night!
Alternatively get SkyHD and a home cinema set-up like me and wait 18 months, or wait until the DVD comes out a few months later, or download a free Divx version off one of those nice Torrent sites! But of course, that would be priracy and I wouldn't recommend, or do, such a thing myself. Honest!
My biggest moan about the cinema is having to sit near to people who spend the entire film noisily consuming gargantuan American-sized buckets of Coke and popcorn. Ugh!
Yes very very surprised. At how long it took you to go it solo again. Seriously you last went on your own ……23years ago, dude that is half your life.
I love and enjoy movies, and I mostly prefer watching the good ones on the big screen; it’s the whole experience thing for me. Watching on the big screen you can appreciate and value the art better.
I am let you into a little secret; I very rarely go with anyone and I mostly sneak to a matinee during the week. If I can help it, I will never go on weekends, everybody goes on the weekend specially mums and there chatterbox 15 years old, worth yet it is always so packed and you can even change seats to escape the commentary.
Ten years ago I used to be surrounded by OAP and the unemployed. But in the last few years that changed a lot. It seems like a lot of young and working people are on to the secret of week day’s matinees.
In my opinion cinema is the best and healthiest type of escapism we have today, so don’t leave too long and next time try week day’s matinees, they are quieter and cheaper too.
Iain, if you were the only person in the Cinema in Heilbron (I presume you mean Heilbronn?), how come you ended up turning round and telling a 15 year old behind you to shut the **** up after enduring his less than quiet whispers throughout the first half of the film?
bum bum bum
This type of problem seems to be worse in london then anywere else. Before I remarried I used to travel a lot on my own in far of distant places. Its impossible not to end up in a conversation with some native within a few moments and make friends. America being the best place of all. However in London this very rarely happened. You can sit in a pub for hours and not only not have anyone talk to you, you end up feeling completely invisable. To the point that you could believe that if you dropped your pants and started singing the National anthem at the top of your voice no one would even turn round and notice.
And yes it does make you sad Iain.
But it never bothered me because I had the best time any single hetro man could possibly have for 10 whole years. I even had time to see a site or two inbetween countless rampant sexual encounters.
Always travel alone its the only way to have a really good time.
Stop this "partner" nonsense and find yourself a nice wife, preferably one who likes films. Not me, though.
Clothilde Simon
"I ended up turning round and telling a 15 year old behind me to shut the **** up"
Very reasonable reaction mate, as long as it wasn't followed by "and get yer gums round this ..."
2br02b, You wrote: "Iain, if you were the only person in the Cinema in Heilbron (I presume you mean Heilbronn?), how come you ended up turning round and telling a 15 year old behind you to shut the **** up after enduring his less than quiet whispers throughout the first half of the film?"
Thanks for the spelling correction! The Heilbronn cinema visit was in 1984. The one where I told the 15 year old to shut up was last year. I think that is quite clear from the text.
This is interesting because I have just been thinking of going to see this film alone. I used to go alone a lot but I do find it a bit depressing now and rarely go, generally waiting until they come on to Sky Movies now.
Even if I don't see this I will probably go to see The Bourne Ultimatum this summer because I can't wait for the next instalment and I don't want anybody spoiling the plot for me!
Post a Comment