Last night myself and Lou decided to go and see the new James Bond film, Casino Royale. We booked tickets online using www.myvue.co.uk for a scheduled start of 8pm.
7:25pm – Arrived at the cinema to find the car park full to bursting and in a state of complete chaos. Committed to entering said car park, it then took 15 minutes to get out again.
7:45pm – After frantic driving around, I parked the car in the China House pub car park. Despite being a bit cheeky, I was running out of time and planned to have a drink there after the film to ease my guilt. It’s a really nice pub and Lou hasn’t been there yet.
7:50pm – Arrive at cinema soaking wet and in a bad mood. Get into the screen to find the place packed to the doors and the only spare seats are in the front two rows. I’ve never sat in these seats before and I hope I never do again. From so close the screen turns into a blur of motion that is at times impossible to follow. It’s also uncomfortable because you have to tilt your head back to see anything. Then there’s the sound; it’s deafening. Why they have these seats is a mystery to me; it’s hard to imagine anyone ever being satisfied with them. Greed I guess, cram those people in, each one is worth £6.50 or whatever.
8:00pm – Adverts start.
8:45pm – Adverts finish, close-up blur of film begins. Not absolutely sure about this time, but the film was 140 minutes so I’m working back from the time it finished.
10:55pm – Film ends and we walk back to the car in the rain.
Okay
Why am I forced to sit in a seat that’s clearly unsuitable for viewing the film? The front rows might be fun for small children but certainly not for adults. Perhaps you haven’t noticed but your cinemas fill up from the rear. You would improve peoples enjoyment of the experience if you actually called a screen full without counting those ridiculous rows at the front.
Why is your car park way too small for the number of people you try to accommodate? Surely it’s not that hard to estimate that you need parking for about every 3 people your cinema can hold. Three seeming a logical figure per average car. Of course, if you dropped those silly front seats, the car park would be less congested!
Why is there nowhere nice to get a coffee or a snack in your cinema? If you provided this facility then people wouldn’t all try and arrive at once for a film. It may come as a surprise to you being an American company, but not everyone here likes bloody popcorn and cola.
I’ll leave the biggest point of irony until last. Remember that close-up front row seat I moaned about? Well you did an anti-pirating advert where you shrunk the picture down and made the sound really quiet. Then announced that we wouldn’t want to see it like this. You were wrong, it was the only point of the entire evening when I could see the whole picture and not be deafened by the volume. I suggest that if you want to stop pirating of DVD’s and films then you make an effort to turn your cinemas into a pleasant experience!