Cinema Standards Declining..?

Vern1961 · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:03

Been a while since we went to the cinema but wife and I decided to go and see Halloween at our local Cineworld this afternoon.

Okay movie but the cinema and presentation very poor. £18.40 for two of us on a Tuesday afternoon. No Box Office anymore, you have to buy tickets from an automatic machine - so no cash purchase, card only.

Once in the screen very uncomfortable low seats, felt like we were sitting on the floor. Movie started and was projected on the screen with black bars all around the picture, almost as if watching an old DVD on a modern large screen TV. The picture within the "bars" was not exactly sharp. In fact we wondered if this even projected from celluloid or they are now using digital media. Sound was mediocre, over loud and tinny with no subtlety at all.

Is this typical or were we just unlucky? Not surprising apart from us there were only two or three other people in the screening. If this is how far the cinema has fallen compared to years ago, we will stay at home and watch movies on our large screen TV, Dolby Atmos and from the La-Z-Boy recliner.

SC0TTRS · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:22

Think you're just unlucky enough that your local hasn't been updated yet.

I find the ticket machines great, can buy tickets using the app and just collect instead of queuing at a manned till.

Tickets are £4.99 each every day, apart from Monday, which is £3.99 and Weds using Meerkat.

Massive comfy leather seats which recline with adjustable table for snacks and drinks.

4k Sony projector and Dolby Atmos

Our local is VUE, we go most weeks.

Glanza · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:30

Unlucky I think, we go to our local Cineworld (Sheffield) most weekends and apart from other people being annoying at times we generally don't have issues with audio or visual, if it's standard, 4dx or Imax showings.

The seats weren't great until they revamped all the screens 3 years ago and fitted new seats throughout, you can tell with the more 'common' seating areas now which seats are starting to show signs of usage with the padding starting to fail.

I think Sheffield is trying to be a flagship as it was one of the first to get 4dx in the UK, the Imax screen is one of the bigger in the country and we've now got VIP with the reclining seats and food service here.

Tombstone · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:34

My pet peeve with our local cinema (Odeon), is that when I book tickets online, theres a 75p charge per ticket for booking online.

Seems totally the opposite of what I would expect, you'd think that as you're getting the tickets online, thus not requiring a member of staff in the cinema to serve you, that if anything, it would be 75p cheaper to book online, not 75p extra

Safetytrousers · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:36

Vue in Reading is fine. You buy tickets off the nice young people vending in the place.

ttaskmaster · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:36

Steeps · 23 Oct 2018 at 16:55

You can use the terminals or buy tickets from concessions. Years ago when they had box offices it was usually quicker to go direct to concessions and buy tickets there even if you weren't buying food, so they scrapped the box office and made everyone use concessions. Now it's a lucky dip whether you join a queue just buying tickets or a couple that spend 15 minutes deciding on the film, then what drink, then if they want to upgrade their popcorn, then can't decide what seat they want to be in. £18.40 is 30% cheaper than it is during the evening. Cineworld is very expensive for a mediocre experience.

Screens are all digital and mostly automated, if they've had to shuffle the projectors around quite often you'll get the bars as it's the same team that serve at the counters and scrub the floors that make sure the projector is also turned on.

Not everyone can afford or have space for a home cinema.

Vern1961 · 23 Oct 2018 at 17:56

Well there's an Empire cinema over at Greenbridge, we may try that - though last time we were there fairly certain the projection was off and I had to go out into the foyer to get someone to fix it. The only advantage of Cineworld is that it's only a 5 min walk from where we live.

So if it's all automated/digital does that mean they are in fact "projecting" the movies off a disc rather than traditional celluloid reels?

With "Halloween" I had wondered if the black bars were to add a retro feel but it does sound more though the staff CBA to adjust the shutters.

Werewolf · 23 Oct 2018 at 18:17

Most films and cinema's these days are fully digital with the projectors fed from server racks, and the films arriving either via packs of hard drives or increasingly via high speed internet links, then the actual projections are IIRC authorised via a DRM system that allows them to start at a certain time from the agreed number of projectors.

As I understand it, the traditional projectionist is pretty rare now, and there are far fewer dedicated staff doing the role in most cinemas (I suspect in many of them it'll be one guy, with a couple of senior shift staff who know how to hit reset/fix basic problems). It's certainly rare/unusual to have someone actually watching over every projector constantly and has been since the early multiplexes where one guy would often watch over the projectors for several screens (as opposed to one or two per screen).

Re the booking fee, join "my odeon" and you get free bookings and IIRC a slight discount

Also personally these days I tend to go to the IMAX screens, in part because they are usually maintained to a higher standard than the normal ones as part of the IMAX licencing agreement* and a number to call if there is an issue which I suspect may get more of a response than telling the person working the concessions (who may be the only member of staff you can easily spot).

*We stopped going to the Xcaped (Cineworld) at Milton Keynes because for years it seemed every time we went there was an issue with the speakers (I'm sure one speaker on one screen was buzzing for months)..

Vern1961 · 23 Oct 2018 at 18:45

So basically cinema today is an upmarket Netflix... great. Long suspected celluloid was no longer in use but at least they could match the shutters to the borders on the screen.

rhysduck · 23 Oct 2018 at 18:58

Local VUE here. 2-4-1 on Tuesdays & Wednesdays via the Meerkat promotion means its less than £8 for two of us. Bargain!

It's only really a matter of time before Netflix / Amazon get in on the film releases. Sky gets them not long after release so Netflix won't be far behind I reckon.

Scam · 23 Oct 2018 at 23:21

Vern1961 said:
So basically cinema today is an upmarket Netflix... great. Long suspected celluloid was no longer in use but at least they could match the shutters to the borders on the screen.

Sounds like something went wrong, if you'd have complained I'm sure you'd get your money back. But unfortunately that's probably the best you can get when there's no projectionist to actually fix it.

rhysduck said:
It's only really a matter of time before Netflix / Amazon get in on the film releases. Sky gets them not long after release so Netflix won't be far behind I reckon.

Netflix are already producing films and releasing them in cinemas. Well, as of the last few months. See 22 July and Roma for example.

Werewolf · 24 Oct 2018 at 00:58

Vern1961 said:
So basically cinema today is an upmarket Netflix... great. Long suspected celluloid was no longer in use but at least they could match the shutters to the borders on the screen.

As Scam says it sounds like something went wrong, IIRC they program the blinds/shutters etc to go to the correct aspect ration at the right times (along with the lights dimming etc), if there is a problem in theory reporting it to staff should get it sorted and often free tickets.

We were watching Star Trek at the Cineworld and the centre speaker wasn't turned on so no/very quiet speech for the first few minutes until a couple of people popped out at which point it got corrected, at the end of the showing everyone was given a free ticket by a couple of staff who were waiting at the door.

robfosters · 24 Oct 2018 at 07:28

My local Cineworld (Bexleyheath), is a total dive compared to our other nearby cinemas like The Greenwich Odeon and Bluewater Showcase.

It’s more just a problem with particular, outdated Cineworlds than cinema in general.

Vern1961 · 24 Oct 2018 at 08:22

The problem with Cineworld in West Swindon is that it seems to be the poor relation to the Empire at Greenbridge and their own new sister screen just off the town centre. It wouldn't surprise me if they weren't quietly running the venue down with a view to closure. Not sure how busy they get in the evening, but including me and the wife there was only 5 or 6 people in the auditorium for the screening. Can't be making any money on that I would have thought.

Scam · 24 Oct 2018 at 11:34

Vern1961 said:
In fact we wondered if this even projected from celluloid or they are now using digital media

By the way, I don't know how you missed the death of celluloid exhibition but err.. that happened a long time ago

To be honest, I'm glad to see the back of it. After a few runs the prints would be collecting dirt, marks, even scratches. I remember vividly the last film projection I saw and it was awful (the film has been in cinemas for a few weeks, and it showed). Not to mention as the skills of projectionist expired, you'd more often end up with projection out of focus or things going wrong. Since the early 2000s most big budget feature films went through a Digital Intermediate process, so they were still often shot on film, but digitised, cut, finished, and then bizarrely printed back to film. Seems rather backwards going back to film after all the post production was done digitally.

Capturing on film still has it's place, and happens a lot. But film projection is dead and rightly so in my opinion. The only exception would be IMAX but personally I don't like that format (it's too darn big to look at) so I'm not interested anyway. I'd much rather watch something in Dolby Vision/Atmos with a 4k laser projector than put up with 35mm...

With cinemas nowadays you just have to be particular. If I go to the cinema it's a Picturehouse generally. You pay a bit more but you get better service, better clientele, better presentation etc. It's worth it.

I watch most movies at work in a big private screening room with Atmos and all the works anyway

ttaskmaster · 24 Oct 2018 at 12:04

rhysduck · 24 Oct 2018 at 12:10

Scam said:
Netflix are already producing films and releasing them in cinemas. Well, as of the last few months. See 22 July and Roma for example.

Sorry should have been clear. I meant Netflix will be releases the new "cinema" releases on their platform around release time.

stoofa · 24 Oct 2018 at 12:23

I still very much enjoy going to the cinema. The wife and I are both Cineworld Unlimited card holders and we definitely get our moneys worth. We switch between the cinemas at Ely (less than two years old) and Huntingdon (far older and showing it).
I like the big screen, I like the sound. Sure I've got a nice TV at home and I've got a "good enough" 5.1 surround setup - but it's right, you don't get that big screen experience.

It's the other people in the screen I'm afraid, or rather than 10% who feel that they are the most important people in the world and they can do as they please.
Recently we were 15 minutes into a film and a group of lads over to my right were constantly checking phones, every 2 minutes. It's in your peripheral vision and annoying as hell. I'm usually quite reserved, but I'd just had enough and shouted out to them "turn the bloody phones off you inconsiderate people".
A few moments later, phones off and one of the kids shouting at me "Hey mate, don't be a dick" - like I'm the one being a dick in this situation!!

Anyway, the 10% aside - still love the cinema.

rhysduck · 24 Oct 2018 at 12:28

stoofa said:
... but I'd just had enough and shouted out to them "turn the bloody phones off you inconsiderate people"....

That was very umm.. nicely put