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How many of your favourite films did you actually see at the cinema?
AppleTango
Posts: 1,893 Forum Member
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The other day I was thinking about my top ten favourite films when I realised that I had not actually seen any of them in all their original glory on the big screen at the time they were released.
1. L.A. Confidential (1997) No
2. Zodiac (2007) No
3. Goodfellas (1990) No
4. Se7en (1995) No
5. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) No
6. Memento (2000) No
7. Groundhog Day (1993) No
8. Catch Me If You Can (2002) No
9. Rear Window (1954) No
10. Vertigo (1958) No
0/10
The films are still great on DVD and Blu-ray but it kind of saddens me a bit that I'll never get to experience them in a proper cinema.
1. L.A. Confidential (1997) No
2. Zodiac (2007) No
3. Goodfellas (1990) No
4. Se7en (1995) No
5. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) No
6. Memento (2000) No
7. Groundhog Day (1993) No
8. Catch Me If You Can (2002) No
9. Rear Window (1954) No
10. Vertigo (1958) No
0/10
The films are still great on DVD and Blu-ray but it kind of saddens me a bit that I'll never get to experience them in a proper cinema.
0
Comments
Inception - Yes
The Dark Knight - Yes
The Prestige - No
Memento - No
(These are genuinely some of my favourite films, I had no idea they were directed by the same person till after I saw The Dark Knight)
Kick Ass - No
Airplane! - N
The Social Network - Yes
127 Hours - Yes
Jaws
The classic Star Wars Trilogy
Close Encounters
Hellraiser
Friday the 13th (original)
The Bruce Lee classic
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Carrie
All much loved - and watched - films of mine
Sleepy Hollow: Yes. 4 times
Pirates of the Caribbean: Yes, also 4 times
Raiders of the Lost Ark: No
Aliens: No
Back to the Future: No
Spiderman 1 & 2: Yes
The Incredible Hulk: Yes.
Gladiator - no
The Matrix - no
Was too young to see the latter 2 at the cinema
Most of my favourite films were either released before I was even born or I was just too young (at the time) to have seen them in the cinema.
I wish I could go back in time to see some of the finest gems on their theatrical release.
But I have missed a lot of films that I had wished I had seen on the Big Screen. Star Wars (the original 3) The first Matrix film, Minority Report, Die Hard and Die Harder, Man on Fire, Spider-man, I Robot ... probably loads more too
2 of my alltime favourites were released before I was old enough to see them in the cinema - Alien & The Exorcist, tho happily I did get to see Alien on the big screen when the directors cut was screened.
Some of my favourites I did get to see tho when originally screened were
Back To The Future (all three)
Aliens
Blade Runner
Star Wars (all three originals)
The Lord Of The Rings trilogy
Mad Max II & III
Jurassic Park
Silence Of The Lambs
Proper cinema, pah!
There aren't any anymore. I still get disappointed when you go to the cinema and half of it is cut off because it's been converted to multi screen.
That great echoey space of a 5,000 seater. Places where you could really lose yourself in the film because their immense size and depth had already worked on the subconcious and you felt quite apart from the real world before the film even started.
Especially when they were looking a bit tawdry when the lights went up. That added to the feeling that you'd stepped into some different dimension.
Cinemas now are so pedestrian, so ordinary, so "safe", so convenient.
And when they were full, that gave a whole different aspect. A sense of awe that so many could be so engrossed with what was on screen. The atmosphere was electric, lots of people united can create a special type of dynamic and that was unique to seeing a big film in a big cinema.
Sorry to go on, but there's something missing now in cinemas. The anticipation (is that it?) of queing to see a film, and it being the only chance you get to see the film, and you are with all those other people also seeing the same film, and coming out after the film and everybody has got the same buzz going on.
It was an event and an experience and now it's been tamed and made pedestrian.
Goodfellas
Back to the Future
Jurassic Park
The first two were not at the time, but special showings.
Goodfellas - NO
Garden State - NO
Milk - NO
Pretty In Pink - NO
True Romance - NO
Adventures In Babysitting - NO
Betty Blue - NO
In Search of a Midnight Kiss - YES
Leon - NO
Closer - NO
Lost In Translation - YES
Beautiful Girls - NO
Stand By Me - NO
The Departed - YES
Leaving Las Vegas - NO
Before Sunrise - NO
Kick-Ass - YES
Human Traffic - NO
The Lives of Others - NO
4/20 Shocking :eek:
I haven't really thought about it before but I think I agree. The huge Vue at Westfield has immaculate picture quality and comfy seats but what it really feels like is a room designed to be as like watching on TV as possible. Whereas the Gate up the road is an old-school single screen cinema with fairly hard seats and poor rake, yet it feels much more like a proper cinema. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the Vue sells grim-smelling hot dogs and nachos whilst the Gate sells wine and premium lagers: going there is more like a special occasion.
I saw loads of my favourite films as a teenager and twentysomething in stunning cinemas that don't exist any more. Modern multiplexes have no atmosphere, just vast foyers that look like fast-food joints. But presumably they make more money than the old ones.
ET yes
Terminator 2 yes
Inside I'm Dancing - No.
Big Fish - Yes.
The Boondock Saints - No.
In Bruges - No.
Grave of the Fireflies - No.
Inception - Yes.
Beauty and the Beast - Yes.
Toy Story 3 - Yes.
Mirrormask - No.
Cruel Intentions - No.
4/10
The new multi plexes are just depressing IMO, they feel more like flm factories than "theatres".
Mind, I grew up local to the Finsbury Park Astoria (saw the Beatles there with my family when 2yo) so I think I was spoilt.:D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hjuk/2558334789/
Excuse the religous stuff, it's now some kind of temple. But I still remember sitting in the stalls and seeing the stars and the Moorish "houses" and thinking they were real.
This is my local cinema now. Although it's been divided, the circle is still one complete screen, so the size and atmosphere are still ok. Plus the 15C entrance hall (restored by Pugin) is one hell of a suprise to see in a cinema.
http://www.mawgrim.co.uk/cavalcade/salisburyaud1.jpg