Indenpendant Cinemas- A better experience?

M

mystical

New member
Hi,
I am going to my local independant in a mo 'Harbour Lights PICTUREHOUSE' in southampton in a minute, and thus due to its independance i'm expeccting abetter experience.

Do people think independants are better?

Cinemas is Here
 
I went to the Duke of York Picturehouse in Brighton quite a lot because it showed a lot of arty/foreign/independent films that you can't see in chain cinemas. Now I have finished uni I am back home and Guildford sucks for cinemas. The Odeon isn't even showing House of Flying Daggers!
 
I used to love the Broadway cinema when I lived in Nottingham. Have missed out on so many good films since moving back to Odeon-land. :(
 
The best thing about our independent cinema is that they still have ushers/usherettes in with the audiences. Any chatting or yacking away on mobiles and they're straight onto the guilty party. Unlike the large chains where you have to go over to the chatterboxes and tell them to shut up yourself or go outside to find an usher whilst missing the film.
Can't understand those that go and see a film only to talk all the way through it.

Here's my local cinema by the way

http://www.majesticcinema.com/

and details about their unique answerphone service!

http://www.kingslynntoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=991&ArticleID=875595
 
I'm at college studying Film Studies, and we are currently doing a module on Independant Cinema which I'm finding quite interesting. I don't particularly like watching the films, but I enjoy the theory surrounding it.
 
The best local cinema in this part of London is an independent, Brentford Watermans. It's comfortable, has a good selection of art house and mainstream films, good sound and picture, and has a proper bar and even a curry house on the premises!

The national chains are far less appealing but you have to use them if you want to see big films as soon as they're released. Vue are the lesser of the big two evils as they have "stadium" seating and decent leg room, but they seem to employ the minimum number of staff so queues are long, and they start clearing up the popcorn as soon as the end titles start rolling. The toilets in the ShepherRAB Bush one are always out of order so there are always queues.

Odeon: avoid. Soulless places, designed to look cool but with no atmosphere, often bad sightlines so you get a stiff neck, and the world's worst web site.

UGC: curious. Their head office is in Chiswick. There are no cinemas in Chiswick. The local branch is in Hammersmith, an old ex-ABC (probably many previous owners) which is reputed to have a large rodent population. They are planning to knock it down and build a big Tesco on the site, to add to the six Tescos within a mile of each other in West London. And not to replace the cinema.

Indies definitely win.
 
As I'm very keen on independent films, I really love smaller cinemas. Unfortunately there isn't one too close by my house, in fact nearly all independant cinemas in Hamburg are in the inner city and I live quite far in the town's east.
When I have a car, I will definitely drive to those cinemas much, much more often. Not even half of the films I would like to see are shown in the chain cinemas which are in my area. Although I think independant cinemas show the better movies, I don't find the time too often; I have to use public transport, which is quite expensive.
I don't have anything against the big "mainstream" cinemas. In fact, I love the atmosphere more, because in the really small cinemas I sometimes feel I haven't got enough room (may be kind of a disease
 
Manchester's Cornerhouse is one of the best. I don't think the sound is as good as the filmworks but it is cheaper. They show a very wide selection of films since they have 3 screens. 1 of which is very small. I hope the funding keeps coming in. I think it helps having 2 large universities on the doorstep
 
My film studies lessons actually take place in an independent cinema, and it was one of the main reasons why I chose that particular course over all others! I think that there is a certain amount of 'give-and-take', but I feel that there's room for both in this crazy 21st Century world ;)

Sure, it's nice to see a screening of 'Halloween' on 31st October at an indie cinema, but at the same time it's nice to be lost in a swathe of comfortable seats and airconditioning at the local multiplex.
 
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