Support your local cinema

I've been going to the movies, the pictures, the cinema - whatever you want to call it - on my own for say 35 years - at 10 pictures a year that makes 350 movies. It feels like a lot more to be honest in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Paris, Brussels, Lausanne, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, London, Hamburg. You always want to get there early, make sure you get an aisle seat, the song went. But as the cinemas grew into multiplexes, as the pictures arguably didn't get any better, I wondered when I (or we when it was the two of us) would get a theatre to ourselves.

Well it finally happened! Screen 8 at Vue Shepherd's Bush December 10th 18:50 - granted the film was The Express which was not expected to be a big UK draw. The picture itself wasn't bad - a brave look at Ernie Davis, the first black Heisman Trophy winner who died of leukemia at 23 - with h0nest performances from Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown. The experience was a bit haunting. The reason you go to the movies is to enjoy a shared experience...had I wanted be alone I could have stayed home.