Taking back cinema for film-lovers.

The following screenshots have been cropped to fit in with the best image format here in blogland. Nothing else has been changed.

Have you seen this before? Tweets from a friend or someone else that you know is watching a film in the cinema?

It's pretty shitty. The worst thing about this person doing it is that they just had the cheek to pimp out their review of The Complex after saying this:

Well, that's okay then. As long as there are less than a dozen other people present and it's a boring film. But IS The Complex a boring film? Apparently not, according to this trusted critic.

 

Well, I guess it's okay if there was a scary bit and she was looking away.

Wait, now she was touch typing? There was me thinking that you would have to look at your phone to have the screen on and Tweet. Now it turns out that she was touch typing, which is so much better in the cinema (of course), and the film is her favourite of the festival, so far. Wow, just wow!

What I love/hate the most is the absolute unrepentance. This person doesn't only NOT consider her actions rude or inappropriate, but she then can't keep her own opinion straight in time for her review to appear on Hi! Magazine.

Let me be very clear about this. I have been sitting in a cinema, three rows from the back, and have seen the light from someone in the front row, halfway along the opposite aisle from me. It happens, and it shouldn't. When in the darkness of a movie screen, a phone light is like a fucking beacon and the only beacon I ever want interrupting my movie viewing is the Bat-signal if we're suddenly overrun by henchmen and I find myself in some bizarre, parallel universe after watching too many superhero movies and knocking myself on the head.

Unless you're the leading neurosurgeon in the country and you're on call, you don't need your phone on in the cinema. If you're waiting for a reply about a job, they will leave a voicemail. Or maybe you just won't be able to go to the cinema. If you're worried about the babysitter, maybe you need to get a new babysitter. Or maybe you just won't be able to go to the cinema. An ill relative at death's door? Sorry, but maybe it's NOT the best time for you to go and see Man Of Steel. Critics/reviewers sometimes feel that they need to be available 24/7, they may be waiting on a very important interview op, and I get that. I do. I feel the same way. Which is why I check my phone as much as possible IN BETWEEN movie screenings.

The biggest bugbear I have with this particular incident, however, is that this person has a press pass for a major film festival. That pass is like a golden ticket from the Willy Wonka factory. Believe me, I have been attending with pass clutched to my bosom for four years now, and the elation and happiness hasn't worn out yet. I've spent time in the past rushing out of films to tweet about their greatness, checking emails to see if an interview opportunity is available with certain talent. I have never, and will never, tweeted during a film.

If you see anyone doing so then take back the cinema, reclaim the experience. Ask them politely to either leave the screen to deal with their obvious emergency or save their tweeting for later. Tell them that you notice the light, even if it's in the very peripheral of your vision. If the person tells you that they're not bothering anyone, there are very few audience members and it's a boring film anyway . . . . . . . . perhaps offer a suitable compromise, like asking them not to audibly complain if you masturbate when you head back to your own chair. After all, it's not bothering anyone, there's hardly anyone around and you won't even need a light.

If I head into the cinema with friends and I know they have phones on them, I make damn sure they all get them off as the trailers begin (I think that's fair). Airplane Mode is a wonderful thing. Make use of it, encourage others to do the same. You never know, one of them may be writing a review for the movie, so you wouln't want them to get tangled up in a load of lies just to defend their tweeting addiction. Would you?

 

About the only correct statement in her whole talk of tweeting during films

EIFF 2012: The story so far.

Well, it's a few days into the full flow of the festival and I am already remembering how tiring it is to see everything I want to see, write up full reviews, tweet away and add FB updates (as well as a blog post or five).

In true EIFF fashion, I have already been reminded of a few things that I seem to forget each year.

1) The quieter the movie, the louder my stomach. Just ask the poor guy sitting beside me while we all watched Fred.

2) Cinema staff may be there to facilitate the needs of those attending screenings but that doesn't mean that manners have to be left outside the cinema.

3) There AREN'T enough hours in the day.

4) The best French cinema nowadays remains a great experience but the lesser outings feel like parodies of the movies that were first shown late at night on Channel 4 two or three decades ago.

5) Many critics seem to feel that if something is made to be enjoyed by a lot of people, or is lightweight fun, then it's not really worth their time but might make for an acceptable filler in between a schedule full of "worthier" movies.

6) There ISN'T enough coffee in the day.

7) I love being kept so busy and being allowed to view so many different films for free. Absolutely LOVE it. Yes, there are bad movies as well as good ones but that's the chance you take when you schedule two weeks worth of eclectic viewings.

8) People who are late into screenings or who leave early always make me more mistrustful of the festival coverage - do these people still write reviews or are they just there for their personal enjoyment and well within their rights to see as much or as little as they want to?

9) Nobody will ever believe you when you tell them what a great time you're having BUT that it is also hard work. Nobody, with the possible exception of other reviewers.

10) I'm quite a fast typist nowadays but could always do with trying to be even faster.

It's all true, folks, it's all true.

More EIFF 2012.

I am trying to be prepared this year, trying to not let this blog get covered and dust and a thin sheen of neglect while I busy myself with the big event in my movie calendar, the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

As this post is being written ahead of time I have no idea just how EIFF 2012 will pan out for me this year but I know that, as I have done for the past two years, I will do my best to see as many movies as possible and to get the reviews up on Flickfeast ASAP. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved. I get to see LOTS of movies for free, the website gets some extra traffic (hopefully) and those involved with the festival get added exposure from us. Hey, we may be a small fish in a big pond but we keep swimming.

It's all too easy to fall in love with a movie or two and to be swept along with the celebrities and the premieres but the main thing to remember is also the main thing that's easiest to forget - the festival works because of so many people making a concerted effort at every level. Those making the films, those selecting the films, those showing the films, those spreading the word on the films, etc, etc. Every year I remember to thank the wonderful staff at The Filmhouse and Cameo cinema who put up with the crowds and the unsociable hours every festival and this year will be no different.

Everyone who knows me knows that when I go to the cinema I like to get "a bit of bang for my buck", as I often put it, but I also do my damnedest to remind people that the smaller cinemas are often the places to go to see something that you just won't get at your local multiplex. The fact that they're often staffed by people with a genuine love of cinema is a huge bonus. Supporting your local cinema really does show them that they're doing the right thing and that not everyone and their uncle wants to rush along to see Harry Potter And The Twilight Of The Transformers (in RealD 3D with smell-o-vision).

Do I go along to these smaller cinemas as often as I should? No, no I don't. But when I do go along I never resent handing my money over (especially at my annual horror overdose that goes by the name of Dead By Dawn) and I always speak highly of these Edinburgh institutions when anyone asks me about them. I hope you have somewhere similiar in your local area. And I really hope that you, even just occasionally, pop along and spend some of your hard earned cash there.