A Trip to the Flicks

We are very lucky here in Pasadena to have an abundance of movie theatres on our doorstep.

The closest to us is the rather quaint original 1930’s “Laemmle’s playhouse” - an architectural gem that specialises in showing low budget and international films.  It only has 7 (that's tiny by American standards) screens which are all rather small and intimate.  There's an afternoon off-peak rate of about $8 which is an absolute bargain and it’s just $4 for OAP’s. Knowing how those Americans just love getting value for money, I suppose we really should have known better than to go and to watch The Kings’s Speech at 2.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon.

It’s actually quite hard to catch British movies over here and despite the fact that The Kings Speech is winning so many accolades, it was only showing in Pasadena at Laemmle's Playhouse, so as we took our seats near the front of the screen  prepared for a neck aching experience, it became apparent it was going to be a pretty tight fit to cram everybody in.

We were joined in the next seats by two elderly American ladies – one of whom must have been partially sighted and the other deaf.  I say this because one insisted on describing to the other exactly what was on the screen – presumably in case her friend couldn’t see it for herself; and the other insisted on repeating  back to her friend everything that was being said – presumably in case she hadn’t heard. I don’t think one scene passed without one of them making some sort of comment to the other about it.

I don't think I've ever felt more like giving someone a kick - but of course I didn't because I'm far too polite and well behaved for that - instead I'll just give it a quick mention in my blog.  All this niceness I've been exuding the past couple of weeks is starting to wear a bit thin; sometimes you just have to tell it like it is  - publish and be damned!!

Why do Americans find it so hard to stop talking and keep quiet? And sit still for more than 5 minutes.....

There was so much fidgeting and moving up and down that I was actually quite glad we were sat only a few rows from the front. People were constantly getting up to visit the restrooms – which wasn’t totally surprising considering most of them had consumed two gallons of coke and a bucketful of popcorn that would have fed an African orphan for at least a week. And of course, Americans aren’t used to having to sit and concentrate  on anything longer than 10 minutes anyway without stopping for a commercial break.  I’m sure that’s why so many kids today have got the attention span of a gnat - even the national sports out here have those continual stoppages and timeouts - American football, basketball, baseball - bite size amounts of play followed by quite literally bite size breaks for advertising and fast food refills! No wonder soccer hasn't caught on - what you play for a whole 45 minutes non stop without a break?

Then of course, the other annoying habit which seems perfectly acceptable out here is screen hopping.  Once the movie you’ve actually paid for has finished, you can just go and disturb everyone else half way through another film, and if that one isn't to your liking, you can just get up and go and find a third or a fourth film to watch. Why not disrupt as many people as possible?

And talking of disruptions, at the Gold Cinema in Pasadena, you can have a three course meal with wine brought to your side as you sit and watch your film.  We haven’t been to this cinema yet, and I'm not sure we ever will, yes I like going out for a meal and yes I like going to the cinema, but do I want to do them  both at the same time? Not sure about that - and of course food, drink, mega sized flat screen, comfy armchair.....ZZzzzzzzz. I'm pretty sure my husband wouldn't be the only one asleep well before the end of the film!!

But as for the King’s Speech, I loved it of course, despite the interruptions, and if Colin Firth doesn’t win that Oscar there really is no justice in the world – or at least not in Hollywood!