Earlier I read this entry on Julian Simpson’s blog, about the sorry state of the cinema industry and the often unsatisfactory experience of watching a movie at the cinema. It struck a chord with me, and for a long time I have thought that the model of releasing movies first in the cinema and then months later for home viewing was outdated and out of touch with modern audiences.  The advances in technology over the last decade mean that the ‘home viewing’ experience is no longer a poor substitute for watching films in the cinema – it has in fact become my preferred way of watching a film, at home, without the distractions and the noise and babble and general loutishness of the cinema crowds.

It wasn’t always this way. I used to believe that I hadn’t truly experienced a film unless I had seen it on a cinema screen.  Throughout the 90s I lived in Manchester and I would see on average 2-3 movies a week at the Cornerhouse. There were times when I was down to my final few pounds until pay day, and I would prioritise seeing a movie over eating a decent meal. I was hardcore!

Cornerhouse - a proper cinema. I love the place.

Of course, I also used to watch movies at home, and I used to put a lot of effort into planning ‘movie nights’ with friends, but the home viewing experience then was very different to what it is now: my ‘movie nights’ used to consist of VHS tapes played on a portable TV with mono sound. Looking back on it, I wonder how on earth I ever managed to enjoy a film watching it that way, but I did.  Still, it bore no relation to seeing a movie on the big screen.

Over the years, the ‘home viewing’ experience has improved beyond recognition, while the cinema experience has headed in the opposite direction.  Any visit to a multiplex usually leaves me feeling either angry or disappointed, or both. They seem to have become bare-bones operations that are chronically understaffed, so there is no-one on hand to quieten down any audience rowdiness. They’re places that don’t seem to have much reverence or respect for movies. I resent having to sit through bloated advertisements and anti-piracy commercials, resent having to put up with the babble and stink and general fuckery of the average mulitplex audience.  People talking, general arsing around, even mobile phone conversations – it’s no way to watch a film. Add to that crappy screens and poor picture quality and shitty decor, and the whole cinema going experience becomes a travesty of what it should and could be.

Cornerhouse Screen1 - Just looking at this picture makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Often, I don’t even get a choice to see a movie at the cinema.  I no longer live in Manchester, no longer have the luxury of the Cornerhouse close at hand, and there is no independent cinema where I live.  Most of the movies I want to see do not get a general release, so I have no option but to wait for months until they get a dvd/blu-ray release.

And that is really the crux of why I am writing this. Why should an audience who want to see a movie and are willing to pay for it be denied the opportunity to do so? I have resigned myself to the fact that for 6, 7 or 8 months after a film is released there will be no legal way for me to see it, unless it is a rare film that I want to see that actually gets a general release, and then the only way to see it is to endure the whole ‘multiplex’ experience.  More often than not, I’d rather just not bother.

Give me the peace and quiet and luxury of watching a movie at home over the typical shoddy multiplex experience any day.

And to end, a confession…

I used to spend an indecent amount of time sitting in the Cornerhouse cafe, watching the world go by, drinking coffee and smoking and trying to write profound things in my notebook, imagining that I was Henry Miller in Paris in the 30s. Yes, I was a twat.