Cinema Closures

In one of my past blogs I mentioned how most of the hundreds of cinemas that were in use in Glasgow, during the 40's, are now closed. It is not only Glasgow that has seen cinema closures.

Back in my hometown of Oban we had a small, two screen, cinema run by a local businessman. The cineam was a great success and I spent many a night in the place! The cinema was known for being a 'first date' hotspot and was a great place for people to 'hang out.'

A couple years back the cinema was struggling to stay open, and due to financial difficulties it was closed. At first the town took no notice of the closure, it was deemed as unimportant as in the lead up to the closure not many people were visiting the place.

This feeling soon changed.

Oban is a lovely place to visit on holiday as there are plenty tourist activities to keep you amused. The story is a little different for the locals, young people especially. There is not many activities for young people to engage in, other than sports or a part-time job. This means that a lot of young people end up loitering the streets and that is when anti-social behaviour can occur.

The cinema lay empty up until a few months ago, a local comittee was set up in order to get the cinema running again. The deal granted to them by the bank was that they must raise at least £20,000 in order to secure the cinemas future as a community run facility.

http://www.obanphoenixcinema.co.uk/

The campaign to rais ethis money has been very successful and attracted local and national news coverage. There are also a number of high profile patrons on-board such as; Tilda Swinton, Dougray Scott, Dame Judy Dench, Rowan Atkinson, Robbie Coltrane and many more.

The Commitees 'Mission Statement.'

A community group of residents of and visitors to Oban who support the re-opening of the Oban cinema as a community led venture.
At present, the cinema on George Street is closed. The building itself is in the hands of the receiver who's plan is to auction it off to the highest bidder. UNLESS the community of Oban can come together with enough strength, will and MONEY to take it off the market! In 2010, the curtain went down on the "Highland Theatre" and since then, the town of Oban has been without a cinema. But in December 2010, when the community came together in a packed-out meeting, it was clear that there was still demand for a cinema here. Oban Phoenix Cinema was born!'

There have been a number of events held in order to help raise money; a 'Jamie at Home' tupperware party, a 'Bring-and-Buy' sale, music concert and an antiques evaluation day.

At present the group are still trying to raise the money needed, but from all the positive talk about the re-openeing it seems likely that the money will be raised in no time at all.

Good luck to them!

Children's Movies

I grew up on a film diet of Disney, Disney and more Disney. From Cinderella to The Lion King I saw them all! Back then in the mid-nineties children's films were hand drawn animations with no special effects or pressure to make them 'life-like!'

   (vanillajoy.com)

Disney are no doubt pioneers in children's movies, each one on it's own is timeless and will be passed through generations. The first movie released by Disney was Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, this is possibly one of my favourites and many a school play has been acted out on this story! It's not easy being all loved up when your prince is a snotty eight year old, would have prefered to stay asleep!

Probably the most prolific in my childhood was Pinochio, the story of a wooden puppet whose nose grew every time he lied;

'Pinocchio, Pinocchio,
That little wooden bloke-io,
His nose, it grew an inch or two
With every lie he spoke-io.' ( Shel Silverstein's 'Pinochio')

(disney.wikia.com)

I think my parents used these films to teach me life lessons, not that they ignored me or anything but I think it worked!

Back when these films were made, they were made with the intention of bringing happiness to the masses and to both children and adults alike, throwing in some life lessons in each.
Nowadays it is all about the x-factor, something about the film has to make it stand out from all the others in the cinema. Be that through, amazing special effects, faultless animations, all-start casts or being shown in 3D.

It is really important that children nowadays know that films don't have to be all guns blazing, special effects, fire, magic, mystical, fast-paced, adventure-epics, they can be just simple drawn animation with a simple plot line.

                                                                                    (AllPosters.com)

 The favourite film from my childhood was probably Cinderella. The poor girl who is a servant to her evil stepmother and stepsisters. She is turned itno a princess and attends the royal ball where she meets the prince charming. To sum it up, they fall in love, she goes back to being a servant but shes dropped a shoe, he tries the show on every girl in the land, finds cinderella and they live happily ever after. It is the quintessential love story that every young girl bases her future life and husband upon.

(blog.media-freaks.com)

Disney faced some slack over the lack of ethnic diversity in their films. I thought this was very unjust. I seem to recall Mulan, Pochahontas, Jasmine, the Siamese Cats and now Tiana from The Princess and the Frog have all been of an ethnic background.

It is easy to criticise Disney now but at the time this was the norm, ethnic minorities were not always represented in films. It is important that children know people come from all different backgrounds and races but saying Disney was deliberately racist is damaging for those who ere brought up on the movies and who love them for the stories they told.

Glasgow Film Festival

I have to say that I think a lot of people nowadays have more of an interest in different kinds of cinema. It is the weird, thought-provoking films that get the most attention from critics and viewers alike. I am not going to lie and say I find all these kinds of films fascinating and exciting, sometimes they are plain boring. The films need a strong plot, lively characters and a joke or two to make it in my book!

(totalfilm.com)

The Glasgow Film Festival is a great platform for these kinds of films, and allows them to be seen by those who will really appreciate the artistic sentiments and plotlines.

The 7th Glasgow Film Festival was held between the 17th  and 27th February. It has been hailed as great success this year after selling far more tickets than it did in 2010.

The GFF website talks about the event as a;
“programme of extraordinary live events, documentaries and feature films, [balancing] reverent celebration of the past with a keen enthusiasm for future innovations in music, sound and moving image. [The] must-see choices range from the   effortlessly entertaining to the positively inspirational and the downright weird.” 

(liveforfilm.com)

The film festival opened with a Gala showing of French film 'Potiche,' and closed with 'The Eagle' directed by Kevin MacDonald. 'Potiche' is a quirky, 70's comedy that is sure to entice the masses, while 'The Eagle' is a historical drama sure to attract the same fans as the likes of 'Braveheart' and '300.' These are two very different films that almost signify the film festival, diverse and unique. There are films featured from all over the world and from all different genres. The festival is held in many different venues in the city, from The Arches to Platform in Easterhouse.

                                                                           (heyuguys.co.uk)

The film festival will be a major draw for tourists and locals alike in its duration. Glasgow is always trying to prove itself as a cultured, friendly and interesting city. These kinds of events enhance this view.

What is good about the film festival is that there is something for all ages as there is also a Glasgow Youth Film Festival that opened with a showing of the film 'Paul' starring Simon Pegg. It is vital that events like cater to many tastes as they are important for the economy and cultural scene if nothing else.

There is nothing but good reviews of the event online and some have even said it is 'probably one of the best festivals Scotland has to offer.' (David Cornish,bestforfilm.com) 


Now that is a lot to live up to!

'NEDS' - 'Non-Educated Delinquents'

          (prospectmagazine.co.uk)

The film 'NEDS' hit Glasgow's cinemas early this year and will no doubt reach cult status amongst the youths of the city.

The film is based in Glasgow during the 1970's where we meet a young boy by the name John McGill. He begins as an impressionable youngster who is class swot and lives under the shadow of his older, gang-leader brother and his abusive, alcoholic father.

                                                                           (indiewire.com)

It does not take long for this young boy to fall in with the wrong crowd, and he soon becomes involved in the 'ned' culture. He turns his back on education and family for a life terrorizing the community and being a threat to all those around him. His fiery temper seems to stem from a suppressive childhood where he has always had to dumb himself down to be accepted and had to endure his father beating his mother senseless every night without being able to stop it.

McGill ends up being more of a thug than the rest of the gang are willing to participate in, so he is out of the gang and is left to wallow in his own self-pity and anguish. This soon turns into rage.

His anger reaches a pinnacle when he decides to enact the same violence upon his father that he had done to his mother, it is not his first taste of blood and will certainly not be his last. In the film you can almost see his sanity unwinding, unravelling and this comes to a head when he is seen strapping knifes to his hands and going to look for a fight with a rival gang.

This fight is almost his last and prompts him to go back to school. He is put in a lower class with a boy he violently assaulted and left brain damaged. You can see the hurt in his expression at this point and it marks a change in his life for sure.

                                                                                    (snitchseeker.com)


Peter Mullan's interpretation of life in a gang in 70's Glasgow is gritty and overstated. The violence in it is so raw it seems to be unreal. Almost makes you glad the common 'Neds' we see and know today are a little more subdued than their counterparts.

A little bit about 'Cineworld'

You cannot think about the city of Glasgow today without thinking of the huge cinema that sits right in the heart and stretches to the sky. The 'Cineworld' on  Renfrew Street is an amazing 12 storeys tall and can seat 4,300 people! Now that is BIG!

The 'Cineworld' building is a wonderful piece of architucture and almost symbolises the regeneration of Glasgow and how it is turning into a more modern and vibrant city. It is far more of an experience to go to the cinema in Glasgow than it ever was back home. From the bright lights to the sweets and other treats, it is almost like a fantasy land..

It is little known that 'Cineworld' as it stands was built on the grounds of record-breaking cinema/theatre 'Green's Playhouse/Apollo.' This theatre could seat 4,368 people - it was the largest cinema in Europe. The Playhouse was demolished in 1987, 60 years after opening, to make way for the UGC cinema that became the 'Cineworld' we know today. In 2003, the UGC cinema was noted as the busiest cinema in Britain.

Before  the Second World War, Glasgow had more cinema seats per head than any other city in the world, 175,000 to be exact, which is quite impressive! It is said that at that time Glaswegians would visit the cinema at least 51 times a year!

Saying that, I thouroughly enjoy going to the cinema but more than 50 times a year seems incredible! Not to mention expensive!

Once known as 'Cinema City,' Glasgow now has only about 13 of the original 130 cinemas it once boasted.

It is a shame to see the decline as it would seem only thee smaller localised cinemas have been closed down. I imagine this is due to a decline in revenue from ticket sales as people arenot going to the cinema as much as they were before the war, and with the economic downturn it would be deemed more financially viable to sell the cinemas to other ventures; music venues;flats;shops and bingo halls.

You can find out more about the old cinemas of Glasgow;http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasgow/index.html

Glasgow Cinema Scene

Over the next few weeks I am going blog to you all about the Glasgow Cinema Scene

                                                                                    (virginmedia.com)

I'll begin with an overview of cinema going today.

Going to the cinema is a popular pastime for young people. The cinema is a good way to make friends, (throw popcorn at them and see how your relationship blossom!) and it's a great location for a first date, (you don't have to talk to each other for a couple of hours and if he puts his arm around you, you go girl!). Mostly I think it gives us the opportunity to explore new, exciting worlds that let us escape from the mundane routines of our daily lives.

(forums.beclevergroup.com)

New films in 3D are making going to the cinema more exciting and are enticing in people who may never have been to the cinema before. With my 80p 3D glasses firmly on my face I am transported into a world of scary pop out monsters and punches being thrown right at your face!

I would have to say that my favourite kinds of films are comedies. This is for three main reasons; I like a good laugh; there's always that one person who talks too loudly that ends up choking on popcorn when the funny bits happen; there is always great 'one-liners' that get quoted non-stop for at least the next 24 hours!

 I think that going to the cinema nowadays is more of an experience that it used to be, take the 'Cineworld' in Glasgow for example, it is 12 storeys high, can seat 4,300 and is known to be one of the tallest cinemas in the world! Besides that, it's the anticipation of going up the escalators, finding your seat, eating the huge tub of popcorn and letting yourself be entertained for the next couple of hours with no distractions, (apart from that annoying person behind you who keeps kicking your chair!)

My next blog; A little bit about 'Cineworld.'