Against my better judgment, Sandra and I went to the cinema recently.

It was the first time in years - perhaps 6? - that we’d been to the cinema.

It sucked.

Or, at least, my expectations were inconsistent with those of the cinema operator.

Thirty sodding minutes of adverts

If you advertise the start time as 19:30 (or whatever), that is the time you should start the film.

Not 30 minutes later.

Inexcusable.

Of course, in hindsight, I should have looked at the scheduled end time for the film, deducted the running time, and that would have given me a more realistic time.

But I should haven’t to do that.

At least do the bare minimum and say “you can sit from [x]; the film starts at [y]”.

But why would I expect to see adverts anyway? Perhaps a trailer for a couple of films coming up soon, similar to the film I’m about to watch, but 30 minutes of irrelevant adverts?

It was far too loud

Now, this I was prepared for. It was so darned loud.

As I say, I was prepared, and had brought earplugs.

I want to enjoy the film, not get tinnitus.

It wasn’t even comfortable

The film was mercifully quite short, because the seats just were not comfortable.

There was no headrest.

Leg room was limited.

The seat did not recline.

I can only imagine that whoever designed it was focussed solely on cost, or else was actively thinking “I hate our customers”.

Why would we go back?!

Yes, we disliked pretty much all of the experience. We said, at exactly the same time, as we walked out, that we should have just waited for the DVD. At least then we could watch it in comfort at home.

Newbury town centre is dying - retailers are dropping out rapidly.

But if town centres are going to become places of entertainment, surely they’ll need to offer an experience which is superior to staying at home?

Perhaps, for some people, who don’t welcome comfort, or who know to turn up 25 minutes after the scheduled start time, and who want to leave with a headache, the cinema is an enjoyable experience.

Or perhaps, somewhere, there are actually pleasant cinemas, with comfortable chairs, sensible volumes, and an entertaining pre-roll.

So we are back to DVDs

It was worth a try.

Well, not really.

We’re just going to stick with DVDs at home from now on. I spot one I want secondhand, rip it, and add it to jellyfin. Cheaper, more comfortable, and simply something that we just enjoy more.

YMMV.