Film - Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
8 October 2022
My last film in Cineworld. I’ve been a member since 2006 when I swapped my gym membership for a much cheaper and enjoyable way to aid my well-being. And so started the #FilmFriday tradition - initially via doctors' orders to help me put my laptop down and switch off for a couple of hours. Films were shorter then - if I got 2 hours, it felt like really good value. Now we think that about 3-hour films, although now I also have to work out the best time to pop out for a mid-film loo break.
Many things have been going wrong in recent years at my local Cineworld, from the lack of variety in films to the lack of escalators to get us to the screens and some more general issues like rudely noisy customers (this is why I dislike the move to booking seats without knowing who I will be seated near) and filthy loos.
When I joined, I enjoyed the brilliant UGC experience in Bedford for under a tenner every month. That was when tickets were around £4-5. More often than not, I’d walk into the cinema around 4pm each Friday and have the cinema almost to myself. That has rarely happened since being in Birmingham for the last decade although I still got value from my membership. Until the last few years. Pausing the membership was a good move as was bringing the price down again. It’s not enough though.
I have a short-term membership with the Electic Cinema - as I promised I would if someone stepped up to stop the legendary and magical cinema from closing. Undoubtedly, I will join the loyalty programme for the Big Rival Cinema chain in the coming weeks.
To end the Unlimited membership era though, I wanted to leave the cinema for the last time with a smile on my face. The great thing about having a membership is that I can pop in and see films I otherwise may not. So I chose Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile as my bonus film for this week, on a Saturday afternoon.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile had a promising start, a dreadful middle and a predictably comfortable uplifting finale. I left the cinema with a smile on my face.
7/10