CINEWORLD UNLIMITED PASS - Is It Worth It?

Here in the UK, one of our major cinema chains is Cineworld. They offer a pass, for £13.50 a month (or the one I have, £16.50 a month, which includes Central London cinemas) and in return for paying a monthly fee you get to see as many films as you want. Unlimited. You could go four times a day. Any Cineworld cinema.

Is it worth it? Well, the simple answer is: of course! It's fantastic! Unlimited movies for £16.50 a month! I'm in heaven!

But, it's not heaven. I mean, it's still the best deal in town. Especially in London town, when a trip to see a shit movie costs £15 (Odeon WEST END, peak time price: £15.65).

So, it is the best deal in town, and we should be thankful we have it. But it does have its limitations. Cineworld are a chain who put on the same films everywhere. Of course, they have to cater to everyone's needs -- and, unfortunately, most people want to see films like "Battle: Los Angeles", so it's everywhere. But so are all the others. Right now, "Lincoln Lawyer," "Hall Pass", "A Turtle's Tale" etc are showing in pretty much all of them. And as I look at all the Cineworld cinemas in the London area, and there are a lot of them, there are no surprises. Even with cinemas that are geographically pretty close -- they all mirror each other.

Once you've seen a couple of movies that you want to see and dodged a few that you don't, you have no choice. I admit, by this time, you've already "got your money's worth" as Cineworld Unlimited members like to say. But have you?

Before the passes; we used to go see movies we wanted to see. Maybe we'd go to the Apollo to see an indie flick, then we'd go see a documentary on the Screen On The Green, then we'd see a big blockbuster at an Odeon or a Cineworld. But now, after the slim-Cineworld-pickings are done; you're left wanting more. You're left wanting a good movie. A life altering movie.

But they're never shown at Cineworld.

£16.50 a month. It seems cheap. A great deal. And it is. But that's £198 a year ($318). That's a lot of money to give to a cinema chain, especially when you're essentially only getting access to the studio products and the well-marketed-indiewood flicks.

So you're down £200, and you still want to see good movies.

Of course it's still good value if you love movies and want to go see all the new releases every week. But how many people REALLY have viewing habits like that? Not many. Most people with these passes see two or three films a month just to feel they "got their money back".

You could see eighteen films a month at Cineworld and It'd only cost you £16.50 (or £13.50 outside Central London..). Now that's great. But if you saw eighteen films, it means you had to sit through "Faster" and "Furry Vengeance". But you're missing out on the incredible variety of films in London because you're beholden to your Unlimited card.

In summary; it's a great deal, and in so many ways, totally worth it. But most people buy it on the assumption that you're buying access to everything, but you're not. You're buying access to a part of it. And if you love films, like me, you'll find that you still go to a variety of cinemas, yet Cineworld own a piece of your bank account every single month. 

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I Need That Record!

I just watched the documentary I Need That Record! The Death (Or Possible Survival) Of The Independent Record Store. The film was full of great insight into the music industry, and art in general. Definitely worth checking out if you're into the things I'm into. Here are a few quotes that stuck out to me.

"In the space of the time we talked today, there'll be so much music made in the world, it'd be enough for us to listen to for the rest of our lives. So, if you have such a vast pool-- if you think about the history of music, how much music has been made-- you have such a vast pool of music to select from, to listen to, why leave it to people who have only their own profits at heart, to decide what you hear. So I just turn that shit right off."
-Ian Mackaye
Dischord Records

"Art has never been about mass culture - ever!"
-Glen Branca
Composer/Guitarist

"To me, when you're dealing with art, you have to remember that some of the things that run the deepest in the human psyche are the ones that take the longest to nurture."
-Lenny Kaye
Patti Smith Group
Guitarist

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Stages Of My Creativity

The 'Thinking' Stage

It's the one I'm in at the moment. I tend to be at my most prolific when I'm like this--- there's a constant stream of ideas bustling forth impatiently. I don't sleep very much and I can't really relax. I'm not really entering my imagination much-- the ideas just seem to be there, popping into my brain. It's as if my subconscious has been working on some ideas and proposals and now it's just printing them out, one after the other, and I have plenty of things to choose from.

The things I write/create in this state tend to be pretty good quality, but not my best; and often just a rehash of something I've done previously.

'The Dreaming Stage'

This is wonderful, when I can access it. When it's turned on I can just drift off into thought and imagine a new world. It can be a dream where I let go and am taken on a surprising journey by my mind, or it can be a purposeful journey I take; but I see it so vividly. When I imagine something in this state, I can see and feel everything and everyone in it. I write at my best in this state-- whether it's a screenplay or story or blog. But I have to be quick to capture it, because it soon fades.

'The Instant Flash Stage'

I'll just be walking down the road, and it's like a voice suddenly goes BOOM and says "Film idea! A murderer is proven innocent due to clocks going back an hour, meaning he was arrested thirty minutes before he committed the crime," or whatever, and I'll just KNOW I have to write it.

It might seem similar to the thinking stage-- but the thinking stage is more of a stream of so-so ideas. This stage, it's just a flash of something distinct and certain, and it is always something I find to be appealing to write. I think it's normally random and comedic when this happens, too. I'm not totally sure where the flashes come from but, I don't need to know. But they NEVER come when I'm thinking of writing or of ideas.

---There are other stages, I'll try and capture them and explain them when I experience them, if you find this interesting? Let me know!

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SUBMARINE With My Friend PETE

So, we sat in our seats. Okay, they're not our seats, they belong to the cinema. I knew this because, when I own a seat, it doesn't smell of piss and popcorn. Anyway;

The trailers are on. We're watching. But the projection is awful. Look at the diagram. Not good right? At least, I didn't think so. Look at the blue rectangle in my image; awful. What the hell?

So I go outside to talk to the helpful cinema dude.

THE KID

The projection is fucked up. It's all kind of pushed to the right, it's a mess. 

HELPFUL DUDE

Huh?

THE KID 

It don't look right. 

HELPFUL DUDE

Okay. 

At this point he just kind of stares.

THE KID

Can you do something? 

HELPFUL DUDE

I'll have a look.

He comes in, he takes a look. He sees it sucks. 

HELPFUL DUDE

Okay, I'll let them know.

THE KID

Thanks.

So the movie starts. And it's still messed up. But everyone else is munching on popcorn, sitting in their piss seats, and texting their mistresses. Nobody gives a damn. Even my friend Pete is sitting there happily. I stormed out into the place where the helpful dude was standing around waiting to tear small pieces of paper in half.

THE KID 

What's happening with the thing? 

HELPFUL DUDE

Is it not fixed?

THE KID 

No. 

HELPFUL DUDE

I told them.

THE KID 

Great, but could something be done? 

HELPFUL DUDE

I'll have another look.

He comes into the screen again. He looks at it. He has a weird, bland, spaced out look that I can't fully describe.

HELPFUL DUDE

Is it not meant to be like that?

THE KID

Maybe. It is an arthouse flick.

HELPFUL DUDE

Oh okay. 

THE KID 

I'm joking; look--- can't you just get the projectionist to move the image or something?

HELPFUL DUDE

Apparently this film isn't full screen so it's okay. 

THE KID 

(defeated)

Okay, whatever. 

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Your Big Break In The Industry

"There's people around who tell you that they know

The places where they send you, and it's easy to go

They'll zip you up and dress you down

Stand you in a row

But you know you don't have to

You can just say no"

-Big Star

The minute you have talent, they tell you what to do with it, where to go. They say "you could make a living directing commercials," they tell you "you should get your breasts out on screen, that's how you make it", they tell you "you have to give us your script because we're the only people who will make it."

But you get to choose. When you're starting out, you're at your strongest, because you're you. You're doing your thing. And the minute you have something they can strip down and turn into profit, they'll be onto you. And they'll call it your big break.

The big break isn't what you think it is. You shouldn't try to skip the journey you're on. It's like blogging. You guys come here because you like what I do. But the minute I have a sponsored article saying that I love 7-Up, you'll know I've lost that one thing I have going for me. Right now, this blog could end up being anything. Five years from now it could be the best film blog out there, or it could be a specialist blog focusing only on The Apartment, who knows! It's exciting. But if I did a deal with Suite101.com to post their content in exchange for $0.06 per word, you'd all see me differently. And I'd lose the unique thing this blog has, just like yours does. We have ourselves, and who we are, and it's the strongest thing we own. But when you give it away, it's gone.

I'm not talking about taking jobs for the pay cheque. I'm realistic enough to realise that none of us have any money and we need to get paid. But I'm saying, don't give up your dreams, don't sell your babies, just because you're worried about dying. Some idiot producer who wants to give you $50 to buy your screenplay because "it'll get you recognized" is not your journey, neither is starring in some softcore porn film because the director says he has "contacts." You all know this, it's obvious, but I think sometimes we need to remind each other. Commit to doing the work that you're proud of; the work that made you want to do this in the first place. It's hard -- and fifteen years after starting acting you're still playing to tiny theaters in front of nobody and you're still getting rejection letters from production companies. But that's the price your pay for staying true to yourself. A 'big break' lasts for fifteen minutes and a sex tape, but if you create art, it'll live forever.

"We don't know what it can be, we don't know what it will be, we just know that it is cool."

-Mark Zuckerberg in 'The Social Network'

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