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Best and Worst Central London Cinemas

Can't believe no one's mentioned the Curzon yet! Curzon's ace - shows interesting stuff, has a bar and you can take drinks in. And it's a family run business doncha know ;)

There's one on Shaftesbury Ave and one in Mayfair :) Although it doesn't do mainstream stuff really to be fair.

I have to say that I agree with you on Panton St. It's pants
 
I can't bear the Curzon. Claustrophobia to go-go!

The one in Mayfair was fab until they descerated it by putting in another screen. Great 60s architecture though, and a well intriguing little corner of town I never ever go to otherwise.
 
PS my mate and I habitually refer to the Odeon Panton Street as the Pants on Odeon Street. How they can charge you £9 to watch a DVD on a portable telly in a third floor death trap....
 
HackneyE9 said:
I can't bear the Curzon. Claustrophobia to go-go!

The one in Mayfair was fab until they descerated it by putting in another screen. Great 60s architecture though, and a well intriguing little corner of town I never ever go to otherwise.
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It's like a little private cinema though - that's why I like it :D
 
brixtonvilla said:
For big-screen epic stuff, it has to be the main screen at the Odeon, Leicester Square. Massive screen, digital projection, awesome sound.
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never mind all that - the interior of that screen is absolutely gorgeous. tis where they do the baftas, doncha know.

bear in mind, pretty much all the west end cinemas have chronic mouse problems. not that it bothers me - but i did see one running around while in odeon screen one, once. cheeky fucker.

mice and cinemas go pretty much hand in hand - but the west end ones are chronic.
 
I like the Curzon Mayfair & Chelsea Cinema.

I don't like the Clapham Picture House. It always seems to have long queues of (mainly) obnoxious people outside, & none too helpful staff.
 
HackneyE9 said:
PS my mate and I habitually refer to the Odeon Panton Street as the Pants on Odeon Street. How they can charge you £9 to watch a DVD on a portable telly in a third floor death trap....
Click to expand...

I only ever end up there because it's usually showing things which are near the end of their run and aren't showing anywhere else.

I must learn that it would be better all round just to wait until it comes out on DVD.


I went to the Empire on Leicester Square last night and it's hideously expensive but otherwise not bad - good comfy seats, decent sized main screen.
 
not west end, but another vote for the barbican cinema - fairly reasonable, particularly if you become a friend of the barbican, costs £20 a year, gets money off the cinema and free entry into exhibitions too
 
Chelsea is great...just in the wrong part of town. Renoir is probably be default best repetory cinema now. Extremely uncomfortable chairs, though.

Just realised that in 17 years of living in London, and being a cine-buff, I've never been to any of the big Leicester Square cinemas!
 
awww, i like the barbican programming. it's a good mix of stuff. means i can see vaguely popular stuff without having to go to one of the chains.

art can be populist!
 
Empire and Odeon Mezzanine FTW! Saw Cloverfield at the Empire and, having watched my last crop of fillums at the Ritzy I'd forgotten how truly immersive an experience a film can be when it's on a giant screen and has sound that feels like an eartquake under you...

OO, and the Barbican...just cos the whole building is so :cool:
 
Curzon Soho is pretty good.
have some fond memories there.
relaxing bar, upstairs and down.
cake, beer and tea.

i don't like the Clapham Picture House or Brixton Ritz.
feels like i get cheated when i'm there.
poor sound and seating arrangements.

that cinema in Trocodero is also shit.
 
kyser_soze said:
I'd forgotten how truly immersive an experience a film can be when it's on a giant screen and has sound that feels like an eartquake under you...
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exactly - I want to forget I'm in a cinema completely. Which doesn't happen when someone's head is in the way, your knees are jammed up against the seat in front, your bum's gone numb or it feels like the sound is filtered via piece of string and a tin can. :mad:

I haven't seen a "normal" film at the IMAX before so I'll report back. It's no more expensive the Leicester Square so if it's good I'll consider it for future "blockbusters".
 
HackneyE9 said:
I like the Barbican auditoreum, but just find it's programming pretty low-brow, to say its an arts centre.
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they do some good film festivals - there is an australian film festival every march - usually see 3 or 4 films then, have seen some excellent ones whioch never got released over here
 
sarahluv said:
i don't think i've ever been to any of the big chains, apart from cineworld. the main screen in the one in haymarket is ace. proper old fashioned screen with a balcony :)
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I'm rubbish at remembering where places are - is this the same as the Cineworld on Shaftesbury Avenue?
 
The trocadero?

*shudder*

Would any central london cinema go-ers recommend any of the following for a saturday night date flick?

Curzon Soho
Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue - no chance if it's the Trocadero!
Odeon Marble Arch
Odeon Covent Garden
Vue West End

*e2a* - it's got to be somewhere with decent leg room too as mr poo is 6ft something tall!
 
Not forgetting the good old NFT, or whatever wanky name its been lumbered with now - BFI Southbankside?

Main auditorium is fab. Number 3 is quite cool. Number two is like the garbage crusher in Star Wars.
 
Brix - thats interesting - i used to go the minema a lot in the period 1980-1995. Why did they close it down ? I thought it was one of the best if not the best cinermas in the UK. The curzon chain is good but this cinema had it all - just does not seem to exist anymore. Joe
 
joe stone said:
Brix - thats interesting - i used to go the minema a lot in the period 1980-1995. Why did they close it down ? I thought it was one of the best if not the best cinermas in the UK. The curzon chain is good but this cinema had it all - just does not seem to exist anymore. Joe
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According to this site: http://cinematreasures.org/theater/20005/

Despite booming attendances, the lease had come to end and the owners of the Berkeley Hotel had decided the space could be put to a more profitable use. Now in use as an up-market furniture store known as 'The Red Fort'
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That fits in with what I remember. And, of course, with only 60-odd seats there wasn't any room to increase revenue.

But you're right, it was a fabulous place and it's a sad loss to the city. Not everything should stay or go according to market forces imho. Some things are just intrinsically and culturally valuable and worth preserving.
 
Odeon Camden is possibly the worst Cinema I have been to in London...filthy...sound terrible and I saew a rat in there! nice.
 
I feel like my needs as a customer of cinemas have been ignored. I regularly went when I could get a decent seat with a big screen and smoke a fag/spliff inside. the Ritzy catered for me, The Odeon Marble Arch too.

Now I rarely go, I'm put off by tiny screens, stupid prices for food and stupid rules about bringing your own.

So i download the films for nothing and stream onto to my big flat screen Tv and cinemas decline continues.
 
The Notting Hill Coronet was good when it was still open - you could smoke if you were sat in the circle. I don't remember much of the Lord of the Rings as a result :D Pretty shit otherwise mind . . .
 
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