The evils of going to the cinema
2012 - better on the big screen I suspect
Last night, Jonny and I went to the first showing of the new film 2012 staring John Cusack and the only other name I recognise, Thandie Newton. I won’t give the plot away to those who haven’t seen it yet, but it wasn’t the greatest film I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s rather predictable in some places, the acting leaves much to be desired and there are plot holes that should be better explained. However, if you enjoy general chasos, death and devastation and if you like to watch famous monuments crumble such as the Washington Monument, the Cristo Redentor in Rio de Janeiro or the Vatican in Italy, this is definitely something you might like.
Anyway, standing at the cinema I was appalled by two things. The price of food (£6.50 for a crappy frankfurter hotdog and a massive sugary fizzy drink) and the quality of the food and drink on offer.
There was a Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream stand, a huge kiosk for pic and mix sweets and the aforementioned hotdogs, nachos and the obligatory popcorn.
Considering this kind of thing is crammed with salt that is deliberately intended to make you thirsty and quaff gallons of the expensive fizzy drinks, I do feel somewhat outraged. Why does this make me so cross? Most cinemas have a policy where they do not allow you to bring your own food in.
This is wrong for a few reasons:
- Their portions are gigantic and they encourage you to buy a medium rather than a “small” drink by reminding you that it is only 20p more.
- You don’t realise how much you are eating when you’re sat in a cinema and in my teens, if I had popcorn it was usually eaten by time the half an hour of ads finished before the film started!
- They actively encourage you to buy food by making the food stands more prominent in the lobby than the box office. By time you’ve waited 10 mins to buy your movie tickets, you’re hungry because your brain has been bombarded with images of food!
How can you get past this?
Take a big handbag to hide your snacks of suitable portions. Drink water instead of a litre of evil fizzy drinks. Do you remember my blog posts about fizzy drinks?
Total Chunk Top Tip: Cinemas are a business like everybody else but dieters need to be aware of their underhand money-making techniques. Until cinemas are offering diet-friendly snacks for those dieters who really enjoy a little munch when watching a film on the big screen, my advice is to take your own food and do not apologise if you are ‘caught out’. Dried fruit, rice cakes or a small packet of crisps are all OK in moderation but if you’re really trying to lose weight, get used to not eating whilst distracted with a good movie.
Louisa, I am sorry to read this. We are already planning on taking my mom and step-father to see this movie today. My kids and wife are really looking forward to it. I think I’ll not say anything and let everyone else make up their own mind.
Regarding snacks at the theater, I am in total agreement with you. In fact, for several years I have refused to patronize the theater food stand, except on very rare occasions. Today will not be one of those occasions.
Yep, as long as you’re discrete about it and hide the food, the staff usually don’t care. Surely it’s enough that you’ve bought the flipping tickets?!
Ben and I did have ice cream last time, but when we do go, if it’s not cold we walk the hour back to my house!
Steve, I’m really sorry if I ruined it for you! I’m not exactly sure I was being fair about the film because even though it was a bit silly in places, I did still enjoy it. Just because a film isn’t technically brilliant or even consistent it doesn’t mean it isn’t enjoyable. Usually I hate this kind of film so that must hopefully say something for it.
Please do let me know what you thought of it. But have to say that I was still anxious about the world ending for real in 2012 so it obviously got under my skin.
Amelia, surprised you didn’t pick out the typo in the post!
Your absolutely right about 2012, I thought is was an average film and it was on for far too long. My local cinema is a cineworld cinema, and they let you take in anything you want no questions asked.