The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘cinema’

We decided to have a no brain activity evening last night and headed off to Clifton Moor to grab something to eat and take in a mindless but entertaining film at the Vue Cinema. We noticed a Frankie & Benny’s restaurant and despite the awful music they insist of piping outside the front door, we decided to go in. It was not a good start. The ‘greeter’, a man with a huge jaw, scowled a little and showed us to a cramped tiny table with paper napkins (I have a thing about paper napkins OK?) and plastic menus. Sitting a little while we noticed a second table who were seated after us where already placing their orders, so I stopped a passing waitress and asked if we could order. To give her credit, she was very pleasant and professional. Anyway the food was ordered, the drinks arrived and we waited for our starters.
Taking in the surroundings as the restaurant filled up, it quickly became almost impossible to hold any type of conversation due to the noise of the place. The incessant background music, mixed it seemed every five minutes by Happy Birthday and a Congratulations track by Cliff Richard was just too much to take in. To get over this, it seemed every other diner in the room was shouting to make sure they were heard.

Anyway we looked forward to getting our food and getting out quickly (which is exactly what these places are designed to do). The starters arrived and were ok. The table was cleared and yes they did replace the cutlery for fresh ones, so we were happy with that. The mains arrived and I tucked into my full rack of ribs. However Dusty was not so lucky. The fish he had ordered was not properly cooked so he had to send it back for a replacement. Again the staff were quite professional and made no fuss about ordering up a second meal. Dusty finally got his meal as I finished mine and this time, the fish was fresh and cooked properly.

Finishing off, we paid the bill, tipped the staff who were actually good and headed off swearing blind never to return to such a noisy place again.

Score: 1 Star. Visited April 2009

Hearing about the success of this new film at the Golden Globes award ceremony (the one where Kate Winslet made a meal of her acceptance speech) we booked up to go see it at the Vue Cinema in York.  The Vue chain of cinemas has recently started to show films to over 18’s only regardless of the film classification itself.  We quite like this idea if it keeps the noise down in the auditorium so you can watch the film in peace.  So it was last night.  The cinema was nice and quiet and although it was not full, had a reasonable amount of punters for a Tuesday night.  The film started and you quickly realise the story centres around how Jamal Malik knows the answers to the questions on an Indian Who Wants to be a Millionaire program that he finds himself appearing in.

It is a very clever intelligent film and with each answer, the film cuts back to the events in young Jamal’s life that went to so vividly imprint on his memory the information he recalled in answering the questions.

There was a little humour, a little violence, quite a depressing depiction of life in the slums of India and a well written script brought to life in a very well directed cinematic picture.  Directed by Danny Boyle and Co Directed by Lovelean Tandan, I enjoyed it very much.  I think Paul liked it to, but for those who know him, it is often difficult to get anything other than ‘It was OK’ when asking about films he has just seen.

Pryordurkin rating 4 stars.

Paul and I went along to see Hellboy II last night at York Vue Cinema.  I’d heard favourable reviews about the film so we settled into our seats with a bucket of popcorn ready to be entertained.  Two hours later, we were still waiting to be entertained.  The film never quite got going for us even though it had very well designed sets and characters at play.  There were moments of fun where the two main characters sing along to a CD while downing a few beers, but apart from that it was just lame.  We counted at least four people who left during the film, clearly bored like us.  However we stuck it out to see if it really could get from start to finish without a punchline.   It did.

Rating. 1 Star (for the design)

We popped along to Vue Cinema in York to catch the latest (and as it turned out, we hope the last) Mummy outing.  Starring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li, the film was long and boring with all the old jokes now well past their sell by date, almost turning to cheese.  The formulaic story unfolded without any depth and I spent quite a lot of the time just looking around the cinema itself counting how many lights there were running down the aisle or how many speakers I could spot.  It turned out Dusty was just as bored but ever in the name of research we stuck it out. 

Rating: 0 Stars.

We ventured out to see the The Dark Night.  This is the latest Batman film and was showing at York Vue Cinema.  The film started at around 8pm and the auditorium was packed.  We haven’t seen this many people attending the cinema for a very long time, so there was a general buzz about the place.  With reality in some ways more interesting than the film itself with the sad death of Heath Ledger and the recent police questioning of Christian Bale, we we keen to see how the film stacked up.  Heath Ledger did indeed play a very good Joker.  Generally quite dark in nature the film was at times uncomfortable to watch because of the violence (how it got a 12a rating is a mystery), but lightened with occasional very funny moments by the Joker.  The nurses outfit was one of the best.  Quite surreal, but very funny.  To be honest though we were a bit bored with the plot.  The Joker having been arrested an half and half into the film, we were generally pleased it was over and we would be leaving.  Unfortunately the film had another hour to go and while there were very good moments, the plot just never quite got going for us.  The last Batman film before this one, was by far and away a much better story.  However this version was carried by Heath Ledger with his fantastic portrayal of the Joker.  Managing to combine a character who was on the one hand cruel and violent with another who was funny and compelling to watch. 

Go see it, if only to see Heath Ledgers final performance playing a very complicated and fascinating character.

Score. 2 Stars

Dusty and I ventured out to the Vue cinema in York on Monday evening to watch the latest Will Smith movie, Hancock.  Little over 90 minutes in length it finished before it really got started.  Quite a slow film with little by way of a plot.  We were bored throughout.  Not one we would recommend on this occasion.

Score. 1 Star.

Dusty and I popped along to the Vue Cinema in York last night to see Kung Fu Panda which had just been released.  We arrived a little late which meant we missed all the adverts that precede films these days and by the time we sat down having stopped for expensively priced ice cream we were quite pleased with ourselves.  The film started and for the next  90 minutes or so, it kept us lightly amused.  The auditorium was fairly empty and what customers were there seemed to all be under the age of 12.  Still it was a no brain way to spend the evening and we enjoyed it.

Score. 2 Stars

We took a trip to the local Vue Cinema last night to catch up on a favourite fairytale of ours.  The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 2008.  Understanding as we do, a little about how fairy tales work we looked forward to a couple of hours entertainment that followed on from the first film this series; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

As we pulled up outside the Vue cinema in York, we noticed a coach had parked up nearby and our hearts sank.  Was this film going to be full of screaming kids.  However, we are nothing if not committed to the work of pryordurkin.com and our readers come first, so we continued inside to take out seats.  Only stopping mid way to pick up the extortionately priced treats.  Over £6.00 for a drink and a bag of chocolate!. I kid you not.

Anyway, the auditorium was more or less empty.  An elderly couple, out on what appeared to be a first date, given the amount of talking and giggling, were sat in the row opposite.  Behind us, two couples in their teens and to the other side a few girls sat in a group. I only mention this because it is important to remember as my review moves on.

The film started after about 20 minutes of adverts. It had quite a good pace to it and jumped quickly from war torn London to Narnia in a split second.  The storyline picked up from where The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe left off and to be honest, kept us entertained throughout.  It must have been good, because Dusty normally looks at his watch when he gets bored, but didn’t do this once.

However, throughout the first half of the film I could hear constant talking and giggling.  It was starting to hack me off, because one minute I was almost stroking Aslam (Liam Neeson providing the voice) and the next minute I was back in a grubby in Cinema in York.  Despite Dusty’s plea to ’shhhh’ it continued.

In the end, we decided in a grumpy manner (to ensure it was noticed) to move seats away from the elderly ‘dating’ couple to the opposite end of the auditorium.  They got the message.  I tell you, it is not the young of today who are rude, it is the elderly in our experience.

Back to the film.  It finished around 11pm and in that time, Aslam had helped our heroes save the day.  There were a few funny innuendos throughout the film. One centred around a horn which in real life would have been a mobile telephone.  If you see it, you will know what we mean.

All in all, a good couple of hours (despite the elderly obnoxious behaviour – bet they had Asbos)

Score: 3 Stars.

Directed by Andrew Adamson.  Based on the book by CS Lewis. Screenplay by Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.  Starring: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Sergio Castellitto, Peter Dinklage, Vincent Grass and Warwick Davis.

We went along to see Superhero Movie released last week at Vue Cinema in York.  A send up of all the latest superhero movies with Lesley Nielson playing a small part.  We arrived at around 8.10pm to discover a queue of 12 year old kids waiting to go in.  Given our luck, we knew they would be going into see the same film as us.  Dusty could wait no longer and asked the manager what film they were queueing for.  Sure enough it was our film.  However having explained our predicament (ie we’re miserable), the manager (after explaining the cinema was a family entertainment venue) offered us a full refund if we found the kids to be annoying or loud so we decided to carry on and see the film.  As it turned out, the kids were fine but the film was just awful.  A real let down and one that didn’t deserve to have Lesley Nielson involved.

Give it a miss.

Score 0 Stars. Seen June 08

We walked towards the City Screen Cinema and saw a sign in the corner of St Martins Courtyard pointing to the Orgasmic Cafe.  It looked like the entrance to a cheap nightclub but being adventurous we wandered in.  The first thing you come to is a large empty space at the back of which is a corridor where, if you follow the sounds of the kitchen you eventually enter the main cafe area.  Our advice is don’t let the entrance put you off, this place is modern and stylish with plenty of seating, tables, views across the River and a large walled garden patio area.

Finding a table overlooking the river, we settled down and Paul placed our order.  We decided to share a couple of mains between us and ordered up the freshly cooked Pizza and a warm chicken Caesar salad, both of which you can see being prepared in the very busy kitchen.

The place was very busy which, despite its entrance, goes to show, quality will always shine through.  The clientele were mixed in age, but thoroughly modern in dress sense and style.  Beautiful People, you might say.  We were happy with lots of eye candy to keep us amused as we waited for our meal, which was quickly served by a young fit thing.

The pizza was very good, thin, crispy and clearly freshly made.  The Caesar salad was also very nice, but had just a little too much dressing on for Dusty’s liking.

With the warm weather, the views across the river, nice food and plenty of eye candy, this is a real find and I’m sure we will be back for more.

Score: 3 Stars. Visited May 2008

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