An Ode to the 80s Cinema

Or Showcase Cinema, Bristol Avonmeads.

Photo from Geograph.org.uk

This is a really random post, but I just have to talk about how much I love this hideous, eyesore of a cinema.This Showcase cinema is probably one of the most neglected (by cinemagoers, not the staff or management) cinemas in Bristol or my whole area really, and I absolutely adore it! Here is why;

Just to get you in the mood, here's a bit of  'Acceptable in the 80s' 

by Calvin Harris. Play, read and enjoy!

1. It hasn't moved forward in time since I first went there for a birthday party when I was in primary school, and even then it was dated. Yet it is insanely clean. It isn't just 80s in a, 'oh my gold this place has been rotting away for 30 years' way. It genuinely feels like you have gone back in time to when it was new. In the 80s. I feel like a kid in a Goosebumps (1995 - 1998 TV) episode when I step in there.
2. It still has the manual letter by letter signs outside, that you only really see in US movies now. This makes me happy. One day I will camp out to watch them change it. Hopefully they will drop a B (then maybe an E, C, K, I and E) and I can run away with it. Stealth mode.
3. It is in the middle of a commercial estate, beneath an overpass, yet somehow still looks like it thinks it should be at the seaside. The seaside in the 80s of course.
4. It has random scenes from movies in neon lights in the foyer. Who uses neon lights anymore? I will get a photo for you next time I am there.
5. If you get there early enough to see the pre trailer, pre advert, adverts, you will see it still says 'please turn your pagers off throughout the movie'.
6. There is never anyone there. Honestly. The majority of the times I have been there we have been the only ones in the room.
7. It has 14 screens?! How can a cinema with practically no customers have 14 screens?
8. It has a car park outside, like right outside. In Bristol and Bath this is a big deal.
9. We were once late for a screening of a film because we tried to be clever and eat first (I'm not very good at timing things) and because we were the only ones watching, the staff started it again for us. The staff here are amazing.
10. They run a 'last chance' promotion, where they half the price of the film for the last day it is showing (bearing in mind they keep films on here for far longer than anywhere else in the South West.) They don't even promote it, just give you a discount after you've already chosen to see it.
11. In the summer they put the air conditioning up impeccably high, forgetting there are only two people in the room. I one watched Ponyo (2008) there and I was so cold I really felt for the drowned villagers. I know this shouldn't be a reason to love it, but it feels like every experience here is a weird adventure.
12. It has a drive through Krispy Kreme outside. Just to clarify for anyone who doesn't live in England, this is a big deal. The only drive throughs we have ever had since the dawn of time have been McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC. The fact I can drive through something, get decent coffee, and something I can actually eat is mindblowing for me. Also, until a few years ago Krispy Kreme doughnuts were reserved only as presents from trips to London, as that was the only place we could get them. Now I can get one in my car.
13. There is also a Hollywood Bowl next door. Just in case you really want to have a 1980s/1990s birthday party and be the coolest kid in you school.

I know this all sounds like I am massively taking the mick, and I am, but this and The Little Theatre Bath are easily my favourite cinemas. This place reminds me of a time when the Cinema was massive, and going to watch a film in a big, dark room full of strangers was the coolest thing ever! Back before they were released on DVD a month later and got a home cinema viewing before all that. I never understand how it is still running, but I really hope it never stops.

If you live locally, go support it. Wear neon, put on your Nike airs, get your boom box out and fudging love it!

Arial shot of the hideousness from Completely Retail.

Bonus depressing as hell shot of Hollywood Bowl!
Image courtesy of Martyn Hicks.