Top 7 - Films I Want to See in a Cinema
Here in the UK, cinemas are now allowed to open, once again. It's a weird time and there is a separate debate about whether stuff like that should be open right now, but I'm going to try and keep it light today, so we're steering clear of that particular conversation. What is interesting to me though is that due to Warner Brothers wanting Tenet to have the widest release possible, it seems to be perpetually in a state of being pushed back. Essentially, cinemas are open but the flagship film that wants to reopen them isn't, which is creating an opening for showing old films. I love seeing films in the cinema, it's something I've missed greatly over this lockdown, so I want to rundown the films I would personally curate if I was running a cinema right now. The only films on this list are ones I have already seen but not in a cinema and there's a whole host of reasons they're the perfect films to be seen in a group setting on a big screen. So with all that said, let's get into some honourable mentions!
Inception is being posited as one of the first films re-released into cinemas and having only seen the epic scale and set pieces before on my phone (I know, I'm sorry), the big screen calls me.
If you haven't heard of Society, you're part of the reason I want to see this film in a cinema. The first two thirds are a brilliant critique of American suburbia but it morphs into something incredible in the last third that I would love to see other people witness for the first time.
I know Parasite being the hit it was doesn't mean all subtitled films are fair game, but seeing as this film has copious slow motion gunfights, doves in almost every scene and rad saxophone playing, Hard Boiled should be allowed to make the cut. It's too cool to not be shared.
Maybe a hot take but this is one of Wes Anderson's best? Looks gorgeous, sounds great (can't complain when there's three Beach Boys songs) and is warm enough to remind anyone that there is still joy in this world.
Yes, it kind of embodies the spirit of "bro cinema" but Apocalypse Now is... I mean, it's just too damn cinematic to resist. How are you meant to say no to the on-screen anarchy when the screen is this big and the sound is this booming?
I, and many others, would argue Alien as one of the best horror films ever made and in a cinema, you cannot run from the intensity and people can certainly (and maybe unfortunately) hear you scream.
Eraserhead gained its following from midnight movie screenings and as someone who adores its unparalleled wtf weirdness, it is a film that deserves to be shared by you and some strangers, bonded forever by the experience of whatever the hell this film is.
Honourable mentions done, into the actual rankings!
When Climax first came out, I had an opportunity to see it in a cinema, where the cinema was giving out free glasses of sangria with each ticket. Regrettably, I wasn't able to make the screening and I think about that mistake most days. For those unaware, Climax is a film by famed provocative director Gaspar Noé, a director who has a reputation for making films so upsetting that many people either can't or won't make it to the end. As context, this is by far his most accesible film and it's about a dance troupe who drink a sangria spiked with LSD and all go crazy in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, resorting to either shagging or killing each other. Again, this is his most accessible film. It is a sensory overload of music and spinning sensation, utterly relentless in its presentation and in a cinema, there is no escape from that. It's just you and the nightmare. I've never been in a cinema where multiple people have made a show of walking out in protest and I think Climax could be the film to break that streak. Some may walk out of the cinema and never return but look, if their emptying of seats encourages more social distancing, I am all for it.
Tron: Legacy is a film almost entirely about visual and sonic spectacle. It is bright neon lights and a superb Daft Punk score, all being used to hide the fact that the story is not particularly deep or original. Fortunately, that is exactly the kind of blockbuster that cinemas are made for. It doesn't matter how good your TV and sound setup are, there is no way you can make Tron: Legacy look and sound as good as a cinema can. As a personal note though, I would love if this went into cinemas and got a second wave of appreciation, spurring Disney on to make another one. For whatever reason, I am drawn to the world of Tron and there seems to be much more in this world to explore. The film itself is full of little teases for future instalments and if people went to see and support Tron: Legacy in cinemas, a third film could be in the pipeline. For both that dream and the sheer intensity of the spectacle that this film offers, Tron: Legacy should be seen in cinemas.
Hot Fuzz is one of my favourite films and has been for about a decade. In fact, I would wager that for many young men of a similar age to me, it is a seminal film in our adolescence. DVD copies of this film showed us a whole incredible world of violent action and niche comedy that marked a crossroads in our life. As such, we didn't have the opportunity to see Hot Fuzz in a cinema, only ever on the TVs of our mates while their parents were out. Sure, that has been its own shared experience and as we've all gotten older, we'll settle down in Uni flats and watch this with a can of cider in hand, but a cinema is something else entirely. I think of Hot Fuzz as a pretty much perfect fusion of action and comedy, two genres that are built for the cinema. Quite simply, this is a film that deserves to be shown again on the big screen... for the greater good.
Like Climax, Whiplash is a film that I almost saw in a cinema and just missed out on, which haunts me still. It is one of my favourite films ever and so obviously I want to support the film again however I can, but let me pitch it to you. If you're watching a film at home, at any moment you can be pulled out of the immersion. Someone can walk in to interrupt you, you could check your phone or you could have an electrical failure. In a cinema, it is much harder to be pulled out of the immersion, assuming everyone in the cinema is being appropriately respectful and that's the exact atmosphere that Whiplash deserves. Of all the films I have so far seen in my life, none have matched the rollercoaster of intensity that Whiplash portrays. Add to that the fact that it's heavily reliant on music and you need those big, bassy speakers to do the film justice. Whiplash is a film most people should see at the best of times but in a cinema, it would be impossible to refuse.
I have a really fond memory of seeing The Nice Guys in a cinema. The film is fantastic, I'd recommend seeing it in whatever form you can, but the cinema experience specifically made the comedy that much more enjoyable. The reason was, there was a guy a couple of rows in front of me who had a really distinctive laugh. Whenever there was a great joke (and there were many), he would crack up and it would send out a ripple of an extra laugh in the audience, doubling up the laughs. I bring that whole story up because it is the story I always go to as a way of proving why comedies should be seen in a cinema. With Airplane! being the funniest film ever made (at least in my opinion), it makes clear sense that this film should be put back into cinemas. It has a joke ratio that many a time made me struggle to breathe and if one joke doesn't set you off, the amount someone next to you laughs at it could in turn cause you to crack up all over again. Comedies are made to be shared and cackled over today and no film embodies that sense of delivering laughs by the truckload like Airplane! does.
In his introduction for The Dark Tower, Stephen King says something that, ironically, stuck with me more than anything else in the book does. He discusses seeing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in a cinema and if you'll excuse me, I would like to quote it at you: "Clint Eastwood appears roughly eighteen feet tall, with each wiry jut of stubble on his cheeks looking roughly the size of a young redwood tree. The grooves bracketing Lee Van Cleef's mouth are as deep as canyons [...]. The desert settings appear to stretch at least out as far as the orbit of the planet Neptune. And the barrel of each gun looks to be roughly as large as the Holland Tunnel." I wanted to share that because with a grace I could never possess, King describes how seeing something in a cinema can completely change the experience of that film. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is (in the least cringey way) a truly epic movie and though I loved seeing it on a TV, I can't help but feel that it would be a world shaking experience to see it in a cinema. It's the way it was meant to be seen and, with the iconic and masterful score by the recently departed Morricone, the way it was meant to be heard too.
Yeah, I love Mulholland Drive, whatever, let's get over it. There is admittedly a large part of me that just wants to see this on the big screen because it's one of my favourite films, but I do feel that even for the uninitiated, Mulholland Drive would be the perfect film for the big screen, capturing pretty much all the things I've already said make a film the perfect cinema experience. First, it has a lot of strange comedy, which will be enhanced by the discomfort and uncertainty of the other viewers. It's got the weirdness that will create an unbreakable bond between you and anyone else who is seeing Mulholland Drive for the first time. It also contains, though not quite in the same way as something like Inception, truly incredible setpieces. Two scenes in particular spring to mind for their overwhelming use of music. When I watch this film at home, I still adore it but my slightly crap TV means that these moments where the music is overwhelming causes the sound to warble a bit, as the speakers strain to contain it. Cinemas have no such problem and hearing Rebekah Del Rio singing at full blast in a dark room, surrounded by strangers, feels as appropriate a viewing context as it gets. As a final little point of evidence to my cause, when the film was released in cinemas, Lynch asked projectionists to leave slightly too much room at the top of the projection in order to create a sense of unease in the audience. Watching a blu-ray copy will never allow you to reach that level of transcendence, nice as that blu-ray may be. For a film that is this obsessed with cinema to be kept out of a cinema for too long feels simply foolish and I don't want to be that fool.
Inception
Inception is being posited as one of the first films re-released into cinemas and having only seen the epic scale and set pieces before on my phone (I know, I'm sorry), the big screen calls me.
Society
If you haven't heard of Society, you're part of the reason I want to see this film in a cinema. The first two thirds are a brilliant critique of American suburbia but it morphs into something incredible in the last third that I would love to see other people witness for the first time.
Hard Boiled
I know Parasite being the hit it was doesn't mean all subtitled films are fair game, but seeing as this film has copious slow motion gunfights, doves in almost every scene and rad saxophone playing, Hard Boiled should be allowed to make the cut. It's too cool to not be shared.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Maybe a hot take but this is one of Wes Anderson's best? Looks gorgeous, sounds great (can't complain when there's three Beach Boys songs) and is warm enough to remind anyone that there is still joy in this world.
Apocalypse Now
Yes, it kind of embodies the spirit of "bro cinema" but Apocalypse Now is... I mean, it's just too damn cinematic to resist. How are you meant to say no to the on-screen anarchy when the screen is this big and the sound is this booming?
Alien
I, and many others, would argue Alien as one of the best horror films ever made and in a cinema, you cannot run from the intensity and people can certainly (and maybe unfortunately) hear you scream.
Eraserhead
Eraserhead gained its following from midnight movie screenings and as someone who adores its unparalleled wtf weirdness, it is a film that deserves to be shared by you and some strangers, bonded forever by the experience of whatever the hell this film is.
Honourable mentions done, into the actual rankings!
7. Climax
When Climax first came out, I had an opportunity to see it in a cinema, where the cinema was giving out free glasses of sangria with each ticket. Regrettably, I wasn't able to make the screening and I think about that mistake most days. For those unaware, Climax is a film by famed provocative director Gaspar Noé, a director who has a reputation for making films so upsetting that many people either can't or won't make it to the end. As context, this is by far his most accesible film and it's about a dance troupe who drink a sangria spiked with LSD and all go crazy in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, resorting to either shagging or killing each other. Again, this is his most accessible film. It is a sensory overload of music and spinning sensation, utterly relentless in its presentation and in a cinema, there is no escape from that. It's just you and the nightmare. I've never been in a cinema where multiple people have made a show of walking out in protest and I think Climax could be the film to break that streak. Some may walk out of the cinema and never return but look, if their emptying of seats encourages more social distancing, I am all for it.
6. Tron: Legacy
Tron: Legacy is a film almost entirely about visual and sonic spectacle. It is bright neon lights and a superb Daft Punk score, all being used to hide the fact that the story is not particularly deep or original. Fortunately, that is exactly the kind of blockbuster that cinemas are made for. It doesn't matter how good your TV and sound setup are, there is no way you can make Tron: Legacy look and sound as good as a cinema can. As a personal note though, I would love if this went into cinemas and got a second wave of appreciation, spurring Disney on to make another one. For whatever reason, I am drawn to the world of Tron and there seems to be much more in this world to explore. The film itself is full of little teases for future instalments and if people went to see and support Tron: Legacy in cinemas, a third film could be in the pipeline. For both that dream and the sheer intensity of the spectacle that this film offers, Tron: Legacy should be seen in cinemas.
5. Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz is one of my favourite films and has been for about a decade. In fact, I would wager that for many young men of a similar age to me, it is a seminal film in our adolescence. DVD copies of this film showed us a whole incredible world of violent action and niche comedy that marked a crossroads in our life. As such, we didn't have the opportunity to see Hot Fuzz in a cinema, only ever on the TVs of our mates while their parents were out. Sure, that has been its own shared experience and as we've all gotten older, we'll settle down in Uni flats and watch this with a can of cider in hand, but a cinema is something else entirely. I think of Hot Fuzz as a pretty much perfect fusion of action and comedy, two genres that are built for the cinema. Quite simply, this is a film that deserves to be shown again on the big screen... for the greater good.
4. Whiplash
Like Climax, Whiplash is a film that I almost saw in a cinema and just missed out on, which haunts me still. It is one of my favourite films ever and so obviously I want to support the film again however I can, but let me pitch it to you. If you're watching a film at home, at any moment you can be pulled out of the immersion. Someone can walk in to interrupt you, you could check your phone or you could have an electrical failure. In a cinema, it is much harder to be pulled out of the immersion, assuming everyone in the cinema is being appropriately respectful and that's the exact atmosphere that Whiplash deserves. Of all the films I have so far seen in my life, none have matched the rollercoaster of intensity that Whiplash portrays. Add to that the fact that it's heavily reliant on music and you need those big, bassy speakers to do the film justice. Whiplash is a film most people should see at the best of times but in a cinema, it would be impossible to refuse.
3. Airplane!
I have a really fond memory of seeing The Nice Guys in a cinema. The film is fantastic, I'd recommend seeing it in whatever form you can, but the cinema experience specifically made the comedy that much more enjoyable. The reason was, there was a guy a couple of rows in front of me who had a really distinctive laugh. Whenever there was a great joke (and there were many), he would crack up and it would send out a ripple of an extra laugh in the audience, doubling up the laughs. I bring that whole story up because it is the story I always go to as a way of proving why comedies should be seen in a cinema. With Airplane! being the funniest film ever made (at least in my opinion), it makes clear sense that this film should be put back into cinemas. It has a joke ratio that many a time made me struggle to breathe and if one joke doesn't set you off, the amount someone next to you laughs at it could in turn cause you to crack up all over again. Comedies are made to be shared and cackled over today and no film embodies that sense of delivering laughs by the truckload like Airplane! does.
2. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
In his introduction for The Dark Tower, Stephen King says something that, ironically, stuck with me more than anything else in the book does. He discusses seeing The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in a cinema and if you'll excuse me, I would like to quote it at you: "Clint Eastwood appears roughly eighteen feet tall, with each wiry jut of stubble on his cheeks looking roughly the size of a young redwood tree. The grooves bracketing Lee Van Cleef's mouth are as deep as canyons [...]. The desert settings appear to stretch at least out as far as the orbit of the planet Neptune. And the barrel of each gun looks to be roughly as large as the Holland Tunnel." I wanted to share that because with a grace I could never possess, King describes how seeing something in a cinema can completely change the experience of that film. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is (in the least cringey way) a truly epic movie and though I loved seeing it on a TV, I can't help but feel that it would be a world shaking experience to see it in a cinema. It's the way it was meant to be seen and, with the iconic and masterful score by the recently departed Morricone, the way it was meant to be heard too.
1. Mulholland Drive
Yeah, I love Mulholland Drive, whatever, let's get over it. There is admittedly a large part of me that just wants to see this on the big screen because it's one of my favourite films, but I do feel that even for the uninitiated, Mulholland Drive would be the perfect film for the big screen, capturing pretty much all the things I've already said make a film the perfect cinema experience. First, it has a lot of strange comedy, which will be enhanced by the discomfort and uncertainty of the other viewers. It's got the weirdness that will create an unbreakable bond between you and anyone else who is seeing Mulholland Drive for the first time. It also contains, though not quite in the same way as something like Inception, truly incredible setpieces. Two scenes in particular spring to mind for their overwhelming use of music. When I watch this film at home, I still adore it but my slightly crap TV means that these moments where the music is overwhelming causes the sound to warble a bit, as the speakers strain to contain it. Cinemas have no such problem and hearing Rebekah Del Rio singing at full blast in a dark room, surrounded by strangers, feels as appropriate a viewing context as it gets. As a final little point of evidence to my cause, when the film was released in cinemas, Lynch asked projectionists to leave slightly too much room at the top of the projection in order to create a sense of unease in the audience. Watching a blu-ray copy will never allow you to reach that level of transcendence, nice as that blu-ray may be. For a film that is this obsessed with cinema to be kept out of a cinema for too long feels simply foolish and I don't want to be that fool.
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