Nice one, Oscar.

I finally visited the new Odeon cinema at Liverpool One last night. Despite my reticence about dealing with the prospect of seeing a film in an auditorium I found myself as excited as I usually am when greeting a new cinema, with the questions about what the screen will be like, the seating, the ticket prices. I’m very nerdy about this. I’m also very out of touch. These are the innovations and unovations of the modern multiplex:

(1) Odeon One (as they’ve decided to call it) has a cavernous foyer, presumably so that there’s plenty of room for the audience, should the audience turn up on mass for some blockbuster or other. Which is a pity, since seeing them lined up outside in the park outside would be a picturesque image.

(2) There is a range of dvds on sale at their recommended retail prices, though the titles seem relatively random. Did I see Lake Placid? The Full Monty?

(3) Is it usual these days for the box office and the refreshment stand to be combined, with hotdogs rolling around behind the usher while you’re trying to negotiate the seating arrangements? I’m not complaining – it’s perfectly logical and actually I remember it being much the same at the Hyde Park cinema all those years ago.

(4) The problem is that it doesn’t look like a box office; it’s the first I’ve actually had to ask if I’m in the right place to buy a ticket, which by the way came in the form of a receipt rather than an actual ticket, which also doesn’t isn’t really the same thing. I still have stubs from over a decade ago, tucked into the dvd cases of the films they’re related to and there seems to be more of a value to that. Though it probably saves on coloured cardboard, that is definitely a retrograde step, and doesn't rip properly at the right moment.

(5) There are infrared security cameras in every screen, unobtrusive enough that I didn’t notice they were there until I saw the plasma screen in the foyer as I was leaving. FACT Liverpool do this also and it’s a great way of finding out if a film is busy and I’d like to think that the staff would react should they see any jiggery-pokery going on. I once saw 24 Hour Party People at the Filmworks in Manchester and there were teenagers pleasuring each other loudly on the back row. No really, I did.

(6) The screens are on two floors which means that like all good cinemas Odeon One is actually taller than it looks on the outside – though there’s an inescapable feeling of banishment in trekking all the way to screen thirteen while presumably the really cool films are on screen one.

(7) The screen at thirteen is big enough. Since the cinema’s only been open for a few weeks, it still has that new smell of fabric and plastic rather than stale popcorn.

(8) Here’s about the only problem I really had with the visit – the screen 13 doors have windows in them and they’re opposite to the side of the screen. Which means that in late afternoon, when the sun’s still out, light reflects over the edge of the screen, particularly when there’s a lot of black in the image, even when they’re closed.

(9) But since that's only thing I've got to moan about, the new Odeon One gets the thumbs up from me. The three of us strangers who saw the film did so in comfort with no distractions and even though it wasn't the best movie ever (for reasons I'll get to) I enjoyed the experience enough that I'd want to go back again. It's certainly better than London Road.

(10) Nice one, Oscar.