It’s probably no surprise to anyone that I like movies. Going to the cinema was probably the family activity that made me happiest growing up, sometimes I didn’t even know what the family was seeing, I was just always down for a movie.
One of the few perks to having a day job, was that it afforded me a Cineworld Unlimited Card, which is something I have always tried to abuse worse than an all you can eat buffet. Especially as films were now a monthly payment that I had to justify to myself.
When I was a young Restaurant Supervisor with no work/life balance, I would look forward to my midweek day off, during which I would walk into town, picking three movies to watch during the day. With just enough time in between to grab some lunch or swing by the used book shop for another book I wouldn’t get around to reading. My father who had an unlimited card albeit in a different city adopted the same routine, and we’d often call between films to debrief.
I’d occasionally really mess up the order of viewing though! Watching the best films first and ending on a downer. But overall it was a good routine that removed me from the world for the day.
A Change In Viewing Habits
After moving to Cardiff in 2020, I found that I no longer lived quite so far from Cineworld, with it being just around the corner from my flat, and even now only a 15 minute walk away. It was much easier to pop in and out, after work, or between classes. I saw a movie once, then went home, did laundry, attended a zoom meeting and then decided to head out for another movie. I was probably watching as many films as ever! But now I was only escaping for two hours at a time, not the whole day.
An Accidental New Record
I woke up on a rare free day on the 28th September 2024, intending to see two films! I rushed to the cinema early and simply kept distracting myself with side quests (other movies).
Francis Ford Coppola’s much talked about Megalopolis. A production he’d self financed through the sale of a significant portion of his wine empire. A production that every Zoetrope fan was anticipating with either great excitement, or anxiety. The final project has strongly divided audiences and was a significant box office failure. But I absolutely loved it! Not completely without its flaws, but it did offer something completely unique and original. In a time where It’s hard to figure out where $200,000,000 budgets go, you could really see every penny on the screen. There were creative and artistic sequences that if the whole film had been terrible, would have made it still worth seeing and the performances were fantastic! A great movie, I wish audiences had shown up for it!
I figured a mindless horror film would be a good way to kill some more time at the cinema. However what I got from this wasn’t mindless horror, but a thoughtful and incredibly well executed, isolated, psychological horror with one of Halle Berry’s strongest performances. It’s as much a mystery as it is a horror, that keeps the audiences guessing throughout. Is this small family stuck in a supernatural situation or are they the victims of one member’s delusions? Often films like this fail to stick a landing, losing tension when the answer is revealed, but Never Let Go is strong throughout and keeps audiences on their toes with several unforeseen left turns.
After seeing the 2024 follow up film Twisters in cinemas just one week before, I was incredibly excited to get to see this one in 4DX (a gimmick I usually dislike, but for obvious reasons, works well in a film like this). The characters are likeable, the action is packed and the stakes are high! Everything that made this film great would eventually go on to make it’s sequel great!
There’s not much I can say about the film that really launched Edgar Wright’s film career. When I was a kid, this was the DVD to get your hands on, usually from an older sibling! Zombie comedies were not on the mainstream radar so when this came out it was a real game changer for both the comedy and horror genres. I remember laughing all the way through this film as a child, but rewatching as an adult, I am always taken back by the darkness in this film. With brutal deaths that would be at home in a 28 Days/Weeks film and some severe emotional punches, there are moments in this wacky cornetto film that make you tear up. Also Knowing that Simon Pegg’s character at 29 was considered a comical age not to have his life together adds a lot of urgency to my own life management.
After Shaun of the Dead, I realised I couldn’t remember watching four movies in a day, I’m sure I had, but simply couldn’t place such a time. I realised if I watched one more, that would be a definite record breaker. So I went to watch The Outrun, a film that I hadn’t really been interested in, and hadn’t seen very much marketing for, films about addiction can often be generic and sentimental. What I found however was my favourite film of the day!
The Outrun is an incredibly powerful, well made film that follows Saoirose Ronan (based on Amy Liptrot) as she navigates sobriety in the Orkney Islands. It’s one of the best films on the subject matter, whether following her day to day struggle to maintain her new life, the horrific flashbacks of the low points that lead to her rehabilitation or the brighter future she builds for herself. Not only is it a powerful story on addiction and recovery, but it’s a real love letter to nature, wildlife and the Scottish countryside (Not unlike the book it’s based on that I immediately bought). If you’ve not seen it, give it a watch!
A New Obsession
With the day’s screenings over, I realised that if there had been a 22:00 screening, I’d have been able to see six films. Which would be unhinged, but I bet nobody has done that before. Everyone I told about my 5 movie escapade seemed in disbelief, the biggest film fans can’t sit still for that long and I realised that 6 films would absolutely be achievable with one later screening.
Films aren’t really a quanitity over quality game, but I did find myself becoming a bit obsessed with the numbers, and it wasn’t lost on me that if I did watch six films in a day, I could not watch another film for 3 months and my cineworld unlimited subscription would still be a net positive.
After a month or so, enough new films had reached Cineworld that a day’s worth of films was achievable, with the release of Hereditary and Small Things Like These, Anora, and Juror 2, there were multiple films that I was anticipating. However figuring out that schedule was no easy task.
9th November 2024 was another rare free day and when it rolled around I logged in to reserve my tickets, I realised that there was no longer a 22:00 screening and couldn’t foresee how this plan could go forward. I sat on my bed defeated, before my wife checked screening times and rewrote a new plan that included six films before 22:00 although left no room trailers or snack breaks. Armed with a giant bottle of water and some ready to eat apricots I was prepared to smuggle in, I left for the cinema a little before 10:00
6 Films in 1 Day
The trouble with trying to work such a tight schedule, is you need to watch some films you’re not interested in! I’d never been into transformers, didn’t have the toys, didn’t watch the cartoons and only saw the first two Michael Bay Films. The only one in the screen, I wasn’t expecting much.
What I actually got was a fantastic prequel movie that provided a full setup and background to the Transformers Universe. It wasn’t a silly cartoon based on toys, but a beautifully animated study of political corruption, class oppression and even psychological disillusion. (I’m serious). It made me think that I’d really been missing a trick by not getting into Transformers as a kid, and wondering if maybe my cousins and brothers were right about bionicles too.
After the cinematic masterpieces that were Paddington 1 & 2, this had been the movie I was most excited for, ideally the plan would be to end on it, but the timings don’t always work out that way! With Paul King no longer directing and Sally Field busy on other projects, I had my concerns, but Dougal Wilson delivered. Paddington in Peru had all the same heart and atmosphere of its predecessors and was great fun from start to finish! Packed with action and a brilliant performance from Olivia Coleman, it was incredibly enjoyable. Although not quite delivering the emotional punches of Paddington 2, it was a swashbuckling fun and a good way to round of the trilogy.
Wondering if I would be the sole adult in a room full of families, I was surprised to see very few children in attendance and the screen full of lone adults, all eagerly awaiting the next Paddington Installment. People will really turn up in droves for a kids film when it treats it’s audience with respect.
This was tonal whiplash (albeit maintaining a nun connection) But at 2pm it was time for my most anticipated film. Having been fascinated and disturbed by The Magdalene Laundries for years after watching The Magdalene Sisters, 2002. It’s an evil part of our history that doesn’t get enough attention. It’s a difficult film about the psychological turmoil of a coal merchant who witnesses the abuses of the powerful institution, with a family and a business to protect, but also a profound sense of morality and protectiveness of his mother and daughters. It really puts you in his shoes and makes you feel his same sense of anger and fear.
This is a great film if you want to learn more about the Laundries, but as it’s solely from his perspective I think it should be double billed with The Magdalene Sisters, 2002. Which is a much harsher film (watch with caution) but offers a much fuller position from the perspective of the girls locked up there.
This one was absolutely not on my list, but if I wanted to watch six films it would be a neccessity, I arrived to the fullest screen of the day though! Much to my surprise, it wasn’t bad, it’s not great cinema, but it was an awful lot of fun, with good jokes, a fun plot and visual effects that I didn’t think were terrible! I wasn’t sure why it was as hated as it was, until I saw it’s $250,000,000 budget!
Seriously, where was all that money going? The VFX were good, but not that bloody good! This would be a great $20,000,000 movie, it’s wild to me that small filmmakers can’t get a $1,000,000 movie made but studios would happily drop an island nations GDP on Christmas Fast and Furious, for a film that went to streaming about a week later!
This was widely anticipated in my circles! A Latter-Day Saint myself, I was eager to see how A24 would represent my church, as were many of my practicing and non practicing friends alike. The trailer was great, blending horror and religion, I was excited to see what they would do with the blend of material. The performances are great in this film, Hugh Grant is chilling and Sophie Thatcher & Chloe East really understood the assignment! While it started strong with a tense build up and the villain showing a great understanding of the church history (both good and bad) I was ready for a second act that would really test the sisters, I was dissapointed to see it really lost it’s way as soon as the girls enter the basement. What was a critical study of faith and a pending fight for survival, kind of degenerated into a generic, shock value thriller, when I was looking forward to Mormon Saw. Definitely worth watching, but still some wasted potential. I think it’s worth noting that while there are some errors, its not an unfair study of Mormonism, it asks tough questions, but ultimately portrays the sister missionaries as brave and devout.
Blitz was my last film of the day at 20:15, it had almost no marketing and I did wonder if it would be just another nostalgic, “remember the war” production. This was the first point where I was beginning to feel fatigue creep in and realise that I was hungry and beginning to get tired, so my view on this film may have been skewed.
Steve McQueen’s war film is very unique in its storytelling, focused on a short period of time it follows a young boy who gets lost in London while trying to escape evacuation. It touches on some tough issues too, racism, child welfare, gangs. It paints an uglier picture of wartime London than most Blighty Spirit War Films. The war itself is mostly a backdrop to the terrifying events being faced by child actor Elliot Heffernan, who delivers a fantastic performance. It is a wholly unique film that uses some of McQueens experimental flare to up the tension. While a nice break from the usual Blitz Spirit films, it’s was felt a little repetetive and towards the end feels a bit like being trapped in a nightmare yourself.
Final Thoughts
Finishing the day at about 22:45, I beat my previous record for films but was a little worse for ware in the process. I guess 5 movies is optimum if all you’re eating is cinema snacks. Trying to make the times work also meant finding another day to watch Anora and Juror 2 (Both great films). So it’s definitely a quality over quantity game. Although finishing at about the time a late screening would begin, does have me wondering if seven films is achievable. I guess we shall see!
T H E N A I V E F I L M M A K E R 