No Horsing About For Us

WARNING – this blog contains me having a rant
Last year, Vee and I got very excited when we heard that a film was being made of the Michael Morpurgo book “War Horse”. It has long been a favourite in our house – Vee read all of his books when she as younger and loves both the story of Joey and Albert and his other book about the First World War, “Private Peaceful”. We were aware of the magnificent stage show in London and had watched many videos of how they do the horse puppetry but also accept we aren’t very likely to see it. However, we decided that we were definitely going to see the film, especially as it was scheduled to come out the weekend after Vee turned 15 so would be a post-birthday treat.
Well, after what has seemed like a long wait, the film is being released this week. And we aren’t going. Let me tell you why.
As I have detailed in this blog, along with many families not only in the UK but around the world, we are living on very little money. I cannot work because of my various diseases and maladies (although I am taking steps to improve my fitness with a view to perhaps returning to part-time work in the future) and Gee’s handyman business, which was doing pretty well up until around this time last year (so much so that in 2009 we had a holiday and plenty of treats) when it almost fell away to nothing and we have had to rely on benefits and take on loans to make ends meet. So when we started looking at how much it would cost to go to the cinema, we were shocked. Vee is back at school now so we cannot take advantage of any of the daytime offers. We are aware of “Orange Wednesdays” but we aren’t Orange customers and didn’t have the foresight to get a PAYG Sim – anyway that still leaves us with 2 tickets to buy. Also Vee is now considered a “teen” which at some cinemas means she pays a little less than full price but not much but in most she has to have an adult ticket. We do know of other offers like using store loyalty vouchers but again don’t use those shops enough to accrue enough points.
Our local cinema, which is a 15 minute walk away, is the Cineworld at Parkhead Forge. It is a fleapit at best, cold, draughty, messy and chronically understaffed unlike its equivalent in the city centre. I refuse to pay for a full-price ticket to see a film there and Vee and I only ever went to the free kids’ shows on a Saturday morning (“War Horse” may end up being shown there but not in the next couple of months). On Boxing Day 2009 we all went to see the Robert Downey Jr/ Jude Law Sherlock Holmes film and it was most unpleasant – it was freezing and the film seemed to be darker, which, having read Mark Kermode’s excellent book “The Good, the Bad And The Multiplex” I believe comes from a 2D film being shown on a 3D projector. Plus this poor cousin in the chain has the temerity to charge £7 per ticket (going before 5pm only saves you 60p), which is ridiculous. The Cineworld in town charges an unbelievable £8.30 plus it costs us a minimum of £8.20 to get there by bus! Going out into the wilds of Lanarkshire we have a Vue cinema in Hamilton where tickets are a wee bit cheaper (£7.50 peak but £5.30/ £6.40 before 5pm and “teen tickets” from £4.25-£5.95) but it still costs us the same in bus fare. Cinemas have massively cut back on the old “early bird” concession prices where you could go to see a film at around 10.30am for about £3-4 each and at weekends morning prices aren’t much less than evening ones.
Even if “War Horse” had been released over the Xmas and New Year holidays when Vee was off school we would have struggled to go. What had been planned as a family treat is now a major expenditure and frankly beyond our means.
This is a shame – I feel that there are some films that are designed to be seen on a cinema screen such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. At home, we don’t have a massive telly either - we watch our DVDs on a small screen compared to those you see in many livingrooms. Maybe we will get a larger screen when the time comes to replace the one we have but that will be when it breaks down and not before.
So we will have to wait and see “War Horse” when it is released on DVD and even then when it drops in price unless we catch it on a special offer. It’s just not going to be the same, sadly. And as for “The Hobbit” later this year, forget it