It could have been very different. It could have been the usual Friday night at the movies. We could even have gone to Maidenhead (to Trance Planet at Phatz Bar) afterwards. But we were overruled, but enough about that, let me bring it all back to the present day. So the plan was to go and watch Wanted at the new local multiplex in town on Friday night. However my sister was not feeling well, so I postponed for 24 hours, looking at the 21:15 screening on Saturday evening. However she went out with friends so I postponed until later in the week. Wednesday was the day chosen, I confirmed with my sister, Samantha that I would book tickets for the last showing while I was at work. I called her as I pulled out of the gym cark park before 7pm. She had e-mailed me earlier that evening but at 17:26, eleven minutes after I leave the office. She recommended I take my other sister Natalie, whom I then called. She was out with friends not happy to be ‘forced’ to be treated to the cinema. I hung up and headed home. By the time I got there, I called both sisters again but this time around my Mum spoke to them. Both of them were heading home and landed a few minutes apart. Samantha did not want go, so Natalie took her place. What a mess for a simple trip to the cinema. I had some food, while watching Murray crash out of Wimbledon. We left soon afterwards and parked up in the Eden car park, it was deserted. Headed across down to the cinema, there was a long queue for the ATM outside M&S. Schools have not even broken up but there is already a display for Back to School in the window? It is July? Are you going to put up your Christmas display in September? We made our way up the escalator to the foyer, around the corner behind the box office were the pre-booking machines. However the signs were not good, I put in my credit card but nothing happened. In fact on the first machine I tried I got a Switch To or Retry message appear. Cannot remember what they look like? Let this be a reminder.

I tried another machine but it just did not accept my card, so I headed over to the box office and got them to clear my card (it had to be checked first, so the guy on the test called a colleague upstairs to check my card number. Then our tickets were printed. I checked the display stand behind the employees (very scruffy uniforms and lopsided name tags, by the way). The time was still on GMT, it was 19:44 according to the display, when in fact it was actually 20:44. Surely someone could have got that fixed by now, it is over three months since the clocks changed. Plus shouldn’t that be an automated process? We headed up another shorter escalator to the main area. There was a long queue for popcorn. A supervisor did arrive to get another member of staff onto the till. However, just as we got to the front of the queue, our server, Leah had disappeared. She had gone to the little girls room but a little message to say she was off would have been nice. Once we got our popcorn and drinks we headed to the screen. Screen 3, but it was closed for cleaning so we waited and looked at the movie posters of up coming posters. I had already decided in my mind that I would never be coming to Cineworld again. We were let in eventually and took seats on Row E but I soon discovered my arm rest was missing so we moved up to Row F. The screen was relatively empty with half a dozen people inside (a few more came as the ads rolled). It was perhaps the smallest screen at the twelve screen venue, although being closer to a smaller screen did help with a action movie like this. Carlton Screen Advertising, oh how I miss Pearl & Dean. The first advert was for Radio One (believe it or not!) Jon blogs about it over here and if you want to take a look for yourself, the UToob link! Personally I think the advert is too long and a total waste of licence payers money. It could have ended after a minute or two after all the DJs have described the types of music they play on their shows but going into all the introductions was a waste of time. Thankfully I do not listen to Radio One after 7pm for their new music slot and the only DJ I liked from the line up was Trevor Nelson, whom I’ve listened to on the odd Saturday night in the car. Although, I have to admit the line from Annie Mac was great though: “You know when you are in line waiting to get into a club, and you can feel the rumble of the beat and then you know you’re in for a great night!. The one benefit of coming to my local cinema was the fact that it was local, it took less than five minutes to get home and we did get a fifty pence rebate on the parking to make the charge one pound. Wanted was very good, I would give it seven point five out of ten overall. The action set pieces are just breathtaking, particularly when Wesley meets Fox for the first time. Personally I did not think James would be able to pull off an action like this but he does well. Perhaps because he is so believable as the office loser that anything beyond this mundane role is extraordinary. The main draw for me in the movie were the action scenes, particularly from the trailer. It was similar to the Matrix and the story itself is on similar lines. I enjoyed it, it was good fun. Perhaps a bit gory to get the 18 rating but there was just enough that I could handle. However there were some major flaws. The story was not that great and my sister worked out the twist a while before I did, although it was quite obvious when you actually thought about it. The way targets are selected was a bit far fetched for my liking but I suppose it was original. The supporting cast was very good, but I wish Jolie’s role had been bigger, she deserved to have more of an input into the action and perhaps ending. Overall, great action at times mindless violence, but well worth seeing at the cinema, if only for the crazy set pieces. The story was not brilliant, could have been much better but never the less enjoyable and it does keep you guessing for a short while. Only hard core fans of this genre would really take the step of going to catch it at the multiplex. I am sure, other wise a great DVD to rent one lazy weekend. Right, onto my next movie review. I had wanted to see Hancock and originally it was going to be just myself and Pav for the 8pm showing at Vue Reading (in the biggest screen 4). However by Thursday evening, Poole had invited herself along (no problems at all). Then on Friday morning, Phil and Sazzle also wanted to come along. I had to check with Pav if there was anyone else, and yes, there was the small possibility of his cousin coming along too, but eventually we learned she was busy. I was going to check if the homeless guy on the bench had time in his schedule (away from the Super Brew) to come along too! I booked tickets around lunchtime at work and was glad it was all confirmed. I had my dinner early and was out on the road before 7pm. My weekend officially began as I was at junction 8/9 of the M4, waiting at the lights to get around the roundabout to the westbound slip road. My CD player was set to random and had selected Work (Freemasons Remix) by Kelly Rowland and I hit the gas and screamed around onto the motorway. The weekend was officially here. I went to pick up Pav and Emily and then headed over to the Oracle. (If felt a bit strange to be taking a different journey to the shopping centre but never mind). Parking up, we all noticed some idiots tooting their horns as they went up the ramps to the various floors of the multistorey. Strange! We made our way over to the cinema and found Phil and Sarah at the cash point and went inside to get our tickets. There was a bit of a queue but eventually the five tickets were dispensed, then we headed up the escalator to the food area. Pav was in the queue for a while and I watched on the screens up above as the time ticked by. It was 20:01 by the time we headed in and I thought we may have missed the famous music. I was wrong, we got to our seats and sat down, just as Asteroid was played. Perfect timing once again! It was not the best place to sit, so far up but at least I was quite central. Then the movie experience could begin. Hancock was great, it did everything you expected and a bit more. Will Smith was his usual self, enjoying being a loser and transforming himself eventually into the superhero. However I was not expecting the twist in the middle but from then on, I wondered where the story would go. It was a shame the end was rather more emotional than I would have wanted. Come on people, I’m a bloke, I want guns and bombs going off and some serious action sequences. Well worth going to see at the cinema, it was great fun and very very funny. Was it a good superhero movie? No because the only think that makes a hero great is a worthy villain and no such person exists in this movie, apart from Hancock himself. I would not be surprised to see a sequel in a few years, but then again, considering it has taken over twelve years to get this movie produced, who knows what will happen.