Back to Black
“Thank you guys and gals. Fab film, fab service 10/10”
We wanted to start off January with a bang. Our very first Thursday film in 2015 was “Men in Black”. January was our 100th Thursday screening and by pure coincidence we went “Back to Black”, a biographical film of the life of Amy Winehouse. This was a very popular film, selling out quite quickly. Although hard-hitting, giving a fascinating insight into both the public side of Amy and her personal troubles it was a good film to kick off the January blues. Audience feedback was very positive as well as lamenting the loss of such a great but young talent.
“I didn’t really like Amy Winehouse’s music – but really wanted to know more about her – this film met that.”
With “Dry January” upon us we’re never quite sure what refreshments will be popular – but clearly for the audience “Dry January” was more of a concept than a reality !
Pillow Talk
“A wonderful bit of “schmalz”. Loved it !“
“Pillow Talk turned out to be a much better film than I remember !“
Our Sunday matinee, “Pillow Talk” was released 85 years earlier than “Back to Black”. We’d had requests for films starring Doris Day or Rock Hudson – so this one ticked two boxes ! A real contrast of attitudes, behaviours, lifestyles and technology. We have a number of Duke of Edinburgh ugh Award Scheme volunteers helping out at our Sunday Matinees – and I’m sure they were completely bewildered with the concept of a “party line” !!! Audience consensus was that it was definitely a film “of its time” – but still a highly entertaining film for a Sunday afternoon. One of the challenges we have is ensuring we bake both enough cake to satisfy appetites – but not too much that we end up with loads left. You can never predict what will be needed – but on Sunday we ended up with a solitary piece of cake left over.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
“I really don’t need to say or record anything. One of the most brilliant films ever. Story, characters, action. Just love it. Great evening thanks. “
Now to February, and “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. I think I’ve only seen this twice – and the first time was shortly after it was released; I remember seeing it on my first “team outing” after I’d started work when we visited the (now closed) ABC in Norwich.
Above – Mark (right)
We had a lovely Volunteer Milestone to celebrate: Mark reached his 125th volunteering stint. Huge congratulations – and most of all massive thanks – to Mark for becoming the third recipient of the coveted – and extremely rare engraved glass “125” coaster !
“One of my all time favourites ! Great film and cast, lots of action …. Too many spiders & snakes though !!!”
We were really glad to welcome back the one and only Andy Schrader who gave us a very illuminating talk on the background to the film. Amongst the many snippets of information were some of the names of people originally considered for various roles in the film. As we were clearing up, some of the volunteers were discussing how different the film might have been; rather than John Rhys-Davies, the character of Salah was originally going to be played by Danny deVito. His talk was enjoyed by all – thanks Andy !
“Love the jelly snakes ! Thank you. Brilliant cocktail too. Such a good film.! What a treat to see it on the big screen again. “
As a nod to the film our fabulous catering team came up with the idea of serving up snakes to each table which went down well – I’m pretty confident in saying that in no other community cinema in Britain have Volunteers been asked for “more snakes, please” !
A word of thanks to our bar team – Martin and Emma. The Raider’s cocktail was a little more complex than normal so both were working hard to keep up with the orders. It was a true “baptism of fire” for Emma, our Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award student but she coped brilliantly, saying afterward that she really enjoyed it. Phew !
Audience rating & voting
Audience voting for the first three films is as follows:
Back to Black – average film score: 9.4; average score for the evening overall: 9.8
Pillow Talk – – average film score: 9.3; average score for the evening overall: 9.7
Raiders of the Lost Ark – average film score: 9.0; average score for the evening overall: 9.8
Audience voting for our profit split was 41% for “Gone too Soon”, 37% for the Billericay Men’s Group and 22% to BCCS. After 3 films, the respective pots stand at £111 for Gone too Soon, £84 for the Billericay Men’s Group and £46 for BCCS. But with 9 films to go in this half year these should hopefully see healthy increases !
Thanks as always to our incredible Volunteers – on duty at “Raiders” were : Emma Wendy, Steve, Andy, Mark W, Sarah, Ken, Jackie, David, Chris, Paul, Paula, Martin, Mark H, Mark V, Jo and Adam
