Cinema Days & Tweet-Friendly Film Reviews – Magic Mike, The Amazing Spider-Man & Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

This article is sponsored by Costa, whose earl grey tea and delicious brownies helped me power through a Cinema Day this weekend.

For those who don’t know, a Cinema Day is a magical time when a person or group of persons (pfft!) venture to the cinema all day to enjoy multiple bouts of projected escapism, babies crying and fat people coughing up half chewed Doritos into the unfortunate person in front’s hair.

I’ve always thought positively of, and preferred, people going to the cinema by themselves. We don’t go to the cinema to have a good chat with our friends (unless you do, in which case I want Alex Pettyfer to straddle you with his spindly legs and put his junk in your face à la his arrogant character in Magic Mike); we go to the cinema to have our eyes opened to new things, to be entertained and enthralled or simply to realize just how much a sombre Steve Carrell dealing with the impending apocalypse makes us want to incessantly sob.

Cinema Days also used to be a very costly event, especially once you take into account the dangerously large number of high calorie snacks you smother yourself with over the day’s run, but then the Cineworld Unlimited Card came along. It really does surprise me that other cinemas don’t offer a similar deal. £15* a month to see as many films as you want?  Genius!

* There are, admittedly, additional charges for 3D films, glasses, IMAX and/or D-Box.

One of my first ever Cinema Days was in 2002. I don’t remember what else I saw that day, but I vividly remember my final film was Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man movie. I recall as I ran from the auditorium (partly because Nickelback’s ‘Hero’ plays over the film’s credits) I was so pumped, pretending to shoot webbing out of my wrists, kissing imaginary Kirsten Dunsts and swinging around streetlight poles. It’s very comforting to know that cinema (and Cinema Days) can be a constant in our lives as I remember doing the exact same thing coming out of The Amazing Spider-Man – except this time kissing imaginary Emma Stones and thankfully not hearing a note of Nickelback.

Cinema Days are also an excellent opportunity to experiment with watching diverse films and – unless you’re extremely unlucky – you get to go home that day having seen at least one extraordinary film. (As opposed to going out to see one film and it being rubbish, leaving you feeling like you’ve wasted your time.) This weekend I celebrated such diversity by seeing Magic Mike, The Amazing Spider-Man and Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World.

Because three full reviews would be too time consuming for me to write and for you to read after this self-indulgent article I have attached three Twitter-friendly reviews below.

Cinema Days have been and shall remain a staple in my cinema-going ways for a long time to come. Even when I have the whole of London to discover, all-day cinema trips remind me of being a kid in my hometown’s decrepit Odeon, exploring multiple worlds from the comfort of a scraggly chair.

Magic Mike Mini-Review

Channing Tatum, the six foot tall neck and Alex Pettyfer, the greasy-haired mopey nonce show off some exciting striptease moves. At an hour too long, if Steven Soderbergh put as much effort into the film’s plot as he does into putting a sepia filter over every shot Magic Mike might have actually kept me awake in between dances.

The Amazing Spider-Man Mini-Review

There are no emos but there are plenty of hipsters. Tobey’s wimp has been replaced by a confident Garfield, and hyperbole campiness has been replaced by heart and grit. It may rehash but it’s got ample to flash. A strong opening for what could promise to be a great superhero franchise.

Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World Mini-Review

Steve Carrell somehow makes Keira Knightley likeable as the two of them attempt to track down loved ones in their final days before the end of all life on Earth. Their tale is consistently hilarious and simultaneously tear-jerking. An extremely powerful film that sucker-punches your heart from start to end.

To read more about the Cineworld Unlimited card click here. To learn more about how much Nickelback sucks click here.