Empire Cinemas: An epic tale on a massive scale...

Honestly I have no idea where to begin when it comes to my trip- which turned out to be a mini adventure- to the Empire Cinema in Clydebank.....

Preparation for the trip to the cinema had been really good.  Their website was easy, useful and we had used Google Maps for directions and it had given us an approx time of 18 minutes to get there.  We had left 35 minutes in order to get there in good time.  However, we had also LEFT our directions in the flat!  It was fine though my sister had managed to remember the majority of the directions.  However, the number of traffic lights was insane I swear I would probably have been quicker walking.  Definitely not as handy from the centre of Glasgow as Cineworld is.  Traffic light after traffic light it was sooo slow and frustrating as it was getting closer and closer to our film time, and it is a lot further away (time wise) than google maps had led us to believe.  Five minutes after the start of the showing of Gnomeo and Juliet that we were going to see, we caught sight of the cinema, so we decided to pull over and sprint- In the pouring rain i might add.   After we eventually crossed a canal and continued sprinting we finally reached the cinema, Thank Goodness.  Although we were roughly ten minutes late and we still had to buy our tickets...

The cinema was in a shopping complex and from the outside it looked small, and looked like it had far more character than your average cinema chain.  The inside of the cinema reminded me of what I always imagined the inside of a cinema to look like quite spacious- It's hard to explain it just felt smaller and more homely and less manufactured.  I just really loved the feeling that it gave me!!

We were running terribly late, but the staff were soo polite even quickly telling us about cheaper tickets on a Tuesday.  I have never been served by such kind people on a trip to the cinema before.  However, that may be because the cinema is practically dead. 

Two SMALL tap diet cola's took us to £5.20 which to be honest I think is quite extortionate considering you can get a bottle of diet Cola for under a pound, and ONE small sweet popcorn was £3.60.  There was like hardly any popcorn and I swear we had both devoured it in around five minutes- really disappointing it wasn't even that good. 

What I did like though was that the cinema was small and the screening we were in was quite a small room and I really like that as it makes the film more personal, in my opinion.  Plus the seats were very comfy and it was easy to see the screen even though we were sat quite far back!

When we finally got into the screening we had already missed the first five to ten minutes which really ruined the film I thought.  I was actually so excited for Gnomeo and Juliet guardian.co.uk/film/2011/feb/13/gnomeo-and-juliet-review-elton-john it has been the one film that I have wanted to see for ages.  However, I was seriously disappointed, perhaps it was because I had just seen Tangled and it was so good but I just didn't think the story was that strong apart from the occasional funny moment.  James McAvoy with an English accent to me just isn't James McAvoy and for me that also weakened the film.  It was NICE but only nice I’m glad I saw it but I definitely won't want to see it again in a hurry!!

Overall apart from the timing issues, film and traffic I definitely will consider going to the Empire Cinema in Clydebank again.  It gave me a special feeling when I was there that added to the cinema going experience.  Something I think that the majority of cinema chains just can't give you, and the staff were so friendly, I would check it out again....:)

Slightly disappointed with Gnomeo but you can't have it all...


Hannah xx