Silver Screen Cities: Celebrating city cinema-going

Celebrating City Cinema-Going

‘Stan & Ollie’, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Dundee

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I was really looking forward to ‘Stan & Ollie’. I love the old Laurel and Hardy films, like the hysterically funny ‘A Chump at Oxford’ (1940). Judging from the trailer, ‘Stan & Ollie’ looked like it would be a fitting tribute. Today’s opening day for the film arrived with it accompanied by lavish praise from […]

‘A Cool Fish’, Broadway Cinematheque MOMA, Beijing, China

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When I searched online for ‘best cinemas Beijing’, Broadway Cinematheque MOMA (BC MOMA) appeared in the results and I’m very glad it did because it’s a wonderful place. Set in a futuristic cityscape plaza towered over by apartment blocks linked high up by aerial walkways, the cinema itself is an architectural statement of intent, a […]

‘Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda’, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA)

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We went for a pre-film beer at the Phoenix bar, a Dundee institution that looks a bit grim and forbidding from the outside but once you’re inside it’s welcoming and characterful. Perched on bar stools we ordered a couple of pints of Deuchar’s IPA which slipped down very smoothly. The DCA cinema is just across […]

‘Vertigo’, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA)

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Hot and steamy’s not the kind of weather you typically associate with the east coast of Scotland, but that’s what it was like this afternoon as I headed along Perth Road to Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) to see Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ in a new 4K print released to mark the film’s 60th anniversary. ‘Vertigo’ is […]

‘The Long Goodbye’, Prince Charles Cinema, London

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I’d always assumed that the downstairs screen at Prince Charles Cinema would be a small poky basement affair. So I wasn’t prepared for the splendour of the auditorium. It’s got a good big screen and very high ceiling which gives the place a pleasingly cavernous feel. There is a refreshing indie vibe to this cinema […]

‘The Post’, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA)

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A cold February evening in Dundee. This being a Monday, the streets were very quiet. We headed to Innis & Gunn Beer Kitchen for something to eat before tonight’s film, the much hyped ‘The Post’. When we got to the Beer Kitchen there weren’t many others in but as we were eating there was a […]