It was a breezy autumn day as we walked towards Empire Leicester Square cinema to see Blade Runner 2049.

I would have preferred to see this film on a bigger screen, but the only showing on at a convenient time was in one of the small screens at Empire Leicester Square.

The auditorium looked familiar when we got in. I think this is the same screen where we saw the wonderful T2 Trainspotting a few months ago.

The screen is not very big and the seating is widely stretched, so if you are sitting towards the sides as we were, then your view is somewhat skewed.

Even though this showing was late afternoon rather than evening, it was almost sold out.

After the usual interminable adverts and trailers, the film we’d come to see started.

Being the only person in the world not to have seen the original Blade Runner, I was able to enjoy this sequel fresh and unencumbered by preconceptions, without constantly comparing it to the original.

‘Blade Runner 2049’ looks and sounds amazing.

The oppressive interior and exterior colour tones give an ominous air to proceedings; the featureless skies loom threateningly over what is left of life on the planet. The soundtrack complements and ramps up this feeling of oppression and menace.

The scenes in Officer K’s (Ryan Gosling) apartment and in the streets where he wanders give an intriguing taste of what life could soon be like as reality morphs into augmented and virtual forms.

When ‘Blade Runner 2049’ ended, I felt stunned. Although it was around twenty to thirty minutes too long, it was gripping, well acted, and visually entrancing.

I wonder if the original was as good?

Related Post: ‘T2 Trainspotting’, Empire Leicester Square, London

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The streets of York were very quiet this January afternoon.

It was midweek, very cold and grey, too chilly to linger and take in the sights of the historic city centre.

So we dived straight into the Dean Court Hotel for a pre-film meal, admiring the Minster from the restaurant window.

It was a wonderful lunch, the perfect way to set ourselves up for the afternoon showing of La La Land at nearby City Screen.

We got to the cinema just a few minutes before the film was due to start, and even though this was the mid-afternoon showing in the cinema’s biggest auditorium, it was sold out.

The only seats we could get together were on the second row right down at the front.

But it wasn’t too bad as the screen is a fair distance from the seating and we didn’t have to crane our necks to see the film.

What an exuberant, uplifting film ‘La La Land’ turned out to be.

The music was fantastic – not just the romantic songs but also some brilliant jazz in the night club scenes.

Superb cinematography made the city of Los Angeles look more seductive than ever, whether in full daylight, sunset or after dark.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone were both terrific, living out their frustrations and dreams in LA’s hyper-competitive movie and music scenes.

There was also some nice deadpan humour in the script, particularly for Ryan Gosling’s character.

La La Land is quite magical – before I’d made it out the cinema at the end of the film I was already thinking of when to go see it again.

Related Post: ‘Blade Runner 2049’, Empire Leicester Square, London

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