Best Cinemas in London - 2020 Thread - UCL Film & TV Society Forum

Best Cinemas in London - 2020 Thread

DOMODOMODOM

Hello friends and cinephiles!

Very privileged to join UCL Film & TV Society, a society I have been eyeing to be a part of since 2016, when I realised Christopher Nolan was President of during his time in UCL.

And true to my reverence to Christopher Nolan, I was wondering if there are any BIG SCREENS in London members of the society love and would recommend to us freshers?

Please share which cinemas you are a passionate patron of and why! (IMAX, International Films, Indie Cinema etc.)
Perhaps we can compile the responses into a informal cinema guide on the blog 🙂

Cheers! Hoping to hear some interesting responses.

KatieHolopainenHadaway

Hello!

I’m so happy to hear that! 😄

Regarding cinemas - I have three cinemas I love; namely Curzon Cinemas (I’ve been to the one in Bloomsbury), Vue in Shepherds Bush (for the Vodafone discount), and Odeon Holloway.

Curzon Cinemas is my ultimate favorite as it just is a nice atmosphere to go into it. Yes, Diego is right - sometimes they don’t turn off all the lights - but the few times I’ve been had all the lights off. I really love it as they showed some niche documentaries. Since I’m half Filipino, I was really looking forward to watch this documentary about our previous dictator’s wife and Curzon was the only place that showed it. Curzon really shows a mix of mainstream films (right now, it’s streaming Tenet) but also shows quite a bit of documentaries that may not be shown due to the niche focus / lack of popularity (ie: weddings in china or a photographer from the 80s – you can look more here: https://www.curzoncinemas.com/this-week). It’s a good mix of film offers. It also just looks really classy, which sometimes confuses me because the tickets I’ve bought have only been 5 pounds (maybe it’s because I registered as a student though?).

Vue is mainly for the Vodafone discount. You can get this discount if you have a Vodafone number and the Vodafone awards app! Shepherds Bush just happens to be the Vue near me, but I’m pretty sure the discount applies everywhere (maybe not the one that’s known to be quite expensive - I forgot if it’s the Vue or Odeon in Picadilly). It’s the only theater I’ve seen a past midnight showing so I’m slightly biased because I love the experience of walking down an empty cinema hall. I don’t know, there’s just something about midnight showings that warm my heart.

Lastly, Odeon Holloway - although I haven’t been since renovations finished - has (maybe had) an old theater vibe, which I love. Odeon is expensive, but my brother buys our tickets so I exploit him for a film every once in a while. It’s a different theater than I grew up with, so again, I’m a bit biased as I love how different it is from the cinemas I’m used to (which was often just the top floor of a shopping center, looking really high tech and modern). It’s also not a busy Odeon so I enjoy the lack of people there as I enjoy smaller crowds. I’d like to note that from my experience, Odeons in different locations can be quite different in terms of how modern it looks/prices/the atmosphere/etc.

Admittedly, I haven’t been to a lot of different cinemas last year but I do have a list of cinemas to check out. Last year, I didn’t get to go to many theaters as the friends I often went to films with liked the Vodafone discount at Vue & my brother’s closest cinema was Holloway so he’d make me go there. I’m definitely planning on exploring more theaters this year! 🙂

DiegoCollado

A really good cinema in London is the Ciné Lumière, run by the Institut Français.
https://www.institut-francais.org.uk/cine-lumiere/whats-on/

They are a bit more expensive than the BFI, at 8 pounds for students, but their film selection is great. They mostly screen French language films, but you can also find a lot of really good classics or more auteur films that you can’t find at the BFI or Prince Charles.

I will be going to watch “Journal d’une femme de chambre” by Luis Buñuel this Sunday at 2pm, so if anyone wants to come along, just send me an email!

DiegoCollado

DiegoCollado
Forgot to mention that if you register for the Under 25 programme, you can go there for 5 pounds.

You can find that here: https://www.institut-francais.org.uk/cine-lumiere/25-under/

izzie_m

I have to agree with Katie, I’m biased as it is my closest cinema, but I love Odeon Holloway. It obviously doesn’t show all the films that you can find at smaller specific cinemas, but it’s got a fairly good range and does the. National Theatre Live broadcasts too. It’s such a lovely building and they’ve just finished refurbishing it and changing it into a luxe, so now the seating inside the screens is so much nicer.

It’s an old 1930s Art Deco cinema and still has so many of its old furnishings, and these beautiful tall windows at the front, and this big staircase and balcony in the entrance.

Also, just down the road, the local Wetherspoons pub used to be an Art Deco 1940s cinema, and they have tons of old films posters and stuff inside that go with the theme, I mean its still a spoons but its more interesting than the average one haha.

DiegoCollado

izzie_m Found some really cool pictures of the Odeon Holloway, when it was still called the Gaumont Holloway (for more on the British Gaumont, you can read a bit of its history here: https://web.archive.org/web/20080614213117/http://www.gaumont-british.co.uk/).

Most were from this Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcinemaphotos/albums/72157621211450783
And there are more here: http://www.mawgrim.co.uk/cavalcade/holloway.htm

Another nice cinema is Regent Street Cinema: https://www.regentstreetcinema.com/whats-on/. It’s a bit expensive for students (12 pounds), but their selection is quite good. They’re going to screen Akira soon, but that’s because of a national (or international? not sure) re-release.

And a really popular one, the BFI Southbank. 3 pounds for the BEST cinema in London!!! They’ve got fantastic programmes, the screening rooms are great (there are 4!!!!) and it’s so cheap for anyone under 25! https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp
I don’t know how many programmes they’re going to have this year, but last year they had the entire Fellini catalogue remastered by Instituto Luce and Cineteca di Bologna, and they started the Elia Kazan programme, which unfortunately got cancelled because of COVID (I was looking forward to America America). Their store is also great, with many well done Blu-Ray editions, books and posters.

izzie_m

DiegoCollado I love these photos!!!

DOMODOMODOM

Amazing amazing photographs! Thanks for sharing!!!

DiegoCollado