In this current era we are living in, platforms like Netflix, Amazon, HBO or even Youtube, among many others, are providing a very convenient service to the public. You have pretty much any movie or series you want on your smart TV, your computer, your tablet and especially on your smartphone. So why the hell should you take your ass to the cinema and survive the adverts and trailers that you may or may not be interested in? In any case, why do you need to go out at all if you have everything you need under the comfort of your own lovely and cosy home?
There's no doubt. Cinemas are crying in despair while we enjoy ourselves watching anything we want at any moment with just a slight movement of our thumb. Welcome to the era of the video on demand! But wait a second...do you think it's nice to leave our beloved cinema just there, forgotten forever, left to rot on its own, after so many years bringing us the thrills and the laughs, the tears and the horrors, the black and white glory first and the pretty technicolour image after to nourish our eyes, the artistic mute movies first and the powerful 3D sound after to enrich that awesome experience that is - or was - to go to the cinema and watch the last best release? What about this awesome experience behind the 4D cinema experience where you could feel the thrills and all the bumps of the movie on your ass coming from the sofa you are sitting in? Is there anybody interested in this stuff anyway?
I must confess I don't go to the cinema very often but not because I don't like it any more or because I'm enjoying my Netflix service - which I don't have - at home. The reality says there are not good movies any more. Yes, you know that and everybody else out there. And it's nothing new. It started to happen a few years ago. So what? Does this mean cinemas are dead for good because they are not fair competitors of the comfort of our home? Well, I don't think so. I do agree that good movies are not that common nowadays but they appear once in a while. And if you think that it's worth it to wait for a couple of months -sometimes even less than that- to be able to watch that very same movie from the comfort of your sofa, you are very wrong. You may have an amazing home cinema in your living room, with twenty speakers spread evenly through every square metre for an impressive spatial sound. And you probably have a 4K -or even an 8K- 60'' plus TV with crystal clear definition and high contrast, able to reproduce real as hell blacks, so black that you think you are looking into the abyss itself every time you put your eyes on it. And yet, the experience you get won't be as rich as being in the cinema, believe me.
You probably disagree with me and that's fine. But please, do yourself a favour, take your partner, your friends, your children - not necessarily all of them at a time - and go to the cinema to watch a good movie. Share this magic experience with them and only after that, you can seriously think about all this cinema issue. I'm sure you haven't been there for quite a while so I think it's fair to refresh the 'cinema feeling' before stating an opinion about this debate I'm launching to you in this post.
Now, I have to say that I'm a bit of a romantic myself. I'm the kind of person who still reads books made of paper - yes, they are not a myth, they still exist out there - and you will never see me with an ebook reader. Going to the cinema brings me a lot of good memories from the past and even nowadays I still get goosebumps when watching a good movie in that special environment, while the popcorn essence is floating in the air. So to make myself clear, my answer is a big NO, the cinema is not dead. However, good movies are in clear danger and I think that's something to be concerned about because I'm more a movie guy. Series are not my thing. But, that's another debate I'm not going to dive in just now.
Hope to see you guys out there at some cinema screen. We might even share some popcorn just for the sake of being 'cinema pals', ;-)
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