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First Things First


Hi, my name is Phil Cantillon.  Ever since I was taken to see Beethoven's 2nd at Stockport cinema by my Dad (I imagine I ended up enjoying that more than him), I've loved the experience of going to the cinema.  The sticky carpets & the smell of the popcorn.  The fold down seats & the mind blowing trailers.  And then later, the Kevin Bacon adverts... hmm.  Early memories of going to see The Lion King (and A Goofy Movie… *ahem*) and the Star Wars re-releases were so exciting, and I still get that now.
At home I would re-watch and wear out our VHS recording of The Sword in the Stone and Robin Hood until you could barely even make out the naff 90s adverts in between.  When I was being babysat by my gran I managed to convince her Mum and Dad said I was allowed to watch Jurassic Park.  Despite that first showing scaring the hell out of me, that film changed my life.  Somehow I wasn’t left totally scarred, although it’s probably a good job I never braved American Werewolf in London until quite a few years later no matter how alluring it’s black box was.
When DVDs were first introduced my Dad couldn’t wait to set up his surround sound system and invest in a big telly.  I remember him and Mum buying one DVD each; Top Gun for Dad, and The Sting for her.  Excellent choices for very different reasons, but I fell in love with both and couldn’t wait to show The Sting to my girlfriend Charlotte for the first time recently (everyone enjoys being told why they need to love a film scene by scene right?).  Now I have a set of shelves bursting at the seams with my own DVDs untidily squeezed in on top of each other.

There’s nothing more powerful or immersive than a film, particularly when you catch it on the big screen and it’s by far my favourite form of escapism.  I can’t wait to get stuck in here and share my opinion on film’s I’ve watched (latest releases as well as chipping away at my DVDs), and cinema in general.  For the time being though, everyone loves a list:

Fave films
Drive, Jurassic Park, The Thing, Se7en, Inception, Psycho, Rear Window, Fargo, Jaws, Alien, Aladdin and the The Prestige

Fave directors
Alfred Hitchcock, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, David Fincher, Brian De Palma and Ridley Scott

Fave actors
Tom Cruise (yes, seriously), Steve McQueen, Robert De Niro, Paul Newman, Leonardo Di Caprio, Jack Nicholson, Paul Giamatti and Mark Ruffalo

Fave actresses
Helen Mirren, Amy Adams, Emma Thompson, Julie Andrews, Kate Winslet, Emily Blunt, Julianne Moore and Marion Cotillard

Fave cinemas
‘Home’ in Manchester, ‘The Electric’ in Birmingham, and the AMC cinema in Deansgate, Manchester.
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