Won't somebody think of The Owls?

I'd seen a few trailers for it and even played the demo of the game on the PS3 but the "Legends Of The Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" was a total mystery to me. And it didn't let me down on expectations... it is a very beautifully rendered CGI film, with exquisite attention to detail (the feathers ruffled when the wind blew). One scene immediately springs to mind where they're flying through a storm in slow motion, the 3D rendered CGI raindrops and the "wet bedraggled look" of the owls was beyond description... if it's still on where you are go see it!



This was our first outing with the Unlimited cards from Cineworld, and hopefully the first of many, as the more you use them the better value they become. It was a really good experience being able to just pick the film hand over our passes and only pay a token £1.50 each for the privilege of a 3D film. The only thing that besmirched the experience was a member of the audience.

Where we decided to sit (which being late was a very quick selection) was roughly in the middle, and directly in front of a father and his 2 sons. Aside from them and us there was probably another 4 people in the cinema (owing mainly to the early performance and the fact the film was at the end of its run). As with all cinemas (at least when you're not in outrageously priced "first class" seats) the seats are far too close together and the inevitable fidgeting results in the person in front getting jostled, this is par for the course, and by and large I overlook it. If it becomes a regular occurrence, a quick look around is usually enough to shame the offender into staying still. Sadly in this instance it wasn't... I come to the conclusion the guy behind me was blissfully ignorant to the fact his son (who at the age of ~8 years old was sitting on his lap) was frequently banging the back of Nomis chair. So after a couple of jostles in rapid succession I turned around and exclaimed "seriously mate, please could you stop kicking the chair" to which he replied something along the lines of "why don't you move?". Thinking this was enough to point out what was occurring and he'd have the decency to either sit his son on a seat properly (of which there were hundreds) I turned around and resumed watching the film... only to feel yet another nudge in the back of Nomi's chair. Quickly spinning around I said "Why don't you move" to which he replied "we were here first"... now seriously am I in the wrong here? Shouldn't the offending party in something like this move away, not the victim? He knew what was going on and that it was his fault yet was refusing to do anything about it. So I stood up and said "fine" and promptly sat behind him and rather childishly (although not entirely deliberately) gently kicked the back of his chair :-) Oh what a feeling as he stomped off to get the manager :-) Eventually when he came back with the manager in tow I explained the situation calmly to the manager (who was very calm and collected) whist the other guy ranted and raved. Eventually after hearing my side of the story the manager advocated that "you're both here to enjoy the film, so can we all just sit down?" to which I replied "certainly... and I (emphasis on the I) promise not to kick the back of your chair mate". The rest of the film went on with us sitting behind him, and without incident. When we left after watching all the credits we bumped into the manager I had spoken to earlier, and apologised for the display and that how I was amazed at how idiotic some people could be. Thankfully he agreed with me.