February half-term, the cinema and The Lego Batman Movie

The February half-term started cold and foggy so we grabbed the opportunity to go to the cinema.

I remember not so long ago that if you wanted to see the latest films it meant a trek to Milton Keynes or Northampton.  My friends and I made pilgrimages just to see movies like Housesitter (Goldie Hawn, Steve Martin) which truthfully weren't worth a two-hour round trip plus viewing time.

We did have small, two-screen cinemas closer to home.  The Ohio in Kettering and the Forum I think it was called in Corby, next to the Library, where I was also a frequent visitor.

These were, I think it's fair to say, cheap and cheerful establishments, and tickets cost a very reasonable £2 I seem to recall, although I may be wrong.

The opening of the Odeon in Kettering and then the Savoy in Corby therefore caused much excitement - well, it did for me anyway.  Their arrival heralded a choice of more than two films, at various times during the day too.

Even now I think it's fantastic to be able to pop along, just a few miles from home, without planning a huge journey, filling a tank of petrol and programming a sat nav.

With our Broadband speed remaining woefully slow at under 2Mbps, I won't be subscribing to Netflix or similar anytime soon either, so long live our cinemas!

Back to our half-term excursion - we watched The Lego Batman Movie.  This divided the Bach household - daughter and I liked it, husband hated it.  In hindsight, the Lego Movie a few years ago also caused such division, so perhaps this wasn't entirely unexpected.

OK, it hasn't much of a storyline, but sometimes I like not having to over-think things and just be entertained.  In its defence, it does have morals, themes and metaphors - no man is an island being one - and the characters unite to fight and overcome a common enemy and save themselves from certain destruction.

Perhaps in this current age of uncertainty there's an underlying message for us all in there?