QYPE*

A lighthouse for culturally starved cinema folk or a pretentious school for post ironic beatniks?
I’m surprised at some of the criticism leveled at the Cornerhouse. Pretentious is an overused (and misused) word for a cinema showing mostly independent and foreign films. If the fact that a lot of the movies shown here are subtitled makes one pretentious merely by visiting the Cornerhouse then these corpulent of brain fatted wannabe architects or Hollywood whores can all do a roly poly in front of the constant stream of 42 buses on Oxford road.
Alongside the (recently updated) three screens, this institution contains and art gallery, a book shop and a bar over two floors. I always think of the crossroads of Oxford Street and Whitworth St (which the upstairs bar overlooks) as a far smaller, and politer, times square/Shibuya crossing.
Perhaps the City fathers could think of constructing a huge HD screen or wild set of Neons to adorn the walls of the Palace theatre just to complete the effect.

The last film I saw here was David Lynch’s Inland Empire…quite. Perhaps I need to endure it on a different medium such as DVD or 102 medium wave…film review aside, the theatre.s are compact and well designed, with the requisite ‘spatial surround sound systems’ cascading aural elements to your lugs.
It certainly has the airs and grace of a cultural abode, often there are talks before screenings which in such an intimate setting make them very special (given someone you are actually interested in).
I’ve taken my kids in here on the odd days and the staff are second to none…take note oh hideous clone chain bars (ironically this bar, going back many years, was one of the first of it’s kind in the uk, alongside DRY to develop the modern bar in our country).
They do some top hearty fare also – pizza’s, vege food, lamb burgers, chicken and cous cous salads and a Sunday brunch (English and vege breakfasts).
More investment in this gem is promised over the next couple of years, but support it as you can.