The day I went blind(ish)

Olympus Has Fallen
Seven Psychopaths
Good Vibrations
The Place Beyond The Pines

4 entertaining films. 4 very different films. 4 films I watched in one day in 4 different cinemas in Dublin.

What a day. My eyes won't agree though.

I was in the big smoke for a couple of days. Like a fool I went in March and of course it was raining. Day 1 was spent traipsing from place to place and getting soaked to the skin. Day 2 was going to be more of the same. Then I had an idea. The cinema. Of course. I'd start the next day with a movie and hopefully the rain would fuck off while I was in there. Cinema listings were looked up and yay, nice one, Olympus Has Fallen was out and was showing in Cineworld on Parnell street at 10am. The earliest you'd get to see it in Limerick was 2pm. This suited me right down to the ground. I was staying in Blooms hotel near Templebar so the cinema was only a brisk 10 minute walk away. I went in expecting the place to be dead but it was buzzing. Seems no-one can turn down a bloody action flick even if it's for breakfast.

The film was over. It was great craic. It was still raining. A quick legger down O'Connell street ensued. Halfway down a poster outside the Savoy cinema caught my eye. Seven Psychopaths was on. I'd missed it on its run in Limerick but 3 months after its release it was still showing in Dublin. Nice one. After a minute of umming and awing i bought my ticket and sat down to another surprisingly packed screening. There's a nice buzz in the Savoy. One that's missing from the soulless multiplexes you usually get. It's a pity that in the 5 years since I was first there it's changed so much. €€€€€ talks I suppose. Anyways Seven Psychopaths was ok, a fun watch but not a patch on the director's previous film, In Bruges. Emerging onto O'Connell street i was dismayed to see rain still spilling from the sky.

So i had another idea. Cinema listings were once again pulled up on my phone. The Lighthouse cinema in Smithfield was showing the Irish film Good Vibrations and it was only a 5 minute Luas ride from where I was standing. Would my eyes hold up to a triple bill? Did I care? Nope. To the Lighthouse! I'd wanted to see it since it had opening only a while before and now was my chance. The place didn't disappoint. Another cinema with a totally different atmosphere than before. Good Vibrations rocked but jesus I was starting to feel the effects of 6 hours of screentime now. I needed a break. And a pint.

The river was crossed so I could make my pilgrimage to the Sound Cellar music shop on Nassau street. But first I made a pit stop at the Palace bar just off Westmoreland. There's a beautiful pint of plain in there. The kind that tastes like another and another. As I dug in I realised I was only spitting distance from the Irish film Institute. Surely  4 films in one day wasn't doable was it......

30 minutes later the IFCO classification card for The Place Beyond The Pines was on the big screen in front of me. The cosiness of screen 2 in the IFI was keeping me warm and putting me to sleep at the same time. The film was good but I wasn't. 8hrs of movies and one pint had me killed. I wobbled out the door of the cinema and up the road to my bed.

It was a good day. One I must repeat soon.