Drama at the cinema

Today we went to see 'Valentine's Day'. Indulgent really, seeing a film during daylight hours, but there you are. Within seconds of the movie starting my husband noticed there was something wrong with the colour. And there was - a strange green cast to the skin tones of the actors. We did see Avatar last week, and their skin was blue, but this was a film supposedly 'real' and that doesn't include green skin. So he quietly slipped out and told someone.

Minutes later, the film stopped. Then started again. Nup, still green. Stopped again. Then hypergreen. Hmm. Each time, the audience grew more frustrated and more vocal. Shh don't tell that it was my husband who started all the fuss.

20 minutes, an offer of a refund and a new projector later, the movie started. Wow, that low light sky actually had the pinks of sunrise! And the cars on the freeway had tail lights. Red ones. There'd been something wrong with the colours alright - no red. Imagine Valentine's Day with no red! It just wouldn't work.

So we settled down for the rest of the movie. All good, until the final 15 minutes. It stopped again and we began to see the shorts for the next session. Hmm. Someone else raised the alarm this time. Be with you shortly, said the usher. Every cinema is having trouble. Eight cinemas I think they have. It's the storm, she said. It's affected them all.

We waited and sure enough after a couple of false starts we were back on track. Lucky it wasn't a suspense thriller. 15 minutes later and the film finished. Others were going to demand their money back after the almost comic interruptions to the film. We walked out to see the longest queues we've ever seen at this cinema. Staff were walkrunning this way and that. Is the cinema ready? Almost, said one.

We decided not to complain. Hardly their fault and they seemed to have enough challenges to be going on with. Inside, we'd not been aware of the storm at all. But it was clear as soon as we hit the street, that our little dramas were just that, little.