THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CAMERA

"... like the pantheon of the gods"

I went to see a film tonight: not done that in a long time. I know it's a Monday night, but I was really shocked by the emptiness of the cinema. As I pushed open the glass doors, I thought I'd wandered onto an abandoned building site. The escalator was cordoned off and some of the ticket machines were covered in plastic. The lobby was empty and a flimsy signboard pointed me up the steps you usually come down chatting with your pals about the film you've just seen.

The cinema was so exciting when we were teenagers. There were two in Reading town centre: the ABC, where the Ibis hotel now looms above Friar Street, and the second, the Odeon, which was in Cheapside, opposite what's now the back of Primark. We'd queue up all the way down the chilly street so that we could watch great classics like Clueless, Crimson Tide and Independence Day. There were no multiplexes, no enormous digital screens or seat-selection. The world where you could somehow beam films into your house and watch them without a tape, may as well have been Star Trek technology at the time.

Sad then to be in a cavernous empty cinema tonight with just six other people. In front, row upon row of empty seats were flickering in silhouette against the oversized screen.

I think there's something odd happening to this strange industry. This morning, as Hollywood took an alka-seltzer and stumbled bleary-eyed into the post-Oscars sunshine, the most retweeted selfie of all time was zipping round Twitter like a signed postcard from Mount Rushmore. The photo is packed with A listers: Meryl Streep, Jared Leto, Jennifer Lawrence, Brad and Angelina, Kevin Spacey, beaming perfect smiles like the pantheon of the gods. This world is quite a juxtaposition to an empty cinema in Reading on a rainy Monday night.

Once you get past the sweaty baseball caps and hyperinflated snackery, the screening experience itself has changed a lot, even since the last time I went to the movies. I was struck by how interactive they've tried to make it. You can play along with quizzes on your smartphone, win prizes by downloading an app and let your phone tell you where the boring bits are. There's even a thing now, my cousin was telling me, which can send you a message summarising what you've missed while you were in the toilet! And you thought 3d was a gimmick?

And that's the terrible, transparent truth I suppose - this great and noble old artform has to resort to gimmicks these days: these days, when you can watch enormous high-definition screens in the comfort of your own home, complete with reasonable popcorn and unlimited access to the work of those selfie-taking-Hollywood-A-listers on your sofa, in your beanbag, under your duvet.

Ah but they're not bothered I suppose, these happy Nephilim of our times, so long as the cheques roll in. Well, Spacey might be, he seems the type, but the rest of them are probably having a great time over on the other side of the camera. Good for you, chaps.

If ever the day comes when the latest films are available straight to download, you can guarantee that the day of the multiplex will be over, just as the days of the independent high street cinema were, long before them.

By the way, I saw The Lego Movie, which I loved, loved, loved, like everyone else seems to have. It's the nostalgia what does it. I'm a sucker for a bit of nostalgia, clearly.