Times are changing with so many home streaming services on offer - Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc. - but the cinema experience still holds great memories for so many of us. From the childhood Saturday morning matinees to romantic liaisons in the back rows of the balcony, the popcorn, the ice cream during the intervals… so many great movies and so many superb actors and actresses over the years.

From the early days of black and white, and then epics like Gone With The Wind, through the animated movies and the shorter cartoons, to franchises like Star Wars, The Godfather, Star Trek, etc, we all have our favourites.

That sweet moment of anticipation as the curtains slid back…

The science behind the silver screen

In earlier years, the films were projected from the back of the auditorium to the iconic silver screen situated at the front, by a projector using a large reel, or reels in the case of long movies, of film. A breakage in a reel of film at the wrong moment could cause uproar while the projectionist worked to repair it and get the movie back on track! The sound was provided by a number of wall-mounted speakers, with sub-woofers used in the last few decades for the low-pitched sounds.

Nowadays, most cinemas are totally digital, so no more heavy reels to be lugged from cinema to cinema. A few single screen cinemas still remain, but most are now multiplexes, with up to 30 screens showing different films at the same time.

Do you have any favourites movies or movie scenes? Which actors or actresses do you most admire? What about soundtracks, some movies have incredible scores?

Feel free to share some favourite movie memories!

All are welcome. And please feel free to recommend and share all discussions you enjoy.

There is no obligation to follow any of our informal themes. They are simply for fun. This is an open topic chat thread, so please just post or talk about anything you like!