Shropshire Star

The Hollywood fashion stores which rely on high profile exposure from the Golden Globes and Oscars aren’t the only ones missing out this year.

Once again, Shropshire is proving to be a movie backwater, with our cinemagoing public denied the chance to see the latest batch of acclaimed dramas.

Last week, the multi-award nominated revenge thriller No Country For Old Men opened at cinemas across the country…but not in Shropshire.

This week, slowburning missing soldier drama In The Valley of Elah hits the cinema screens on the back of Oscar nominations…but not in Telford.

It’s not as if the films don’t have big stars. No Country For Old Men is the latest offering from the Coen Brothers with, apparently, scintillating turns from Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones, supported by Javier Bardem’s bonechilling portrayal of an unstoppable angel of death.

And In the Valley of Elah

, based on true events about a soldier who goes missing after he returns from an extended stint in Iraq, stars Tommy Lee Jones once more, alongside Charlize Theron, with Casino Royale and Crash writer/director Paul Haggis masterminding things behind the camera.

Why should Shrewsbury audiences be treated to this, but not the good folk of Telford?

What is it that makes the distributors think the largest population centre in our county wouldn’t want to see these ambitious pieces of work, preferring instead turgid, bloated offerings such as Aliens v Predator Requiem, or flat-as-a-pancake romantic drama P.S. I Love You?

If Oscar nominations aren’t important, then why has Atonement been brought back to Telford’s cinema screens this week to cash in on its recent success?

I know it’s not the fault of our cinemas. Most of the time, they simply get what they are given, and don’t have a say.

The distributors get a set number of copies of the movie, and decide who is worthy, and who is not.

But it’s still an outrage. A disgrace. The sort of discrimination which would make a script for the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking movie that would never get shown in Shropshire!

Is it just me, or do you agree? Email me with your comments: cjones@shropshirestar.co.uk.

Perhaps if Shropshire makes enough noise, it can promote itself top the premiership of UK cinema locations and ensure we never have to miss out on the cream of modern day cinema.

By Carl Jones