Since the advent of the multiplex, visiting the cinema has for most of us become a soulless and often rather nasty experience. Endless queues at ill-informed box offices, out-of-order ticket machines, long escalators followed by longer corridors, sound systems designed to deafen even the hardest of hearing and, above all, the relentless dispensing of shedloads of popcorn, colas and confectionery, much of which ends up splurged over the nylon carpet.