WHAT a joyous way to end October! How absolutely wonderful. Yes, it’s true, Skipton’s Plaza Cinema is to reopen on Friday.

Blake Edwards’ 1961 romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany’s has been selected as the Plaza’s first screening since March. An unusual, perhaps, but welcome choice. The Audrey Hepburn classic will be followed over the weekend by a heady mix of old timers and newbies. Something for everyone, one might say.

On Saturday, John Carpenter horror The Thing will follow showings of 1987’s Lost Boys and Matteo Garrone’s splendid new adaptation of Pinocchio. The latter would be my pick, if only for the novelty of experiencing a 2020 feature on the Plaza’s screen again. Garrone’s film boasts beautiful pathos and simply extraordinary prosthetics work by British effects artist Mark Coulier.

On Sunday, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone kicks off a marathon run of Wizarding World screenings for cinema, which has seen its fair share of magic over the past hundred years. Stronger films would follow in the footsteps of this first Potter films but few quite captured its exquisite tone.

Across the rest of the week, watch out for an event screening of Michael Ball and Alfie Boe’s latest concert and the phenomenally entertaining Some Like it Hot.

Welcome back Skipton Plaza.

Elsewhere - streaming directly into homes - this week, Sky Cinema have the latest adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett‘a The Secret Garden.

Not since the 90s has this family favourite found a home in film and yet Marc Munden’s take is far from the first.

Compared to previous adaptations, Munden’s Secret Garden ramps up the enchantment and makes the most of a healthy budget to create dazzling visuals.

Though Colin Firth and Julie Walters feel rather wasted in lesser roles, the film boasts a splendid trio of young performers in the front and centre. Dixie Egerickx Proves more empathetic than her predecessors in the role of Mary Lennox and shares superb chemistry with co-stars Amir Wilson and Paddington’s Edan Hayhurst.

My main umbrage with the film, as charming as it is, would be it’s failure to translate the point of the story. This is a film that paints its titular garden as being magical in its own right. Gone is the need for Mary, Dickon and Colin to gift it care and attention. It’s nice to look at but little more.