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s1play's Cinema section is the best place to find out what movies are showing near you, wherever you are in Scotland.

There are around 70 cinemas in Scotland, ranging from giant multiplexes down to occasional film showings in local theatres and village halls. And s1play lists them all.

The chains tend to be concentrated around the cities and large towns: Odeon in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Ayr, Kilmarnock, Dumfries, Dunfermline, East Kilbride and Dundee; Cineworld (formerly UGC) in Aberdeen, Falkirk, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow; Vue in Inverness, Livingston, Hamilton, Leith, Edinburgh and Aberdeen; Showcase in Paisley and Coatbridge (often known as Glasgow East).

There has been a lot of consolidation amongst the chains recently, with Cineworld buying up the UGC chain, including Europe's largest cinema in Renfrew Street in Glasgow, and Odeon buying the UCI multiplexes at East Kilbride and Fort Kinnaird (Kinnaird Park) in Edinburgh. The UCI in Clydebank has re-branded as The Empire.

New releases tend to reach the screen each Friday, with previews of the bigger films on the Thursday evening, and sometimes at other times. Booking a blockbuster movie is an expensive business, so the big cinemas only announce their listings seven days at a time. s1play has complete cinema listings live by Tuesday evening of each week - often before they appear on the cinemas' own websites.

Scotland has a fine old tradition of smaller cinemas dotted around the country. These range from the tiny independents to smaller chains. Some are a little behind the multiplexes with the latest releases, others choose to play with the big boys and make the not inconsiderable investment needed to show a new film as it is released.

Often these cinemas form the heart of the movie-going community in their area: The Pavilion in Galashiels, the Lonsdale in Annan, the Cameo and Dominion in Edinburgh, the Allan Park (Carlton) in Stirling, the Grosvenor in Glasgow, the Highland Theatre in Oban, the Moray Playhouse in Elgin, the New Picture House (NPH) in St Andrews, the Picture House in Campbelltown, the Studio in Dunoon, The Belmont in Aberdeen, The Cinema in Newton Stewart, and The Waterfront in Greenock.

There are also the art houses. The biggest are the Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) and the Edinburgh Filmhouse, but there are regular showings of small-scale, low-budget, independent, foreign-language, visual art and classic films in the MacRobert Arts Centre in Stirling, Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), and the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow.

Many theatres, arts centres and leisure centres also show regular movies: The Ryan Centre in Stranraer, the Pickaquoy (New Phoenix) in Kirkwall, the Robert Burns Centre in Dumfries, the Burnton Theatre in Musselburgh, Eden Court in Inverness, the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy, the North Edinburgh Arts Centre, Gilmorehill G12 in Glasgow, the St Bride's Centre in Edinburgh, and the Wynd Theatre in Melrose.

And there are also the Screen Machines, the huge mobile cinemas which are hauled around Scotland to bring the latest releases to people in the Highlands and Islands for whom a trip to the pictures would otherwise be a major expedition.

Cinema in Scotland is alive and well - and it's all listed on s1play.com