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Author
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Topic: 10 theaters doing it right
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Adam Martin
I'm not even gonna point out the irony.
Posts: 3686
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 08-18-2006 12:40 PM
I just love how this article completely ignores any aspect of actual quality in anything of importance.
I mean, seriously, the Chinese made the list because it's "instantly recognizable"? I saw a movie there and the experience was *yawn* other than the pretty decor. And the much-worshipped Arclight is nothing without the snooty PR.
From Entertainment Weekly:
quote:
10 theaters doing it right
We tell you about the movie houses that make watching films a dream
by Gilbert Cruz and Gregory Kirschling
1 ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE (Austin) One of America's most fanatically unique moviegoing experiences. Specializes in oddball repertory programming events like the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Hobbit Feast (you eat whenever they eat!) and a traveling road show that, among other things, is unspooling Close Encounters of the Third Kind at the film's climactic backdrop, Devil's Tower. Movie-geek heaven.
2 KENNEDY SCHOOL (Portland, Ore.) Remember when it would rain during recess and your teacher would wrangle all the students inside for a crappy movie? Well, watching a flick in the auditorium of this converted elementary school is sorta like that, only with second-run movies, comfy sofas, and beer from the McMenamins chain, which owns several awesome Portland microbreweries/movie houses.
3 THE CASTRO (San Francisco) With a massive single screen, balcony, and sonorous Wurlitzer organ, this is the very definition of a ''movie palace.'' Its rep programming is excellent (70mm and silent-film festivals, a series of double features pitting Bette Davis movies against Joan Crawford films), though last year's firing of a popular programmer lit up message boards with disapproval.
4 THE SENATOR (Baltimore) A glitzy marqueed movie hall, the Senator fought for its survival before being showcased by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. That's all well and fine. The real reason we love it: no children under 5 allowed. Ever. No joke. Call us miserable child haters, but admit it, you like this idea and wish more places did the same.
5 FILM FORUM (New York City) Revival houses are flying the way of the laserdisc, and yet this invaluable three-screen treasure trove is still flourishing 35 years after its start. It's a throwback: The lines to get in feel like the one Woody Allen was stuck in at the beginning of Annie Hall, and the screens shimmer with themed classics (coming up: a four-week samuraifest) and impossible-to-find-elsewhere indies. NYC's finest cinema.
6 CABLE CAR CINEMA (Providence) Though not as old or cushy as other theaters on this list, the railcar garage-turned-indie/foreign-film house has a fiercely loyal and diverse clientele drawn from local universities. With lived-in sofas and local musicians performing before showings, it exemplifies the college-town movie experience.
7 THE ARCLIGHT (Hollywood) It costs $14 to get into what locals consider movie nirvana. But at least you'll notice the difference. The Cinerama Dome theater is sweet. So are the 14 other giant screens, reserved seating, gourmet munchies, ushers who shush talkers, AFI-supported retrospective series, and over-21 boozefests (perfect for a movie like Wedding Crashers). Even the stubs look like golden tickets.
8 GRAUMAN'S CHINESE THEATRE (Hollywood) L.A. deserves two theaters on this list because, in terms of exhibition at least, it's the best city in the U.S. for filmgoing. Famous for its grand, flaring entryway studded with cemented movie-star hand- and footprints, the luxurious and recently refurbished Chinese is the only instantly recognizable cinema in the country.
9 THE ORIENTAL (Milwaukee) Three cheers for Landmark Theatres, the country's best art-house chain. They do boutique movies like Murderball right. Especially at this three-screen Midwest movie palace, open since 1927 and complete with still-working pipe organ. It holds the record for longest continuous engagement, as The Rocky Horror Picture Show has played nonstop since 1978. The staff will even feed your parking meter!
10 MUVICO PARADISE 24 (Davie, Fla.) When you combine old-movie grandeur with new-movie technology, you get the theaters in the Florida-based Muvico chain. The Paradise is its grandest, a faux-Egyptian megaplex with hieroglyphics and stadium seats. As far as we know, ancient Egypt never offered on-site child care at any of its entertainments, so you decide which is the golden age.
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Mark Ogden
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 943
From: Little Falls, N.J.
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 08-18-2006 03:49 PM
quote: Allison Parsons
How many of those are chain owned, VS independently owned?
Theatres 1 through 6 are indies. 7 to 10 are, in order, Pacific, Mann, Landmark, Muvico. Number 3, the Castro, at one time was part of the old Blumenfeld chain, but I believe it is now independently owned. Check me on it, tho. It's a beautiful theatre, I love going there, you would too, Scott. The chief projectionist there is Hal Rowland, a great guy seriously into his craft.
quote: Scott Norwood
The Arclight used to be the Cinerama Dome
The Dome is still there, still with a great sound system. The Arclight Theatres are attached to the Dome going east down Sunset.
The Film Forum: Let's be fair. Somebody over at Cinema Treasures (or maybe it was a Usenet group) with a hard-on for the place started in on the Forum years ago with the "dump" thing, and now people take it as gospel. The old place on Watts St. was a mess, granted, but that was 20 years ago. The Houston St. location is much nicer. The three auditoriums are smallish and oddly laid out, I agree, but "dump" is waaaaay too strong a word. I get there at least one or two times a month, the place is always immaculately clean, and I still have yet, in 20 years of steady film-going, to see a show that was anything less than brightly and cleanly projected with clear sound. The #2 screen is still the only calendar/rep house still going in the city, and, yes, it's true, they get films in that no one else will take a chance on. I don't know why this place gets the bad cess that it does, it really dosn't deserve it, and props to Karen Cooper for all she's done to keep it rolling. To those who love movies (as opposed to just movie theatres), the Forum is a treasure.
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 08-19-2006 06:59 PM
If the NY Film Forum made the list, then The Rose Theatres at The Brooklyn Academy of Music should have made it many times over, and in my opinion, should have knocked FF right off the page. The Rose at BAM are housed in a what was a larger, older playhouse which they took great pains in preserving the original ornate wall coverings and fixtures. Their mix of small independent, foreign and unnoticed gems is every bit as good and eclectic as the titles Ms. Cooper programs. And I'll agree, no, the FF may not be a dump in the sense of falling down and dirty, but it sure is the epitome of a soul-less, characterless storefront-type operation. The rooms themselves have all the charm of a toilet seat. The staff, all the way up to and including its leading lady have what can only be described as anti-charm; I have experienced first hand a subtle but palpable disdain for the common patrons. Seems their main interest is in courting The Patrons (sponsors and corporate donors), which is not at all uncommon with similar not-for-profits.
The New York Anthology Film Archives is another art house in NYC which has been working that PR reputation for years. The film aficionados say the name in hushed, reverential tones, but it suffers a similar focus as the FF -- ravenously, aggressive when it comes to stalking sponsorship, but casual to the point of indifference when it comes to being demanding about presentation values and film care (which is astounding given that Anthology claims to be the nation's foremost film preservationists). I sure as hell wouldn't let them run one of my prints. They have a mile-long list of private and corporate donors and sponsors, yet their booths are a shambles -- dirty is too kind; filthy is more accurate. I was so appalled at the condition in their main booth when a projectionist friend of mine brought me up there, that I actually suggested he take pictures of the place so as to hold their nose to the fire to clean up their act lest their board members somehow get to see these conditions. It certainly made me wonder where all that donated money went because it sure didn't go into presentation or even a modicum of aesthetics in the rooms where one has to sit to watch one of their "eclectic" movies.
These places are what give DVD based home theatres a good name.
Oh, and PS -- Mitchell, I am with you on the Alamo -- I'll hold the fuel tanks while you fire the flame thrower. It's like a plague of roaches....the emails just keep coming. These people need serious head banging.
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Carl Martin
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1424
From: Oakland, CA, USA
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 08-20-2006 04:30 AM
quote: Mark Ogden
the Castro, at one time was part of the old Blumenfeld chain, but I believe it is now independently owned. Check me on it, tho. It's a beautiful theatre, I love going there, you would too, Scott. The chief projectionist there is Hal Rowland, a great guy seriously into his craft.
yes, it's independently owned. they do go the extra mile for showmanship, with organist, curtains, spotlights, etc. presentation has its flaws sometimes, acoustics are not ideal. i believe the chief projectionist is jim marshall.
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