It’s been five years since my last Movie Week, an annual event in Los Angeles when I’d take a survey of the moviegoing landscape by going to a movie in a different theater every night for a week. I did it for five years between 2008 and 2012. Many reasons contributed to the hiatus—two kids […]

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One week a year for the last five years, I’ve gone to a different theater in the L.A. area every day for seven days. Thirty-five sounds sort of like a lot of movie theaters, but there are still plenty more I haven’t been to, if I cast my net wide enough. Like I do every […]

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Laemmle Noho 7 The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Tuesday, 6/5/12, 7:00 pm Price: $11.00 Concessions: Milk Duds. Audience: 8 people, in a theater that seats 225. Trailers/advertising: Trailers for Cartas a Elena, A Cat in Paris, and The Last Ride. Projection: Digital Searching for a movie I had any interest in seeing, among the glut […]

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Regency Bruin Snow White and the Huntsman Monday, 6/4/12, 7:30 pm Price: $11.50 Concessions: None. Audience: About 40 people, in a theater that seats nearly 700. Trailers/advertising: Trailers for The Amazing Spider-Man, That’s My Boy, Rock of Ages (enough already), Total Recall, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Bourne Legacy. Then an ad for THX, […]

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Arclight Pasadena The Intouchables Sunday, 6/3/12, 10:45 am Price: $13.50 (with $1 discount for buying online) Concessions: None. Audience: 5 people, in a theater that seats about 120. Trailers/advertising: Trailers for Beasts of the Southern Wild, Moonrise Kingdom, and The War of the Buttons. Projection: Digital I probably wouldn’t have ventured out this far, as […]

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Regal Cinemas L.A. Live 14 Men in Black 3 Saturday, 6/1/12, 4:10 pm Price: $13.50 Concessions: None. Audience: 50 people, in a theater that seats 292. Trailers/advertising: Deep breath… An ad for “Pretty Little Liars.” A strange hybrid trailer for “That’s My Boy” in which the stars half-heartedly proclaim how funny the movie is. Ads […]

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Landmark Regent Theatre The Dictator Friday, 6/1/12, 7:30 pm Price: $10.50 Concessions: None. Audience: 12 people, in a theater that seats about 400. Trailers/advertising: Ads for Blue Moon beer and Allstate, followed by trailers for Bel Ami, Magic Mike, People Like Us, Nobody Else But You, and a teaser for the Anchorman sequel. Projection: Finally, […]

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AMC Loews Broadway 4 Bernie Wednesday, 5/30/12, 7:00 pm Price: $11.50 Concessions: None. Audience: 14 people, in a theater that seats about 180. Trailers/advertising: Trailers for Rock of Ages, Moonrise Kingdom, The Intouchables, Hysteria, and a Madagascar-themed “silence your phone” ad. Projection: Digital How is it that there are three AMC theaters within a two-block […]

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Laemmle’s Royal Theatre La Grande Illusion Wednesday, 5/30/12, 7:10 pm Price: $11 Concessions: None. Audience: 18 people, in a theater that seats about 600. Trailers/advertising: I walked in during a trailer for a foreign-language film, which was followed by trailers for many other foreign-language films. First Farewell My Queen, then Unforgivable, Oslo, 31. August, Follow […]

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My fourth annual Movie Week was a fairly balanced affair, between smaller and larger theaters, between ones I’d visited before and ones I hadn’t, and between the east and west sides of the city. I finally got around to a few of the Santa Monica theaters I’d never visited before, explored how the Arclight brand […]

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AMC Avco Thor Wednesday, 5/11/11, 7:00 pm Price: $14.50 ($11.50 + a $3 surcharge for 3-D, outrageous) Concessions: Red Vines, mmm. Audience: 15 people, in a theater that seats about 500. Trailers/advertising: Lots. The inevitable “First Look” junk, including a behind-the-scenes for The Smurfs in which everyone involved looked like they were having their teeth […]

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Culver Plaza Theatres The Adjustment Bureau Tuesday, 5/10/11, 7:25 pm Price: $8.00 Concessions: None Audience: five people, in a theater that seats about 150. Trailers/advertising: A series of out-of-focus and off-center trivia slides, followed by trailers for Cat Run, Hanna, Beginners, and Paul. Projection: 35mm platter, slightly out of focus and dark I’ve only been […]

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AMC Santa Monica 7 Hanna Monday, 5/9/11, 7:35 pm Price: $11.75 Concessions: None Audience: seven people, in a theater that seats about 225. Trailers/advertising: AMC’s First Look stuff, with ads for Gatorade, Coke, a Sprint “no talking ad” featuring a clip from The Notebook, and two ads for live transmission events from Fathom: “Their Eyes […]

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Laemmle Monica 4 Win Win Sunday, 5/8/11, 4:55 pm Price: $11.00 Concessions: None Audience: 40-50 people, which I thought was a not-bad showing. Trailers/advertising: Trailers for Midnight in Paris, Tree of Life, The Double Hour, The Arbor, and The Big Uneasy. Projection: 35mm platter, with no issues This theater is new to me. I always […]

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Arclight Sherman Oaks Fast Five Saturday, 5/7/11, 8:00 pm Price: $13.50 (and that’s with a dollar off for buying the ticket using the Arclight iPhone app) Concessions: None Audience: The approximately 200-seat theater was mostly full on this Saturday night. Trailers/advertising: as with all Arclight theaters, no ads, a godsend. Trailers for X-Men First Class, […]

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