Regency Village Theater The Town Wednesday, 9/22/10, 7:20 pm

Price: $11.50, plus $1.25 for meter parking on a nearby street. Concessions: None Audience: 75 or so in a theater that seats 1300+ Trailers/advertising: Trailers for Jackass 3D, Burlesque, The Tourist, Hereafter (again?), Life As We Know It. Projection: 35mm platter, excellent presentation.

I’ve long been looking for an opportunity to see a film at each of Westwood’s two neighboring movie palaces, and was happy to have chosen a week when a film I actually wanted to see was showing. The Bruin, across the street from this theater, will have to wait another year; I don’t think I can see this Resident Evil without having seen the first three… The Village is a real landmark, an 80 year-old theater that has shown thousands of films and hosted hundreds of premieres over the years. I couldn’t capture the tower and neon in my photo; check out the theater’s Cinema Treasures page for lots of history and links to photos.

You don’t find too many single screen theaters anymore, especially ones that go all out for their film like this one does: banners across the marquee all the way around, and even a giant sign at the front of the covered walkway (protecting those who walk under it from what? It can’t be rain….). The interior of the theater is pretty vast, both the lobby and the auditorium itself. It’s not as ornate as others I’ve seen, but it’s very nice, and I’m glad to see that it’s been refurbished and well maintained. The movie attracted a decent crowd for a Wednesday night, mostly UCLA students (who seemed pretty excited by the trailer for Jackass 3D, too), many of whom seemed to be cashing in passes for free tickets that they got for donating blood. Nice.

We finally got some different trailers (though Hereafter is omnipresent), and thankfully, no ads. I thought the movie was good, a solid, pretty authentic and very enjoyable caper film with lots of things going for it: a great cast, terrific location shooting, good writing, and a likable lead. Has Ben Affleck finally rehabilitated his career? He’s definitely a real director at this point – well done.