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, 35mm

I wouldn’t have been able to tell you this theater was a Landmark house. In the shadow of two of the showiest theaters in Los Angeles, the Village and the Bruin, this nondescript theater is a single screen that dates from the 1960s but whose lobby was apparently gobbled up at some point since then by retail next door. It was a pretty unremarkable place, but the seats were a step up, probably with Landmark’s purchase ten years ago, and I was happy to see pretty decent 35mm projection. I found parking in Westwood with atypical ease, and managed enough time to stand in line (25 minutes) and eat (under ten minutes) at 800 Degrees, not far away.

The movie was OK, a Sacha Baron Cohen movie with a bit of a plot, some funny moments, and a lot of “eh.” Funny to see no-dialogue appearances from Horatio Sanz and Edward Norton, plus an unexpected scene with our friend Tara. Way to go! Too bad no one told Anna Faris how to pronounce “Amherst,” where here character went to school. And majored in “fem lit.” Could have used some research on that line, too – doesn’t “Women and Gender Studies” fit the comic bill just as well as “fem lit”?

When I left, there was already a line forming outside for the midnight screening of The Room, with Tommy in person. I don’t know when it happened, but there is no way I can imagine starting a movie at midnight. Congratulations, I’m old!