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 year, I’ve already begun assembling a list of places to hit next time.

1. Grand Illusion at the Laemmle Royal
2. Bernie at the AMC Loews Broadway 4
3. The Dictator at the Landmark Regent Theatre
4. Men in Black 3 at the Regal Cinemas L.A. Live 14
5. The Intouchables at the Arclight Pasadena
6. Snow White and the Huntsman at the Regency Bruin
7. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at the Laemmle Noho 7

It was a depressing year in terms of projection, as the turning point has been reached and digital projection is now the standard format, to be expected everywhere and surprising only in its absence. Of the seven theaters I visited, just two screened their films in 35mm. Art house, multiplex, it doesn’t seem to matter anymore. In addition to the digital creep, times have changed for many theaters. Of the 28 theater I visited before this year, three are now closed: the Sunset 5, the AMC Avco, and the Culver Plaza. Every theater I visited this time was a part of a chain, sadly; at least I got some variety: an AMC, a Landmark, a Regal, an Arclight, a Regency, and two Laemmles. No film cost under $10 this year; it seems like $11.50 is the new $9.

This week brought a lot of odd coincidences. I started off with Grand Illusion on the same day I’d watched Das Boot at work earlier. One of my favorite scenes is when the German sailors pipe “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” through the sub, and everyone sings along. It’s incongruous and heart-warming, and it happens twice. And to my surprise, the French prisoners in the German camp in Grand Illusion sing the same song, again in two different scenes in the film. The day after Grand Illusion? I watched another film with Eric von Stroheim for work, Sunset Boulevard.

Days four and five brought two films which both featured a black man in a black suit being confused for or described as resembling President Obama: Will Smith in Men in Black and Omar Sy in The Intouchables. Just file that away for your thesis in twenty years, future film students.

I wasn’t surprised to hear Anna Faris mispronounce “Amherst” in The Dictator; I’d heard about it beforehand. But I was surprised to see our friend Tara in a brief scene; unexpectedly seeing someone you know in a movie doesn’t happen that often.

So, another year, another batch of theaters. It was a little dicey, choosing to do this during the pre-summer blockbuster season. I was stuck with a bunch of theaters all showing the same five films, and I had to expand my search a little wider than usual. I think I’ve got one more year’s worth of theaters to go before I can say I’ve covered most everything. Until next year, then.