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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Los Feliz 3 Bill Cunningham New York Friday, 5/6/11, 7:00 pm Price: $9.50 Concessions: None Audience: About 30, out of 60 seats total. Trailers/advertising: trailers for Hanna (already showing on another screen in this theater) and Green Lantern, which got universal laughter, which was probably not its intent. Projection 35mm, with the right side in […]

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