Best Movie Theaters?

I'm always surprised when I look at the Angelika homepage, though- it looks like the Houston theatre has more mainstream films than arthouse (ie Kill Bill Shrek and Harry Potter this week).

new york's angelika is nice too if i remember. i've been to the film forum more than any other theater in new york and it's kinda tiny theater-wise but always an enjoyable experience for me.

built in 1929, live organ before most showings, cavernous old room with twinkling stars on the ceiling and an ornate, italian palazzo-style facade up front. it's grand. plus they're always showing the best stuff.

There's a few other old movie palaces left that I wish could be used to show movies again: the Paradise, which operated as a revival theater for a while but is now being rented out to a church group; the Modjeska, which is currently being used as a performance space for theater and concerts; and the Avalon, which is unfortunately very close to being remodeled into an office complex. And also there's the Downer, which is currently being operated by Landmark, but has to endure the obscenity of being split into a two-screener so that it can remain profitable enough to stay open. It's Milwaukee's oldest surviving movie theater, and would be pretty nice inside if it weren't for the postage stamp sized screens that it has to contend with.

The Union Theater on the campus of the local branch of the University of Wisconsin has some interesting programming, but the theater itself is no great shakes to look at or be in, really, although it is large enough inside to actually qualify as a functioning movie theater, unlike the Downer. Which reminds me: ryan, is the Rice University Media Center really all that large inside? From what I remember of it during my student days, the screen seemed to be rather surprisingly on the small side, although the programming was generally fairly excellent.

i hate how these are mutually exclusive as movie theatres go. i am exceptionally tall and i love old theatres with cramped seating, so i have never encountered an exception.

In London, I dunno. I don't really like the West End theaters for the most part, b/c they're either tiny and cramped, too expensive, too dirty, or a combination of all three. The NFT is awesome, though, and the films come with program notes - for everything! And the facility is top-notch. It's a bit snooty - you can't bring in any food or drink aside from water, and you can't buy tickets or enter shortly after the film starts. But definitely something every film lover should at least try out once. It's not for everyone, but if you like it, you like it.

Ryan, re Austin are you talking about comfort or programming? The Alamo runs good programs, but yeah, it's basically got the atmosphere of a bingo parlor.

The Fargo Theatre also has an organ on hydrolics, or whatevah.

Cinema 21, Clinton Street, The Guild, The Hollywood Theatre, Bagdad Theater (haunted!), Cinemagic, Laurelhurst, The Avalon ($1.50), etc.

Los Angeles: Art house/foreign/independent films are few and far between, poor distribution and ridiculous prices make LA a surprisingly bad place to see a movie.

Arclight (audio/visual-phile cinerama dome design almost makes the $14/ticket seem reasonable), Silent Movie Theatre, Cecchi Gori Fine Arts (Beverly Hills), NuArt, Egyptian Theatre (Hollywood, Cinemascope, 70mm, organ, etc.), Grauman's (Mann) Chinese Theatre (Hollywood, "the most famous movie theatre in the world"), New Beverly Cinemas, etc. A lot of the best movie theatres in L.A. have been closed down or converted into music venues or other businesses.

Check out Cinema Treasure's Theater Guide for an amazing database of classic theatres organized by location, style, etc.