I only go to theatres with projectionists and I also tend to only go to theatres with curtains. Thus my choices are severely limited. I generally catch whatever the Senator Theatre in Baltimore, MD is playing.
http://www.senator.com

I think Monsters Inc was the last film I saw in a movie theatre (THX and in EX and everything).

Steve

First I went to see The Majestic at a notably inferior theatre on "free popcon day". They were tremendously busy and the staff was behind. The trailers were all scratched to shit. The feature looked like the aperature plate wasn't in all the way and the crdits were out of frame. But the film was mercifly unscratched so I watched it without complaint. I enjoyed the scenes in the theatre itself. I would have liked to run the Majestic. I love the idea of the apartment above the theatre and the usher living in the basement. Nobody would be late to work. I did find the fact that they were a small town and had Matinees at 11 & 2 evenings at 6 & 9 a little far fetched.

Then I went to see Ali at the new Stadium 14. The presentation was much better as was the sound.

The last movie I saw was The Others as UCI Norwich. UK. (November 2001)

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

So Steve, if the theater has a stain on the screen, emulsion scratches through the print, warbly mono sound played through a speaker with the LF driver blown, but it DOES have curtains AND a projectionist, do you still go?

Last movie I have seen in its entirety? That would be 'Monsters, Inc.' in Fortuna about a month ago.

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

 |  IP: Logged

And Brad, you are right about presentation, you want picture and sound to be perfect. But don't dismiss showmanship; it doesn't have to be either/or -- great picture and sound, while abandoning everything else -- patron comfort, an interior that actually has some character rather than looking like a uninviting hovel, ammenities like curtians, an attentive USHER that can actually be summoned to help you with a problem, and yes, a curtain.... even such an extravagance as a projectionist at lease SOMEWHERE within a few minutes of the booth. These ammenities don't have to at the expense of picture and sound. Just because your theatre has a curtain doesn't mean it has to have crap on the screen and AM sound. Used to be that the flagship, first-run theatres always had BOTH, and it didn't seem to take any great magical powers to do it.

I liken these utilitarian, character-less black box "cinemas," even though they may have good picture and sound, to a 5 star restaurant that offers fantastically prepaired meals, but which has these culinary delights served, not by a head waiter, but by a HS kid with spiked hair, a ring in his nose and grungy cloths -- he throws down the plate on a dirty table that has no table cloth and one leg shorter than the rest so it wobbles every time you put you fork down. The floors are sticky and when you need water, there is no one anywhere to be found. You want your steak cooked a bit more, but when you finally find another high school kid, he tells you there is NO COOK in the kitchen -- the cook only comes in on Friday when he prepairs all the meals so they can be automated the rest of the week by the minimum wage help.

The way the HOUSE is run is as important as the way the BOOTH is run. They are two sides of the same coin. If the patron is unhappy with EITHER, or further if he isn't IMPRESSED by either, he stays home in HIS theatre where his comfort and sense of taste are catered to. No one tells him in HIS theatre to ignore the fact that the place looks shabby or that there are kids making noise in front of him or that his bathroom smells like a cespool. It simply isn't enough to put a great picture on the screen, sound in a room with stadium seating and then pretty much abandon the patron who enters that ugly black hole at his own risk.

The Curtains and projectionist are necessary but not sufficient!

But with curtains, the likelihood of a stained screen are less than with a naked one and with a "projectionist" a poor show is also less likely therefore, using the above criteria, ones odds of a good presentation are increased. Furthermore, exhibitors that invest in projectionists and curtains tend to also not skimp on the quality of the show, by definition.

Basically now, there is one theatre in DC I will go to and one in Baltimore.

Steve