The coolest movie theatre in America

I don't go to moves as much as I used to.

For seven years, I wrote movie reviews, first for a now-defunct site, then for my own eponymously-named site, then ModFab and I set up Mixed Reviews, the ghost of which still exists. I can't pinpoint exactly why writing reviews on a regular basis became such a chore, but it happened sometime during the middle of last year. It's not that I didn't see movies, it's just that I'd get home and find I had nothing to say about them. Then things like my job and taking care of the house and this here blog would take over, and Batman Begins would just have to live without me writing about it.

I still haven't done my report from Full Frame, a documentary film festival which richly deserves one (and I will get to that, because while I didn't see as many docs as I'd wanted, the ones I saw were worthwhile). And other than that, I haven't set foot in a theatre yet this year.

Some of it is that the movies really do suck more than they used to. Some of it is living in a world where a pretentious, obvious piece of claptrap like Crash beats out Brokeback Mountain AND Good Night and Good Luck AND Capote for Best Picture. Mostly, though, it's just time -- and as the art of film editing seems to become ever less important, with filmmmakers insisting that More is Better, I often find that there are better things to do with precious weekend time than sit in a movie theatre watching some 2-1/2 hour story that could be told perfectly well in an hour and a half.

Perhaps if everything played at the Rialto, and if the Route 4 traffic to get there on a Saturday weren't so nightmarish, I might think differently, because the Rialto is a fun place to see a movie. Seemingly frozen in 1946, with seats desperately in need of new cushions, inexpensive concessions that include gourmet coffee and Droste chocolates, and popcorn you can hear and smell popping during the movie, the Rialto is what going to the movies used to be. But for the most part, theatres tend to be either soulless megaplexes or mediocre venues with high school kids masquerading as projectionists. The megaplexes are great for seeing movies like V for Vendetta, but which have the attendant problems of high prices and far too many morons who refuse to turn off their cell phones. The other kind of theatre is more prevalent in my area -- older theatres in 1960's era strip malls and downtown areas, all of them owned by Clearview; theatres that are increasing their prices without an attendant rise in quality. The Clearview entry in my home town CONSISTENTLY botches the projection. I'm no cinephile, but I do like it when the projection isn't backwards on the screen and when the boom mikes are out of the frame and when the sound is intelligible.

It's not that there aren't civilized theatres dotting the landscape, even outside of New York, where for my money, the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas are the best theatre around. The Varsity in Chapel Hill, NC is an arthouse theatre that is very similar to the Rialto in terms of ambiance. The Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC is both an arthouse theatre and music venue -- AND hosts Full Frame. And one visit was enough to make me a fan of the Ambler, in Ambler, PA.

But such venues are few and far between, alas.

But I was reading Premiere this morning -- a magazine which has offered me so many $5.00 renewals that my subscription now runs until November 2012 -- and read an article about the Savoy, an arthouse theatre in Montpelier, Vermont. The Savoy is an arthouse theatre featuring a video store downstairs and occasional special events and speakers. The theatre serves as a kind of community center for the progressive environs of Montpelier in which ministers will recommend documentaries they feel are important and activists will canvass in the lobby. For someone like me, this sounds like what heaven must be like, if there is one.

Do you have a favorite mom 'n' pop movie theatre? If so, post a link in the comments, and we'll set up a theatreroll in the sidebar.