Quentin Tarantino has gone and become the landlord for a movie theater. It's the New Beverly Cinema on Beverly Boulevard, just west of La Brea. I drive by there all the time and am often impressed by what I see on the marquee…but I haven't been inside the place for at least twenty years.
What's kept me away is that, first of all, it was a shabby concern that only seemed to roll out bad, splice-ridden prints. I am told this has changed; that the theater has been completely refurbished more than once in that time. Also, folks tell me, current management has done a better, though not flawless, job of securing good copies of the films they show. (That's always the problem with repertory theaters. They have to advertise what they're showing weeks before they get the prints. And when the prints do arrive and are old, scratchy and incomplete, the distributor says, "Sorry…that's all we have!" So what's the theater to do?)
Also, parking for the New Beverly was always a pain. I assume that hasn't changed…but that shouldn't be enough to keep me away from movies I want to see.
Ultimately, the big impediment to me is that most movies I want to see are over on my DVD shelves. That also shouldn't matter but it does. The ones I own on DVD are handy. They're complete and restored. I can start them when I want and pause them when I want and I don't have to pay or park, plus I have better snacking options here. My purism as a movie fan tells me none of that is as good as seeing them the way they were meant to be seen — in 35mm on a big screen with a lot of others around. But somehow, I never get around to listening to that purism. DVDs and Turner Classic Movies have nuked my going-to-the-movies the same way Amazon has caused me to rarely go to a bookstore. I used to do a lot of both.
I hope Mr. Tarantino's investment pays off for him because I hate the idea of places like the New Beverly closing. I haven't hated it enough in the past to actually go there from time to time and buy a ticket…but maybe his commitment will change that. At the very least, I'll feel a tad guiltier about not going there…