Surprisingly, Rochester, NY is very strong (no world capitol, of course). The Dryden Theater shows classics, avant garde, new, etc. The prints are amazing as it’s connected to the Eastman house, there’s a film preservation school, and so on. In town there’s the Little Theater, which is arthouse. Then not far are the standard multiplexes.
I have to go with L.A. for some reason the city is always perfect for whatever movie is shot there. A few favorites with an L.A. setting are The Long Goodbye and Blade Runner
It’s gotta be NYC. We have Film Forum, IFC Center, Angelika, Sunshine….I love being a New Yorker, because I never have to leave the city. Don’t forget the Tribeca Film Festival & New York Film Festival.
And during the summer, there are great free showings, like The Shining under the Brooklyn Bridge (though I don’t like the The Shining). My cousin lives in L.A. and I know, whenever I go there, I don’t have to worry either, because I can catch all the limited screenings. They have this cool thing too, where you watch a classic film in a cemetery. Not amongst the graves because that would be creepy, but it’s eerie enough just being in a cemetery. Cadavers, ugghhhh.
I’m pretty convinced that New York is the best movie city in the world, too. I think it’s really a given, but L.A. has to be up there based on the fact that they screen test so many movies there.
Beyond them, though, Chicago has The Music Box and The Gene Siskel Film Center (where my membership is sadly going to waste since I moved), and they’re got Facets. I think that’s about it, though. The U of C Film Series are good but I never went down there.
San Francisco, I’ve gathered, is incredible, with old, renovated theaters playing classic movies all over the place. I’ve never been – can anyone vouch for this? And Austin has the Alamo Draft House which seems like it might be the coolest theater in the country. I’m pretty much in the dark about the rest of the country/world, though, beyond a series of Tivolis and Landmarks.
Chicago is the Chizzy….I just saw 13 films (only one in english) at the Chicago International Film Festival…at the tail end of the CIFF came the Polish film fest, now Facets is having a fest of new French cinema while Gene Siskel spins some of the best from Russian directors, just saw Don Hertzfeld chat with audience after viewing a collection of his shorts and some midnight showings of Dario Argento flicks…all in a matter of 6 weeks….There are about 6 theaters in the Chicagoland area that strictly show classic and world films…There have been Czech fests and Iranian fests and Korean fests…it’s terribly overwhelming…even for the most severe cinephiles…..I HEART CHI-TOWN!!
I hate “now in select theaters” because they never select any in Pittsburgh. We have one nice little film festival and a couple of hip theaters that show more than blockbusters, but for the most part we are left out. Those in NYC and LA should count their blessings.
R.I.P. Dennis Theatre
PARIS. Period.
Six? There’s The Music Box, Facets, Gene Siskel, and… what else? They show one movie a week at The Bank of America place. I guess the University of Chicago stuff.
I got to see Happy-Go-Lucky, Wendy and Lucy, Gomorrah, and Vlag at the Chicago Film Fest. I only got to hang around for the opening weekend, though. I really enjoyed it and wished I could have stayed in town until it was over.
I’ll back Rochester, I live in the area and look forward to taking my first visits to the Dryden this winter break. I’ll probably catch the Renoir they’re going to show in a couple of weeks, then the double-bill of Anthony Mann films near the end of January. I look forward to those two things more than Christmas since I’ve never seen an art film in theaters, EVER, so I need to do this.
London is the best! We have a wide variety of big screen multiplexes and smaller art house cinemas as well as the London Film Festival – which seems to be moving from strength to strength ever year. As well as the LFF we have a wide range of smaller festivals from new queer cinema to science fiction and short film competitions. Our proximity to mainland Europe and our reputation as a capital of culture ensures no film is too small to pass us by. One of my personal favourites is the Prince Charles Cinema just off Leicester Square. You can watch a variety of films from contemporary films to past classics with all matinee showings costing only £1.50/~$2.5! Special mention must go to the BFI Southbank for the sheer amount of films it squeezes into its schedule. In any given month they run up to 8 different themed ‘seasons’ with themes ranging from specific directors, actors and writers to cult canons and niche genres. Check out the current themes here:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/december_seasons_0
It’s a great resource for people to see sometimes rare and hard to find films on the big screen.
austin, texas is a damn fine city for film. the innovative programming at the alamo drafthouse is always worth a look. the austin film society consistently puts on varied and worthwhile retrospectives (frederic march last month, the argentine renaissance this month). sxsw is just one of many festivals that bring filmmakers and cinephiles from around the globe to town. in just a couple of years fantastic fest has firmly established itself as one of the best genre festivals going. last, but definitely not least, my favorite, the paramount theatre and the wonderful summer classics series they do every year. if you want to go to the movies, come on down.
Man, I want to live in Austin.
David you mentioned some really good cities. I love Paris. I saw four movies when I was there. But I live in L.A. and am constantly spoiled. We have lots of French movies and there are subtitles to go along with it, which help, since I’m far from fluent in French. What you mentioned: early releases, film festivals, classic movies (revival houses), rare films screened. We have it all here. UCLA has a great film archive and they screen films at the Hammer Museum. There are a bunch of great venues to see films and filmmakers too. I’d love to live in Paris or somewhere else in the USA, but L.A. just spoils me too much. I can’t imagine living anywhere else and getting access to the great films.
I have to go with New York City, and my personal favorite, MOMA, which has an eccelctic selection month by month. I’ve seen so many films that one cannot find easilty (or at all) on home video that it basically pays off the cost of membership after a handful of visits. Anyone in the city who can find the time should really do their best to see the mid-day showings (usually 1:30 or 2pm) of older films and classics. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to see a silent with live organ or piano accompaniment. It’s a lot of fun, and a unique experience. I will also second the mention of Film Forum! They’ve been on a roll lately with their programming, especially the recent Carole Lombard fest and this summer’s French Crime Wave series. If you can’t afford a Broadway show, you could do worse than stop by Houston at the Forum.
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite theater, now sadly departed: The York Square Cinema in New Haven, Connecticut. It was my (and a lot of other peoples) first art house cinema. It was slightly raggedy, way too small for four screens, family run, and the perfect place to get all artsy for the first time. And the popcorn was super- cheap.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
(… and for those of you scoffing, you’d never believe how many films are/have been shot there, including many of your favorites, such as the entirety of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Remember that in the heyday of the industrial revolution, Pittsburgh had more $$$ in it than New York. That means that the Carnegies and the Fricks and the Mellons — all Pittsburghers — sunk tons of that $$$ into architecture. The reason filmmakers love the town so much is that the grand architecture can double for so many other cities, and the more modern stuff, as well as the terrain of the region, is equally as adaptive. AND … it has a fantastic built-in workforce that is now very much in-tune with filmmaking)
I think LA is only getting better and better, especially with the addition of cinefamily a year ago.
Columbus, Ohio is not bad. It’s got your typical array of midnight movie showings, in addition to the CAPA summer movie series, which shows classics like “Touch of Evil”, “Casablanca”, “The General” (w/ live pipe organ accompanyment) and the Wexner Center, which has a great selection of arthouse and obscure foreign films. Over the past few years I’ve seen Le Regle de Jeu, The 400 Blows, Zero de Conduite, 2001 (in 70mm!), and many others. This summer they’re doing a tantalizing program called “Soundtrack Available: Music in American Film” which features Mean Streets, a double feature of Rushmore and Manhattan and others. A few years ago they did a Jarmusch retrospective, where he picked companions to all his films and came and did an interview onstage with Jonathan Rosenbaum. They had Guy Maddin not too long ago. The best part is the tickets are all like $5 for students.
There’re also a lot of (pretty mediocre) films being made here. There isn’t a school with a good film program, but it’s a cheap place to live with some fairly talented people. I feel it’s got an untapped aesthetic too. It hasn’t been filmed to death like Manhattan or even Pittsburgh. Aside from “Traffic”, they haven’t filmed any feature films of note here in twenty years or so. There are beautiful neighborhoods like German Village and the Short North that have never been onscreen.
I think Paris tops. But New York, of course, wins the Miss Ubiquitous title.
Madrid, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Amsterdam are pretty cool, too.
Just moved to LA from NY, and I gotta say, LA is damn close to NY. New Beverly, Silent Theater, Fairfax Cinemas, and of course, the Arclight. It’s nice here.
Shotzi
I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what the best movie cities in the world are. By “movie city” I mean the best city to watch a wide variety of movies in theaters. Early releases, film festivals, classic movies, rare whatever, etc… You know what I mean. I lived in Chicago for a while this year and was very excited to be in a major city with access to loads of different movies. I ended up being rather underwhelmed by my options, despite them being far and away the best of anywhere I’ve ever lived. Anyway, this is probably a pretty cut and dry topic, but perhaps some of you can shed some light on the random movie wonders of cities across the world.
New York and L.A. are obviously the best in the world, probably a push. I used to think Chicago would be the obvious follower, but now I disagree. San Francisco and Austin both seem superior to Chicago. I don’t know where Paris or London would fall in any of this.
So, what are the best movie cities and why?