Updated 2007-08-20 21:59
| AMC Loews Boston Common There are movie houses, but this is a movie mansion … on steroids! Loews Boston Common has 19 massive screens (featuring mostly mainstream releases) and stadium seating with separating “lovebird” armrests, perfect for canoodling your date. But the coolest thing has to be their self-serve “butter” station for your popcorn - a bonus, even if it doesn’t quite justify a double-digit ticket price. 175 Tremont St., Boston. MBTA: Green Line to Boylston. 800.326.3264. |
| Regal Fenway Stadium 13 It’s not really a stadium, per se, but this cinema has all the first-run flicks as well as loads of sneak previews and free MySpace-type ticket offers. You’ll also find a Best Buy and Bed, Bath and Beyond nearby, making the Regal the perfect place to do some shopping before the movie. 201 Brookline Ave., Boston. MBTA: Green Line to Fenway. 617.424.6266. |
| Simons IMAX Theatre Imagine taking your date to the movies, and just when you’re start doing that canoodling stuff we mentioned earlier, your clunky, plastic 3D-glasses shatter and 25 three-year-old kids cry simultaneously, frightened by you and a 40-foot-tall shark. This is what it’s like at the Simons IMAX. One heads here for the movies - documentaries, usually seven-stories tall - not the scene. Still, it’s not all family fare. The big action movies - “Superman,” “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” - screen here in IMAX format, often late at night. Let the suck-face fest begin! Also, they have student discount tickets for $7.95 with a college ID. New England Aquarium, Central Wharf, Boston. MBTA: Blue Line to Aquarium. 617.973.5200. |
| Entertainment Cinemas Fresh Pond Somehow this neglected-looking cinema with a circa 1998 Web site gets new releases. Then they have the audacity to show these brand new releases for $6.25 all day and all night on Tuesdays. Nobody goes to the movies for atmosphere, right? So if you’re OK with a little bit of mess and a little bit of a walk from the T station, you’ll be OK with Fresh Pond 10. Just think $6.25. 168 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge. MBTA: Red Line to Alewife. 800.326.3264. |
| Coolidge Corner Theatre No wonder the Coolidge Corner Theatre, a fully-restored Art Deco palace, reigns as the city’s premier spot for art house and foreign film. A dramatic 600-seat main theater suggests the luxury, romance and elegance of what once made going to the movies an event. “Some Like it Hot,” “Laurence of Arabia” and “Tron” are just a few recent such events. They also host weird-ass sing-alongs like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and the R. Kelly “Trapped in the Closet” series Upstairs is a cozy 45-seat Screening Room that often spotlights local filmmakers. There is not a more fitting vehicle for film for miles around. 290 Harvard St., Brookline. MBTA: Green Line to Coolidge Corner. 617.734.2500. |
| AMC Loews Harvard Square This is your typical Loews, but with fewer screens, spread out in a weird maze, and a little bit dirty. Yeah, it ain’t pretty, but you’re paying for new releases (with a few indies) in a convenient location. Every week there’s a midnight showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” for those into doing the “Time Warp” again. There are some who claim this is where the whole “Rocky Horror” live onstage tradition began. Find those people and canoodle them! 10 Church St., Cambridge. MBTA: Red Line to Harvard. 617.864.4581. |
| Kendall Square Cinema If you’re the type of person who is open to reading subtitles on the bottom of the screen, you won’t mind walking the more than a stone’s throw away from the Kendall T stop, to see movies you won’t see anywhere else in town. Read: It’s worth the walk. Basically, if you can casually slip an “I just saw it at the Kendall” into a party conversation, you have just earned your indie movie snob stripes and possibly caught a good flick. One Kendall Sq., Cambridge. MBTA: Red Line to Kendall. 617.499.1996. |
| Brattle Theatre It’s a century-old Boston institution but one look at the lineup - from “Bugs Bunny” to a newly restored 35mm print of Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights,” which they are screening the first week of Sept. Incidentally, it’s the first time the film has screened in over five years. It’s a 250-seat single screen theater that operates as a den of cinephile worship for students and beyond. And every now and then they also have live shows. 40 Brattle St., Cambridge. MBTA: Red Line to Harvard. 617.876.6837. |
| Harvard Film Archive Here, audiences absorb the peculiar passions and fiery torments of legendary filmmakers whose movies may contain clues to the meaning of life but don’t make the cut at commercial theaters. Go, but canoodling is probably frowned upon here. The 210-seat house, founded in 1979, offers impressive series and frequently hosts visiting filmmakers - all for cheaper than any megaplex or film degree. 24 Quincy St., Cambridge. MBTA: Red Line to Harvard. 617.495.4700. |
| Somerville Theatre Seeing a film at the Somerville Theatre is a pleasurable throwback. Open since 1914, it’s the last remaining relic from the days when Somerville was home to 14 movie houses. The ornate main theatre often showcases live bands too big for the Middle East, and not quite big enough for the Orpheum. They also use real butter on their popcorn and serve beer! Who’s up for brewhas and peliculas! Note: Pelicula means “movie” in Spanish. They don’t necessarily show Spanish films here, but we thought it would make a fun rhyme to cajole your buds into going to the Somerville Theatre with you. Try it out a noche. 55 Davis Square, Somerville. MBTA: Red Line to Davis. 617.625.4088. |