Arclight

[SPOILER ALERT: JESSE JAMES DIES IN "THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD"]

Unlike many people in Los Angeles, Cissy and I are really "into" movies. We've (I've) had a lot of great moments at the theater-- me kicking my car keys underneath the seat in front of me (and not doing anything because I thought it was just a hair clip), me crying at two previews in a row, me crying at Morgan Freeman, and me spilling a full baggie of my Famous BananaChip-and-Almond Trail Mix into my own filthy purse (that combo of foods is disgusting, btw).

However, we recently ventured outside of the safety and comfort of the $37-a-ticket Grove Theater and tried out the Arclight. After we parked the car in the lot, walked a block, turned left, walked a block, turned left again, and walked another block, we realized that we were not only standing at the entrance of the Arclight, but were about 20 feet from our car. Apparently parking lots have more than one exit. And more so apparent was the fact that Arclight ONLY has exits. The front doors were locked, and just before we turned back to the car (the long way), we realized that the real entrance was around the other side. All this turning made me confused and wheezy.

So the Arclight is fancy. It's no United Artists Bethesda, and couldn't even come close in grandeur to that old Tenley Town theater that was next to the Swensens on Wisconsin. But it's pretty nice. The Arclight has assigned seating. I didn't want to be awkward, so I reluctantly chose the seat next to Cissy. She was standing right there, what could I do? We resisted caramel popcorn and went straight to our Jesse James seats (seats for viewing the new Jesse James movie, not some cool western-themed movie chairs). A man came out and talked to us, in person, about the movie. He told us to silence our phones, and that Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck were the stars of the movie we were about to see. Well hot damn!! He then assured us that another usher would be present for the first 30 minutes to ensure that sound and picture quality were "up to Arclight standard." As a girl who once got up in a DiCaprio-and-Estrogen double-fueled homicidal fit and told the manager straight up that the sound was off during the opening credits of "Titanic," I found this comforting. The whole experience was very nice, especially the mexican food we had afterwards.