Best Movie Theater
The Loft Cinema
READERS' AND STAFF PICK: Most young movie-goers don't remember a time when theaters were wider than a broom closet. With a trip to The Loft, 3233 E. Speedway, the cinema lover will see how movies were once commonly presented--in a large room, with a large screen, with good images flickering in the dark. There are actually two theaters here--a smaller upstairs venue compliments the much larger ground level auditorium. Patrons will be amazed that they don't hear the booming soundtracks of other movies sneaking through the walls. This isn't a cookie-cutter theater, and the movies aren't the bland, mall variety either. The understated yet weighty need for theaters like The Loft is pervasive in an age where we can wait 'til the flick comes out on video. If you don't see it when it's at The Loft, you might be outta luck. Some of The Loft's film fare doesn't fair that well in any market; it's not necessarily because it's bad cinema--in fact, more often than not, it's just not popular cinema. The Loft's buffet of tasties often seduces the more obscure palates. It's lovers of film rather than movie-goers who turn out at The Loft for some quality time in the dark. A wide range of independent and alternative fare fills the screens, with a focus on humanism perhaps the common thread. Even the wonderfully disgusting annual Sick And Twisted Animation Festival is humanistic, in a gut-wrenching spittle-driven way. Try to find that at one of the ant-hill theaters. We dare you. The New Loft has been here and it's been there, but thank goodness it's still somewhere--and apparently here to stay.
3233 East Speedway
