Picks of the cognoscenti

Bill Pope, cinematographer (“The Matrix” series, “SpiderMan 2”):

“You know those little black squiggles next to the names of the theaters? Those indicate what sort of sound systems they have, like a black triangle for THX. If the theater doesn’t have a black squiggle, I’m not going.

“I also like a great big theater full of people. You go to a lot of screenings, at the Directors Guild or ASC [American Society of Cinematographers], and the places are full of industry people who have no reactions whatsoever; they’re absolutely cold, they’re all thinking, ‘I could have done it better than that clown.’ I don’t go to those things anymore. I want to go to huge theaters with masses of ordinary Joes.”

Mary Sweeney, producer-editor and screenwriter (“Mulholland Drive,” “The Straight Story”):

“I almost only go out to the movies in Wisconsin, where I spend the summers. It’s too much of a production here: traffic, parking, being in some giant mall. In Madison, you park in front, no lines, good seating.... I try to avoid theaters in L.A., and, shame on me, we [Sweeney lives with director David Lynch] have a pretty good home viewing setup.

“But I did go to the [ArcLight Cinema’s] Cinerama Dome for ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and that was a very good experience. The overture played before, the print was beautiful and the sound just great. It was a gang of fifth-grade moms in the middle of the day, middle of the week; so indulgent. I think a matinee is the solution for me ... with company. Makes it almost as accessible as Wisconsin.”

Larry Karaszewski, producer (“Auto Focus”) and screenwriter (“Ed Wood,” “The People vs. Larry Flynt”):

“I’m looking for the biggest screen the movie’s playing on, which usually means the Mann’s Chinese or the ArcLight. The ArcLight is also good because you can reserve seats. When you have little kids, it’s a bit of a drag to get to a movie super-early, so going where you have a seat reserved, you can get there three minutes ahead of the movie.

“I also go a lot to the American Cinematheque, which is completely awesome and has a great screen; the films playing there get me out of the house. I feel like the Cinematheque is a place that is not appreciated enough in L.A., or not by a big enough audience. I see the same 20 people there every time I go. But the theater I probably go to most is Sunset 5, because they show the movies I want to see.”

Anne Thompson, Hollywood and film columnist (New York Magazine, the London Observer):

“During the week, I go to a lot of press screenings; the best screening rooms are at the academy [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences], and the Steve Ross Theatre at Warner Bros. On the weekends, I like to take my daughter to LACMA [Los Angeles County Museum of Art], where you sit with a lot of cinephiles and see retrospectives by filmmakers like Terry Gilliam, with him speaking afterward. “There’s also this whole indie circuit of smart people who go see smart movies, which is especially in force at the Nuart. I saw ‘The Trials of Henry Kissinger,’ and it was this huge scene of every lefty leftover in Los Angeles, all preaching to the choir. I also saw Mike Figgis’ digital movie, ‘Time Code.’ He was in the back of the theater, mixing the sound to go along with the four stories playing simultaneously on the screen. I think it was harrowing for him, but it was fabulous.”

Bill Pullman, actor (“Independence Day,” “Lost Highway”):

“I can’t stand the thought that I am a bought person in a commercial theater watching a commercial movie, which means a movie at a mall can be a deflating experience. I’d rather put up with a few problems with projection and sound. I like the Vista. Even if you see a commercial movie there, it suddenly looks like an art-house movie, because of the setting. I also have a thing for the place because it looks so much like the Majestic, in Hornell, N.Y., where I grew up. It has sconces, and sconces to me are what sell a theater. That and worn velvet. That whole thing of putting your head back and feeling the cord on your neck and wondering if you were going to get ringworm.

“My family and I are also big boosters for the hometown. To us, Hollywood is still a small town with a bad rep. We go to the ArcLight to support something we hope is going to work. The whole idea is so beautiful, they’ve got things to eat and the people working there really seem happy working there; they look as though they believe in what they’re doing, rather than the glazed-eye look of someone who doesn’t. It’s hard to like what you’re doing when you’re popping popcorn in a mall.”