CRITICS’PICKS

My favorite place to watch a movie in the summer is projected onto Peter Lorre’s back. The mausoleum where he’s buried among other early Hollywood notables is located across a grassy expanse of lawn in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, flanked by the Fairbanks memorial, offering just the right stretch of blank white wall.

Every summer for the last five years, I’ve made it a point to make it to at least two of the screenings, and I always end the summer ruefully vowing to go to more next time. It’s not just that I’ve always loved nothing more than watching movies outdoors, but the party atmosphere (with its pre-show DJ and picnickers), the inspired choices (among the movies I’ve seen there, for the umpteenth time: “Johnny Guitar,” “Written on the Wind,” “Harold and Maude”) and the uninhibited (read: vocal) vibe enhance the communal viewing experience considerably.

The point is, you go to Cinespia to see the movies you know by heart, and to share the love and fried chicken. (Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘N Waffles -- mere blocks away!)

Cinespia’s summer series starts 7:30 p.m. Sat. with “Ace in the Hole,” Hollywood Forever Cemetery, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd. $10. cinespia.org