When you’ve exhausted all your on-campus excuses to avoid the rapidly growing pile of work on your desk, it might be time to escape to the movie theater. That’s right, the actual theater. Sure, the unscrupulous among us may be content to download the latest releases, but that can never truly stack up against the true movie-going experience. It engulfs us in entertainment and rips us away from reality, if only for a few hours.
So, where to go?
For most of us, the answer is obvious: AMC’s K Street theater. It is your prototypical chain movie theater in every way. It’s close to campus, screens popular films, and sells massive tubs of popcorn and sodas. Although K Street isn’t the biggest theater in D.C.—that title goes to AMC’s Uptown, a gorgeous 850-seat movie palace in Cleveland Park—it’ll do in a pinch, if you don’t mind Hollywood schlock.
But for some, the latest blockbuster hit just won’t cut it. Fortunately, these people have a few good options, too. E Street Cinema, located at 555 11th Street NW, regularly screens foreign films, documentaries, low-budget indies, and festival darlings.
The nostalgic among us, however, are looking for something else entirely. For us, the AFI Silver Theatre is worth the hike out to Silver Spring. It mainly shows the kind of films you’d find at E Street, but the Silver Theatre also screens classics from decades past. Moviegoers could theoretically see Jaws, The Gold Rush, and The Day The Earth Stood Still in a single day. The trip is long, but the first-rate screening rooms are worth it.
And then there’s the Arlington Cinema ‘n Drafthouse. It’s the most inconvenient theater in the D.C. area, as it’s near impossible to reach by Metro. But, oh, what a place. Between dollar movie nights, food delivered to your seat, and the wait staff’s eagerness to refresh drinks, it’s also D.C.’s most eccentric theater. And at the end of the day, is there anything better than a cheap movie and a beer?
