Look, there are two kinds of "best movie theaters": the ones that show great movies and the ones that show movies great. For the former, sure, try the Magnolia or the Angelika; they've saved us during this drought-stricken summer, when the best the mainstream googolplexes had to offer was The 40-Year-Old Virgin. But the best moviegoing experience right now is to be had at the AMC Valley View, with its wraparound screen and Sensurround sound. It reminds us of the good old days, back when the NorthPark 1 &2 were still open and putting the "buster" into blockbusters with sterling projectors illuminating crystalline screens and knocking us out of our seats and onto our asses with speakers the size of small cars. Sure, you have to go to the mall, and sure, it's Valley View, but it could be worse; you could go to any other mainstream theater in the city, where the picture's bound to be out of focus or framed incorrectly, and the sound's sure to have all the wallop of a transistor radio.
Readers' Pick
Angelika Film Center 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane 214-841-4700