SF Bay Area Movie Theaters Graded and Ranked for Film Lovers
I’ve graded and ranked in this blog post the best movie theatres for film lovers in the Bay Area. The reason I say “for film lovers” is because this list is intended less for general moviegoers who are fine just going to the nearest multiplex showing the latest Spider-Man movie and more for moviegoers who view cinema as a serious form of art and care about things like diversity of programming and projection quality. That’s why I’ve excluded chain cinemas (i.e. AMC Theatres and Cinemark Theatres), aside from Landmark Cinemas, which play limited run films as well as first-run films, from eligibility for inclusion in this article.
Disclaimer: Please keep in the mind this is not a very scientific grading rubric nor was the scoring done in a very rigorous way. Most of my scores are based on my own anecdotal experiences as someone who has made well over a thousand trips to Bay Area cinemas over the past ten years.
The Movie Theaters
(In alphabetical order)
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
2550 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2155 Center St, Berkeley, CA 94720
The Castro Theatre
429 Castro St, San Francisco, CA 94114
Landmark's Aquarius Theatre
430 Emerson St, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema
1 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111
Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas
2230 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704
Roxie Theater
3117 16th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Stanford Theatre
221 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301
Vogue Theatre
3290 Sacramento St, San Francisco, CA 94115
The Grading Rubric
I’ve graded each venue on a scale of 1 to 5. And I’ve graded based on six criteria with the following definitions and weights:
Quality of Programming (weighted at 30%)
Quality of Programming is defined as how well the theater programs a diversity of films, ranging across different periods, genres and languages, how frequent the screenings are, and how likely they are to not show the same film again within the next two years. This last part is important because as any frequent filmgoer knows, many revival houses tend to start programming the same batch of films again every year or two.Quality of Rule Enforcement (weighted at 20%)
This is a big one. How well does the theatre’s staff monitor the auditoriums for prohibited behavior like talking and opening cell phones, and how well do they force those violating the rules to comply.Quality of Projection (weighted at 25%)
Included in this is screen size and whether the cinema is capable of screening 16mm, 35mm and 70mm celluloid film prints.Accessibility (weighted at 25%)
How accessible is the cinema by BART and how ample is the parking capacity?
The Grades
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
Quality of Programming: 4/5. Alamo Drafthouse has good programming. While they have all the regular widely distributed films, they also have the limited-run films and go out of their way to have revival screenings in the evenings, frequently with 35mm prints, of everything from schlock to canon films. One memorable experience I had was seeing Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Dekalog two episodes at a time across five consecutive nights - mind blown. As for screening frequency, they have many screens and many showtimes all days of the week. And they also frequently have filmmakers and actors come in to do Q&A sessions with audiences.
One downside of their programming is that nearly all of the revival screenings during the week happen late at night, frequently after 9:00 pm. This may not be inconvenient if you live in the city or nearby the venue but if you’re a bus ride away and have to work at 7:00 am the next morning, it can be frustrating when most of the films you want to see don’t start until your bedtime.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 4/5. The cinema is really good about rule enforcement. It’s as easy as putting up a flag at your table, writing a note about about the disruptive person and handing it to the staff member. They don’t let stragglers come in after the film has started and film disrupters get one warning and then are thrown out if the bad behavior continues.
Quality of Projection: 5/5. As for projection quality, their projection equipment is top notch. They have the means to screen it all: 4K digital, 16mm, 35mm, and 70mm prints and the screen in their main auditorium is huge.
Accessibility: 2/5. The Alamo Drafthouse is below average in terms of accessibility. It’s in the Mission District which means there isn’t much parking and it’s a .7 mile walk from 16th St Mission BART station.
Overall Score: 3.75/5
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Quality of Programming: 4/5. The programming quality doesn’t get any better than BAMPFA’s film opportunities, even when comparing on an international level. They build film series around directors, cinematographers, actors, writers, national cinemas, themes, and periods, and rarely re-program films, as exposing Bay Area filmgoers to undiscovered and unseen cinema is part of their mission. Where else are you going to see a retrospective of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s or Abbas Kiarostami’s entire body of work on 35mm prints than at BAMPFA?
The only negative part of their programming is that their screens have a lot of time when they’re not in use: they average around ten screenings a week; usually two in the evenings on Friday, three on Saturdays and Sundays, and one on Wednesday evenings and one on Thursday evenings. I’ve often had the itch to see something on a Sunday morning and found that BAMPFA had no matinee. For that, I give Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive a score of 4 for Quality of Programming.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 5/5. This place is top-of-the-line when it comes to making sure people obey the rules. They have staff inside of the auditorium during the entire screening, for each screening, warning people when they open their phones or speak. Excellent work, BAMPFA; I love you!
Quality of Projection: 4/5. BAMPFA have excellent project and have the means of projecting DCPs and film prints. I would give Castro Theatre the edge, though, just because their screen is so much larger. BAMPFA’s screen size shrinks even more when your watching a film in the Academy ratio of 1.37:1.
Accessibility: 4/5. This is a very accessible theatre as it’s right next to the Downtown Berkeley BART station. Parking can be somewhat difficult but not impossible if you go searching in the side streets.
Overall Score: 4.2
The Castro Theatre
Quality of Programming: 4/5. This is definitely one of the best movie theaters in the Bay Area in terms of programming quality. They carefully schedule their calendar of screenings, frequently have over 12 screenings a week, almost every night there’s a double feature and they’re always hosting awesome film festivals like the annual Noir City film festival. the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festival.
The one criticism I have is that they have a tendency (like most cinemas) to start recycling the same films in their calendar every year or two. Do we really need to see Vertigo for the hundredth time? Don’t get me wrong, I love Vertigo. But Hitchcock made hundreds of films. Why keep scheduling the same five films of his year after year? Let’s see some of the other films. Do we really need to see another Wes Anderson film for the thousandth f*cking time? There are other American filmmakers whose films we haven’t seen on the big screen that some of us would love to get the opportunity to watch: E.g. Robert Mulligan, Paul Mazursky, Martin Ritt, Robert Rossen, Otto Preminger.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 4/5. This place is pretty good when it comes to enforcing the rules. Although there have only been a few instances where people in the audience were being disruptive. The most common form of disruption in my experience is from movie talkers; mostly couples. Since the Castro Theatre is such a huge auditorium, it’s hard to monitor it; plus I’ve never actually gotten up in the middle of a movie to go complain to management about someone.
Quality of Projection: 5/5. Alongside the Alamo Drafthouse, The Castro Theatre has the best projection capabilities in the entire Bay Area. 70mm all the way down to 16mm film projection and 4K digital projection. Seeing The Master here on 70mm was a revelation.
Accessibility: 3/5. This is not a very accessible theatre. First of all, it’s not close to any BART station. The easiest way to get here from the Peninsula is to take BART all the way up to Powell Street Station and then transfer on MUNI down to the Castro Station. If you’re driving, you’re definitely going to have to spend some time searching for a spot south of the theatre in the residential area.
Overall Score: 4/5
Landmark's Aquarius Theatre
Quality of Programming: 3/5. This cinema shows exclusively limited-run new releases. New foreign films, independent films, and award winners. Some memorable films that I’ve seen here were Cyrus (2010) and Tabloid (2010). They also have a policy of having a staff member introduce each film, which is a nice touch. Only problem is it’s only two screens and most of the films they play are ones that are already playing at many other cinemas around the Bay. So for filmgoers who are willing to travel all around the Bay Area to see good films, there’s rarely any reason to go to Aquarius Theatre since most of the films they play are likely already playing at a theatre nearby.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 3/5. This place is good when it comes to enforcing the rules. Since it’s such a small theatre, it’s hard to get away with a lot of talking without the staff noticing. Plus, during the pre-film announcements they let the audience know that if there are any disruptions they can feel free to tell the staff.
Quality of Projection: 2/5. This theater is strictly digital projection.
Accessibility: 4/5. This is a pretty accessible theatre. There’s a parking deck a few blocks down off of University Avenue that always has free spaces at night during the week and on the weekends, which is when most moviegoing takes place. And it’s only a .2 mile walk from the Palo Alto Caltrain station.
Overall Score: 3/5
Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema
Quality of Programming: 3/5. Like Landmark’s Aquarius Theatre, this cinema shows exclusively limited-run new releases. New foreign films, independent films, and award winners. However, since this cinema has multiple screens, they’re able to play films that aren’t playing anywhere else in the Bay Area. Oftentimes they have films weeks or months before the other theaters get them, if at all.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 3/5. Landmark Theatres are midway between an art house like BAMPFA, where staff are really vigilant about enforcing rules, and the multiplexes like AMC, where staff and management couldn’t care less. Embarcadero Center Cinema is pretty typical of that middle range.
Quality of Projection: 3/5. This theater is strictly digital projection.
Accessibility: 2/5. This is not an accessible location unless you live nearby in the city. First of all there’s no affordable parking nearby; it’s all exorbitant parking meters and parking decks. And if you’re coming from BART, it’s a .4 mile walk from Embarcadero Station.
Overall Score: 2.65/5
Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas
Quality of Programming: 3/5. I’m a big fan of this cinema’s film selection. While they do play the big releases (Star Wars, even) they always have the foreign-language films playing and have a pretty good amount of screens. You can spend an entire day here. Two memorable experiences I had here were seeing The Family (2013) and Like Father, Like Son (2013).
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 3/5. This location has good management. Management is always visible and I’ve never seen any disruptive behavior inside or outside the auditoriums.
Quality of Projection: 2/5. This theater is strictly digital projection.
Accessibility: 4/5. This is a very accessible location. It’s right next to Downtown Berkeley BART station. Parking can be tricky depending on when you go.
Overall Score: 3/5
Roxie Theater
Quality of Programming: 4/5. Roxie Theater’s programming is one of the best in the Bay Area. They’re constantly playing more obscure films in 35mm every day, practically. Plus they have really good film festivals all the time like the French Had a Name For It festival which is an annual week-long festival of French noir films.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 4/5. Since this is a really small theater they tend to be pretty good about smacking movie talkers and phone users.
Quality of Projection: 3/5. While this film is capable of projecting film prints and DCPs, the screen is really small. This means that for films in the Academy ratio the image will be really small if you’re sitting in the back of the theater. Best to get there early and get a good seat up at the front.
Accessibility: 3/5. This location is accessible by BART. It’s right next to the 16th Street Mission BART station. Parking however is non-existent.
Overall Score: 3.5/5
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Quality of Programming: 4/5. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s programming is similar to BAMPFA’s. It’s a museum curation and the series are organized in the same ways, by filmmakers and themes. However, they don’t show very many films. Their films series happen months apart, lasting just a few weeks and the screenings only happen on the weekends. So while the opportunities are great, the frequency just isn’t there to push it up to a 5. The most memorable series they had recently was an Apichatpong Weerasethakul series where they showed all of his films, had him come to San Francisco to introduce the films, and let him program some films that he liked.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 4/5. Just like BAMPFA, this place has excellent rule enforcement. All screenings are attended by staff and talkers and cell phone users are quickly shot down.
Quality of Projection: 4/5. They screen film prints and DCPs here, but the screen isn’t the biggest. No 70mm capabilities.
Accessibility: 3/5. This location is accessible by BART. It’s a .3 mile walk from Montgomery Street station. Parking is non-existent unless you’re willing to pay for expensive parking deck spaces or can find street parking at night.
Overall Score: 3.75/5
Stanford Theatre
Quality of Programming: 4/5. One of my favorite theaters in terms of programming. This cinema shows classic films exclusively. Classical Hollywood films. Lots of Hitchcock festivals, Cary Grant festivals; basically films from the 30s, 40s and 50s. Every few years they’ll have a Kurosawa festival or a Satyajit Ray festival; but they’ll never play all the films. The same problem with The Castro Theatre, that they’ll unconventional programming but they’ll keep repeating the same programming over and over again. Everyone has seen The Apu Trilogy; where are Ray’s other films? Museums like BAMPFA, on the other hand, make sure when they’re doing a retrospective that it’s a true retrospective, showing each and every single solitary movie from the filmmaker’s filmography. Again, I love Stanford Theatre’s programming, I just wish that instead of programming another Cary Grant festival, they would do some festivals dedicated to more obscure character actors whose films we haven’t seen.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 4/5. This place is excellent at enforcing rules. No outside food, no talking and no cell-phone use.
Quality of Projection: 4/5. They screen strictly film prints here and the screen is huge.
Accessibility: 4/5. This is a pretty accessible theater. There’s a parking deck a few blocks down off of University Avenue that always has free spaces at night during the week and on the weekends, which is when most moviegoing takes place. And it’s only a .2 mile walk from the Palo Alto Caltrain station.
Overall Score: 4/5
Vogue Theater
Quality of Programming: 3/5. Vogue Theatre has pretty good film opportunities. They play the major releases, minor releases, but also have frequent special screenings of classics and marathons of films lasting entire weekends like the Mostly British Film Festival.
One negative is that most of the special revival screenings are of films that everyone has already seen: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Bullitt, Thelma & Louise. Not saying people don’t want to re-watch these films, as people do, but just saying that these are films that play frequently in the Bay Area, so chances are that serious moviegoers will not only have seen these films before, but have already had multiple opportunities to see them within the past year or two.
Quality of Rule Enforcement: 3/5. This place is excellent at enforcing rules. No outside food, no talking and no cell-phone use.
Quality of Projection: 3/5. Their screen is pretty small and a lot of their revival screenings are on DVD and Blu-ray, even when film prints are surely available. Would be better to have 35mm prints.
Accessibility: 1/5. This is not an accessible theatre. If you’re coming from BART you have to transfer to a bus and ride for at least fifteen minutes. Like everywhere else in San Francisco, parking is a nightmare.
Overall Score: 2.5/5
