As far as the movie-theater-going experience is concerned, there's little that beats watching Purple Rain or Ferris Bueller's Day Off or Nosferatu (with a live score) on a big screen inside an Art Deco theater at midnight on a Friday. For those of us out there feeling a wee-bit jaded by the bloated movie-theater industrial complex (big parking lots, big screens, big popcorn, big prices), the newly renovated Art Theatre of Long Beach is an idyllic throwback to cinema past. Many of us can remember when movie theaters were within walking distance of home and featured one, two, maybe three movies, tops. You could sneak around and catch a double feature, and popcorn was cheap. Art Theatre screens one to two feature films a week, and the selection is varied and intriguing enough that you get the feeling whoever's behind the scenes actually cares about movies, not just about making a buck off shitty summer rom-coms. It has screened everything from Academy Award-nominated animated shorts to Brüno and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's a mixed bag of films thrown onto a nice screen in a beautifully designed theater with cozy seats. As an added bonus, a coffee shop and tiny wine bar flank the main entrance, like little wings with tempting treats for pre- or post-movie-going banter.