Laurelhurst Theater (2735 E. Burnside)

Everytime I see one of my friends, he asks me what movies I have seen lately. He thinks that because I am a movie buff and have seen a lot of movies in the past, that I go to the cinema a couple of times a week. Well, it just isn't so, as much as I would like it to be. Time, as well as the price of movies keeps me out of the cinema on a super regular basis.

One movie that I have been eluding for a while is The Last King of Scotland. For the past couple of months, every time I see my friend, he says, "Have you done your action item yet?" My action item - to see The Last King of Scotland. I was waiting to be in a really up mood before I took on a serious drama.

The Laurelhurst Theater was showing The Last King of Scotland a couple of weeks ago and my roommate and I decided to brave the Ugandan coup and see what Forest Whitaker won so many awards for.

It's a $3 admission price for any movie at the Laurelhurst. The smell of cheese, fresh baked crust and pepperoni overcomes me every time I walk in the doors and it's almost as if I'm on auto pilot to go stand in the sometimes very long pizza line. The pizza is about $3-4 a slice, depending on what kind you get. They also have a wide variety of tea, soda and beer that you can order and a water cooler available to everyone at the end of the counter.

The artistic chalkboards over the entrances to the theaters tell you which movies are playing in which theater and reminds me of when we were kids and I used to have movie night for the family, with fake tickets, a fake marquee (made out of a chalkboard) and fake theater seats (folding chairs with pillows and blankets on them). However, these seats are probably more comfortable than the ones I made as a child. The Laurelhurst even has tables in front of the seats for the back half of each theater, so that you can eat your dinner while you watch the movie.

We got there too late for a table, but had plenty of room to stow our plates at our feet after we were done eating. I, for one, was glad I finished eating before the movie started, since it was pretty violent and gory and I might have had a bit of gag reflex problem had I tried to multi-task eating and watching The Last King of Scotland. Forest Whitaker deserved the awards he got. And Portland deserves an award for the most awesome movie theater concept around. Pizza. $3 movies. Dinner and a movie for $6, $12 if you are paying for your date. Bargain.

P.S. Don't forget your ID when you go to the Laurelhurst - it's strictly 21+.