Watching a Steven Spielberg hit played on a physical film is a glorious trip down memory lane for moviegoers

I don’t know about anyone else, but I forgot how much I missed going to the movies. And let me tell you, there is no better way for a triumphant return to a cinephile life than to hit Quentin Tarantino’s Vista Theater in Los Feliz.

Like a lot of people, sitting on my sofa in beat-up sweats, no bra, picking at microwave popcorn with the dog being forced fed titles from an algorithm I will never understand on my cheap 40-inch TV became way too convenient. Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” is most certainly not something to be watched accompanied by the not-so-soothing sounds of the Venice Beach boardwalk denizens below, so I did what many of us used to do once or twice a week. Grab some friends and see a movie.

In my opinion, there is no better experience than the Vista, the historic Sunset Avenue haven for movie lovers that was purchased by Tarantino in 2021, nearly a century after the Egyptian-themed single-screen cinema opened in 1923. Tarantino’s vision wasn’t just a landlord’s special of slapping some new paint on the walls and reupholstering the famously comfie seats. Movies there are exclusively shown on 35mm or 70mm physical celluloid film.

Which is what made watching a summer blockbuster like “Disclosure Day” a nostalgic experience. Digital screenings now have that artificial AI-ish feel, but watching a 70mm print is a nostalgic experience, all organic film grain and soft, rich color tones that digital projectors simply cannot copy.

Tarantino has complained about Hollywood in recent days, calling Hollywood a “flavorless sausage factory,” in a story for Sight & Sound magazine. The Oscar winner even bemoaned that “it’s almost impossible” for him to sit through a modern-day film and not criticize it “to death.”

Maybe he’s right. “Disclosure Day,” which runs with old trailers of Spielberg’s other big-budget space-themed hits, isn’t a perfect movie. But watching it with fellow Angelenos in the glorious old Vista Theater is a perfect night.