Baltimore, Maryland: The city that spawned filmmakers Barry Levinson and John Waters and was the setting for such hits as Enemy of the State and Avalon (and non-hits like Her Alibi, The Replacements, Major Leauge II and anything by Mr. Waters) has a severe lack of venues in which to watch films. Go figure.

• The Senator Theater - The Senator is an "old school" movie house listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it shows primarily first-run Hollywood features and hosts the premieres for many Levinson and Waters flicks. You can catch a good glimpse of this place in 12 Monkeys (it's where Willis and Stowe are watching Hitchcock movies).
• The Charles Theater - This art house theater on Charles Street, just North of Penn Station, was originally a station for the Baltimore street car system. It's a great place to catch Solondz, Jeunet or Jarmusch movies.
• The Apex - An adult cinema located just North of historic Fells Point and just South of the famous Johns Hopkins Hospital, The Apex was featured in Cecil B. Demented as the theater where a film starring Alicia Witt's character was playing.
• The Earle - Another adult cinema, this theater caters to a more (ahem) diverse selection of tastes.

That's right! We only have four (count em: 4!) movie theaters to serve a population of roughly 2.5 million people. Of those theaters, two are for porn and one has just a single screen! So where do we watch our films? On video or in the suburbs, it seems.

Other things which may technically count as theaters, but no true Baltimoron would go there to watch films:

• Maryland Science Center's IMAX theater shows the usual educational fare found in IMAX/OMNIMAX formats.
• Shriver Hall at Johns Hopkins University's Homewood Campus - shows new movies on weekends and cult classics during the week... sometimes.
• Little Italy has a summer movie fest outdoors each year, lasting for several weeks. Think Cinema Paradiso.
• The Rotunda theater closed shop over a year ago but we've been promised by the owner of the Senator that the theater will reopen someday. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Update Early 2003: The Rotunda theater is now operational and seems to show a healthy mix of Hollywood blockbusters and quirky under-the-radar films on its two screens.