Turn a Rainy Day Into a Movie Day

While erratic weather may ruin picnics and trips to the beach, it does not have to mean relegating your escape time this weekend to staying in and snooping on neighbors and distant cousins on Facebook. Take a date, your best girls or yourself out to a great rainy day activity: a trip to the movies.

Sure, the Oscars are over, but why not get a head start on next year’s crop of possible nominees. Head to nearby Century at Tanforan to check out this weekend’s blockbusters, or splurge a little and venture to San Francisco’s Sundance Kabuki Cinema, where, for a few extra bucks, you can select your seat ahead of time and sip a pre-movie cocktail in the upstairs lounge. As an added bonus, the theater won’t make you chug that mojito before entering the theater – drinking is allowed in the theaters’ balcony sections.

After reluctantly leaving the theater’s plush, high-backed seats, take some time to explore adjacent Japantown. Dine on udon and Japanese curry at Mifune, then wander about the bookstore and other unique shops in Kintetsu Mall, or just take in the scene at Peace Plaza.

To view some independent films for a little less cost, explore one of the city’s other art house theaters, like Van Ness Avenue’s Opera Plaza Cinema, CineArts@Empire on West Portal or the theater at Embarcadero Center. Turn the day into a mini-adventure by exploring each theater’s neighborhood.