It’s an uncertain era for the movies, with the decade-long rise of streaming rocking the business even before the pandemic. But the business has been clawing back from a 2020 rock bottom, with the grand moment of “Barbenheimer” and the critical/commercial success of the “Dune” movies reminders that moviegoing can still be a grand, public experience. 

Along the way, there’s been perhaps surprising growth in repertory showings around the country, which bring older movies back to the big screen.

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This has been a reminder that for all the increased ease and quality of home-viewing, the theater experience is still different. It’s not just that the screen is bigger and the sound better, it’s the attention-focusing sense of envelopment that a theater provides, and the energizing value of leaving the house to go somewhere and do something.

Along the way, though, it’s become harder to know what’s available and when and where. As a partisan of the theater experience, here’s hoping this overview — a test-drive of a potential weekly column — helps Memphis filmgoers navigate what’s out there.