Theatres and Venues
Griped about, mocked, sometimes taken for granted, the Film Forum is still
beloved by the cinephile. Indeed it is the movie fanatic’s scared temple.
What it lacks in screen and seat size and provides in obstructed viewing
it MORE than makes up for in the areas we geeks treasure most; superior
film prints, inventive and essential programming, exclusive and rare
screenings, important guest speakers, and a general ground zero meeting
place for the classic film community. Quite simply the essential movie
house in NYC. Good popcorn, too.
Sure, the Brooklyn Academy Of Music’s got a lot goin’ on; theater, dance,
music, art exhibitions, blah, blah, blah. What we really care about is
its spectacular film repertory programming, which is second only to Film
Forum. Where else can you catch a Jean Renoir retrospective one month and
a vampire film fest the next? Top notch prints, all projected, and if
you’re lucky you’ll catch the rare screening of a His Girl Friday or North
By Northwest on their gigantic main screen, which will automatically
transport you back in time. Trust me.
One of the best film libraries in the world. The Museum Of Modern Art
began collecting the planet’s choicest celluloid very shortly after its inception in
1929. They routinely schedule gems from film’s earliest surviving spools
to the most recent examples of the form at it’s finest. The museum’s
ongoing exhibition An Auteurist History Of Cinema provides the cinegeek
with a weekly opportunity to catch a work by one of the grand masters in
its intended venue. Not to be missed.
A loving tribute to all images moving, Museum Of The Moving Image returns
in a renovated, rejuvenated grand facility, with screening rooms big
enough to accommodate prints of Fox Grandeur and VistaVision and 70mm
Digital 3D, and small to present Vigo and Deren and other works intimate
and experimental. The museum not only screens great and important films
but the rest of its space is dedicated to the history of the medium.
Everything from 19th century zoetropes to Trumbull’s Tyrell pyramid can be
found within its walls. A film geek must!
An absolute miracle. One of the original palaces from the 1920’s, saved
from the wrecking ball, under restoration, and open now for one weekend a
month to offer classic films from every decade on its 50 foot screen.
Complete with live pipe organ performances to kick off each show, it’s a
bargain at 10 bucks and the price of the PATH train. I know. It’s Jersey.
Get over it.
This exhibition arm of the Film Society Of Lincoln Center has long served
New Yorker’s demands for important foreign and experimental cinema, while
ladling in a healthy serving of classic American film to keep ‘em honest. A
great screening facility where Satyajit Ray and Clint Eastwood are granted
equal debate. A bit snobby for a space named after the guy who released
Night Of The Living Dead, but essential to NY film culture. I know. I said
culture. Get over it.
ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
Specializing in underground, avant-garde and the outright bizarre, this
ultra-hip screening facility still finds calendar space for classic cinema
from around the world. Where else could you sit next to Abel Ferrara and
catch a Cocteau flick? A great indie house, support this joint every
chance you get.
Screenings are mostly limited to the museum’s Cabaret Cinema program, but
that’s a small gripe. Most every Friday the price of a cocktail gets ya
free admission to a great movie. The space is casual as hell; a lounge and
a screen. Don’t expect much cinematic geekery from the guest speakers,
however. Film series at this spot are usually loosely tied together by an
often vague theme, and that evening’s chatterbox of choice has been known
to blow the endings a time or two. But if you get to slouch back and knock
down a Budweiser while watching a great print of The Searchers, who cares
asks me?
A great multimedia space. When employed in the service of a classic
screening you’ll wonder why, at minimum, a monthly cinema sked can’t be
regularly put together at this spot. Still, it’s good to know it’s there,
and they usually host a cool summer film fest. Worth a trip to the
nosebleeds.
Great programs like Closely Watched Films and Not coming To A Theater Near
You provide opportunities for RARELY screened gems from both the studio
vaults and Charlie Fleischer’s basement in Zodiac. Very hip, very smart,
lotsa fun.
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE/FRENCH
INSTITUTE
A GREAT screening space that doesn’t do enough, quite frankly. When they
do, though, it’s usually a knockout print of a Clouzot or Truffaut or
Renior. Don’t try to speak the language if ya can’t.
Sporadically scheduled can’t-miss screenings at this space which should,
quite frankly, do so much more than scheduling a Kurosawa or Sam Fuller
fest on Sunday mornings at 11 AM.
Very cool midnight screenings at discounted prices at this
Fuck-the-Angelica indie house.
The occasional revival pops up at this, to put it nicely, cozy spot in the
West Village. One of the few non-chain first run theaters left in
Manhattan and therefore worthy of the film geek’s support.
Another mom-and-pop first-run house that throws in the occasional classic
screening. Tiny? Yes. But it’s a movie house and we love them.
YES! Somebody finally brought the Alamo Drafthouse experience to NYC!
Now I don't have to fly to Texas! This slick and significantly more
civilized venue provides booze and food and wait service to deliver thus
during the movie! State of the art screening facilities and without doubt
the most comfortable seats of any theater in the 5 boroughs complete
the experience. Retro screenings are limited mostly to brunch and mid-
nights but that looks to change in the new year. My new fave theater
in NYC!ROOT BEER N' TATER TOTS! HALLELLOO!!!
