Gothamist: A Guide to Getting Your Arthouse Movie Fix in New York

owtangowrang

Thu, 29 Jan 2004 18:44:34 -0500

until new yorkers give up paying $10 for a two gulp martini, $22.50 for a 1/2 lb of brunch food and $2350 for a one bedroom or $280,000 for a studio -- the powers of manhattan are going to continue to put it to us financially in ways we cannot imagine. as a resident of ny since 1988, i have seen some pretty gross things happen here. the east village used to be cool, and now it is an upscale $10 two-gulp martini eurotrash wonderland where the rents only go one way - UP UP UP - and it is happening to every single corner of the 5 boroughs. it happened to wburg, it is going to happen to red hook very shortly, it is happening to fort greene, park slope, boerum hill, bklyn heights, and smith street - oh my god - the attitude, the freaking eurotrash "i'm totally bored so give me your order please, so i can get back to reading my arthouse book" of smith street waitstaff. what in the hell is happening to nyc?? it used to be cool, now it is just an investor's wonderland. that is ALL it is. a high financie investor's WONDERLAND, not the center of art and theatre, just a INVESTOR's wonderland. every single day, a meeting occurs in every single country on the planet, where $$ bigshits want their hand in the pot of $$ to be made by overdeveloping the happening cities all over the planet. so it is dublin, paris, toyko, new york, mexico city, etc etc etc etc etc -- it will get so overcrowded and expensive here that only the mbas of ivy league, nooveaux riche eurotrash models, and inheritants will be able to afford to live here. the new york of the 50s - 90s is SO LIKE OVER.

X.O.

Wed, 13 Aug 2003 14:08:01 -0500

C'mon, just because I think Henry Fool is great doesn't mean I think all indie movies are genius. No one even knows what indie means anymore with formulaic things like "bend it like beckham' raking in the bucks. But whatev, this post is tired.

Jen

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 22:51:44 -0500

X.O. - I understand your arguments, but I happen to enjoy all sorts of films and I think that formulaic films made with style have their place, as well as ones that sucker punch you. I just wrote about Charlotte Sometimes which does not end in a conventional Hollywood manner. Additionally, just because a movie is indie doesn't mean its automatically good. For Hal Hartley, I think his short film that aired on PBS in, 1992 or 1993, Surviving Desire, is absolutely lovely.

X.O.

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 21:02:11 -0500

Yay, the mention of a good movie on Gothamist! Thanks Mace, I enjoyed Henry Fool, too. And OK Jen, excitement over any movie coming out, that's a good excuse-- kind of. I'm just saying, don't you get bored when you know exactly where the story is going and exactly which heartstrings it's going to pull to get there?

Mase

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 19:43:28 -0500

Angelika NYC I actively avoided when ANY other option was available. However, Angelika Houston is unbelieveable (as is Angelika Dallas). HUGE screens, REAL stadium seating (stepped, not the 'gentle slope' crap of Sunshine), almost NEVER crowded ... you get the idea. Plus, tickets are only $6.00. for sentimental favorite, I have to go with Lincoln Center (or Plaza, or whatever the one on the east side of Broadway also underground is). Probably because that is where I saw "Henry Fool" -- one of my all-time favorite movies.

Jen

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:26:37 -0500

The pubic hair was terrible. Stifler, though, is truly a genius creation. He makes the movie. That character is total id which makes it enjoyable. You love to hate him.

Ann Coulter

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:11:20 -0500

Jen, that's my favorite movie too! When they got to the part where the pubic hair blows onto the cake, I practically unloaded a round onto the screen.

Jen

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:21:05 -0500

I tend to get excited over most movies, period, even the crappy ones. I mean, I saw American Wedding at 11:15AM yesterday.

X.O.

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 15:17:20 -0500

I just can't get over the idea that anyone was ever excited about seeing a crap movie like Billy Elliot. Whud up wid dat?

Frank TIckles

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 14:32:24 -0500

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the impact of DVD's on all this. Independent cinema is such a crapshoot anywho, and once you get past seeing shit for cred and I-saw-a-preview-screening-like-3-months-before-it-actually-came-out-so-trust-me-you've-got-to-see-it, I'd rather put it on the Netflix queue and have the option of stopping it after 38 cringe-inducing minutes (yes, I'm talking about you Frida) than sit next to that stinky Italian NYU grad student who always brings FRESH FRUIT AND VEGETABLES TO THE ANGELIKA and CRUNCHES and SLURPS on them throughout the show. Of course, said fresh fruit and veggies are always in the bottom of a giant plastic bag (rattle rattle, search search, rattle rattle, got a plumb! oh but I wanted a mango! in again!). There are a select few that demand big-screen-screening, and for that, weekdays before 6 pm only. But I feel much more comfortable popping in the audience award winner from Sundance when sitting there on back up is some Billy Wilder, or even Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (BFF SJP!)

Jen

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:42:34 -0500

DodgeThis - it was very cold when we saw it, so the foul order did not permeate as it might in the current kind of humid weather. And we breathed through our sweaters as well.

Josh

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:16:11 -0500

If you think patronizing the place is a bad experience, try working there. I worked there for a month last year when I first moved to NY and I can easily say it was one of the worst jobs I ever had. From the 6.50 an hour to the less than fun to be around co-workers it was hellish.

jason

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 11:51:17 -0500

The Angelika's a horrible, horrible theater. If there were no alternatives (see above) it'd be worth it, but these days almost every movie can be seen at a better theater, so why suffer?

callalillie

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 11:30:56 -0500

I hate the Angelika. You pay through the nose for independent films that can be seen elsewhere (and often more cheaply)...without the snotty staff screaming at you and herding you into lines. Come to think of it, it's like Fairway for filmgoers. Or maybe Harry's Shoes for filmgoers.

DodgeThis

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 11:25:58 -0500

Hey Jen, isn't breathing through your mouth when a foul order is around worse than breathing in with your nose? I mean, you would almost taste the puke rather than just smell it.

Jen

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:53:38 -0500

Sentimentalist! The nadir of my moviegoing experience was the pukey smell of the theater during Billy Elliot; being too stubborn to move (and really wanting to see Billy Elliot), we sat in the theater with our sweaters over noses and breathed through our mouths. The Angelika during a lazy afternoon without crowds is fine. Opening weekend Angelika is wrist-slitting time.

Sterling

Mon, 11 Aug 2003 10:27:19 -0500

I don't know - the Angelika is great for texture. And while I suppose too much texture could add friction to the movie-going experience, the subway rumbling past makes me smile. It reminds me where I am, and it's a more honest template for a low-budget indie film.