All Purpose NYC ILX Film Snob Thread

Seems about right?

Here’s what you can expect at IFC Center when we reopen:

Mandatory masks at all times:
Mandatory face coverings on staff and customers throughout the building at all times
No concessions will be sold, and no eating or drinking allowed in the theaters, so there will be no reason for anyone to remove their masks
Social distancing:
Reserved seating at all shows, so that you don’t have to arrive early to get the seat you want
At least 6 feet of distance between seats available for purchase
Reduced capacity of only 25% in all theaters—our biggest house is limited to a maximum of 50 moviegoers; the smaller rooms will have fewer seats
Online and contactless ticketing and ticket scanning
Longer gaps between shows so you won’t have to line up to wait for your theater to open for seating
Features (not the preshows) begin at the showtime to allow you to control the amount of time you’re in the building: Arrive 15 minutes before the showtime to catch the trailers and a short film before the feature, with lights up until showtime; or show up right at showtime if you only want to catch the main event
Building sanitation:
Newly installed hospital-grade MERV-13 air filtration
Seats will be sanitized in between shows
Touchless hand-sanitizer stations will be available throughout the complex
Bathrooms will be sanitized hourly
Your cooperation with our new guidelines will be important for everyone's safety, so we appreciate your diligence. These policies and instructions will be visible on signage throughout the building as well. And as always, if you are feeling sick, please stay home.

man.... i miss the movies so bad but i'm not sure what the pandemic stats would have to look like for this to feel safe. i don't have any sense that there's even like, a strong, growing core of vaccinated folks in nyc at this moment.

50 people in that big room at IFC feels both bleakly depopulated and, virus-wise, still way way too crowded.

any of their other rooms... O_o

Yeah, I'm laughing at what safe would mean in terms of IFC's smallest room (Theater 5, I think they call it). The screen is barely six feet from the seats. Maybe a person/couple in each corner of the room and a fifth person/couple in the middle?

if that... that room is like a glorified corridor, i would guess they don't even use it at first.

i can't imagine them using theater 5 for anything other than private parties until the necessity of masks pass.
in general, I'm going to hold off until i'm two weeks past my second jab but I'm willing to try to see if I can watch a movie under a mask.
gonna miss popcorn though.

also:

New York City’s iconic arthouse cinema, Angelika Film Center & Cafe (the “Angelika”), owned and operated by Reading International, Inc. (NASDAQ:RDI), will welcome back film lovers on Friday, March 5 at its flagship location in Soho. The Angelika will open with extensive sanitization and safety measures creating an environment carefully designed to address COVID-19 concerns.

In alignment with the reopening, two Manhattan theaters – Village East Cinema at 189 2nd Avenue and Cinema 123 at 1001 Third Avenue in Manhattan – have joined the Angelika Film Center circuit and will now be known as Village East by Angelika (“Village East”) and Cinema 123 by Angelika (“Cinema 123”), respectively.

The Village East is known by Manhattan moviegoers for its landmark auditorium, formerly home to the Jaffe Art Theater. In more recent years, the Village East has delighted cinephiles with stunning 70 mm and 35 mm programming, alongside curated repertory series and an eclectic mix of indie hits and arthouse gems.

Cinema 123 has been a neighborhood staple since 1962, and now features luxury recliner seats in its three auditoriums. This Midtown spot always provides audiences with a signature blend of high caliber blockbusters with the industry’s latest awards-worthy arthouse films, alongside its Intelligentsia coffee and café treats.

We are so thrilled to finally welcome back movie lovers and are proud to maintain the integrity of these two Manhattan staples while bringing them the Angelika’s standard for best-in-class arthouse, independent and international film,” said Kelley Anderson, the Angelika’s director of marketing.

as an aside: i've seen a few movies at IFC (jiro dreams of sushi comes to mind) where i showed up late to theater 5 and got jammed into the farthermost front row seat on the right or left... it's like being at a drive-in and staring straight up

Publicly traded art house!

Quad is opening tomorrow as well
https://quadcinema.com/

Alamo is apparently bankrupt.
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/alamo-drafthouse-bankruptcy-chapter-11-sale-1234920558/

which is not to say that they're closing.

“Alamo Drafthouse had one of its most successful years in the company’s history in 2019 with the launch of its first Los Angeles theater and box office revenue that outperformed the rest of the industry,” Taylor said in a statement. “We’re excited to work with our partners at Altamont Capital Partners and Fortress Investment Group to continue on that path of growth on the other side of the pandemic, and we want to ensure the public that we expect no disruption to our business and no impact on franchise operations, employees and customers in our locations that are currently operating.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/movies/new-york-movie-theaters-guide.html

Lincoln Center is back on April 16

https://hyperallergic.com/629842/new-york-city-movie-theaters-reopening

Beard was developing an ambitious King Vidor program for Film at Lincoln Center with Dan Sullivan, an undertaking involving coordination with multiple archives.

*tries not to hyperventilate*
*fails*

http://www.movingimage.us/

Museum of Moving Image is coming back April 30

anyone catch any new directors/new films titles (remote or in-person)?

i imagine i'm not the only one feeling a lot of emotional twinges, skimming back over this thread this particular morning. i miss the movies, i miss these theaters. when it's possible, we should all go see something. and raise some glasses afterwards.

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, October 22, 2020 9:23 AM (eight months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Would anyone be interested in meeting up August 16 or 17 for something like this? (I'm making my Capitolfest [August 13-15] plans, and am trying to decide whether or not to come back via NYC and spend a few days.)

I'm open to the 16th! Leaving town to house-sit on the 17th.

some series notes:

* check off any Bogart you're missing at Film Forum, second half of July: https://filmforum.org/series/bogart

* next few days: Cinema Village doing a couple of Abel Ferrara films plus films picked by Ferrara, for five bucks a ticket. https://www.cinemavillage.com/Now-Playing/abel-ferrara-s-cinema-village.html I caught El Topo the other night, might try and squeeze in The Projectionist

anthology and metrograph are still closed. quad is open with some new releases, MOMI and MOMA with some appealing repertory choices, BAM with a mix of both, but no elaborate programs yet from any of the above. FSLC is showing what they would have shown for last year's NYFF plus a few new restorations.

still hoping somebody gambles on an "in case you missed it" series running all the big 2020 movies i didn't get to see on the big screen. is anybody talking about that? a few of the oscar-honored movies got a brief boost in some of the chains, but NYC's theaters were barely even reopening at that time and they've since been replaced by F9, In the Heights, and two different horse movies for the whole family.

Wong Kar Wai at IFC all this month: https://www.ifccenter.com/series/the-world-of-wong-kar-wai/

Would anyone be interested in meeting up August 16 or 17 for something like this? (I'm making my Capitolfest [August 13-15] plans, and am trying to decide whether or not to come back via NYC and spend a few days.)

― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Tuesday, June 29, 2021 8:44 AM (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

In the event anyone had this on their calendar, I will not be swinging by NYC after all. But I do hope to visit later in the year, in memory of Morbs.

Sure, please let us know.

right on.

into it

Updates: Anthology re-opened last month without too much fanfare. Metrograph re-opens this Friday!

Metrograph re-opens this Friday!

Showing Żuławski's Possession no less!

bummed their ticket price has inched up once again, but, yknow, pandemic, i get it.

Hate to see what they're asking for their giant candy now

it was truly the perfect MoviePass venue. i love seeing movies there, especially in the big room, but often feel like the schmanciness of everything in the front of the house is some sort of subtle signal that it's for rich people and i actually shouldn't be there.

You too can be rich with giant candy and eat carpaccio after

I see that MoMI is open today. Thinking of seeing the 6:30 screening of Bride of Frankenstein.

Go for it! I might try and catch it next weekend. I've been there a few times since reopening - Thief, Ran, Tenet. Really wish they could have built a wider/bigger screening room, but the quality of the projections themselves is always gorgeous.

So that was yesterday and maybe today The Old Dark House.

New print of that is gorgeous

Seems like the husband of The Bride is in it too.

Super charming movie iirc.

Four people here. Plenty of room if you are just passing by.

Sadly, MOMI is always a "destination" theater for me (Bushwick-based these days). Sit back, enjoy the show, have a potato.

Heh

Now I kind of want to read the book

This movie is a great favourite of mine, and I did read the book (Benighted by J. B. Priestley). My memory of it is a bit dim, but I do recall it being a bit of a slog to get through - it's very heavy on long, earnest discussions about life and love (some of which appear, in abbreviated form, in the film). Reading it satisfied my curiosity, but didn't really enhance my enjoyment of the film. And the performances and atmosphere in the film are so incredible that the book seems flat by comparison.

Thanks. Next question is how much trouble should I go to to see Gods and Monsters.

Speaking of MOMI, they've announced the next See It Big series, with the theme of "Extravaganzas." Some pretty fun stuff in there!

Film Forum's Road Movies series starts Friday the 12th and is chockablock with classics, plus a few lesser-known items. A ton of these are on my personal watchlist, woohoo!

well this will be interesting
https://gothamist.com/food/coming-soon-ny-movie-theaters-beer-wine

Toshiro Mifune at Film Forum, 2/11 to 3/10.

I still haven't seen several of the big Kurosawas, so I'm excited just for that. But I should try and branch out too... any recommendations?

all the samurai trilogy are great

Wow, my county’s liquor laws suck but we allow alcohol in theaters. Surprised you guys don’t have that.

Per the U.S. Constitution, liquor laws are devolved to the state level (and some of these states pass on the privilege to subjurisdictions). It's a matter of negotiating with one legislature at a time.

Dames, Janes, Dolls, and Canaries: Women Stars of the Pre-Code Era

If you have access to this and are NOT going, why the eff not? Hoping the AFI Silver/Capitolfest/National Gallery of Art programmers are taking notes....

good catch on that moma program, i might see the lubitsch tomorrow