A Tour of Some NYC Movie Houses. And Also, Other Stuff

1. My favorite places to eat:
Pita Grill Go Sushi New York Burger Company

2. The town where I live has 0 movie theaters. There was one, once.

3. The town next to where I live has 1 easily accessible movie theater that attracts a fairly skanky clientele and is located smack dab in the middle of a skanky food court. So I usually go to the movies in Manhattan, which is close enough that I can see the city from the town's waterfront.

4. There are many, many theaters within a 15-minute or so walk from where I work. They include Film Forum, the Angelika, Landmark Sunshine, Regal Union Square (typical city Megaplex), the IFC Center, Cinema Village, and Quad Cinema.

5. Of those, I've never been to Quad Cinema or the somewhat new IFC Center.

6. The IFC Center used to be The Waverly, famous for turning a little flick called The Rocky Horror Picture Show into a midnight-madness phenomenon.

7. I never went to The Waverly, either. By the time I got to the city, it was kind of run down. Still, I was somewhat sorry to see it go.

8. The Angelika is one of my least favorite houses in the whole city. The theaters themselves are a little on the long and narrow side, and you can feel the subway running underneath--a unique New York City experience that grows tired after the first or second visit. But what I really dislike is the way they herd moviegoers into a long, congested line and wait until the very last minute to begin seating. I suppose this is to fit as many showings as possible into each theater every day, but it's not very pleasant.

9. I will say this: the Angelika does have one of the best selections of snacks and beverages of any theater in New York, including some of the overpriced premium concoctions I like (such as Teany) and, a few days after Christmas, the best Rice Krispie treat I've ever had. (It was frosted in an elf-boot motif.)

10. Film Forum has some of the worst concessions in the city. Their popcorn was voted among the best, but I suspect that was the work of pretentious phonies (the worst thing about the Forum) who pretended to enjoy the butterless, colorless corn. But this is fine; I actually prefer not to eat anything in the movies, as the food is always too expensive and I don't need it.

11. Tonight I saw Manhattan at the Forum. And I told this joke 3 times:
ME: I'm seeing Manhattan tonight.
THEM: Oh, the Woody Allen movie?
ME: No. I'm really going to take in the city, as if for the first time.

12. I also told this joke, to the woman checking all the tickets to make sure no one was sneaking into Manhattan, which was sold out.
"I'm not sure why, but my ticket says 'Staten Island.'" She didn't think it was funny.

13. The Landmark Sunshine is spacious and gorgeous, a modern theater that didn't skimp on design. It's housed in an old Yiddish vaudeville house. Unfortunately, there hasn't been much I've wanted to see there in a while. One of my favorites, though, was Riding Giants, a surfing film. I left a boring happy hour to see the movie, and afterwards I called BB, who told me to come back to the bar. I did, and I wound up having a pretty swell time.

14. Sam and I saw another documentary, Murderball, there. It's about the U.S. Quad Rugby Team. The movie was inspirational, but we looked at it more as a story about fate. Mark Zupan, AKA the Quadfather, was asleep and wasted in the back of a truck when he broke his neck. He has said that his life would not have been as fulfilling had he not had his accident. Now he is a top rugby player and travels to hospitals and rehab centers demonstrating the sport for new quadriplegics. One young quadriplegic featured in the movie found hope that he could still be an athlete after his devastating motocross injury. Here is one more article about quad rugby--the article that inspired me to see the movie in the first place. (Murderball is out on DVD, and I highly recommend it.)

15. If you watch the television show Friday Night Lights, you may recognize quad rugby as the game injured quarterback Jason Street started playing in rehab.

16. To confuse matters even more, Friday Night Lights has moved from Tuesday to Wednesday. I haven't been this confused since watching Saturday Night Fever on a Sunday afternoon.

17. Murderball was also a great experience because I was going to go alone, but Sam wound up coming along. And we had knishes afterwards at Yonah Schimmel, which is right next door. And Sam is just fun to see movies with. She knows how to just sit back and enjoy. It doesn't have to be profound. I'm like that, too.

18. I am so not in the mood for a knish right now.