The Best of NYC FILM
BEST ON-SCREEN BROOKLYN: Two Lovers
BEST ON-SCREEN STATEN ISLAND (REALLY): Big Fan
BEST COMPLETELY FABRICATED ON-SCREEN “NEW YORK”: The Taking of Pelham 123
BEST DESTRUCTION OF AN NYC LANDMARK: The International
BEST ON-SCREEN GAY PICK-UP OF ED BEGLEY JR. SEEMINGLY SHOT AT A BAR WHERE CERTAIN L MAGAZINE EDITORS SOMETIMES GO TO WATCH BASEBALL: Whatever Works
BEST EXAMPLE OF NETFLIX HEGEMONY: Kim’s Video Collapse
BEST PERIOD-COSTUMED EXTRAS SOON TO HANG OUT IN FRONT OF YOUR BUILDING: Boardwalk Empire’s
BEST VIDEO RENTAL STORES LEFT IN NEW YORK
BEST GRINDHOUSE: Alpine Cinema
BEST (ONLY) PLACE TO SEE A FIRST-RUN MOVIE WITHOUT BEING DRIVEN INSANE BY THE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE: Cobble Hill Cinema
BEST (ONLY) PLACE TO SEE A FIRST-RUN MOVIE WITHOUT BEING DRIVEN INSANE BY THE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE: Cobble Hill Cinema
BEST REMINDER THAT THAT CINEMA STUDIES DEGREE WAS PROBABLY A MISTAKE: The Observer and Andrew Sarris
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BEST ON-SCREEN MANHATTAN: The Girlfriend Experience
Shooting a fragmented, loosely scripted call girl story in Manhattan last fall, Steven Soderbergh wound up catching the city at a financial crossroads, with high-priced hookers of all stripes hustling around high-priced hangouts, trying to keep it together as the movie coolly reduces city life to a series of transactions, some more successful than others.
BEST ON-SCREEN BROOKLYN: Two Lovers
Born romantic James Gray retains the operatic intensity of his outer-borough crime stories Little Odessa, The Yards and We Own the Night in this Brighton Beach love triangle (unjustly overshadowed by star Joaquin Phoenix’s talk-show-circuit Andy Kaufman act). The heavy early-winter skies and autumn-covered furniture are note-perfect evocations of an older, more residential, more ethnic New York; in the heartbreaking final shot, look for a hilarious bit of production-design genius: a 20-year-old stationary bike stashed behind a living room sofa.
BEST ON-SCREEN STATEN ISLAND (REALLY): Big Fan
It’s impressive that Big Fan (opening in late August) is set in Staten Island at all, and even more so that it integrates the perpetually ignored borough into a vivid New York story of a guy so defined by his dedication to the Giants that he’s become a bit of an island unto himself — with the occasional phone call out to sports talk radio, of course.
BEST COMPLETELY FABRICATED ON-SCREEN “NEW YORK”: The Taking of Pelham 123
Unlike the gritty urban hellhole of the 70s original, touristy Angelino Tony Scott’s reboot imagined a Big Apple where the mayor and the terrorists are disgraced iBankers, kids be cold video-chattin’ with their laptops on the subway and cops cause deadly pile-ups just to delay the inevitable, boring conclusion.
BEST DESTRUCTION OF AN NYC LANDMARK:
The International
It is really remarkable how the Guggenheim was able to spackle over the thousands of bullet holes made by Clive Owen and those guys who were trying to kill Clive Owen in time for their Frank Lloyd Wright retrospective.
BEST ON-SCREEN GAY PICK-UP OF ED BEGLEY JR. SEEMINGLY SHOT AT A BAR WHERE CERTAIN L MAGAZINE EDITORS SOMETIMES GO TO WATCH BASEBALL: Whatever Works
That sort of thing has certainly never happened to us at 7B. For whatever reason.
BEST EXAMPLE OF NETFLIX HEGEMONY:
Kim’s Video Collapse
The new year marked the end of an old favorite: Kim’s Video on St. Mark’s (“The Punk Mall”) shuttered, moving its legendary clutter of cinema rarities to... Sicily! If you miss the archive, you’ll be pleased to know that the city of Salemi invites Kim’s members in good standing to visit as “honored guests,” enjoying free rentals and affordable accommodations. Don’t worry, it’s a safe distance from Mount Etna, although it is earthquake-prone...
BEST PERIOD-COSTUMED EXTRAS SOON TO HANG OUT IN FRONT OF YOUR BUILDING:
Boardwalk Empire’s
Marty Scorsese has been shooting the HBO drama, based on Nelson Johnson’s history of Atlantic City, all over Brooklyn (not unlike how The Departed’s “Boston” was actually the Park Luncheonette). Trailers and guys in Prohibition-era clothes have been sighted in Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, Bushwick, Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Park Slope, taking up pretty much all available parking space.
BEST VIDEO RENTAL STORES LEFT IN NEW YORK
World of Video: This West Village spot fulfills those desires that go beyond just New Releases with rare silent gems and their basement of Western VHS tapes.
Reel Life South: Now that the Williamsburg location has shut its doors, Park Slope is the only neighborhood able to boast of a Reel Life video store — and boast, they should. With a diverse and relatively large selection (of DVDs and VHS), and the kind of snippy, condescending staff stupid people are always complaining about, they’re giving us, and you, one more reason to stay away from Netflix.
The Internet: Between the streaming (aside from Netflix, try The Auteurs and the Criterion Collection for both free and pay-per-view streams; Hulu occasionally turns up an old gem as well, and there’s no telling what you can find in ten-minute chunks on YouTube, or intact on Japanese YouTube), torrent networks and DVD-R merchants legitimate (like The Warner Archive Collection) and otherwise, it’s not really fair to bemoan Mondo Kim’s that much, even if we do hate technology.
BEST GRINDHOUSE: Alpine Cinema, 6817 5th Ave.
The “Pardon Our Appearance” sign posted in the lobby of the Alpine — in all apparent perpetuity — promises future renovations. But with five small screens playing the latest mainstream fare for $9 ($7 for matinees — yes, matinees) this Bay Ridge dump need never change. The sound and projections systems, like the décor, are hopelessly out of date, but that just means you’re spared the assault of "The Twenty" before your feature. And as a bonus, the bodega located kitty-corner will bag your canned beers individually and offer you a straw.
BEST (ONLY) PLACE TO SEE A FIRST-RUN MOVIE WITHOUT BEING DRIVEN INSANE BY THE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE: Cobble Hill Cinema, 265 Court St.
Charmingly shabby, modestly scaled, and unaffiliated with any of the major chains — which means old-school popcorn machines, the oldest (and therefore cheesiest) Enjoy the Show reel in the city, and, perhaps because of the generally unhurried atmosphere, shockingly little texting.
BEST REMINDER THAT THAT CINEMA STUDIES DEGREE WAS PROBABLY A MISTAKE:
The Observer and Andrew Sarris
When the Observer busted down staff writer Andrew Sarris — pretty much the inventor of weekly film criticism as it’s practiced in New York — to freelance status, it was a pretty harrowing state-of-the-profession statement for the internet age: if he can’t keep a full-time job as a movie reviewer, what hope does anyone have of getting one?
