Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Good NYC theater?

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Posted by Tom Doyle (Member # 1474) on 12-17-2002, 03:54 PM:

I may go to see LOTR 2 in the city this week. Can anyone recommend the best place(s) to go see it? Or, conversely, places to stay away from? Ideally, I'd like to see it on as large of a screen as possible with the best sound. I'm not concerned as much with the type of seats, quality of concession, etc.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-17-2002, 04:15 PM:

LOTR:Two Towers is set to open at Loew's Astor Plaza (1200 seat)in
SDDS, that's the Biggest in NYC. Loew's Lincoln Square & 42nd Street
E Walk are nice houses, both in SDDS. The two house not to see
LOTR are UA's 64th & 2nd Theatre and Clearview Metro Theatre. These
are older theatres.

Posted by Tom Doyle (Member # 1474) on 12-17-2002, 04:30 PM:

I had heard some bad things about the Astor's handling of the 70mm show of 2001 last year, among others. I had ruled out that theater, although, in all fairness, I've never been there myself. Has anyone seen any shows there lately?

I suppose I should mention (but it should go without saying) that I'd like to go to a theater that cares about the presentation of the film.

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 12-17-2002, 04:48 PM:

[quote]These
are older theatres. [/quote}

Is that the ONLY reason to stay away from these theatres? Or have these theatres fallen apart (which would be legitimate for staying away). I'm planning to see it at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, which is very old but well kept up.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-17-2002, 04:51 PM:

I saw the Bond film last at the Astor. It was a good show and very
good sound. The Astor is a large single screen. Loew's likes to dump
[bs]

bookings into it most of the time. The next houses would be
Lincoln Square or 42nd Street E Walk. But get the larger houses.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-17-2002, 05:34 PM:

Paul

These are older theatres that have been twinned. They have been
upgraded very little. It would be like seeing the movie in the
old Mann's Glendale Twin or Mann's Wilshire in Santa Monica (not
the upgrade that Landmark did to it). A person at work here saw
LOTR: Two Towers at the UA 64th & 2nd. They said the sound was
not very good, they lost sound during the show. That UA was formerly
called the Columbia Twin and later the Gemini Twin, so every time
they remodel they change the name. The other one, The Metro was a
nice Art Deco house that was twinned. Durning the early 90's,
The Village looked alittle worn. Around that time Mann was renewing
the leases on the Village & Bruin. The owners wanted a million for
the theatres a year. At that time Edwards was looking into the
lease of the Village.

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 12-17-2002, 05:46 PM:

The UA Union Square Stadium, Broadway & 13th. It's easier to navigate than the Loews E-Walk and the seats are superior. Go for halls 4 or 8 -- they're the 2 giant-size halls.

Since there's no NYC transit strike (for now) do it as a day trip: Metro-North train to Grand Central, then the downtown 4, 5 or 6 subway to Union Square.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 12-17-2002, 06:24 PM:

If you go to UA Union Square. Buy your tickets early [Big Grin]

!!!!
Because this plex sells out very quick. So try afew hours early.
The E Walk is not that hard to get into. It's better than the Loew's 34th Street. I plan to see it at the Loew's Astor, because it's
a large single that you can play it loud without any problems.
Here in NYC, any theatre with less than 6 screens is [Eek!]

manager
or staff run.

Posted by Tom Doyle (Member # 1474) on 12-17-2002, 07:53 PM:

Thanks for all the replies. I'm going to give the Astor a shot. I enjoy going to older, large theaters, and as long as the sound system has been updated, I'll be happy. I'm going to the 5:45 showing, as long as my friends can get out of work on time. I suppose I'll post a follow-up on the presentation.

Posted by Christopher Seo (Member # 7) on 12-17-2002, 11:06 PM:

Astor Plaza did indeed botch its 70mm engagement of "2001" last year, but as to the potential image and sound quality, it seems like a fine theatre.

Posted by Tom Doyle (Member # 1474) on 01-29-2003, 01:02 AM:

A bit late, perhaps, but I feel I should post a follow-up for anyone that cares. (Boy, I have a relaxing winter break and suddenly this thread is on page 8!)

I went to the 5:45 showing at the Astor. (We bought tickets online - $10 plus $1.50 surcharge.)

So, was it worth it? It was definitely a *huge* screen and theater. The fire safety sign posted a capacity of 1440, I believe, and there must have been at least 1000 people there.

The sound was good, but not quite as loud as I'd have liked. (No big deal.)

The one problem? The film was scratched! It had faint black horizontal scratches on the right-hand side of the screen. This was throughout the print. They were only noticable in the bright scenes, though, of which there weren't too many. Given, I'm probably the only one in the whole theater that noticed, but that's pretty sad. This was only the third showing on opening day! Add in a midnight screening, and maybe a test preview for employees, and that means the print is faintly scratched after only 5 showings! That's worse than my (sub-run) theater!

Ok, all in all, it was nice to go to this theater. I did want to see the movie on a huge screen, and this was it. I'm glad I saw it there for the first time, and with a big crowd. The scratches did not really detract from the film. I'll give them another shot in the future, however, I think on my next trip into NYC I'll try another theater.

Thanks to everyone that gave NYC theater suggestions.

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-29-2003, 09:38 AM:

Tom Doyle wrote: "The one problem? The film was scratched! It had faint black horizontal scratches on the right-hand side of the screen. This was throughout the print. They were only noticable in the bright scenes, though, of which there weren't too many."

Platter scratches. [Frown]

Probably caused when a mispositioned guide roller let the film surface rub on the rotating platter. [thumbsdown]