Merlin C.
Yelp
I saw "Scream VI" with Jenna Ortega (Ortega is in the film, not my friend) and went to Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lower Manhattan. Many thoughts about this cinema, mostly positive, a couple negative.
Positive: it's unique. When you walk in, you'll see lots of DVDs from Kim's Video, a now defunct place dear to my heart (one of their stores was next to where I went to college).
Kim's Video, you ask? It's kind of an unreal story. After Netflix killed Blockbuster and mom-pop video shops, Mr. Yongman Kim (guy who owned Kim's) couldn't bear the thought of just tossing his collection. So he did what any conscientious cinephile would do: he shipped 55,000 films to SALEMI, Italy (population: 11,000) where they remained for a decade. The idea was to create some kind of repository slash museum for them in Italy, but it never happened, and people began to chatter about what really became of the Kim's collection (Link: https://www.villagevoice.com/2012/09/12/the-strange-fate-of-kims-video/) Fast forward a decade, though, and it's now back here at Alamo Drafthouse. You'll see 20% of it on display -- a DVD for RAMBO here, another for Tom Hanks's mermaid comedy SPALSH there -- and I've been looking into how one rents more obscure "flicks."
What of the actual cinema? It was my first time going to Alamo, and I was definitely anxious to see what it was like. Before Covid, the chain was famous for kicking out anybody who talked or was disruptive, but they've definitely relaxed this. The "rule" also stood in tension with serving food at a place. Eating pizza and burgers just naturally lends itself to talking -- it's what you do over food of that kind -- and you can't around needing to communicate with your server. I found this didn't distract from the experience, though, so I'm OK with just a trailer telling you to be quiet.
The food itself? Ehhhh. Except for the milkshake, our party ("Boss Bitches") all agreed it was pretty terrible, with one member proclaiming a dish "unedible." They were definitely serving frozen stuff, and honestly, I would only get the shake and go get food elsewhere before or after.
Seats are very comfortable but a notch below iPic when it comes to pricey chains where you can eat while you watch. Hope they can get the food to certain quality.