Joi B.
Yelp
How can you not love the Prytania Theatre? Besides showing art house and major releases on their single screen, they have Midnight movies!
I was thrilled that one of my favorite movies, The Talented Mr. Ripley, was the Midnight movie this weekend. On Friday night, they even had live jazz accompaniment! How fantastic is that? You won't be getting that at the multiplex.
I love their little clip at the beginning where they have the old school dancing concession items using sexual innuendo to entice you to buy a hot dog ("you can't beat... my meat between two buns") and then the gang of dancing snacks and bevs break out into a heavy metal routine expelling the virtues of proper movie behavior and what's sad fate will meet you if you don't adhere to the rules. They even mentioned that you should be respectful when opening candy (the wrapper sounds make me want to KILL).
On that note, I wish the evil hotdog character would have appeared to drag out the dude who was obnoxiously snoring behind me. He started in right at the beginning of the movie after Tom, in his underground cold water flat, is testing his jazz knowledge and correctly guessed the record he was playing was Charlie Parker. "Bird!! I know this!!! It's Bird!!" I mean, if you can sleep through this brilliant movie, I feel sorry for you, but not enough to *not* want to smother you to death with a pillow, motherfucker.
Also, it appeared as though someone had had a popcorn throwing party at the previous movie as it was ALL OVER the floor. No one bothered to take out their trash either. Newsflash, the theater may indeed harken back to the 1950s, but in this day and age, we know better than to leave behind our trash in a movie theater.
Plus, call me neurotic, but all I could think about was the vermin that might be running around sampling the snacks that had been left behind for them. Or, maybe that's just common in New York City theaters. It's just hard for me to keep my feet on the floor in these situations.
As John L H says, the theater has soul, even if it's lacking in other amenities. Oh and while they don't have a bar, they do allow you to bring in your own booze. So, bring a bottle of vino, buy some popcorn and sit back and enjoy the show!