Lafayette Theatre

97 Lafayette Avenue,
Suffern, NY 10901

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Showing 576 - 600 of 915 comments

macdanman
macdanman on May 25, 2009 at 9:12 am

I am thinking of a Walter Matthau film from 1993 rhett, any clue?
I will give you a clue, its not “Dennis the Menace,” one of my ALL-TIME favorites by the way.

Also going to a theater and wanting no talking is equivalent to a heroine addict not wanting track marks.

Deckard
Deckard on May 25, 2009 at 8:59 am

For those of you who may not know what’s happening to this board since May 23rd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_(Internet))
For everyone else: sorry for stating the obvious.

MPol
MPol on May 25, 2009 at 8:24 am

Aldo: sometimes one CAN tell if they’re the type not to confront directly. I’m NOT talking about race, ethnicity or color here, Aldo. I’m talking about a person’s tone of voice—their way of getting the message across, and the overall way in which people carry themselves. It also depends on the kind of theatre, too. In movie theatres where better-quality movies are shown, audience rudeness is often far less of a problem. Under such circumstances, if and when you do see an occasional yakker, texter, or cell-phone gabber, pollitely and casually asking him/her to please turn off their cellphone/pager, or to please be quiet, is sufficient enough to get them to stop.

On the other hand, the average large multiplex cinema (with 10-20 or more cinemas), depending on the location and the type of audience, is far more likely to attract a rougher, cruder and less polite audience, so there’s more risk in confronting an offender directly.

T228
T228 on May 25, 2009 at 7:02 am

I’m laughing at Aldo' comments, not because they’re funny, but because they’re so out of place in the middle of a discussion about the proper presentation of a movie.

And BTW, it’s not universally accepted that NETWORK is a superior film.

It’s ironic that Aldo would hail NETWORK while imply rhett is a “grumpy old man” when one of the film’s perhaps unintentional themes is paranoia about youth.

JeffS
JeffS on May 25, 2009 at 6:15 am

Hmmm, I guess Aldo didn’t understand my comment “we’re all entitled to our opinions. Yours, mine, and rhett’s.”

“"Network” is anything but mediocre. I think you should watch it again, with the sound on this time."

More personal attacks? Is this the way you express your opinion?

I don’t like the movie. Why would you assume I watched it without the sound on? You need to be nasty to others to make your point?

umbaba
umbaba on May 25, 2009 at 4:25 am

I now wonder if Aldo was the father who let his son ramble on. Aldo’s comments now are actually funny, since everyone who knows me would laugh as well since I am notorious for approaching rude people in a movie theater and politely telling them that their actions are disturbing. At the Lafayette, the problems are with the seniors. Many times, they talk over every scene or their cell goes off and they start gabbing, I have approached those as well (many times). The father and son (in question) I wasn’t so polite with, since they were inconsiderate of everyone else, so I just gave a loud SHHHH, to which the little boy was doing the same through the movie. Once again , he was a little boy and the father could not control him at all and let him do his thing to the disruption of others. It seems he brought him to “Rocky” figuring the boy would like it but the movie moved too slow and had too much character and story (sorry Aldo) for the boy to understand. That being said, there’s always going to be rude people and YES, sometimes if you do confront people, they act the opposite and get very combative. The fact that the movie was either out of focus or framed wrong didn’t help matters or enhance enjoyment of the film. This was the first time ever I DID NOT enjoy “Rocky” (unlike Aldo who always seems to hate it…) Hey Aldo, if you’re going to be at “Annie Hall” next week, go to your seat and start being rude, I’d find you, I’d get out of my seat go to you and politely ask you to be considerate, then shake your hand and say “Great to meet you Aldo” (hopefully you wouldn’t be rude in which case any question about my “internet attitude and daily operating persona” would be answered. ) But it’s cool Aldo, you’re actually funny!

I’m curious Aldo, how would you have handled the situation as YOU seem to display quite an arrogant attitude toward things as you have displayed here. You put down people for liking “Rocky”? Humor me, off the cuff, what are your top 10 “cinema” favorites of ALL-TIME??

BTW….Lafayette should have a sequel series and open with “Rocky II”, probably the greatest movie-going experience I ever had in 1979 and then follow it with “Stop or My Mom Will Shoot” with guest speaker, Aldo (I’d be there for that).

Thanks for the Rocky’s Sly!!! “NUTS” to you Aldo!! Sorry, just having “internet attitude” again !!

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 24, 2009 at 7:33 pm

Rhett raised concerns about the framing & focus of the movie. From reading his post, those would seem “legit” rather than “pedestrian” whatever the latter means.

Confronting people can be difficult. Somebody was recently shot here in Philadelphia in a theater.

I’m getting concerned about the personal attack, Aldo, that you are making “contradictions between his internet attitude and his daily operating persona” This website frowns on personal attacks, so I’d advise you to talk about the theater, the movies, the crowds, etc. without attacking other posters.

I’m also getting curious, are you indeed, an employee there?

macdanman
macdanman on May 24, 2009 at 7:27 pm

How can you tell if someone is tough while they are talking in a theater? WHat you are referring to, in a round about way, is racial profiling and stereotyping. Two actions I will have no part in.

I can not wait to hear RHETTs heated response to my previous statements, so I can once again point out the contradictions between his internet attitude and his daily operating persona.

MPol
MPol on May 24, 2009 at 6:53 pm

Aldo: While you;re entitled to express your own opinions here on this website, others are also entitled to express theirs. It’s either a two-way street or a no-way street.

Secondly, “Network” is not a favorite of mine, although Faye Dunaway acted quite well in that movie.

Thirdly, there’ve been instances when it’s not so great to confront people directly about yakking in the theatre, because you never know what they’re going to do, or where they’re coming from. It also depends on the circumstances. If the father and son seemed like rough, crude street-tough types, then it was probably not so good to confront them directly. People have spoken out in some instances like that and have ended up in some rather nasty situations. The world is so crazy today that one never knows who or what they may be dealing with.

macdanman
macdanman on May 24, 2009 at 6:41 pm

“Network” is anything but mediocre. I think you should watch it again, with the sound on this time.

Rhett comments about the theater’s presentation of “Rocky” were for the most part pedestrian. Meaning he is complaining about something he doesn’t totally understand. Most of his criticisms were based on guesses and assumptions.

ALSO RHETT complaining about people talking in a theater on the internet, after you have left said theater, doesn’t do anyone any good. Maybe next time you should not be so timid, and ask them to be quiet. It seems as though your confrontational internet attitude is not very consistent with your daily operating persona.

MPol
MPol on May 24, 2009 at 6:16 pm

Thanks for the info, Jeff S. It’s agreed that a certain amount of quality, decor, and civility is to be expected when people attend movies, and, yes, it;s true that the average big multiplex cinamas generally attract audiences with a lousier attitude, because the management at those theatres generally have lousy overall attitudes themselves, in addition to mostly bad quality films being shown.

Although I enjoyed the film “ Network”, it’s not a film I’d go to see again.

JeffS
JeffS on May 24, 2009 at 6:00 pm

Movie534: You said a mouthful. This is why the typical multiplex sucks, and why I won’t go to one.

Aldo Ray: I think we can all agree that regardless of what anybody thinks of “Rocky” or any other film for that matter, that we can and should expect a minimum level of “quality of service” when we go to the movies, and that at least means the film is in focus and in frame. Having either of those out of whack is just plain inexcusable regardless of the venue. Of course these aren’t the only things that can cause annoyance. There is sound, the courtesy of the audience (see my experience with Star Trek, above) and various mechanical issues on the projector, such as shutter timing which causes an annoying smear called “travel ghost”.

By the way, I happen to not like “Network”, and think it is a mediocre film. Each to our own and we’re all entitled to our opinions. Yours, mine, and rhett’s.

markp
markp on May 24, 2009 at 4:12 pm

I agree with everything you said Jeff S. You do damage the lamps. Even today however. management seems to think they know it all, so I just go with the flow. I don’t like it, I just do it.

MPol
MPol on May 24, 2009 at 2:15 pm

I enjoyed “Rocky” . It was a good, well-done film, Sylvester Stallone performed well as Rocky, and the movie was lots of fun.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 24, 2009 at 11:52 am

Well, Aldo Ray, you better not express those anti-Rocky sentiments if you ever visit Philadelphia. We recently put a statue of “Rocky” near the Art Museum.

There are differences between popular, well loved movies, and “high art” In recent years, “high art” usually wins the Oscars, but those aren’t the films most people are seeing and enjoying.

“Rocky” isn’t “high art” but it also is NOT mediocre.

macdanman
macdanman on May 24, 2009 at 11:36 am

I am sorry but “Rocky” is a mediocre film, especially when you compare it to other superior films of that year, “NETWORK” and “TAXI DRIVER (you heard of those).” To say it is one of your favorites is short-sited and makes me think you’re possibly Sylvester Stallone. If this latter point is true, I would just like to say that your work in “Tango & Cash” was quite powerful and definitely BAFTA worthy.

MPol
MPol on May 24, 2009 at 9:22 am

You’ve got a point, rhett. Not all of today’s high school kids are bad, and, as I pointed out before, you had every reason to be miffed about what happened with the “Rocky” screening. Glad everything’s going to get straightened out.

Aldo Ray—as I pointed out before, that was a horrible experience, which, hopefully, won’t be repeated, and, secondly, bear in mind that people have different tastes in movies. One doesn’t have to know much about cinema to realize that.

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on May 24, 2009 at 8:31 am

Oops, forgot my basic electricity. Thanks, Jeff.

umbaba
umbaba on May 24, 2009 at 8:27 am

Agree with you 100% Howard and my apologies as to my lack of civility. I was just a little rowled at Aldo’s commentary, if you read it where I should have just wrote it off….that’s what happens when you get to the forum before that morning coffee. And I don’t know why people took my “high school' comment as a put down of ALL high schoolers. In theaters today, hose are the main employees and they do what they’re told by their "managers” so maybe I should get on them, cause whenever there’s a problem at a theater the kids echo what their mgrs. tell them….anyone ever go to the Clairidge in Montclair or the Clifton Commons or Loews?

JeffS
JeffS on May 24, 2009 at 8:17 am

Pete, I believe your thinking of the voltage, which is approximately 27-29 volts for those 2k series of lamps. The current would be about 74 amps. 27 x 74 = 1998 watts. P = I * E.

Movie534, you are correct that you can reduce the current on the Xenon lamp, and if it’s to “save electricity” you aren’t accomplishing anything as you’re damaging/reducing the life of the lamp. You loose what ever “savings” you may have gained on the cost of the new lamp. Sylvania says: “It is not advisable to operate a lamp at lower currents between the minimum current and the lower limit for a fairly long time, as in most cases negative effects on the electrodes would more than offset any hoped for advantage.” I will however agree with you that a 500w reduction would be noticeable to a trained eye, but running a 2k lamp 500 watts low is bad news as you’re definitely out of range at that point. As Pete says, this is probably not happening at the Lafayette, and if you’ve done it at theaters you’ve worked at because “you were told to do so”, it would be fairly obvious the management did not understand what they were doing.

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on May 24, 2009 at 7:29 am

Hi, movie534

Yes, we removed the platter and put in two projectors back in 2004. It was so that we could run our 3-D film festival in 2004 and so that we could get better prints of the classics, since after the first two seasons, we knew we’d continue to run the films. The projectors were matched (they were a pair that had been installed in the Hackettstown mall theatre), the reflectors were not color matched but were pretty close when first installed. They’ve drifted a bit in the 4 years since.

I can’t speak for the current ownership, obviously, but I doubt they are turning down the lamphouse current. It would cost them more for a tech to come out and do it than they would save in electricity. Those lamps only draw 27 amps.

markp
markp on May 24, 2009 at 7:20 am

I have just read from some posts that there are projection problems here. I dont know, or care to get into a grudge match with people, but in regards to Jeff S above, you can “cut back” on light output on a Xenon bulb. As a projectionist for 34 years, I have had to do it in many of the independent theatres I worked at. They wanted to save some electric. All you had to do was go to the rectifier and crank down the amps from say 80 to 70 (or even 65). I always noticed the difference. Again, as he stated there is a diff between machines. It could be a reflector problem, a bulb focusing issue, or even alignment from the lamphouse to the projector. I know whwn I was there years ago, after Nelson just took it over, he told me he was going with dual projection. Does he have a matched pair, or is each one different? This can cause all sorts of problems. And I do hope these new owners make it work as it has in the past. I have been trying for 4 years to get the owner of the Ritz in Elizabeth N.J. to do the same, but nothing comes about from it.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on May 24, 2009 at 5:41 am

As a Philadelphian, I can tell everybody that “Rocky” justifiably has a huge following here. Movie experts may not consider it as “high art” compared to “Raging Bull” but any movie that won the Oscar for Best Picture is going to have its fans!

Rhett earlier raised some legit concerns about projection at his experience. He didn’t need to be so critical of high school kids working concessions & the like. Adults often given the same answers as to projection. And, Rhett, in your last comment, you go too far. There may be “idiots” posting, but on cinematreasures.org we are not allowed to resort to namecalling. So, let’s please restore the level of civility! and let’s hope somebody from the theater replies as to the projection issue.

movieguy
movieguy on May 24, 2009 at 5:38 am

James should return next weekend so the problem experienced with Rocky SHOULD NOT be repeated!

movieguy
movieguy on May 24, 2009 at 5:36 am

Hey Rhett that is a bummer that Rocky was not presented well, very unusual for The Lafayette! James has been the man behind the projector since Nelson Pete and crew departed.

I was planning on going but had to change plans at the last minute.

We should support the rest of the series. I did phone into WRCR 1300 AM on Friday morning and talked with the Host’s of the show about the classic series and The Lafayette with them for about 5 min.