Comments from Al Alvarez

Showing 401 - 425 of 3,427 comments

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about LOOK Dine-In Cinemas W.57th on Sep 23, 2017 at 2:15 pm

They are now showing the exclusive north Manhattan run of “WOODSHOCK”. If they can continue to get these indies at the expense of the Lincoln Plaza and the Lincoln Center cinemas, they will do well.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square on Sep 18, 2017 at 7:24 pm

Cineworld Leicester Square appears to have dropped the Empire name altogether now. Shameful.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Empire 25 on Sep 18, 2017 at 9:44 am

It’s not the original. It’s the lame FINAL CUT of “Blade Runner”. Not worth bothering with.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Sep 16, 2017 at 8:05 pm

CF100, it all adds up to so loud that Dunkirk veterans run for the exit, different in every venue, and the movie experience is not enhanced in any way. Just like THX.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Sep 16, 2017 at 7:16 pm

And that my friends, is the definition of showbiz bullshit. THX style.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Sunny Isles Twin on Aug 29, 2017 at 7:28 pm

“CHITTY” played on both, but Aquamarine (Twin 2) was on the left and Driftwood (Twin 1) was on the right. Driftwood had more seats.

Aeterna, thanks for the “HOTEL” shots!

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Sunny Isles Twin on Aug 29, 2017 at 12:20 pm

Yes, it closed in 1984.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Aug 29, 2017 at 12:18 pm

With eight screens I imagine they will play anything they can get.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 28, 2017 at 9:23 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfTVQp4CeRg

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 28, 2017 at 7:16 pm

And this; http://timessquareblue.tumblr.com/image/119030752029

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 28, 2017 at 7:15 pm

Ed, check out this wide entrance; http://timessquareblue.tumblr.com/image/155180126589

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 28, 2017 at 4:05 pm

Glad to have you back also, Ed. Although the Frisco/Tomcat entrance is further east, my suspicion is that the Roxy used both the Frisco and the two bookstores at ground level and then upper floors as well, since it had three screens. I think they are two different buildings, but odder things have happened on this block.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Aug 28, 2017 at 2:25 pm

If they can avoid playing the same films as Lincoln Plaza, Lincoln Center and Lincoln Square, they can succeed. Don’t forget that Landmark’s owner, Mark Cuban, also owns Magnolia Film and can provide himself area exclusives the same way IFC and Cohen do in Greenwich Village.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 28, 2017 at 1:57 pm

Ed, I don’t know understand why photos from the area after the theatres started closing are so rare. At least we know that the Roxy near the Empire was already there in 1971 and still there after the Anco closed in 1988. I suspect the Roxy next to the New Amsterdam became the Tomcat/Rick Nelson in 1985, in which case it is already listed on CT.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Coral Gables Art Cinema on Aug 28, 2017 at 12:29 pm

Ripshin, if it’s not the Globe, you might be thinking of the restaurant once inside the Hotel Place St. Michel.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Aug 28, 2017 at 12:22 pm

bigjoe59, it is a growing neighborhood full of bars and restaurants with several new condos going up. The area is already so popular that that the community board gets constant late night noise complaints from local residents.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 28, 2017 at 11:19 am

Folks, check out this Roxy, EAST of the New Amsterdam. http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/30/photos/6838

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Todd Haimes Theatre on Aug 27, 2017 at 7:01 pm

Featured prominently in recreation in the new HBO series “THE DEUCE”. The Apollo and others are also featured in the series pilot episode with meticulous detail, circa 1971.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 27, 2017 at 3:38 pm

The new HBO series “THE DEUCE” recreates the sleaziest era starting with 1971.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about Cine 42 on Aug 27, 2017 at 12:07 pm

I think it was a double feature of “UPTIGHT” and “RIOT”, August 11, 1971. The problem is that the Roxy Burlesk advertised as being at 212 West 42nd street putting on the others side of the New Amsterdam. If you look at the featured photo above on this page you will see a sign for “4 features” on the east side of the New Amsterdam. Could there have been two locations for the Roxy Burlesk at different times, one on the east and another on the west at Cine 42?

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Aug 24, 2017 at 9:16 pm

Why would you ask that question here, bigjoe59? Union Square is the only 4DX house in NYC and it IS a stupid rip-off.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 55th Street Playhouse on Aug 24, 2017 at 5:20 pm

It was not really overnight. If you look at the transition of European cinema from the fifties to cheap American exploitation films sold as ‘art house’ during the same period, the two markets became very mixed. Skin flicks have always been around. They just got more graphic after the courts labeled films as protected free speech. “WAYS OF LOVE: THE MIRACLE”(1950) and “I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW)” (1969) were two landmark cases. The X rating backfired when it became a selling point, further muddying the market between ‘art house’ and ‘sexploitation’.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 5th Avenue Cinema on Aug 24, 2017 at 4:20 pm

It was called Cinema de Paris alternatively from 1935 to 1942 depending on the product being run.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 55th Street Playhouse on Aug 24, 2017 at 4:17 pm

bigjoe59, Andy Warhol’s “LONESOME COWBOYS” was considered an art film and changed the theatre’s profile forever when it discovered a lucrative gay porn audience. The World 49th St. had a similar trajectory, going from more wholesome classics like “THE BICYCLE THIEF”, to then racy fare like “BITTER RICE”, and ending up with “DEEP THROAT”.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez commented about 5th Avenue Cinema on Aug 23, 2017 at 6:55 am

It was Cinema de Paris for at least eight years.