Comments from dfc

Showing 76 - 100 of 119 comments

dfc
dfc commented about Movie theater tosses texting teens on Oct 2, 2006 at 11:41 am

Schmadrian raises an interesting point.

TextMsg (or whatever his name is) is telling us something valuable through his semi-literate haze. The 20-something generation has been raised to a lower standard regarding public behavior. They look at a movie house the same as being in a mall where using a cellphone is not an issue. I feel that the theater management in this case was correct. But how often can they throw patrons out? Sooner or later it will become a legal issue for them I’m sure. No easy solution to rude patrons.

By the way any 23 year old that behaves this way in a moviehouse is pretty pathetic. I can sort of understand a 16 year old behaving this way but not an adult. This guy is out of college and he’s still text messaging his friends? Mmmmmm??????

dfc
dfc commented about Benson Twins on Sep 29, 2006 at 6:27 am

The Benson may not have cared about the protests, but I don’t think porn lasted there too long. Can anyone confirm this? I don’t remember the Deluxe as being anything but porn.

dfc
dfc commented about UA Movies at Staten Island 14 on Sep 18, 2006 at 9:14 am

The theater property is for sale, asking price $21 million.

Link: View link

dfc
dfc commented about Lane Theatre on Sep 8, 2006 at 2:36 pm

Still asking $1.8M! Figured with the real estate slump they’d drop the price by 25% to to $1.35M. And even that would be way too high.

Link – View link (select all, press find)

168 New Dorp Lane, Staten Island, NY (The south side of New Dorp Lane between 8th & 9th Streets)
Commercial Buildings,Development/Conversion Sites,Outer Boroughs
The Lane Theater: formerly a historic 550 seat movie theater. The Lane offers 1,000 square feet of 1 story prime New Dorp Lane retail space. The space then opens up into 6,000 square feet of 3 story high open space, offering many possibilities for development/use. Located on one of the island’s premier commercial strips. Walking distance from the New Dorp train station & municipal parking. Marquee & ceiling land marked by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Property will be delivered vacant. Asking Price: $1,800,000

dfc
dfc commented about Benson Twins on Sep 4, 2006 at 8:59 am

As others here have noted for a brief time after it was twinned, the Benson showed X-rated films on one of it’s screens. I remember advertisements touting the fact that the Benson-1 and Benson-2 had “separate rest rooms”. I’m sure the 1 and 2 had staggered movie start times also so the nice middle-class folks of Bensonhurst would have to mingle with the porno heads.

I think there was an uproar from the local community when they tried porn. Remember back in the 1970s it was socially conservative Italian and Jewish neighborhood.

dfc
dfc commented about A Movie Man's Lament. ----- by outafocus on Sep 4, 2006 at 8:31 am

The moviehouses of grace are long forgotten,
and Hollywood product is too often rotten,
now many theater patrons act like asses,
scaring away the quiet masses,
more theaters and multis fade away,
as real estate developers rule the day.

dfc
dfc commented about A Movie Man's Lament. ----- by outafocus on Sep 4, 2006 at 4:10 am

The movie game
isn’t the same,
the screens are hurt by DVD,
and declining theater quality,
families stay home to avoid sticky floors,
and more theaters close their doors,
theater owners are in a bind,
forced to go digital in an uncertain time,
we don’t know what the future will hold,
maybe the movie experience has just gotten old??

dfc
dfc commented about Reminder: Keep comments on topic! on Sep 3, 2006 at 10:01 am

This site is very tame compared to a lot of stuff on the internet. A BBoard/Forum would be nice here. But remember, this a free site and such an upgrade costs real money. I actually think it’s kind of funny that cinema fans can go out of control. It doesn’t fit their otherwise sedate intellectual image.

dfc
dfc commented about TCM Big-Screen Showings of, "Casablanca" on Jul 28, 2006 at 7:58 am

It is strange that TCM didn’t try to schedule the Casablanca showing in at least one traditional movie palace. A few years ago they showed the restored print of Casablanca at a theater in Manhattan.

dfc
dfc commented about "Preserve Me a Seat" Premiere Documentary Radio Interview on Jul 24, 2006 at 8:46 am

Why was this film tied up by a lawsuit??

dfc
dfc commented about Staten Island Drive-In on Jul 24, 2006 at 8:41 am

Also known as The Fabian Drive-In Theater.

Old aerial photo— View link

The Staten Island airport was to the right of the theater in the photo.

dfc
dfc commented about Drive-ins to go digital? on Jul 5, 2006 at 5:15 am

“You want perfect picture, at the cost of peoples jobs”

I don’t know if a perfectly projected picture will cost anyone their job. But with movie theater patrons shelling out close to $10/ticket, a perfect picture isn’t too much to ask for. Remember, for $15 to $20, they can and are buying DVDs, which can be perfectly viewed at home.

dfc
dfc commented about Drive-ins to go digital? on Jul 3, 2006 at 7:27 am

I read about digital conversion plans in a year-old Business Week story:

View link

I tried searching Business week for a more current article but couldn’t find one. The failure rate is near 10%, that’s pretty bad but all new technology goes through that at first.

dfc
dfc commented about Drive-ins to go digital? on Jul 3, 2006 at 5:07 am

I’ve seen cost estimates of +$100k per theater for digital conversion. Isn’t there some kind of a deal in the works where the studios would buy the equipment but the theater owners would pay for the installation?

dfc
dfc commented about Lane Theatre on Jun 26, 2006 at 2:49 pm

Asking $1.8 Million! No one will buy it at that price and the property taxes are $19000/year.

View link

dfc
dfc commented about Biograph Theater in Chicago on Jun 25, 2006 at 10:31 am

They trashed the old marquee??

dfc
dfc commented about 3 Penny Cinema now closed! on Jun 23, 2006 at 11:00 am

“It looks like the CinemaTreasures page for this theatre is gone, too. Any idea why?”

The site appears to be having problems today. I can reach the homepage but not any of the individual theater web-pages. When I click on a theater link I’m taken back to the homepage. It’s been doing this on and off for a few days now.

dfc
dfc commented about A&E Television To Air Documentary on Loew's "Wonder Theatres" on Jun 21, 2006 at 5:52 am

Museum of Television & Radio – http://www.mtr.org/

25 West 52 Street, New York, NY 10019
(212) 621-6800 for recorded information on scheduled activites;
(212) 621-6600 for all other information.

465 North Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(310) 786-1025 for recorded information on scheduled activites;
(310) 786-1000 for all other information.

dfc
dfc commented about Amboy Twin on Jun 19, 2006 at 5:38 pm

Was located on Amboy Road in large strip mall north of Richmond Avenue.

dfc
dfc commented about Hylan Cinema on Jun 19, 2006 at 5:30 pm

It closed in 1992 or 93 when the crappy strip mall it was in was sold to developers and torn down.

dfc
dfc commented about Kings Theatre on Jun 19, 2006 at 7:21 am

The A&E special was good, even if in that annoying jumpy style. The link below is to an A&E web form where you can ask for the “A&E Breakfast with The Arts / Loews' Wonder Theaters” program to be released on DVD. Select ‘Programming /Programs On Home Video’ from the drop-down selection, then fill out the required items and especially the ‘Comments’ section with your request.

View link

dfc
dfc commented about A&E Television To Air Documentary on Loew's "Wonder Theatres" on Jun 18, 2006 at 2:39 pm

1930 population numbers:

Staten Island 158,346
Brooklyn 2,560,401
Bronx 1,265,258
Queens 1,079,129
Manhattan 1,867, 312

So you see why my tiny borough didn’t get it’s Wonder Theater. In 1930 Brooklyn had 16 times the population of a then semi-rural Staten island!

dfc
dfc commented about A&E Television To Air Documentary on Loew's "Wonder Theatres" on Jun 16, 2006 at 2:58 pm

Here’s the A&E ‘help desk’ link, select ‘Programming /Programs On Home Video’ from the drop-down selection:

View link

dfc
dfc commented about Kings Theatre on Jun 15, 2006 at 3:50 pm

Those ticket prices are beyond ridiculous but she has a certain intense following that will pay that much to see her perform. I thought that she was semi-retired at this point in her life.

dfc
dfc commented about Cineplex fires a great salvo; finally some innovation on Jun 15, 2006 at 1:22 pm

As others have mentioned the studios are now in a bind regarding DVD release dates. Stinker movies (think ‘Gigli’) always went pretty quick to DVD. But now even good films like ‘Capote’ go to DVD in within a relatively short release window, much shorter than in the VHS days. More and more people aren’t going to the movies because they know the DVD will be out in a few months. The studios make money either way but theaters suffer. Can the studios afford to return to a longer release window? Would they want to? These same studios are pressuring the theaters to go digital. I’m glad I’m not in the movie theater business. Maybe these problems began way way back when the US government forced the studios to divest themselves of their theaters.