The Grand Budapest Hotel – Review

the grand budapest hotel poster

If you were in New York City and were wondering where all the white people were during the weekend of March 8, they were at the movies catching the latest Wes Anderson film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Teens and 20s were at the Regal in Union Square, 30s to geriatric could be found at the AMC Lincoln Center.

Will you like The Grand Budapest Hotel? That question can be answered very easily by your answer to the following question: Do you like other Wes Anderson movies? If your answer is yes, then yes, you will enjoy it. If your answer is no, then I’m guessing you probably won’t enjoy it. If your answer is “Of course!,” then you’ve probably already watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and loved it. I loved it.

grand budapest hotel poster 2

The reason I’m using previous Wes Anderson films to gauge how much you’ll like this Wes Anderson film is because in many respects, Wes Anderson movies are similar to each other. That’s not to say they are retreads of past endeavors, but that his movies share a style and tone that acts as Wes Anderson’s signature. When you’re watching a Wes Anderson movie, you know you’re watching a Wes Anderson movie. I’d say that Wes Anderson has a more distinctive style than any other current director out there, with maybe the exception of Quentin Tarantino. Maybe.

grand budapest hotel ralph fiennes

Ralph Fiennes is perfect in this movie. You know what, just hand him the Oscar. Seriously. I get that we have about 11 months to go before the Oscars are handed out again, but just give it to Ralph Fiennes now. He is the epitome of charm in The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

I like that Anderson used a lot of his regulars for small parts during the scene that required the network of concierges across many hotels to contact each other. Any excuse to have Owen Wilson in a movie is okay in my book. It was funny seeing the commercial for The Grand Budapest Hotel after seeing the movie, because actors who are in the movie for roles that are “blink and you might miss them,” are given billing in the commercial as if they have main or supporting roles. Yes, the commercial is correct, pretty much everyone you love from previous Wes Anderson movies makes an appearance here, just don’t expect all of them to be onscreen for long. Maybe you shouldn’t order that large soda if you’re worried about missing their scenes.

grand budapest hotel owen wilson

I really have nothing bad to say about The Grand Budapest Hotel. It is currently my favorite film of 2014 (sorry Robot Cop). The Grand Budapest Hotel will be starting a run at Brooklyn Heights Cinema soon. I implore you to see it there, as that movie theater needs to raise money for a digital projector or face closing. Plus, Brooklyn Heights Cinema has the best popcorn in New York City!

At The Theater 2011 #12: 50/50

Wow, 50/50 is good, damn good. I think it is safe to say that if Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in a movie, you should go see it. Look at the list of movies he’s made over the past 10 years: Brick, The Lookout, (500) Days of Summer, Inception, and now 50/50. These are all great movies. Sure, he was Cobra Commander is the horrendous G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra movie, but that exception aside, I think it’s time we all embrace the rule that if Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in a movie, we need to see that movie.

Not to discount Seth Rogen in 50/50. Rogen plays his usual, funny self, and with good reason in this movie. 50/50 is a semi-autobiographical movie written by a friend of Rogen’s and Seth Rogen’s character in 50/50 is largely based on Seth Rogen in real life.

This might be my favorite scene in 50/50.

Anna Kendrick is super cute in this movie. We need more movies where Anna Kendrick is super cute, which basically means more movies with Anna Kendick.

Super cute.

Going into 50/50, I was warned that it is a very depressing movie. After seeing it, I don’t think that depressing is the right term. Adam, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character, is put through some major ordeals throughout the course of the film, but I found the movie to be a very uplifting tale about the life of a cancer patient. Granted, there are some very sad parts in the movie, but calling 50/50 depressing is like calling Philadelphia depressing. That said, you might want to bring a travel pack of tissues with you into the theater.

50/50 is my favorite movie so far this year, and I feel it’s going to be a hard task for another movie to unseat it. If you haven’t seen it yet, I implore you to go do so. It is that good. Movies tickets are getting pricey these days. Spend your hard earned cash on great one.

On The Couch 2011 #25: The Company Men

During the manic movie-watching month that was December, 2010, I saw the preview for The Company Men numerous times at The Angelika and at Brooklyn Heights Cinema and I really wanted to see it. I planned on it being 1 of the final movies I saw in the year of the 52. Unfortunately, it wasn’t released in 2010. I eagerly anticipated its release in 2011 and somehow completely missed that it even came out in the theater. How long this movie play? One day? A full weekend? I swear I didn’t know it had been released until it was already out on DVD.

Needless to say, once I found out it was out, I moved it immediately to the top of my queue. Then it arrived and sat on next to my TV for about a month before I finally got around to watching it. That’s no fault of the movie. How many of you out there have experienced the same “excited to see this movie that ends up doubling as a mail away coaster for weeks” aka The Netflix Syndrome.

The Company Men is very good. This movie deserved to do well in the box office. Kevin Costner steals his scenes as Ben Affleck’s carpenter brother-in-law. Costner’s New England accent comes and goes, but he has some of the best lines in the movie.

While watching The Company Men, I realized that in every Ben Affleck movie, there is a point where he gives us what I call Affleck Face. It’s usually right after everything is going wrong for his character and then it suddenly all goes right. Here, it’s right after he has the interview of his life and meets up with his other out of work friends. They ask how the interview went, and Ben goes into full out Affleck Face. It’s a shit eating grin/smirk that can occupy the whole screen. It’s infectious. It is 100% confidence concentrate. It makes me as the viewer think nothing can go wrong for Affleck from there on out. It makes me as the viewer think that nothing can wrong for me from there on out. In The Boiler Room, Affleck even describes Affleck Face. How does Affleck Face smile? “From ear to ear, baby.”

Affleck Face

The Company Men is a movie for our times. It’s about people who have worked hard their whole lives, only to have the rug pulled out from them and get laid off, just so the company can boost its share price. It’s a movie that a lot of people in this economy can relate to. Maybe that’s why it didn’t do well. Maybe people can relate to this movie a little too well right now. If you’re out of work and can’t find a job, do you really want to escape from your troubles by watching a movie that hammers home how crappy the job market is right now? Maybe people didn’tt want to watch a guy who made $160,000 try to find a job when they made a quarter of that and need a job too.

Whatever your reason for not seeing The Company Men, see it. It’s good. And everyone could use more Affleck Face in their life.

At The Theater 2011 #5: The Conspirator

Just before the lights went down in a theater that had only three people in it, a couple decided that the seats they needed to have were the ones right in front of us. It was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 all over again, except more ridiculous. We waited a minute, got up and sat directly in front of them. I feared this would lead to a leapfrogging in response by the other couple. If they did leapfrog us, we could have leapfrogged them back until we were in the first two rows of the theater, but really we would have just gone back to our original seats, now with them an acceptable three rows away. But they just sat there. It felt awesome. I highly recommend pulling this move if ever confronted with the same situation.

I enjoyed The Conspirator. It is definitely better than its score of 56 on Rotten Tomatoes would lead you to believe. It was like watching To Kill a Mockingbird set in the Civil War. James McAvoy plays a retired Union soldier turned lawyer who ends up defending Mary Surratt, the lone woman charged as a co-conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

The Conspirator has a very strong cast. Big stars all around. James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin Kline, Tom Wilkinson, Evan Rachel Wood, Justin Long, Colm Meany and Alexis Bledel are all in the movie. The standout performer though might be Justin Long’s moustache, which completely stole every scene it was in. I don’t know if it was real or if it was pasted on, but if it was real, more power to you Mr. Long. That was some crazy moustache.

Speaking of moustaches, I noticed that James McAvoy, like me, can’t grow hair in the center of his upper lip. “Yes, I’m not a freak!”flashed through my mind, “a Hollywood sex symbol has the same thing!” I not longer feel like a freak for my bifurcated moustache!

Now if I just had his hair too…

We saw The Conspirator at Brooklyn Heights Cinemas, now under new ownership. There’s some new décor and in June they ran a promotion where all seats were $8 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Hopefully they keep at least one of these discount days going in the future. The popcorn is still delicious and is still my number one in the city.

The 1st Annual Tuesdees Awards!

Welcome to The 1st Annual Tuesdees Awards, celebrating distinction in cinema as seen through the lens of Tuesday Night Movies. Your hosts tonight are Hathaboobs and The One Armed Franco!

Hathaboobs? The One Armed Franco? You here? No? I guess I’ll just have to start the show without them.

Movie of the Year Based on How Many Times I Watched It

Winner: The Fighter
I was all too ready to see The Fighter for a second time, so I did. And it was still great.

Honorable Mention: Every other movie (103-way tie)
The Fighter was the only movie I doubled up on. I thought Inception would have taken home this prize, but I haven’t had a chance to watch that for a second (and third and fourth) time yet.

Most Overrated Movie of the Year

Winner: Black Swan
Was there a movie that was more hyped than Black Swan? Coworkers, friends and family constantly asked “Did you see Black Swan yet?” with the expectant gaze that I would gush how it changed my view of cinema. It didn’t even crack my top 20 of 2010. Was it good? Yes. Was it that good? Eh…

Honorable Mention: Greenberg
If you told me you liked Greenberg, I would consider you as having overrated it.

The We Need Something to Get the Guys in Here Award

Winner: Love and Other Drugs
Two more seconds of Anne Hathaway’s boobs being shown in Love and Other Drugs would have meant it would only be available at the DVD stores along 8th Avenue.

Honorable Mention: Black Swan
Your favorite part of Black Swan was the Natalie Portman/Mila Kunis make-out scene and your biggest complaint about the movie is that they couldn’t squeeze Winona Ryder into that scene.

Best Movie Theater

Winner:  Brooklyn Heights Cinema
Good movies, reasonable prices and the best movie theater popcorn in NYC. You should see more movies here in 2011.

Worst Movie Theater:

Winner: The Park Slope Pavilion
Broken seats, ripped seats, missing seats, overpriced tickets and concessions, and screens that are about the size of my home TV caused The Park Slope Pavilion to run away with this award in 2010. It’s sad; this used to be a good theater.

Most Improved Theater:

Winner: The Regal Court St
I used to avoid this theater like the plague, but if you follow my rules for seeing films here, you should be alright.

Best Commenter Name

Winner: Jesse Eisenberg rules, especially in Roger Dodger, Unstoppable
The poor man’s Michael Cera is now the rich man’s Michael Cera.

Honorable Mention: Joe Citation, First Blood
What happens when you forget to credit a friend from a Facebook post.

Most Vitriolic Fans

Winner: Carl, The Room
To this day, I feel like I let Carl down for not liking The Room.

Honorable Mention: N. Smith, The Secret of Kells
Wow, I really pissed this guy off. And his review of my review was as confusing as The Secret of Kells was.

The Would You Like a Job Here? Award

Winner: Bryan
Some of Bryan’s comments were as long as my posts, and I love him for it.

Honorable Mention: Bryan
Seriously, Bryan left a lot of comments in 2010.

At The Theater #46: Winter’s Bone

Once Inside Job ended, I race-walked up Broadway to catch Winter’s Bone at the Quad Cinema. Winter’s Bone seemed to be playing forever earlier this year at Brooklyn Heights Cinema, but for some reason I never bothered to see it, or even find out what it was about. Seeing it at or near the top of so many year-end best-of lists sparked my interest to see it now.

I barely made it to the Quad on time. Construction and slow moving tourists can really drag down one’s walking speed.

As the theater darkened, I realized my mistake. I was still pissed off from just seeing Inside Job and wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a dark drama. I should have caught a comedy instead. I had a hard time paying attention to the first minute of Winter’s Bone, a montage of images. The ticket’s paid for though. I’m stuck here. Thankfully, my regret quickly passed as the movie got underway.

I can see why Winter’s Bone is at the top of a lot of best of 2010 lists. It’s a great movie, a dark mystery about a 17-year old girl who needs to find her father because he’s due in court and if he no-shows, her family will lose their home that he put up for his bond.

There are no soft characters over the age of seven in Winter’s Bone. Everyone is hard and no one can be trusted. Winter’s Bone makes me want to stay as far away as possible from the rural south. Also, all the characters have names you’d expect to hear in Los Angeles, not the south. Names like Teardrop and Little Arthur.
 

Teardrop: 2010’s Scariest Uncle.

Go see Winter’s Bone. But maybe see it on a different day than Inside Job.

At The Theater #23: Mademoiselle Chambon

The star of Mademoiselle Chambon, Vincent Lindon, looks kind of like a French Bruce Springsteen, so it makes sense that the movie plays like a Springsteen song. Working class protagonist? Check. Unhappiness with one’s situation in life? Check. Infidelity? Check. I woudn’t have been surprised if a French cover of The River album played throughout the whole movie.

Le Springsteen

Actually, the more I think about it, the more Vincent Lindon looks like a French version of Jeff from Chuck.

Le Jeff.
French Springsteen’s twin?

If you like grammar-centric humor, the first five minutes of Mademoiselle Chambon will delight you. But if you like incredibly slow movies, the other hour and 36 minutes will be your favorite. Thank God for the subtitles. If it wasn’t for having to read them, I probably would have fallen asleep during the film. There’s a lot of scenes of people doing nothing but staring intently at each other. It’s like they removed the vampires from Twilight and replaced them with middle-aged French people.

We originally wanted to see Dogtooth at Brooklyn Heights Cinemas, but Mademoiselle Chambon replaced it on Friday. When the girl working the box office told me Dogtooth came and went, I said “That’s too bad. I didn’t see it.” Her response was “No one did.” Sorry, Dogtooth.

Brooklyn Heights Cinemas still has great popcorn. Their popcorn might be my favorite out of all the theaters we’ve visited so far this year. Not only is it tasty, but it makes sitting through a slow French movie much more bearable.

At The Movies #20 Exit Through The Gift Shop

After weeks of Brooklyn Heights Cinema having movies that I either saw already or weren’t that interested in seeing, it has filled its two theaters with two movies I have been looking forward to catching, Exit Through the Gift Shop and Holy Rollers. The movie poster above and the title of this post may have given away which I went to see first.

For those who don’t know, Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary about Thierry, a novice filmmaker, and his immersion into the world of street art.

Or is it? There seems to be some debate whether this is a documentary or a mockumentary in the vein of This is Spinal Tap. The director of Exit Through the Gift Shop is not Thierry, but is the mysterious street artist Banksy, one of the subjects of the movie, who is from the onset the most enigmatic. He is cloaked in shadow and his voice is digitized, which immediately makes him seem like he’s the only one who knows what’s really going on.

No one knows Banky’s true identity.
I suspect he’s Chancellor Palpatine.

Another reason why this all might be fake: Thierry’s facial hair makes him kind of look like Harry Shearer in This is Spinal Tap.

Zey call me zee French Derek Smalls.

If it is fake, that makes the art show for Mr. Brain Wash towards the end of the movie all the more awesome, since it was covered by LA Weekly, attended by big stars and fetched high prices for a potentially non-existent artist.

Or was it?

Whether it’s a real documentary or not, I enjoyed Exit Through the Gift Shop tremendously. It’s highly educational for anyone with even a passing interest in graffiti, or the Obama campaign for that matter. Shepard Fairey is one of the artists featured in the film. From watching his segments, I’m surprised that the vandalism squad of the police force doesn’t have every Kinko’s on lock down.

This might be my inner geek talking, but this is my favorite kind of graffiti.

You should go see Exit Through the Gift Shop, and when you do, catch it at Brooklyn Heights Cinemas. It’s a great place to see a movie.

If we had seen it a day earlier, we might have run into Michael Showalter, according to Twitter. He only tweeted that he saw the movie and liked it; he didn’t indicate where he saw it. But he lives in Brooklyn Heights, so there’s a decent chance he saw it at Brooklyn Heights Cinemas. Hmmm, maybe I’ll carry around my State DVD boxed set and a sharpie with me next time I head there for a movie.

What do you mean stalker-like tendencies? 

I liked Exit Through the Gift Shop so much that I plan on Netflixing the DVD as soon as it’s released, to see the movie again and to check out the bonus features to get insight into the film. Finally! A movie where I’m actually excited for the bonus features section of the DVD. When was the last time you said that?

At The Theater #12: Remember Me

In 2008, my first year of 52 movies in 52 weeks, I saw a movie set in New York City’s recent past that I found mind-numbingly slow and focused on a main character that I couldn’t stand. That movie was The Wackness, which I thought was so bad I named it the worst movie of both 2008 and 2009. The baton has been passed. I have a new movie set in New York City’s recent past that I found mind-numbingly slow and focused on a main character that I couldn’t stand. That movie is Remember Me.

The worst thing about Remember Me is that it’s my own fault that I saw it. This movie was punishment for having my girlfriend get a popcorn refill during the first five minutes of Alice in Wonderland. If only I had a time machine, I could have warned me of one month ago to get the popcorn refill himself (myself?). “You’re really not missing anything. The first five minutes are really slow. And you’re going to end up seeing Remember Me.” One-month-ago-me might say “I wouldn’t mind seeing Remember Me; isn’t Claire from Lost in it?” Then I’d compare it to The Wackness and he would sprint to the concession stand.

The three main actors in Remember Me are non-Americans playing Americans with terrible accents. Their accents are so unbelievable than John Cleese’s Taunting French Guard in Monty Python and the Holy Grail would would no longer call his own accent ridiculous. Pierce Brosnan attempts the most over the top Bronx accent imaginable with a hint of Brit coming through.

I’m guessing that Emilie De Ravin, Lost’s “WHERE’S MY BABY???” learned her American accent by watching Christian Bale in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I don’t remember her voice being like this when she played an American in 2005’s Brick, but then again she was dead for most of that movie. Here, every time she spoke I kept expecting her to let out a deep throated “Joker! Where’s Rachel?!”

Which makes sense, because Robert Pattinson reminded me of The Joker. With his pale complexion, upturned-strangely smile and acting stayle straight out of The Jimmy Fallon Thespian School, he was like a poor man’s Heath Ledger from the Dark Knight.

Emile De Ravin and Robert Pattinson in Remember Me.

But the strangest accent belongs to an American: Chris Cooper, who plays Emilie De Ravin’s NYPD sergeant father. Someone should have reminded him that he’s already American and probably shouldn’t take accent tips from the foreigners on set. I think he and Pierce Brosnan were both trying to out-Tony-Danza each other. It’s too bad Emilie De Ravin’s character wasn’t named Samantha.

At the Tony Danza Accent School, you will learn to tawk like a real New Yawker!

It’s hard to like a movie when you really don’t like the main character. I thought that Robert Pattison’s Tyler Hawkins was a spoiled asshole right from the start. He uses his patented retarded-vampire stare to woo girls at a bar and then gets into a fight with some drunk idiots and then the police when the cops decide to let everyone go and not arrest the drunk idiots he was fighting. He has Amnesty International posters all over his apartment, which I guess are there to say “this guy is sensitive and cares about the world,” but just say to me “I like to bang sensitive girls.” He hates the rich, and his rich father, but doesn’t seem to mind all that much taking Daddy’s money. Someone’s paying for NYU and that Village apartment and I’m guessing it’s not his paycheck from The Strand.

In one scene, Tyler goes ape shit on a class of second graders who bully his sister. He doesn’t physically assault any of them, but he does throw some desks around and even throws a fire extinguisher through a window. Hey asshole, that teacher and those two girls walking down the hall a little ahead of your outburst? You could have killed them with that fire extinguisher if they were a little slower. This scene was done to show how much he cared for sister and is always there for her. I had to check the end credits to make sure this movie wasn’t written by the guy I went to high school with that constantly threw temper tantrums and had a very similar outburst in my 11th grade English class. This looks like it would be written from the point of view of someone who used to do that on a regular basis and needed to justify it. The guy from my English class looked like the love child between Woody Allen and a hobbit, so it would have brilliantly egotistic casting to have Robert Pattinson play him. Alas, my old schoolmate was not the credited screenwriter.

Tyler’s romance with Emile De Ravin’s Ally spins out of a bet/revenge plot against her NYPD sergeant concocted by Tyler’s roommate Aidan that is straight out The Taming of the Shrew. This aspect of their romance is handily forgotten about until it’s needed again at the act two crisis, where for no reason, Tyler tells this to Ally. Um, why? And “sucky movie” is not a good enough reason.

The coolest thing about this movie? Parts of it were filmed in my neighborhood on Cranberry St, which is one of Brooklyn Heights’s most beautiful streets. Instead of seeing this movie, check out Cranberry St, stroll down the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and grab a bite to eat at nearby Noodle Pudding.

In case you couldn’t figure it out already, I’ll throw it out there right now. I really don’t see the appeal of Robert Pattinson. He’s not a good actor. Is he really that good looking? I seriously don’t see it. Is it just that he plays Edward Cullen in those Twilight movies? Does that give him cart blanche with fans of those books? Is it those giant bushy eyebrows? Is it his retarded-vampire facial expression that he brought from this Twilight to this movie? Is it the giant mess of unkempt hair? Those hauntingly penetrating eyes? That…that…OH ROBERT I LOVE YOU!! EEEEE!!!

I heart you, retarded vampire!

At the Theater #4: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I have to hand it to Terry Gilliam. Having one of your main actors die in the middle of filming is a big hurdle to overcome. But Gilliam came up with a very creative way to deal with it. Since half of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus takes place in an fantasy world of the mind’s imagination, Gilliam cast the trio of Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to play the part of the late Heath Ledger’s character Tony, who Ledger plays in the real world scenes. I wasn’t aware of this heading into the movie. I thought Ledger’s death would have been handled the same way as Brandon Lee’s for The Crow: a body double and plenty of shadows. When Tony steps into the Imaginarium, I thought to myself “Wow, Heath Ledger really looks like Johnny Depp here.” And then said, “Wait, is that Johnny Depp?” Watching Depp, Law and Farrell play Tony in the imaginarium was very cool, but finding out afterwards that the three of them gave their paychecks from this movie to Heath Ledger’s young daughter Mathilda was every cooler. Each of them showed some real class with that.

Not Heath Ledger.       Also not Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger’s final film shows off his charm. The amnesiac Tony quickly takes up with Dr. Parnassus and his roving sideshow and goes to work as their caller, bringing in new customers to help win Doctor Parnassus’s bet with the devil. Ledger’s physical and verbal deftness during his first scene as a member of Dr. Parnassus’s crew reminded me of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow from The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which I think helped confuse me when Johnny Depp appeared as Tony in the next scene. I’ve been a fan Ledger’s work for some time. He was a great actor who will definitely be missed. His portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight helped me name that my top movie of 2008.

“I wish I could quit you.”

My problems with The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus are what Terry Gilliam leaves out. A big deal is made about the arcane symbols on Tony’s forehead, with multiple characters (and the audience) wondering their meaning. But the audience is left wondering, as this is never explained.

“By the way, it says “balls” on your face.”

Also never explained is why the devil wants Tony dead, a problematic Deus Ex Machina at the end of the movie. Dr. Parnassus has lost his bet with the devil and forfeited his daughter’s soul, but the devil tells him that if he kills Tony, he can have his daughter back. The devil says he always wanted Tony dead, but Tony kept escaping him. Before this, the devil showed no animosity towards Tony and seemed initially to even be the reason that Tony appeared in front of Dr. Parnassus’s crew. So why does the devil suddenly want him dead? This made the ending seem a little weak for what was otherwise a very cool movie. I give The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus three stars out of five, meaning I liked it.

I caught The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema, at the corner of Henry St and Orange St in Brooklyn Heights. I definitely recommend seeing movies here. It’s a very old school two screen theater, but it’s kept in impeccable shape. It is a shrine to movie-going. The lobby has reading copies of Zoetrope and other film magazines, as well as comfortable couches to read them on if you arrive a little early for your movie. The seats in the theater are nicely cushioned and in good shape. The staff is friendly. The concession stand has more than your usual popcorn, candy boxes and soda options. There are some high-end chocolate bars for sale, a wide choice of tea, and Italian sodas. It’s usually a staff of two on any given night, with the projectionist or ticket seller also doing double-duty at the concession stand.

Most importantly about the concession stand, the popcorn tastes fresh. After working in a now-defunct movie theater in high school, I learned something that I never suspected. When there is popcorn leftover at the end of the night, we were instructed to bag it up in long plastic bags. Those bags would be emptied in the glass bins in front of the concession stand the next night and sold to unsuspecting customers, unless those customers specifically asked for fresh popcorn. The process would continue night after night, with popcorn of varying degrees of staleness being passed off as just made. Since then, I’ve been leery of movie theater popcorn. There are plenty of theaters in the city that definitely serve stale popcorn and I’ll be calling them out as this blog continues week to week, but the popcorn at Brooklyn Heights Cinema is good. Do yourself a favor and catch a movie there followed by dinner at one of the nearby Henry St. restaurants.