Saturday Night Out
We talk about it all the time, but we rarely actually go out on a Saturday night to the movies. One of us is too tired, or too mired in a project. But by the time I wrapped up the day's "Book Review" entry (no need for a link), I was ready to get out of the apartment. It was so mild that I didn't wear a jacket. We walked up 86th Street to Third Avenue, to where the AMC Orpheum is, in the middle of the block between 86th and 87th. There has been an Orpheum theatre in Yorkville since its deeply German days; when we got here in 1980, it had been divided into two theatres, one of them encompassing the former balcony. When did they tear it down? I can't remember. A new apartment building went up on the site, with seven theatres at or below ground level. Inside Man was showing in the big theatre, two flights down. We bought our tickets for the ten thirty show at a quarter past nine and then went next door to Burger Heaven for dinner. I remember thinking that the couple sitting by the window looked seriously mismatched, in posture as well as looks, but I didn't point them out to Kathleen (who had her back to them) because she would probably have pointed out that our difference in height might strike some people as odd.
We'd been told that the theatre would open at ten, and that's when we were ready to go. Kathleen got a good seat while I loaded up on junk. Yes, I'd just had dinner; yes, I knew I'd never finish the popcorn. But I can't sit in the movies without popcorn. Even though it's rarely very good anymore. We wondered if some cheap hybrid has taken over the popcorn market. Even the Orville Redenbacher that I make at home every once in a while doesn't taste the way it used to. Does anybody snack on popcorn outside the USA (and Canada, I suppose)? I did take a bottle of water instead of a diet soda, in case Kathleen got thirsty. (She didn't.)
As I noted a few entries ago, the trailers were hard to sit through, and I wondered if I was in the right frame of mind for a big-time heist movie with armies of police. But presently it became clear that this Spike Lee film was going to let the genre out at the seams to make room for plenty of New Yawk color. I don't know how Inside Man will play the rest of the country, but it was a comedy at the Orpheum. Not the lightest comedy ever, but - what if I were to say that nobody dies? Was that too much? The four stars - Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, and Christopher Plummer - are all in top form, Ms Foster especially. Did you know that Mr Washington grew up in Mount Vernon? That makes him a city kid. There's a fifth star: 20 Exchange Place. It's one of my favorite downtown buildings. It can't have been easy to shoot a film there: the streets are narrow and very much not at right angles.
The score is credited to trumpeter Terence Blanchard, but I think that A R Rahman wrote the more dramatic passages that even a genre-bending bank heist movie needs. The costumes, by Donna Berwick, caught my eye, especially her light-colored suits for Mr Washington (and those bow ties). Unlike 16 Blocks, Inside Man has the feel of the city.
I left the theatre elated - not a great state for one in the morning.
