Results tagged “nyc”

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: Kick-Ass, Death at a Funeral, The City of Your Final Destination, Exit Through the Gift Shop, The Perfect Game, No One Knows About Persian Cats, The Secret in Their Eyes, The Cartel, Citizen Kane, World on a Wire, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. more ›

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of Date Night, When You're Strange: A Film About the Doors, The Square, After.Life, La Mission, Everyone Else, Letters to God, The Black Waters of Echo's Pond, Ace in the Hole, and The NeverEnding Story. more ›

Who here speaks German? (Our knowledge is solely limited to the Die Hard line 'Schiess auf die fenster," which means "Shoot out the windows.") We ask because McDonald's in Germany are now offering a selection of four cupcakes inspired by different parts of NYC! They are named for Central Park, Soho, Chelsea, and the East Village. (There was supposed to be a Murray Hill one, but it moved back to Ohio, hey-oh.) So what does a German think the East Village tastes like, when distilled into cupcake form? BurgerBusiness.com did some paraphrasing: more ›

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of Clash of the Titans, How to Train Your Dragon, The Last Song, The Warlords, Why Did I Get Married Too, Breaking Upwards, The Thorn in the Heart, Sunrise, Ganja & Hess, and Big. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Some sick bastard is toying with the bellies of burger lovers in Manhattan this morning by putting up signs at various shuttered storefronts announcing that beloved In-N-Out Burger will be opening soon. Rumors that In-N-Out was making a move on Shake Shack's turf have been circulating for years, sparked more by desperation than any substantive news. And now a merciless prankster has exploited New Yorkers' perpetually frustrated lust for the In-N-Out by putting up signs like this in Union Square, where the Virgin Megastore used to be. The location is almost certainly way too big for an In-N-Out, so there's no fooling us there. But what about at 22nd Street and Broadway? more ›

Okay, so Hudson University doesn't really exist—except in the world of Law & Order, L&O;: Special Victims Unit and L&O;: Criminal Intent. Need a sociopathic nemesis for Detective Goren? Make her a temporary professor at Hudson. Need someone to be murdered in a parking garage? Why not at Hudson! City Room asked L&O; producer Rene Balcer about the school and he explained, "It is the one place you never want to go to school or teach at. Very high crime rate." Totally—as Twitterer Mickbw wrote, "OMG Hudson University from Law & Order SUV must be the worst place ever to live or attend school." more ›

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews of Hot Tub Time Machine, Birdemic: Shock and Terror, Bluebeard, New Directors/New Films, Chloe, Waking Sleeping Beauty, Dancing Across Borders, Lbs., Eclipse, Mid-August Lunch, and Coming to America. more ›

In today's Times, Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman declared that yesterday "fear struck out... In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform... On the eve of the big vote, Republican members of Congress warned that 'freedom dies a little bit today' and accused Democrats of 'totalitarian tactics,' which I believe means the process known as 'voting.'" Meanwhile, in Niagara Falls, someone threw a brick through the front window of Democratic Rep. Louise M. Slaughter's office. more ›

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: Greenberg, The Bounty Hunter, Repo Men, The Runaways, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, City Island, Vincere, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Hubble 3D, The Prowler, and Stand By Me more ›

Yesterday's surprise appearance of the Shamrock Shake in New York City was as fleeting as Brigadoon (which was Scottish, yes, but anyway). The minty St. Patrick's Day delight, which had not surfaced at McDonald's in this region for years, was gone almost as soon as it appeared, amidst reports of hoarding at the Union Square location, where one greedy customer is said to have bought 100. A call to verify that claim dissolved into utter confusion, with the predominantly Spanish-speaking manager mistaking this blogger for the shake machine repairman. From what we were able to gather, the machine is broken, but they still have the capacity to make some Shamrock Shakes, and we think she said that if the machine is fixed today, there will be shakes this afternoon? more ›

Every St. Patrick's Day we obsessively lament the bewildering absence of McDonald's limited-edition Shamrock Shake in the NYC area. "New York region no longer stocks the Shamrock Shake," Jennifer Nagy of McDonald's regional marketing told us in 2007. "Our branches can vote region by region," and around NYC, they had not been voting green. Until now: Like a pot of glittering (edible) gold at the end of a high-calorie rainbow, the elusive Shamrock Shake has been sighted at the Union Square McDonald's (39 Union Square West). But don't stampede there just yet, the manager at the location just told us: more ›

Initial reviews of Colicchio & Sons—Tom Colicchio's hands-on reinvention of what used to be Craftsteak—have been mixed at best, but today the big dog drops a near-rave, obliterating an emerging critical consensus. Sam Sifton at the Times bestows three precious stars out of four on the place, conceding that while it "isn’t perfect... it is exciting. And the food is terrifically good... Mr. Colicchio stands by the pizza oven up front, his arms crossed, his bald head gleaming in the heat. He’s talking low to a cook, forceful already, a couple of hours into a doubleheader day, customers who recognize him from billboards streaming past, whispering as if he were Derek Jeter at batting practice. You think celebrity is easy? Colicchio & Sons says: not if you’re ambitious." Meanwhile, Pete Wells at the Times echos our enthusiasm for talented chef Joseph Ogrodnek at Anella in Greenpoint. more ›

A couple of days ago Google unveiled their Beta version of a new Maps interface, which provides bike route recommendations across America. It's a vast undertaking, with a lot of nuances to factor in, but that didn't stop the Post from saddling up to nitpick Google to the max. (If we didn't know better, we'd think the Post has some sort of ax to grind with Google.) One day after it was launched, a reporter for the tabloid pedaled around and took Google to task for several shortcomings around NYC, such as: more ›

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include: Green Zone, The Exploding Girl, Remember Me, Our Family Wedding, She's Out of My League, Stolen, Mother, Showgirls, Lost Highway, and From Here to Eternity. more ›

Click on the film stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include Alice in Wonderland, Brooklyn's Finest, The Secret of Kells, Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Süss, Victor Fleming's Red Dust, Harlem Aria, The Art of the Steal, Aliens, The Temptation of St. Tony, and El Topo. more ›

This week Sam Sifton at the Times bestows zero stars on Choptank, the new Chesapeake Bay-themed restaurant in the Village. In Times parlance, zero stars (out a potential four) means "satisfactory," but Sifton is not satisfied, and he really unloads on what he perceives to be the restaurant's affected preppy posturing: "The restaurant evokes the Chesapeake region in the way that dorm rooms at Johns Hopkins do: Duck Head khakis in the dresser and lacrosse sticks leaning against the des..." Peel-and-eat shrimp is served "as neatly stacked as socks from the Gap, a full dozen meaty, slightly overdone fatties wedged into a heavy serving tray. The effect is jarring, as if Mrs. Astor had served you a New York hot dog on silver plate, then nodded ever so pointedly toward your knife and fork." But "seriously, dude: awesome fries." more ›

Click on the film stills for more info and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include Cop Out, The Crazies, A Prophet, Formosa Betrayed, Prodigal Sons, Toe to Toe, The Yellow Handkerchief, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Five Easy Pieces, and Point Break. more ›

According to Department of Consumer Affairs, over 2.5 million New Yorkers paid to have their taxes done in 2007. This year the city is offering a free online tax service for anyone earning under $58,000/yr. As part of the Annual Tax Credit Campaign, New Yorkers can file online through the One Economy Corporation via nyc.gov/OnlineFreeTaxPrep. The city estimates that over 2.7 million New Yorkers qualify for the service. We just wish we knew about it before we went ahead and filed our returns early like suckers. more ›

LaGuardia and Newark both rank dead last in a survey of customer satisfaction at airports nationwide. Travelers say LaGaurdia is the most dissatisfying medium-size airport, while Newark is absolutely the worst big airport. The survey, conducted annually by market researcher J.D. Power & Associates, rates airports based on a variety of factors. JFK ranked 15 out of 19 large airports surveyed. (A large airport serves at least 30 million passengers a year, while a medium-size airport handles between 10 million and 30 million.) more ›

Click on the stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include Shutter Island, The Ghost Writer, The Good Guy, Happy Tears, Celine: Through the Eyes of the World, Phyllis and Harold, Oscar Nominated Short Film Series, Cannibal Holocaust, Starship Troopers, and The Red Shoes more ›

In a move that may or may not distract voters from his role in the Senate coup and the ongoing investigation into his shady non-profit groups, State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada will introduce a bill today that would freeze the rent for nearly 300,000 low- and moderate-income households in rent-subsidized apartments in all five boroughs. The program, if approved by the full Legislature, would be funded through landlords, not city or state funds, the AP reports. But the devil is in the details, and the bill is just as sweet, if not sweeter, for the property owners Espada has consistently gone to bat for. more ›

Today the Times crunches the numbers on New Yorkers whose deaths are ruled accidental, noting that although there has been a significant drop in homicides and fire fatalities in recent years, there has not been a similar drop in death by oops. According to a recently released report [pdf], in 2008, 54,193 people died in NYC, and 1,044 deaths (excluding drug overdoses) were classified as accidental. It was an 8.8 percent decline from 1998, but homicides fell 17.5 percent in that same period. Why can't the government save us from accidents? more ›

There's a fascinating article in the Times Science section today about an ambitious project currently underway to examine the effects of environmental influences on the development of 100,000 children across America, following them from before birth until age 21. The study, which is expected to cost about $6.7 billion, relies on mothers to voluntarily offer their "vaginal fluid, toenail clippings, breast milk, placenta and even her baby’s first feces for scientific posterity." Naturally, the government scientists are meeting some resistance as they go door to door searching for volunteers. more ›

By the time you read this, it may already be too late, but be Forewarned: "Due to a signal problem at the Bergen Street Station, there is no F train service in both directions between the Delancey Street Station and the Church Avenue Station." Incidentally, the J train stopped abruptly for a good ten minutes halfway into the platform at Marcy Ave at 7:40 this morning. Finally an MTA worker appeared with a wooden pole and poked at a white pile of plastic on the tracks. He held it up for the train operator to see, then dropped it back on the tracks. And when the train at last proceeded, a woman's earbuds could be heard blasting the Shirelles' "Mama Said." more ›

No matter how deserted your subway train may be, you can't still afford to get comfortable by putting your feet up: It seems that transit police have not eased up on their late night ticket blitz against any rider occupying more than one seat. Last year saw a 17% spike in tickets for that crime, and it looks like the trend continues in 2010. One of the more recent violators is a 17-year-old Stuyvesant HS student who got a $50 ticket two weeks ago on his way home from a birthday party. It was 2 a.m., and there were four people other in the subway car when he dared rest his feet on the edge of an empty seat. more ›

Ah marone, this low-budget video promoting a new bus tour of Manhattan Mafia spots is so full of Italian-American mob cliches the only thing missing is a bloody horse head. In fact, it's so hilariously awful it actually makes us want to get on the bus—and we're not just saying that because some goomba's got a telephone cord wrapped around our necks. more ›

Click on the stills for more details and reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which include The Wolfman, Valentine's Day, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, October Country, Videocracy, Ajami, To Die For Tano, Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow, The Dark Crystal, and Basic Instinct more ›

ABC News is reporting that former President Bill Clinton has been hospitalized in NYC. Clinton, 63, was reportedly rushed to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan "for a condition related to his heart." ABC News' chief political correspondent George Stephanopoulos hears that he was taken to the hospital "likely for a stent procedure." (A stent is small mesh tube that is used to treat narrowed or weakened arteries; Clinton previously had heart surgery in 2004. ) more ›

In what is likely just the first of such discoveries, eleven previously unpublicized letters from J.D. Salinger have been unsealed by The Morgan Library and Museum, and are being prepared for exhibition. The correspondence between the author and Michael Mitchell, the designer of the first cover of The Catcher in the Rye, "reveals an enduring fascination with pop culture and politics that is at odds with the popular mythology of the past half-century of Mr. Salinger as an odd recluse," the Times reports. These revelations reportedly include: more ›

The judges have wrapped up their search for a new NYC condom wrapper design, and now it's time to vote for your favorite rubber package out of five finalists! The Health Department received nearly 600 entries since December, when it invited New Yorkers to design a wrapper that would “capture the city’s distinctive culture while promoting safer sex.” But it wasn't just locals who got in on the action; designs flooded in from as far away as Perm, Russia. (There's a Yakov Smirnoff joke in here somewhere, but damned if we can find it.) more ›