Hotshot director and screenwriter Wes Anderson’s newest movie The Grand Budapest Hotel is coming out in theaters on March 7, but Symphony Space is screening it on February 25 at 7 as part of its Thalia Film Club. And we’ve got two tickets to give away to West Side Rag readers (see contest details below).
Anderson has built a large following with films like The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore and Fantastic Mr. Fox. The Grand Budapest Hotel stars Ralph Fiennes, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and several other well-known actors. It’s a farcical film about a concierge at a European hotel between the two World Wars. It looks like it will be quite a lot of fun. The trailer is below.
The Thalia series screens pre-release films at Symphony Space on 95th street and Broadway. Special guests, including directors and actors from the films, tend to show up at the screenings. They’re hosted by film critic Marshall Fine. The winter season is currently in progress and the spring series begins on March 1. Each series includes five film screenings on select Tuesdays at 7. To learn more and buy tickets, click here.
As of Thursday morning there were still tickets available for The Grand Budapest Hotel screening. They cost $26 each, or $15 for students.
As we said, we have a pair of tickets to the screening that we want to give away. Here’s how we’re going to do it…
To enter, send us a brief description (100 words or less) of a gripe that you have about the Upper West Side. It can involve issues as varied as dog poop, unshoveled sidewalks, ugly architecture, noisy construction, nosy neighbors, etc. We are looking for high-quality writing and authentic emotion. The judges should be able to sense your true exasperation, although you will not get extra points for suffering more (and remember these are gripes, not major outrages, so keep it relatively light). The answers are due on Friday at 5 p.m. EST and we will compile the answers in a gripes post on Sunday and announce the winner at that time (let us know if you’d like to remain anonymous in print and we’ll just use your initials).
SEND ALL ENTRIES TO INFO@WESTSIDERAG.COM BY 5 P.M. EST ON FRIDAY WITH THE SUBJECT LINE “BUDAPEST CONTEST.” AND LET US KNOW IF YOU’D LIKE US TO USE YOUR FULL NAME OR JUST INITIALS IN OUR GRIPES POST.
WHY GRIPES ???
WHY KVETCHINGS ???
What if you love the UWS despite its (minor) flaws?
What if we celebrate all its amenities:
1. easy access to both Central Park and Riverside Park;
2. Lincoln Center and all it offers;
3. excellent movie houses, both mainstream and artsy;
4. piazzas of the kind found all over Europe but not so much in NYC, like Dante, Tucker, and Verdi;
5. the wonderfully exhilarating urbanism of it all, from its shopping streets (or High Streets, as the Brits call them) to its ever-changing and ever-fascinating street-scapes both on the avenues and the wonderful brownstoned side streets, to its incredible access to public transportation.
OR, BETTER YET, NAME ANOTHER PART OF THE CITY THAT “BEATS” THE UWS AND EXPLAIN EXACTLY WHY AND HOW.
The gauntlet has been dropped!
Says the guy who spends the winter in Florida! Miss ya Stan.
Avi
Miss ya, too, AND the UWS !!
Thanks to the “Rag” I am still in-touch during my self-imposed exile!
But, to quote Gen. MacArthur (or was it The Governator?) I Shall Return.
🙂
The suspense is killing me! I’ve refreshed this site at least a hundred times today.
I lived in the UWS from 1980 to 1998 LOVED every second of it, other than the neighbors banging on their ceiling (my floor) whenever I played the piano, and I mean at reasonable hours (10 AM to 8 PM)
We took the suburban plunge when we had our 2 year old, our newborn, my piano and visiting grandmas all in the second bedroom. We are moving back, now that we are near empty nester hood, and we are heading to Harlem. Why Harlem and not UWS? More bang for the buck. Plus we’re jazz musicians and it will be cool to live in the NYC birthplace of jazz.
The shopping and restaurants are blossoming, we are moving to a 1600 sq ft top floor sun filled loft with windows on get this ALL four sides, and plan to convene with the rest of the building to build a roof garden.
For the price of a one BR in the UWS, we are getting a 3 BR, 2 full bath, with open views. We are near three parks, Marcus Garvey Park, Morningside Park, and Central Park.
WE can’t wait to move back to the best place on the planet, NYC.
There, did we win the tix? I both kvetched and kvelled, all on one page!