By Tracy Zwick
August is officially here, which means the countdown to fall has begun. But why worry about that now? Labor Day is still a month away, the weather still says summer, and it’s Friday, with plenty to do in and around the neighborhood. Let’s Weekend!
August 1st to 3rd
”Sorry, Baby” & More Movies: AMC Lincoln Square 13 and other theaters; details — HERE
I saw this laugh-out-loud funny, but also sincere, tender film on Tuesday night with an UWS friend and we gave it two major thumbs up. It’s about a quirky graduate student navigating the aftermath of a sexual assault on a small-town campus. But it’s hilarious — really! “Sorry, Baby” won a screenwriting award at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and, hopefully, it’s just the beginning for the film’s writer, director and star, the brilliant Eva Victor. It’s a quiet film, clocking in at just about 100 minutes, but manages to fill every one of them beautifully.
We’ve discussed “Bad Shabbos” in previous columns – if you haven’t seen it yet, cool off at New Plaza Cinema this weekend and enjoy the film plus a Q&A with the team behind it afterwards. New Plaza is also showing the classic 1990 Scorsese flick, “Goodfellas,” on Saturday night.
Theater: Outdoor and Inside Options: “Lady and the Sea” in Riverside Park details here (free); “John Proctor is the Villain” details here (tickets start at $99)
For a 90-minute air-conditioned option, there’s “John Proctor is the Villain,” another story about sexual assault (among a high-school cohort this time) leavened with warmth and humor, running at the Booth Theater on West 45th Street. I saw it with an UWS pal on Monday night and we shared the sentiments of other reviewers who’ve pretty much uniformly praised it. “John Proctor” hasn’t just garnered raves, it earned the UWS’s Laguardia High School for the Arts alum Amalia Yoo a Drama Desk Award for her performance in the role of Raelynn Nix.
If you prefer a free open-air show, The Hudson Classical Theater Company is presenting Henrik Ibsen’s “The Lady from the Sea” every Thursday through Sunday at around 6:30 p.m. (arrive by 6:15) through August 17th at The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument on the North Patio behind the monument (at West 89th Street and Riverside Drive) This adaptation is written by Susane Lee. No tickets are issued; just show up.
Find a Cool Spot to Read
Summer reading is one of the great pleasures of the season, so whether it’s in the park, in a cool library or cafe, or in the comfort of home, treat yourself to a good read. Earlier this week I read UWSer David Remnick’s latest piece in The New Yorker based on his recent time in Israel, where I too recently spent some time. With the Booker Prize longlist having been revealed this week, I stopped by the UWS’s beloved bookshop Book Culture to pick up last year’s winner, “Orbital” by Samatha Harvey. (I’m almost done and already can recommend it.) If you’re looking for a new release with an UWS connection, there’s Laurie Gwen Shapiro’s “The Aviator and the Showman” about one-time Columbia student and UWSer Amelia Earhart and her complicated marriage to publisher George Putnam.
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Heads-up: Goodfellas is 7pm Sunday (not Saturday) at New Plaza Cinema.
Heads up:
Bus riders will again be deprived of bus service.
Summer Streets – starting on Saturday -is being expanded to the West Side, with the route going from east to west on 110th Street and then north on Broadway.
So between Summer Streets and “Open Streets” there will be no bus service in significant areas.
NYC insists mass transit is important – but consistently sacrifices essential mass transit for bicycling.
Pedestrians may also face difficulty crossing the street as bicyclists go by….