Join a movie theater and save big bucks on tickets

October 3, 9:35 AMNY Entertainment ExaminerMichael Moran

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Film Forum in Manhattan
Photo by monotasker (via Flickc CC License)

Do you want to be in with the in crowd? New York’s big three repertory cinemas—Lincoln Center, Film Forum and BAMCinematek—all offer membership programs that significantly reduce your movie ticket cost.

BAMCinematek (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn) is
the best bargain, since $7 membership ticket price applies to all movies, not just repertory showings.
• PRICE: Basic membership of $60 = $7 tickets until December 18; the price then rises to $8
• PLUSES: Lovely auditoriums feature big screens; steeply raked seating guarantee good sightlines; location is steps away from Atlantic Avenue train station; and the prorgramming is truly innovative. A recent highlight was a showing of F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise (1927) with live accompaniment by Irish band 3epkano.
• MINUSES: Good bargain is offset by travel time to BAM, which can be considerable. The concession stand is plebeian, and the neighborhood empties out at night.

Film Forum (209 West Houston Street between 6th and 7th Avenues) is a well-loved institution and has the most consistent programming, with clear preference for 1960s enfants terribles such as Godard and Alain Resnais.
• PRICE: $75 membership = $5 discount (right now that equals a $6 ticket)
• PLUSES: Film Forum, home away from home for many cinephiles, is the place to go to if you want to soak up some free-floating smarts. The wildly informative season calendars are a great introduction to film currents and history. The theater is conveniently located near the Houston Street #1 stop and the West 4th mega-stop (B,D,F,A,V). The concession stand is yummy.
• MINUSES: Screens are small and auditoriums are cramped; the programming is of high quality but somewhat repetitive (how many times can they show Godard’s Contempt?); and you might find yourself standing in a long line of ticketholders on Houston Street.

The Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the glamorous New York Film Festival (September 26-October 12), is the intellectual queen of New York repertory theaters, and it’s a somewhat haughty institution.
• PRICE: $75 membership = $7 tickets
• PLUSES: Auditorium has big aisles, great sound and seats so comfortable I’d like to move in. The programming tends to the obscure (Soviet filmmaking, anyone?) with occasional gems. A 2008 summer delight was a rare showing of Cluny Brown, a screamingly funny Lubitsch film about a girl (Jennifer Jones) who just wants to be a plumber.
• MINUSES: Showings, especially for the Film Festival, tend to sell out quickly. Ongoing construction of Alice Tully Hall has made visiting the always out of the way theater even more of an obstacle course. The badly designed lobby guarantees one of those irritating snaky lines that are the bane of New Yorker moviegoer's existence.