Sundays at the Eagle

This is the Eagle Theater in Jackson Heights. They play Bollywood movies, often with English subtitles. It used to be a XXX theater, and I wish I could say that the physical space felt far removed from all that. I just tell myself that the seats have probably been replaced since then. The first time we went, we saw a film called 36 Chinatown. Here's the opening musical number:



The movie was crazy long, divided by an intermission, and the second half featured a detective whose comic business involved cigarettes that he could never get lit. I liked it so much I bought the soundtrack.

Yesterday, as part of Susan's birthday celebration, we returned to the Eagle Theater for a movie called Race. Here is the ersatz music video that plays underneath the closing credits... sort of my favorite part of these movies, even though the lights are usually on by that point:



The movie was crazy long, divided by an intermission, and the second half featured a detective whose comic business involved eating a different fruit every time you saw him.

What I love about these movies is the complete lack of irony. You can ask the Fisher-Stevens-on-Creatine main actor to unconvincingly fake playing an electric guitar, shirtless and rotating, and he'll say "just tell me where to stand." It's like an army of David Hasslehoffs, all on screen at once.

The real gem of the afternoon was this trailer for Love Story 2050, which will be released this summer:



It's like a mashup of Heartbeeps, A.I., and Mortal Kombat... with dancing! I AM SO THERE.