So what is the best movie of all time?
If you’re Brooklyn Paper Radio hosts Gersh Kuntzman and Vince DiMiceli, it’s “The Shawshank Redemption” (or, possibly, “Jaws.”).
But if you’re Cristina Cacioppo, the programmer at the new Alamo Drafthouse — which opens next week Downtown — it’s something by Sylvester Stallone or even the much-mocked film, “Ishtar.”
“Stallone has an artsy side that not too many people appreciate,” Cacioppo said on Brooklyn Paper Radio Thursday. “And ‘Ishtar’ is a completely underrated movie.”
Oh, and she also really loves “Babe: Pig in the City.” Really.
But under questioning from Daily News columnist Kuntzman, Cacioppo admitted that she finds the beloved Morgan Freeman-Tim Robbins prison film “too sentimental” for her taste.
And that taste will soon be on display for all Brooklynites to judge, once Alamo opens its first New York City cinema, restaurant, and bar inside the City Point tower on Gold St. The seven-screen indieplex opens on Friday, Oct. 28. Cacioppo promised a mix of art house classics, new releases and, yes, plenty of weird Asian kick-boxing films.
Kuntzman, of course, asked the tough questions, pulling out schedules from Alamo’s other locations around the country and musing why Brooklyn’s appears to be so light on new releases.
“We’re programming for the local audience, which isn’t the suburbs,” Cacioppo rightfully pointed out. “We’ll have something for everyone, though.”
That “something” includes cocktails, alcoholic milkshakes, burgers and the chain’s trademark “chips and queso.” (Kuntzman said he understood the dish’s components because he speaks Spanish “un poco.”)
Still upset about Cacioppo’s “Shawshank” snub, Kuntzman summoned three of DiMiceli’s top reporters to counter the programmer’s vitriol. But two of The Paper’s famously millennial staffers — Lauren Gill and Max Jaeger — shocked the host when they revealed they had not even seen one of the most important films of the last 25 years. Fortunately, Julianne Cuba said she not only had seen the Frank Darabont classic, but loved it.
It all went down — smoothly, I might add — in between slugs from a bottle of Virginia Black, a new whisky being sold, believe it or not, by R&B legend Drake, best known for “Hotline Bling.”
DiMiceli, Kuntzman, and Cacioppo all agreed the craft whisky was smooth, which is not surprising given that it was devised by Drake. DiMiceli preferred it with just a small ice cube.
It all makes for scintillating radio, and you can hear all about it right now on Brooklyn Paper Radio!
Brooklyn Paper radio is recorded and podcast live every Thursday at 4:45 pm — for your convenience — from our studio in America’s Downtown and can be found, as always, right here on Brook