Staff Film Rankings: 5 Years of the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas
By Ben Youngerman & the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas Staff
Aw, our baby cinemas grow up so fast! Although they’re still 12 years away from seeing R-rated movies on their own and 16 years away from drinking beers during films.
As SteelStacks marks its 5th Anniversary, each member of our Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas staff has put together a list of their 10 favorite films we’ve screened since April 15, 2011. You can see their picks below!*
To thank you for your 5 years of support, from April 15-17, all screenings in the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, with the exception of the “Soundtrack Comes Alive” musical performance with This Way to the Egress April 16, are only $5 (regularly $10)! We’ll continue the $5 fun through April 28 with our Five Dollar Fifth Anniversary Screenings series featuring some of the most popular films from our history!
*NOTE: This is a ranking of the 10 favorite new films from each person that the FBAC has played over the past 5 years. Specifically, new means films that we played within two months of its initial release. So we didn’t consider any Hitchcock or James Bond films, but we did consider a film like Shut Up and Play the Hits, which we played just once, but it had just been released.*
Ryan Hill, Programming Director
1. Frances Ha
2. Whiplash
3. Gloria
4. The Grand Budapest Hotel
5. Ida
6. Shut Up and Play the Hits
7. Safety Not Guaranteed
8. Twenty Feet from Stardom
9. Sleepwalk with Me
10. Clouds of Sils Maria
It’s incredibly hard to not let emotion in when making these rankings, so I didn’t. Safety Not Guaranteed had a ton of heart behind it, and we played it at a time when the organization needed a little of that. Shut Up and Play the Hits and Frances Ha both spoke to me as a performer who also works behind the scenes. Whiplash did, too, but in a really scary way. Gloria was the film on this list I didn’t expect to like, but loved. Mike Birbiglia sent us a signed poster, so Sleepwalk with Me – which I did really like both as a movie fan and standup comic anyway – gets on this list by default.
Anthony DeSanctis, Cinema/Comedy Assistant
1. Whiplash
2. Wild Tales
3. 12 Years a Slave
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
5. Midnight in Paris
6. Room
7. Brooklyn
8. Silver Linings Playbook
9. 50/50
10. The Place Beyond the Pines
My first experience at SteelStacks, I saw the Perks of Being a Wallflower to a packed house. Anytime I watch that film now, I think of SteelStacks. I also saw two of my favorite films of the last ten years at this theater, Whiplash and Wild Tales. My list of ten films I associate with not only being the best films, but a lot of them also placed me amongst great audiences who were truly captivated but what we were seeing on screen such as Room, Brooklyn, and Silver Linings Playbook.
Lawrence Milano, Cinema & Comedy Assistant
1. Wild Tales
2. Dallas Buyers Club
3. Melancholia
4. Ex Machina
5. Her
6. Super
7. Amy
8. Whiplash
9. The Master
10. Birdman
Cinema, in the last five years, has presented my generation with classics that we’ll remember in our days of old age. Films of revenge, courage, extreme determination, love, portrayals of depression, memorable dance scenes, men who told crime to shut up, and so much more. I often wish I lived through the revolutionary stages of filmmaking in the 1970’s, but I have to say I’m pretty honored and lucky to have witness such beautiful and fearless films such as the ones I’ve listed above.
Lauren McAloon, Performing Arts Coordinator
1. Frances Ha
2. Short Term 12
3. Beginners
4. In A World…
5. Ex Machina
6. Moonrise Kingdom
7. Shut Up and Play the Hits
8. Clouds of Sils Maria
9. Whiplash
10. Girl Rising
Dana Baker, Cinema Coordinator
1. Whiplash
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Incendies
4. The Master
5. Hitchcock
6. The Wolf of Wall St.
7. American Hustle
8. 12 Years a Slave
9. Spotlight
10. The Artist
