Photographs by Lily Rothman

I walked out after an hour and ten minutes. The first one was a love story. This was about disgusting, gross—I don’t even know how to describe those creatures coming out of the water. My husband stayed.
—Anni Koltun, 52, clothing designer

It was the same lame old joke over and over again.
Can you describe that joke at all? Lame.
—Mark King (right), 35, artist

When the big octopus came and grabbed the boat and swallowed it up, that was pretty good.
—Fereshta, 32, law student

EB: It was not as good as Superman, because it didn’t have Superman. I think the movie industry’s going downhill. It’s all kids’ movies now.
JB: And they’re better.
—Eli Brazell, 21, deckhand, and Jordana Bernstein, 18, student

VB: We came here mainly because we wanted the air-conditioning, but we picked a lulu . . .
MH: It’s a shame, all that money and they come out with movies like that.
VB: Maybe I should have had a few drinks before. I might have enjoyed it.
—Virginia Bard and Mary Hart, both retired

Related:

• Archive: “Movie Features”
• Table of Contents: August 7, 2006 issue of New York | Subscribe!