Vanilla Sky (2001)-King Kong (1933) (2005)

 

Location- Times Square

Vanilla Sky (2001)

David Aames (Tom Cruise) a young, good looking, owner of a publishing firm in New York City, is accused of murdering a woman and through flashbacks this murder mystery unfolds with a surprising twist at the end.

The movie called for a scene where Tom Cruise runs through an abandoned Times Square, wondering why he is the only person there. To get this shot, director Cameron Crowe needed sections of roads closed off large parts of traffic

“There was a limit on how long the city would let us lock everything up even on an early Sunday morning when much of NYC would be slow getting up,” said steadicam operator, Larry McConkey. “Several times we rehearsed with steadicam and Crane including a mockup of an unmovable guardrail that we had to work the crane arm around. Cruise participated in these rehearsals as well so we shared a clear understanding of what my limitations and requirements would be.”

The scene was taken early on a Sunday morning and given the hours between 4:30am until 6am to shoot the sequence. To watch Times Square a major tourist stop in NYC, a place where nearly 50,000 people go to in a single day completely empty is a strange, eerie sight to see.

Filming took place all around the city in parts of central park, upper west side, SoHo, and Brooklyn.

  

Location- Empire State Building

King Kong (1933) (2005)

We all know the story of an ambitious movie producer hires a cast and crew to create a film, travel to Skull Island, where they run into a giant ape, who falls in love with a woman. The crew captures the beast and brings the ape back to New York City to put him on show and start making a profit off the mighty King Kong.

King Kong unsurprisingly escapes and causes a menace in NYC where he finds the woman and takes her to the top of the Empire State building where the final showdown between man and beast unfold. Kong is attacked, and killed by military planes.

King Kong was first made in 1933, in order to create Kong, artist created a model gorilla that had movable joints, and realistic features, next they used stop-motion animation to make Kong come alive on film, for us now the stop-motion, and the model of Kong looks very comical, but at the time it struck fear in the audience.

The 2005 remake of King Kong used motion-tracking technology, along side with CGI to create a very life like version of Kong in the movie, the final product is a very realistic looking adaptation of what King Kong would look like.

King Kong opened at the 6,200-seat Radio City Music Hall in New York City and the 3,700-seat RKO Roxy across the street on Thursday, March 2, 1933. The film was preceded by a stage show called Jungle Rhythms. Crowds lined up around the block on opening day, tickets were priced at $.35 to $.75, and, in its first four days, every one of its ten-shows-a-day were sold out – setting an all-time attendance record for an indoor event. Over the four-day period, the film grossed $89,931.

(2005)

(1933)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)-Limitless (2011)

 

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Location- Wall Street

Christopher’s Nolan’s film trilogy adaptation about our favorite caped crusader, Batman, all take place in the fictional city of Gotham. To create Gotham, a city where corruption is in the government, the city’s authorities, Gotham has the worst criminals, most evil villains, and with the occasional individuals who just want to cause mayhem regardless of their intentions. In terms of atmosphere, Batman writer and editor Dennis O’Neil has said that, figuratively, “Batman’s Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November.” Gotham in the Nolan Trilogy films is a combination of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and New York, where he shot different scenes and pieced together to create Gotham City in the films.

Nolan’s Batman Films each have their own residing themes Batman Begins- Fear with the main villain Scarecrow and his infamous fear gas, The Dark Knight- Chaos with the Joker the king of mayhem who doesn’t have any real motives but to disrupt the system, The Dark Knight Rises- Pain with Bane who is physically stronger and breaks Batman.

The scene in NYC takes place on Wall Street during The Dark Knight Rises when in the film Batman (Christian Bale) comes back to Gotham to start an uprising against Bane, the scene is a big brawl fight between Banes henchmen and the people of Gotham along with the GCPD, and Batman.

Wall Street, located in the Financial District of NYC, has made New York City called the most economically powerful city and leading financial center of the world, and is home to the worlds two largest stock exchanges.

Limitless (2011)

Location- Brooklyn Bridge

This is a great movie that takes place all around the city. Its about Eddie Morra, a struggling writer, played by Bradley Cooper, who gets hold of a pill that increases his brain abilities to 100%, he remembers everything he reads and has ever read, he can learn languages in a matter of hours, he is on the high rise of success in a matter of days. He goes from a nobody to making millions in the stock market but his quick success soon draws attention to him from unfriendly people who bring him lots of trouble, and only the use of this pill can help him escape along while the effects slowly killing him.

After taking the pill for an extended amount of time, its side effects start to set in which is the subject will go hours on “auto-pilot” they will appear to be cognitive and present to other people, but once they come too they have to recollection of what they did for the past couple of hours.

The scene on the Brooklyn Bridge is right after these side effects wear off and Eddie is left standing on the bridge after going all night not knowing what he did.

The Brooklyn Bridge, built between 1869 and 1883, connects Manhattan with New York’s most populous borough, Brooklyn. The bridge is one of the most magnificent landmarks in New York, and one of the oldest bridges in the United States.

Limitless has just become a TV series this year based off the premise of the movie. The show airs on Saturday September 26, at 8:00 PM on CBS.

I really enjoy this movie, for those who have never seen it take a look at the trailer, and find some time to watch it.

The GodFather Part II (1974)- I am Legend (2007)

Location- Mulberry Street ( Little Italy )

Director Francis Ford Cappola during filming in 1974

For the first movie scene in this post I wanted a movie that stood out above the rest, so I went with a big right hook in choosing The Godfather Part II. Maybe it’s my Italian roots that makes this movie and others that deal with Italian gangsters my personal favorites, but an amateur film fanatic can’t deny the well executed screen work in this movie.

An early key scene in The Godfather Part II was shot during the annual San Gennaro festival, director Francis Ford Coppola filmed the festival on Mulberry Street, in the heart of Little Italy. The premise of the scene is that Vito Corleone, played by Robert De Niro, a young gangster, shoots and kills Don Fanucci, who was going to turn in Corleone and his partners to the cops unless they paid Fanucci a cut from their makings. Corleon masks his gunshots with the fireworks/ firecrackers from the festival taking place on the streets. Director Francis Ford Cappola chose this iconic Italian festival to enrich the storytelling of the neighborhood, Little Italy, which served as home for many Italian immigrants who came to America in the early 1900s. To combine a religious festival of prayer, and joy with a murder is an incredible scene to watch unfold, the combination of the loud activities outside mix with the quite awaiting of events to unfold inside makes this iconic scene one that will be remembered as one of New York City’s finest. Director Coppolas use of the festival shows how little Italy once was during its peak years. The Godfather Part II takes place in 1917, and authentically portrays that time throughout the film.

San Gennaro- 2015

Little Italy once extended as far south as Worth Street, as far north as Houston Street, as far west as Lafayette Street, and as far east as Bowery. Today Little Italy is only a fragment of what it once was and now consists of only three blocks on Mulberry Street. Bill Tonelli from New York magazine said, “Once, Little Italy was like an insular Neapolitan village re-created on these shores, with its own language, customs, and financial and cultural institutions.” With the increase of price in property and the expansion of Chinatown, just south of Little Italy, New York is rapidly losing one of its most iconic, and loved neighborhoods.

Location-Washington Square Park

Dr. Neville (Will Smith) leaving his house, across from Washington Square Park (2007)

16 Washington Square North

A movie that was, in my opinion, ahead of its time was the 2007 hit I Am Legend. This movie could be considered a cheat for film location because the whole movie takes place in all different iconic parts of NYC. I will just be focusing on the main character, played by Will Smith, home that is located just by Washington Square Park.

For those who have not seen this thriller film, its focused around Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) who is a scientist living in NYC where a virus broke out causing people to act wild and vicious. Dr. Neville is naturally immune to the virus and is constant search for a cure, while fighting off the infected and himself from going crazy from isolation. With a controversial ending that caused a making of an alternative one, this movie does a fine job in showing the viewer what a 2012 post-epidemic New York City would look like.

Washington Square Park- 2015

The main characters house is located on 16 Washington Square North. His house acts as his personal laboratory in finding a cure and a strong hold at night while the infected roam around the streets of NYC. The movie gives off a very uncomfortable feeling for us who actually live in the city seeing all of our most loved landmarks completely empty and overgrown/ decaying.