Movies that made you love cities (for the first time, or even more)

[Crawford]

Surprised no one has mentioned the Warriors. Definitely my favorite 1970's-era NYC film.

[Centropolis]

Harrison Ford FTW on this...

a disheveled Paris in Frantic (1988)


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...0,1200_AL_.jpg

a brooding Chicago in The Fugitive (1993)


themoviedistrict.com

[Nomad9]

Watching Narcos and Narcos Mexico have really piqued my interest in South American and Mexican cities and geography.

[montréaliste]

One American movie set in Montreal and Quebec City that I worked on was "Taking Lives" with Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland.

One of the funniest parts was when we shot Stanstead as a stand-in for a small Pennsylvania town. Stanstead is a town on the border with Vermont, split in half with the town of Beebe Plain. We had dressed the small downtown with American flags just a block form the border customs office, and the US officers were looking on our side of the line in disbelief. On top of that, we were making snow in July. Lots of fun, not a bad movie.

Some inconsistencies; the 3 Quebecois cops played by French actors.

There was a stunt scene where cars cross a bridge in Montreal and end up in Quebec City.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Surprised no one has mentioned the Warriors. Definitely my favorite 1970's-era NYC film.

[volguus zildrohar]

Said it many times before - the original Ghostbusters and the subsequent animated series from the 80s planted the seeds of my love for many things, one of them being cities.

Also my username.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by JManc

Beat me to it. I was just going to post that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by montréaliste

One American movie set in Montreal and Quebec City that I worked on was "Taking Lives" with Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland.

One of the funniest parts was when we shot Stanstead as a stand-in for a small Pennsylvania town. Stanstead is a town on the border with Vermont, split in half with the town of Beebe Plain. We had dressed the small downtown with American flags just a block form the border customs office, and the US officers were looking on our side of the line in disbelief. On top of that, we were making snow in July. Lots of fun, not a bad movie.
.

I actually watched that for the first time recently.

I spotted Stanstead right away.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by softee

There have been lots of movies set in Toronto, it's just that the vast majority of them are Canadian productions with limited audiences outside of Canada.

David Cronenberg is probably Toronto's best known filmmaker outside of Canada (who didn't leave for Hollywood like Ivan Reitman and others) and he set many of his movies in Toronto. Videodrome was already mentioned, but his biggest box office success was The Fly, (it was backed by a Hollywood studio) and it was indeed set in Toronto.

My favourite film where Toronto actually plays Toronto is The Adjuster by Atom Egoyan.

I also like Cronenberg's Crash for that too. (Not the same as Crash set in LA and about race relations.)

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

No no, Canadian content radio laws (you know, the economic juggernaut that is local radio these days) are putting american recording studios out of business.

Always loved his hilarious fixation on this argument, because if content was completely unregulated, like say, Spotify, where Canadians are choosing to listen to more than 20% local content, I guess that's fine? As long as no one's telling them to.

Is Jack Valenti still alive?

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Canada / the US is effectively a single media market based out of LA though.
Tons of big stars in LA are Canadians.

The problem is that Canadians move there and get financial backing from there and suddenly it’s not Can-con.

I mean do Americans think it’s a problem when they turn on the radio and Justin Beiber, Drake, and The Weeknd are playing? Or when they go to the movies and watch Avatar, directed by a Canadian? No. The markets are mixed with a lot of Canadian players in the American market. It’s not like all movies and media are produced solely by Americans and then completely dominate Canadian markets. And frankly, I don’t have a problem with it. The two countries are culturally similar enough that the two media products they produce are more or less indistinguishable from each other anyway.

I just get frustrated with the system as there is tons of Canadian content in US media but nothing is really explicit, especially in film. Movies are never really set in Canada, despite there being huge amounts of Canadians in films and working for them.

There is nothing preventing (English) Canadians from making movies about Canadian subjects in Canada and there is nothing preventing (English) Canadians from going to see them.

Actually, yes there is something preventing all of this from happening: genuine interest.

I also think that accepting something like Avatar or Porky's or some ABC sitcom as CanCon would only make the situation worse. No thanks. (Not that I really care anymore, but...)

[dc_denizen]

what?

seriously Avatar is a quintessentially Canadian movie, I mean this is hardly even debatable

- American villian
- indigenous native american heroes
- preachy left liberal message
- Canadian director

You guy can't recognize your own cultural traits in media when they're right in front of you!

another good example of highly canadian oriented content sold successfully globally would be 'The Corporation', which explains how evil american corporations ruined the world (no other countries have corporations), bowling for columbine (since Moore is from Michigan and has that scene with visiting Americans marvelling at the beautitude of Windsor Ontario, also mass shootings only happen in the US)..I could probably think of a couple others.

Non-annoying examples would be Heavy Metal, the greatest Canadian movie.

[cabasse]

someone else (i think bnk?) mentioned after hours a couple of years ago here, and i hadn't seen it - it's one of my favorites now.


koyaanisqatsi for late 70s/early 80s scenes of nyc/la/stl.


this one is gonna sound ridiculous, but bear with me... eurotrip. that one really made me want to travel.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by Acajack

There is nothing preventing (English) Canadians from making movies about Canadian subjects in Canada and there is nothing preventing (English) Canadians from going to see them.

Actually, yes there is something preventing all of this from happening: genuine interest.

Obviously things are a lot more complicated than that.

https://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/a-...anadian-cinema

[sopas ej]

Even as a very young child, I've always loved cities. The hustle and bustle of people walking, the sound of traffic... I knew something was amiss when I was 7 years old and my family moved from Los Angeles' Miracle Mile District to the suburbs, where I grew up... the environment was just not the same... but we still went into LA to do specific kinds of shopping, to go to the family dentist, to go to the Farmers Market...

I really love film noir, and I grew up watching old movies. I love the movies that were shot on location in cities from decades ago...

And I love movies where the city it's set in makes a great backdrop, and almost plays a character in the film too.

Los Angeles in "Double Indemnity." The city plays a role in the film; the opening shots show the area around the Biltmore Hotel and Pershing Square in downtown:
• Video Link

San Francisco in "Vertigo." Alfred Hitchcock loved to use rear projection, but the film was shot on location in San Francisco. I really love the James Stewart driving sequences.
• Video Link

New York City in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." The opening sequence of an empty 5th Avenue, Audrey Hepburn having a croissant and coffee at Tiffany's, the neighborhood where her apartment is located... and the shots of NYC throughout the film are really cool.
• Video Link

[JManc]

Originally Posted by cabasse

koyaanisqatsi for late 70s/early 80s scenes of nyc/la/stl.

First saw that as a kid and was mesmerized. Philip Glass's score sealed the deal. The entire Qatsi trilogy is worth a look but this one was my favorite.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

what?

seriously Avatar is a quintessentially Canadian movie, I mean this is hardly even debatable

- American villian
- indigenous native american heroes
- preachy left liberal message
- Canadian director

You guy can't recognize your own cultural traits in media when they're right in front of you!

another good example of highly canadian oriented content sold successfully globally would be 'The Corporation', which explains how evil american corporations ruined the world (no other countries have corporations), bowling for columbine (since Moore is from Michigan and has that scene with visiting Americans marvelling at the beautitude of Windsor Ontario, also mass shootings only happen in the US)..I could probably think of a couple others.

Non-annoying examples would be Heavy Metal, the greatest Canadian movie.

while i agree with your take its pretty hard to overlook cameron has been in hollywood since the 1960s and the production, filming etc for a messy, bombastic movie of avatar scale clearly screams hollywood. that kind of drowns out or sinks any message it might have had, or plot for that matter. it just wasnt a good enough movie to earn too much cred for subversiveness.

and btw the greatest canadian movie is either the sweet hearafter or my american cousin.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by cabasse

someone else (i think bnk?) mentioned after hours a couple of years ago here, and i hadn't seen it - it's one of my favorites now.


koyaanisqatsi for late 70s/early 80s scenes of nyc/la/stl.


this one is gonna sound ridiculous, but bear with me... eurotrip. that one really made me want to travel.

o geez how random, but i have a eurotrip story for you. my spouse was in publishing when that movie came out and they had the frommer guides. so they had a blowout party and everyone got comp tix to go see it at the theater premiere. i went along too. when they mentioned the guidebooks in the movie half the crowd stood up and started screaming and clapping. the other civilian half of the crowd was shocked and freaked out like you wouldn’t believe, it was pretty funny.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Canada / the US is effectively a single media market based out of LA though.
Tons of big stars in LA are Canadians.

The problem is that Canadians move there and get financial backing from there and suddenly it’s not Can-con.

I mean do Americans think it’s a problem when they turn on the radio and Justin Beiber, Drake, and The Weeknd are playing? Or when they go to the movies and watch Avatar, directed by a Canadian? No. The markets are mixed with a lot of Canadian players in the American market. It’s not like all movies and media are produced solely by Americans and then completely dominate Canadian markets. And frankly, I don’t have a problem with it. The two countries are culturally similar enough that the two media products they produce are more or less indistinguishable from each other anyway.

I just get frustrated with the system as there is tons of Canadian content in US media but nothing is really explicit, especially in film. Movies are never really set in Canada, despite there being huge amounts of Canadians in films and working for them.

why would you be frustrated? lots things are filmed in all our states that are not set there. thats hollywood.

most people have more fun spotting stuff like local yokel settings and actors than get annoyed about it.

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

what?

seriously Avatar is a quintessentially Canadian movie, I mean this is hardly even debatable

- American villian
- indigenous native american heroes
- preachy left liberal message
- Canadian director

You guy can't recognize your own cultural traits in media when they're right in front of you!

another good example of highly canadian oriented content sold successfully globally would be 'The Corporation', which explains how evil american corporations ruined the world (no other countries have corporations), bowling for columbine (since Moore is from Michigan and has that scene with visiting Americans marvelling at the beautitude of Windsor Ontario, also mass shootings only happen in the US)..I could probably think of a couple others.

Non-annoying examples would be Heavy Metal, the greatest Canadian movie.

Are you claiming it’s part of the Canadian identity to obsess about petty details of American politics? There is no “liberal left” in the US? There is no “Native American hero” mythology?

I’m pretty sure Canadian-American has a very different identity and outlook of regular Canadians.