"What is the quintessential city *X* movie to you?" Thu Feb-11-21 10:31 AM by Bambino Grande
Quintessential meaning a movie that captures the spirit or presents a version of the given city, at any given point in time, in a way that speaks to you or moves you, heart & soul. Highly subjective of course, but i.e After Hours and Taxi Driver speaks to my idea of and experiences in NY.... Perhaps this is a shitpost in the making but we might get some good movie suggestions out of this
You don’t have to have been to the city in question to name the movie
49. "White Men Can't Jump (there are way too many LAs though)" In response to Reply # 1
way too many different pockets with different vibes and their own internal cultures. I don't think there's been one move that you could say has captured LA.
you got your hood movies, like Boyz, Menace, Baby Boy
East LA stuff like American Me, Blood in Bood out, Boulevard Nights
More centered stuff like The Wood, and Dope (Ingewood, Ladera) or Mi Vida Loca, and Quinenera and brush on Gentrification of Echo Park a bit
Drive around crime stuff like Training Day or Harsh Times, End of Watch..
Swingers captured the experience pretty good of a sizable swath of people who came to LA to work in Hollywood
Boogie Nights covered the valley porn scene
Lords of Dogwtown tried to capture the grittiness of 70s venice but failed to match the documentary.
then you got your LA Noir stuff (La Confidential Leboswki,China Town)
then you got try too hard movies that think they break down LA (Crash, Grand Canyon) and i guess for some it feels dead on. Short Cuts did a pretty good job though.
Ikemoses mentioned They Live once as a pretty good commentary on the divide of los angeles
Shit, i remember watching the party in Super Bad and thought how dead on it was of a Vallley party. but even in the valley you could break it down to who knows how many parts
So yeah.. White Men Can't Jump. I'm going with that lol
>way too many different pockets with different vibes and their >own internal cultures. I don't think there's been one move >that you could say has captured LA. > >you got your hood movies, like Boyz, Menace, Baby Boy > >East LA stuff like American Me, Blood in Bood out, Boulevard >Nights > >More centered stuff like The Wood, and Dope (Ingewood, Ladera) >or Mi Vida Loca, and Quinenera and brush on Gentrification of >Echo Park a bit > >Drive around crime stuff like Training Day or Harsh Times, End >of Watch.. > >Swingers captured the experience pretty good of a sizable >swath of people who came to LA to work in Hollywood > >Boogie Nights covered the valley porn scene > >Lords of Dogwtown tried to capture the grittiness of 70s >venice but failed to match the documentary. > >then you got your LA Noir stuff (La Confidential >Leboswki,China Town) > >then you got try too hard movies that think they break down LA >(Crash, Grand Canyon) and i guess for some it feels dead on. >Short Cuts did a pretty good job though. > >Ikemoses mentioned They Live once as a pretty good commentary >on the divide of los angeles > >Shit, i remember watching the party in Super Bad and thought >how dead on it was of a Vallley party. but even in the valley >you could break it down to who knows how many parts > >So yeah.. White Men Can't Jump. I'm going with that lol
57. "Yeah, good call on LA Noir man" In response to Reply # 49 Fri Feb-12-21 03:43 PM by T Reynolds
The very specific qualities of the genre came up recently, while I was reading two LA crime books
The System by Ryan Gattis, a novel that takes place in 90's Lynwood
And Blue Rage Black Redemption by Tookie (I had this book for years and years but never got around to reading)
Plus I'm watching the Netflix special on Hotel Cecil (only halfway thru)
Can't believe I stayed there with my wife and my boys a year prior to Elisa Lam, not knowing the grimy shit that happened in there for decades
LA is such a weird place man. From the way some of the detectives dress to the oasis-like quality of the sea of lights at night, it's a pretty cool setting for crime movies. I'm surprised there aren't more modern LA noir movies.
59. "Yeah i gottta check out the netfix joint too" In response to Reply # 57
HBO Perry Mason is of that vibe, even though i don't think it lived up to its potential. it was interesting enough and Rhys though.
Bosch on Amazon, i suppose too. Nothing groundbreaking but i always enjoy watching.
will look into this too, thanks:
>The System by Ryan Gattis, a novel that takes place in 90's >Lynwood > >And Blue Rage Black Redemption by Tookie (I had this book for >years and years but never got around to reading)
66. "Terriers is in San Diego, so i have no idea" In response to Reply # 62 Fri Feb-12-21 04:30 PM by Mynoriti
i've only visited there a couple times
The Shield, even though i love it felt like fantasy
Plus i had just come off watching The Wire with fully fleshed out 'street' character, but the Shield kinda went right back to them being one dimensional
The Shield works because Mackey and Shane are just that good, and you get caught up in everything. So i kinda looked at the other characters as it being from their perspective.
70. "I should have been more clear how I asked the question." In response to Reply # 66
Were those show authentic in terms of how they displayed their relative locations in Cali? I didn't mean the characters or the show itself, if that makes sense. The either show lie or cheat in terms of geography or the neighborhoods shown.
"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.
71. "gotcha. same answer lol" In response to Reply # 70
Farmington is a made up place. they kind of shot in the same parts of east la, and east hollywood. they're all familiar places but i think having a fictional neighborhood threw me off.
I always pictured them in east hollywood/little armenia though. so kinda generic LA but doesn't really work as LA as a character. For me anyway
85. "was listening to a pod on Taxi Driver this week" In response to Reply # 27
and they brushed on the the contrast of Woody's romanticized,beautiful version of NY in Manhattan and Annie Hall vs the Scorsese's hell on earth version in Taxi Driver, along with plenty of others from that era
92. "Scorcese obviously knew Manhattan so well" In response to Reply # 85
Like Spike and Brookyn the way he captured the eerie vibe of nighttime Manhattan in that movie has hardly been challenged ever since. The streets and avenues he picked... Not fanboying but just thinking about some of those nighttime driving scenes gives me chills. Crazy
86. "ha. to loop your shield/terriers question back at you" In response to Reply # 64
what do you think makes this so?
>given how long it's been on the air and the fact they >actually film the show in NYC, Law and Order:SVU doesn't feel >authentically NYC at all. > >Pretty damn wild when I think about it.
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
**************** TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*
21. "Boyz in the Hood & Menace captured some of LA hood life" In response to Reply # 0
Boyz really captured some details of living in South Central
the educated conservative person (furious) seemingly randomly dropped into the middle of the hood.
the lowriders were definitely a thing
the jherri curls...eh, not so much, it came and went BUT, I do remember seeing lots of grown ass men in curlers.
menace just captured parts of that part of the city in the characters and the cars. O-Dog, A-Wax, Chauncey were spot on, the 5.0 mustang on daytons...like, that was some shit that came and went but it was captured on film.
"Blindspotting" for much captured North Oakland of the late '10s. It kind of limited it's scope to that part of town, which was fine. I assume "Sorry to Bother You" shooting downtown and other places around the city at the same time helped them limit their scope.
"Last Black Man In San Francisco" very much captured SF during the same time period.
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