My Street Looked Fantastic
For those who have seen or will see War of the Worlds this weekend pay particular attention to the last scene.
Why? Because it was filmed here in Brooklyn on my street, right in front of our building. Last fall they closed down the our street and the surrounding streets for filming. We had to ask for permission to get to our apartment. It was pretty cool. And I must say, my street is a good actor. I saw the movie last night and my street looks good.
In this picture you can see my building.
If you want a virtual autograph, please let me know.
June 30, 2005 in Film |
Nice. Can I get your building’s autograph?
Comment by danithew — June 30, 2005 @ 10:06 pm
Great street–seriously, I completely remember it.
Unfortunate that it is the site of the movie finally falling completely apart.
Comment by Justin H — June 30, 2005 @ 10:57 pm
Comment by Rusty — June 30, 2005 @ 11:01 pm
Dan,
Or go here.
Comment by Rusty — June 30, 2005 @ 11:42 pm
Cool Rusty. I used to live on a block that was used in a scene in Goodfellas — Smith and 9th in Carroll Gardens.
Comment by Greg — June 30, 2005 @ 11:54 pm
Cool! One summer when I worked in Seattle there were a few movies being made, one had some shots on the street where I worked. I don’t remember what the movies were, though, I never saw them. I did see Jared Leto filming a scene though!
(Of course now I live in Southern Cali and everywhere you go has been in a movie at some point.)
Comment by Susan M — July 1, 2005 @ 10:13 am
Shouldn’t there be some sort of spoiler alert here? I haven’t seen it yet, and I was really hoping that they would all die.
Comment by a random John — July 1, 2005 @ 11:34 am
Ho hum. My building is in a bunch of movies, my street in some others, and in one, they used our lobby. I’m a bigger star than you.
P.S. Mickey Blue Eyes, You’ve Got Mail, The First Wives Club, Enemies: A Love Story, Little Nicky
Comment by D. Fletcher — July 1, 2005 @ 12:45 pm
ARJ,
You’re joking, right? Hey, him walking with his kid at the end of the movie doesn’t mean there isn’t a surpise ending. (or at least surprised by how bad the ending is, my beautiful street notwithstanding).
D,
Your building was truly a big star, but it’s not going to all the hip clubs anymore. Where it used to get a table at any restaurant, it now has to make reservations. My street is has only started it’s budding career and I can see it’s future full of gold.
Comment by Rusty — July 1, 2005 @ 12:57 pm
Yeah, your street is the trendy “downtown” set of the moment, but those kinds of alternative lifestyle settings don’t age gracefully. My building is timeless, a class act.
(One of the reasons my building/street are used so often is because a big part of it is the school next door, which is closed during the summer so the street is very available and cheaper than other similar streets in Manhattan.)
Comment by D. Fletcher — July 1, 2005 @ 1:01 pm
D., it’s the quality, not the quantity. I’ll take Goodfellas over 10 Little Nickys.
Comment by Greg — July 1, 2005 @ 1:32 pm
HaHa, Greg, well, buildings have a “type” just like anything. My building is a beautiful 20s apartment building fronting Riverside Park and the Hudson River. It’s good for nostalgic NY movies (like Enemies: A Love Story) and contemporary “romantic NY” stories like You’ve Got Mail. Right down the street from me is the building used as Will’s apartment house on Will and Grace.
My building won’t ever be used for hip, urban-warfare movies like GoodFellas (which seems to take place mostly in the suburbs, eh?)
I don’t know why they used my street for Little Nicky, but I think it was cheap, and the park is nearby to setup trucks, trailers and the like. I did get to meet Adam Sandler, so there! and also Hugh Grant, who filmed scenes for Mickey Blue Eyes in our lobby.
Comment by D. Fletcher — July 1, 2005 @ 1:48 pm
Rusty, thanks for giving me that link to the autograph. Your building has the nicest handwriting.
On a more serious note … what did you think of the movie? I haven’t read a ton of interviews, but the ones I have seen so far were pretty positive.
Comment by danithew — July 1, 2005 @ 3:10 pm
Rusty,
No joke. Spoiler warnings please! I really was hoping that they would all die.
As for famous buildings, let’s see… My wife lived in the Mark Hacking apartment until we were married. It was rather odd to see it on the news here in Boston. Once married we moved into our house which happens to be where the OC Tanner company began.
Comment by a random John — July 1, 2005 @ 3:44 pm
D.: Ok, you win. You met Opera Man.
The Riverside Drive area in general seems to be a very popular place for filming. When I lived up by Grant’s Tomb, I would see film crews all the time. Usually it was Law & Order, but there were a lot of others too.
Comment by Greg — July 1, 2005 @ 4:12 pm
Dan,
It’s good. Spielberg usually puts out high quality stuff and this doesn’t dissapoint. I haven’t read the book but apparently he was pretty faithful to it (as much as you can in our modern setting). The special effects were really great, the acting is fine, I don’t really have anything bad to say about it except I wasn’t a fan of the ending (but that’s the book’s ending, not Spielberg’s).
Comment by Rusty — July 1, 2005 @ 6:12 pm
I love the book. And if Spielberg stays true to it, then my hopes are up for seeing a decent Sci-Fi. (a rare animal these days)
Comment by Jack — July 2, 2005 @ 1:58 am
What?!!! That wasn’t Boston? He travels all that way dodging nasty invaders from Mars, making sandwiches, having his ears damaged from Dakota’s piercing screech, spending an interminable amount of time in Tim Robbins basement, and he ends up just across the water in Brooklyn? Curse Spielberg and his deceptive movie magic!
The problem with the ending is not H.G. Wells’ ending (although the source of the aliens’ destruction seems kinda dopey*, for a truly dopey alien annihilation see “Signs”), it’s Spielberg’s. To wit, the problem is not who dies (aliens), it’s who lives (you know who). Once again Spielberg can’t resist the schmaltzy ending. But, hey, you know that’s what you’re in for when you see a Spielberg movie. So just sit back and watch some great special effects and action sequencesâ€â€it’s a popcorn film and it succeeds admirably at that level.
*Really, wouldn’t Ritalin have been a better weapon against the aliens? No? Well, you don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do.
Comment by Alan — July 5, 2005 @ 11:43 am
Alan,
That was funny.
I didn’t mind the source of destruction of the aliens (if in fact that’s what H.G. Wells wrote), in fact, I think it’s quite smart considering it was written before the turn of the century. If Spielberg made it up then I’m not a fan of it. You’re right that Spielberg has had some problems with his endings. A.I. had to be one of the worst movie endings I’ve ever seen. The movie should have ended about 45 minutes before it did and by the end I was screaming for it to end already. Terrible, terrible movie.
Comment by Rusty — July 5, 2005 @ 11:57 am
Rusty,
The great thing about AI is that it allows you to ponder the question of, “Would this have been a better movie if it ended right… NOW? How about… NOW!?” If it would have been a better movie by ending at one of the stopping points, can you enjoy it as that better movie by walking out at the point during subsequent viewings?
I for one hold to the idea that it wasn’t the endings themselves, but that the movie was just too long.
Comment by a random John — July 5, 2005 @ 12:45 pm
I really enjoyed this movie. It was just awesome to have Spielberg back. There hasn’t been a trademark Spielberg film in forever. It had all the classic Spielberg touches. Made me happy that my kids could have a Spielberg movie during their childhood years (that was a new release).
Comment by Susan M — July 5, 2005 @ 1:41 pm
I tried to resist Rusty’s A.I.-baiting thread, but I’m too weak. I have to qualify my earlier comment (#18) to say that one movie where Spielberg resisted (or perhaps subverted) his penchant for a heartwarming ending was A.I. That ending is, IMHO, Spielberg’s smartest. It has all the hallmarks of a classic Spielberg ending, but lurking beneath the feel-good is a deeply cynical and depressing message–an anti-Spielbergian message masquerading as a Spielbergian “reunited with mommy” fantasy.
Comment by Alan — July 5, 2005 @ 2:13 pm
Alan,
A.I. was Spielberg’s smartest ending? If by “smart” you mean “To suffer or pay a heavy penalty.” (see dictionary.com) then I agree with you, I suffered and paid heavily for sitting there for those last 45 minutes.
Comment by Rusty — July 5, 2005 @ 6:14 pm
A clever reply, Rusty. So as to avoid a further threadjack, I hereby respectfully agree to disagree. I’ve had to defend my admiration of A.I. to many a hater and I know better than to pursue this further!
Comment by Alan — July 6, 2005 @ 12:00 am