Before you cast a disparaging eye on the movie I’ve chosen for this week’s then-and-now look, I’d like to tell you three things about the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie that you probably don’t know. 1) The movie was edited by Sally Menke. Don’t recognize her name? Menke has edited every single film by…
On March 29, 1971, The Godfather, considered by many to be one of the greatest films ever made, began principal photography in New York City. Because the film is a period piece, The Godfather actually presents a fascinating record of what 1940s-era New York City locations still existed in the early-1970s. Sadly, many of them…
Looking for something spooky to watch this Halloween? Why not pick a horror movie set in New York! Longtime Scouting NY readers know I’ve been writing and revising this list for the past five years. While some of these might skirt the boundaries of the horror genre, my main requirement was simply that they’d feel…
I happened to read an article about the new documentary Room 237, which delves into the wild conspiracy theories people have come up with to explain The Shining. These run the gamut, from a treatise on Native American oppression, to Kubrick’s admission that he helped fake the moon-landing footage. Most of it is pretty silly….
Billy Wilder’s The Apartment is my all-time favorite romantic comedy set in New York City (sorry, Harry and Sally!). If you haven’t seen The Apartment, please don’t let me spoil it for you, as it’s one of the greats. The film stars Jack Lemmon as C. C. Baxter, an insurance salesman who lends his apartment…
So the other day, I finally saw Men In Black III, and there was one location that stood out: Located in Chinatown, Wu’s is THE Chinese restaurant all directors beg us to find. From the paper lanterns and intricate woodwork… …to the numerous fish tanks and detailed wallpaper. Throw in the hanging ducks in the…
If you’ve seen Spider-Man 2, you’ve seen my parents in a movie. Sort of.
The other day, a Netflix movie showed up in my mail that, for the life of me, I couldn’t remember adding. What the heck was Pickup on South Street? Most of the time this is a bad sign – I can’t tell you the number of terrible movies I’ve added to Netflix for reasons I’ve…
Note: This post was written as Hurricane Sandy crossed over New York City, and my fiancee and I were hunkered down in our apartment hearing from all sides that the world was about to end. At that point, the news media was going crazy overhyping the storm for ratings, while misinformation spread across the internet,…
“New York, You’ve Changed” is a Scouting NY feature in which the New York depicted in classic movies is compared with the city of today, a full shot-by-shot dissection to see what once was and what has changed. Check out North By Northwest Part 1 here! Continuing where we left off, Thornhill is abducted and…