Cinematic Cities

Scott Hardie | October 6, 2019
I recently read an article listing the signature film of every major city. I think it's a decent list, and not least because the first two titles are two of my favorite movies and the third is one of Kelly's.

Two things I wonder:

1) What do you make of the list? Do other movies come to mind for you for some of these cities?

2) What is the signature film of your area? What do you think of it?

Scott Hardie | October 13, 2019
My area has some eclectic titles, from Woody Harrelson's Palmetto, to Marvel's The Punisher, to Alfonso Cuarón's Great Expectations, to Dolphin Tale and its sequel, to (ugh) Cop & ½. I haven't seen it, but the best-regarded is probably The Greatest Show on Earth. Sarasota has long been the winter home and retirement home of circus performers; a circus museum is one of our key attractions and John Ringling's name is on everything here from streets to schools to, well, museums. It's fitting that a circus movie best represents this area.

Erik Bates | October 14, 2019
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Steve West | October 14, 2019
Most Washington DC films are political or agency in nature like All the Presidents Men, The Bourne Legacy, Air Force One, etc. (I was okay with each). But the films I like most had a different spin on DC like St. Elmo's Fire (goofy fun), The Day the Earth Stood Still, Die Hard 2, The Exorcist and Damn Yankees. Superheroes seem to thrive here like Ant Man and Captain America. But my favorite scenes are from Forrest Gump (on the Mall and in the White House).

Scott Hardie | December 7, 2019
Funeratic members in the St. Louis metro area: Do you watch Superstore, and if so, what do you make of the show's interstitial scenes, which portray locals as absurdly selfish and self-absorbed? (It's not really about St. Louis, of course. The show could be set anywhere. But I'm still curious.)

Erik Bates | December 8, 2019
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Samir Mehta | December 8, 2019
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Scott Hardie | December 9, 2019
Yeah, that show could easily be set in my part of Florida. People are definitely like that here. For example, there's a nearby Mexican restaurant that has $1 tacos on Tuesdays. The place is always swarmed on Tuesday nights and the parking lot overflows, to the point where people literally park on graves in the old grassy graveyard next door. And there's a Taco Bell just a block away selling tacos for the same price with no wait on every night of the week. People are weird.

Erik, I wonder if they picked St. Louis in part because of the lack of Walmarts? LIke maybe no one store could sue and say they're mocking our store specifically? Even if that's true, I bet part of their decision was just wanting a recognizable Midwestern city with no cultural baggage.

Samir, I wasn't specifically aware of a difference, but I'm sure it's like that with many major cities. I grew up near Chicago and the city definitely had a distinct identity from the suburbs, but it's far easier to tell people I'm from Chicago than from a little town on the western outskirts of the metro area that they probably haven't heard of. Only fellow Chicagoans have objected when they learn that I'm misrepresenting where I'm really from.

Steve, I never responded specifically to your comments earlier, but I feel the same way about the DC area on screen, as in, that's a good representative list and I'm fond of Forrest Gump too.