As images and reports rolled in from Hurricane Sandy's destructive tour through the Big Apple I thought of my East Coast friends and family affected by the storm, and of Manhattan, Woody Allen's great cinematic ode to the city — his city: Tough, romantic, and everything in between.
All those terrifying images of flooded streets and New York at an unimaginable standstill reminded me of happier times, by way of the magical moments the movies have seared into my consciousness over the years. This photo for example, taken Monday near the 59th Street Bridge as Sandy approached New York, depicted surging waters looming near where Allen and Diane Keaton shot Manhattan's iconic bridge scene — one of the most beautiful, dreamy moments of New York there is.
The New York that was beaten up, wind-whipped, and deluged over the past few days is a scary, unrecognizable New York. But the spirit of New York (and New Jersey, not to mention other affected cities and states along the East Coast) endures as folks begin rebuilding. I go back to the New York — romanticized, yes, but alive and bustling the way that NYC should be and will be again — of Manhattan's opening scene, which flashes through the city as Allen's voice-over and George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" bring it to life.
Even if only brief respites from the reality of what folks have to deal with out there, the movies can remind us of what makes life worth living; feel free to add your own indelible NYC movies and moments below. Meanwhile, NYC Movieliners Brian Brooks, Frank DiGiacomo, and Alison Willmore are powering through the insanity, as you'll see in the coming days. Send good vibes and warm thoughts their way.
Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
During the frenzied step-and-repeat, reporters referenced the film's story — which involves an L. Ron Hubbard-like cult founder — to pose questions about Scientology. This didn't exactly go over well, and a lot of those questions went unanswered. Given the film's title, Movieline decided to let our interview subjects be the, um, masters of their own domains and asked them a single question: if you were going to start a cult, what would be its core idea or principle?more »
Jessica Biel likes to play her action heroes with a touch of femininity. Movieline pal Grace Randolph hit a special New York screening of Total Recall on Thursday night and chatted with the actress on the red carpet. Biel plays the resistance fighter Melina and asked what quality she likes to bring to her action roles, tells Randolph that she aims to portray a character "who feels like a real woman," not "someone who's so tough that you can relate to [her] but someone who is feminine and has an emotional arc as well as a physical arc. more »
Maybe filming background scenes at Zuccotti Park wasn't a great idea after all, or perhaps it was never really going to happen, but still: EW reports that Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, which shoots this month in New York City, will not be using the Occupy Wall Street movement as a backdrop for one-percenter hero Bruce Wayne's latest shenanigans, despite speculations to the contrary. Probably a good idea, especially after the Occupy movement turned Oakland, CA into something resembling a war zone last night, tear gas and all. [EW]
