Monday, August 16, 2010

Details 4

Went to see Salt this weekend. It has a decent first half before it descended into complete stupidity; I amused myself watching Jolie closely while Mrs. __B amused herself watching Schrieber closely.

Like most people in the design professions, I have a good visual memory. It was obvious from the beginning that Salt's "Washington DC" apartment was on Riverside Drive in NYC; when we got a look out her window, you saw the roofs of the pseudo-Acropolis of Audobon Terrace, which puts the building around 154th or 153rd St and Riverside.

During the car chase that is supposed to take place in DC - and most of which was filmed in DC - there's a scene on a complicated series of highway ramps that are in downtown Albany. I recognized three buildings on the Albany skyline (one was a project of mine) and the interchange itself is distinctive if you know it.

If this had been a better movie, it would have been jarring, but given the low quality of the ideas it was just amusing. The record for movie-makers assuming the audience wouldn't catch on to a detail is still a piece of 80s crap called Over the Brooklyn Bridge which has a shot of Elliott Gould driving a car over the Manhattan Bridge during the opening credits.

5 comments:

Substance McGravitas said...

See also Rumble in the Bronx.

N__B said...

Yeah, that was as NY as New York, New York in Vegas.

There was more in Salt, actually. The supposed funeral of the vice-president at St. Bart's was pretty obviously a real NYPD funeral, as I can't imagine why a state funeral would have an NYPD bagpiper and the Irish flag.

vacuumslayer said...

I find Jolie extraordinarily irritating and cartoonish-looking. I have exactly zero interest in seeing this film.

N__B said...

You have your opinion on what I should find attractive and I have the correct opinion on what I should find attractive.

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

See also Rumble in the Bronx.

So, you mean to tell me that there was no cool "on top of the 6 train" fight scene? BOGUS!

I can't even recall the last film I've seen in the theater. It may have been a Sergio Leone retrospective.

Good to have you back on the t00bz.