Bus Driving In The Marvel Universe
November 14, 2021 9:05 PM Subscribe
Twitter thread: Finally watching Shang-Chi, here as a bus operator to rate the SFT transit factors of The Bus Scene. Threadreader link.
I'm not at all surprised to find out that the real buses have at least two emergency brakes, especially in SF, but it was a great scene regardless--the "Assembled" feature on the behind the scenes work done for Shang-Chi spent a lot of time on that fight scene.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:49 PM on November 14, 2021
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:49 PM on November 14, 2021
It's not just SF, but ALL air-brake equipped vehicles (buses or trucks or trains)... The air brakes DEFAULT to on, and the air brake lines actually apply pressure to KEEP the brake calipers OPEN.
But it's an exciting scene. :)
posted by kschang at 1:49 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
But it's an exciting scene. :)
posted by kschang at 1:49 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
I'm guessing "Fall On Board" is something you have to write up in a report.
posted by chavenet at 4:24 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 4:24 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
This was my favorite scene in the movie! As a former SF resident who occasionally took the 1 California to work, I appreciated the author keeping track of how the bus teleported all over the city during the sequence.
posted by ejs at 5:49 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by ejs at 5:49 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Yeah, that was a real San Francisco scene. I loved it, although like the Twitter author I was perplexed by the cushy seats. Anyway, reminds me of Kirk and Spock on the Muni bus on the Golden Gate Bridge in Star Trek IV. (Muni buses, afaicr, never went there- mainly Golden Gate Transit buses, a different service)
posted by Jubal Kessler at 5:58 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Jubal Kessler at 5:58 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
Bus operators don't want to stop very hard because that's how you get Falls On Board.Can we just take a moment to appreciate the little frisson of stern officialism added by this capitalization?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:35 AM on November 15, 2021 [29 favorites]
I've taken to watching Marvel films at 1.5x speed, because 2 hours is just a little too long for these kind of flicks.
This was a neat scene though, and you didn't miss a whole lot sped up.
posted by deadaluspark at 6:36 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
This was a neat scene though, and you didn't miss a whole lot sped up.
posted by deadaluspark at 6:36 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
I appreciated the author keeping track of how the bus teleported all over the city during the sequence.
This is the nature of filming locations. I watched a movie filmed in Toronto and apparently set in Toronto recently — Lie With Me. At one point the troubled, fragile central couple is going through a rocky phase. They are dancing at a wedding reception, the tension comes to a head, and the woman suddenly turns and rushes out the door. The man stands frozen in indecision for perhaps ten seconds and then goes after her.
The subsequent shot, she is walking briskly through a park and he is trailing along at a half-jog trying to catch her.
A quick cut and in the third shot, he catches up to her in the street and they have dialogue.
Problem: the reception is in North York, the park is Gore Park in central Hamilton, and they talk near Bloor and Bathurst in the Annex. Even accounting for their brisk pace, that’s a good thirty hours of walking.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:42 AM on November 15, 2021 [16 favorites]
This is the nature of filming locations. I watched a movie filmed in Toronto and apparently set in Toronto recently — Lie With Me. At one point the troubled, fragile central couple is going through a rocky phase. They are dancing at a wedding reception, the tension comes to a head, and the woman suddenly turns and rushes out the door. The man stands frozen in indecision for perhaps ten seconds and then goes after her.
The subsequent shot, she is walking briskly through a park and he is trailing along at a half-jog trying to catch her.
A quick cut and in the third shot, he catches up to her in the street and they have dialogue.
Problem: the reception is in North York, the park is Gore Park in central Hamilton, and they talk near Bloor and Bathurst in the Annex. Even accounting for their brisk pace, that’s a good thirty hours of walking.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:42 AM on November 15, 2021 [16 favorites]
I've learned to just accept movie geography and not let it bother me. They film a lot of movies in my neighborhood and they're never actually set here so you'll see the Chicago skyline pasted in behind Pittsburgh houses and just chalk it up to the fact that characters in a film live in a separate universe that has its own rules.
posted by octothorpe at 6:55 AM on November 15, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 6:55 AM on November 15, 2021 [9 favorites]
Possibly my favourite bit of movie geography is in some Schwarzenegger movie (maybe The Sixth Day) where he steps on the bottom of an escalator in Pacific Place in Vancouver, and steps off the top in the Toronto Eaton Centre, three time zones away.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:05 AM on November 15, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:05 AM on November 15, 2021 [15 favorites]
Problem: the reception is in North York, the park is Gore Park in central Hamilton, and they talk near Bloor and Bathurst in the Annex.
Tbh, it's better than usual... Normally the scene is in literally any American city, but they're in downtown Toronto.
posted by kaibutsu at 7:18 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Tbh, it's better than usual... Normally the scene is in literally any American city, but they're in downtown Toronto.
posted by kaibutsu at 7:18 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
my favourite bit of movie geography
The first I ever noticed was "Rumble in the Bronx" - I didn't realize until I watched that movie, that NYC has mountains so close.
posted by rozcakj at 7:19 AM on November 15, 2021 [9 favorites]
The first I ever noticed was "Rumble in the Bronx" - I didn't realize until I watched that movie, that NYC has mountains so close.
posted by rozcakj at 7:19 AM on November 15, 2021 [9 favorites]
See also, the classic Vancouver Never Plays Itself.
posted by kaibutsu at 7:23 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by kaibutsu at 7:23 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
I bought the movie because of that Twitter thread, and I have to say the bus scene is the best thing about the movie. It was ordinary Marvel, which is to say I had to say to my husband, "They're gearing up for the CGI monster mayhem now" and things like that.
The scene in Rocky where Stallone runs through Philadelphia is equally nonsensical geographically. They have a Rocky Run (it was this past weekend) but there is no actual way you can duplicate his route.
As a lifelong teacher, I have to say that the image of teaching in movies is utterly banal, inaccurate, and horrendous. It seems to rely on the "awful story about childhood" narrative every adult retains of that one crystalline moment when a teacher thoroughly misunderstood them, or else of that one instant when the lightbulb goes on in your head and you understood poetry/calculus/history/life.
I explained to my faculty when I was chair that the lightbulb flashes occur when the student has been taught something five times previously (in, say, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade) and is finally ready to accept the idea in their brain. "Someone else will get the credit for what you have taught them," I said, and they all looked mulish and dismissive because they bought the "lightbulb" narrative themselves and wanted to be Remembered.
posted by Peach at 7:37 AM on November 15, 2021 [10 favorites]
The scene in Rocky where Stallone runs through Philadelphia is equally nonsensical geographically. They have a Rocky Run (it was this past weekend) but there is no actual way you can duplicate his route.
As a lifelong teacher, I have to say that the image of teaching in movies is utterly banal, inaccurate, and horrendous. It seems to rely on the "awful story about childhood" narrative every adult retains of that one crystalline moment when a teacher thoroughly misunderstood them, or else of that one instant when the lightbulb goes on in your head and you understood poetry/calculus/history/life.
I explained to my faculty when I was chair that the lightbulb flashes occur when the student has been taught something five times previously (in, say, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grade) and is finally ready to accept the idea in their brain. "Someone else will get the credit for what you have taught them," I said, and they all looked mulish and dismissive because they bought the "lightbulb" narrative themselves and wanted to be Remembered.
posted by Peach at 7:37 AM on November 15, 2021 [10 favorites]
my favourite bit of movie geography
Not a movie, but one of my favorite examples of this kind of thing is from the TV series Whitechapel. In one of the episodes, there's a crime committed in Borough Market in central London, and the two main detectives chase a suspect.
Within about a five-minute run, they're in the middle of deep suburbia with terraced houses and rear gardens, which is really only possible if they each run at about sixty miles an hour or so.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:45 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
Not a movie, but one of my favorite examples of this kind of thing is from the TV series Whitechapel. In one of the episodes, there's a crime committed in Borough Market in central London, and the two main detectives chase a suspect.
Within about a five-minute run, they're in the middle of deep suburbia with terraced houses and rear gardens, which is really only possible if they each run at about sixty miles an hour or so.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:45 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
I was surprised the mirror went unremarked; I'm used to seeing much wider ones.
I'm guessing "Fall On Board" is something you have to write up in a report.
There's probably an "FOB" tic box on the Incident Report form.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:50 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
I'm guessing "Fall On Board" is something you have to write up in a report.
There's probably an "FOB" tic box on the Incident Report form.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:50 AM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
I saw the movie this weekend, so this was a fun revisit.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:09 AM on November 15, 2021
posted by jacquilynne at 8:09 AM on November 15, 2021
This little bit, from the end of the Threadreader:
"But really I just want you to support public transport by riding the bus more and driving a personal car less. Support policies that fund public transport, and support policies that prioritize people over parking spots."
love it.
posted by martin q blank at 8:14 AM on November 15, 2021 [17 favorites]
"But really I just want you to support public transport by riding the bus more and driving a personal car less. Support policies that fund public transport, and support policies that prioritize people over parking spots."
love it.
posted by martin q blank at 8:14 AM on November 15, 2021 [17 favorites]
kshang It's not just SF, but ALL air-brake equipped vehicles (buses or trucks or trains)... The air brakes DEFAULT to on, and the air brake lines actually apply pressure to KEEP the brake calipers OPEN.
Thats... not true? A critical feature in the recent Lac Megantic rail disaster was that operators relied on air brakes to hold an idling train in place on a slope overnight. When a fire broke out, the air pressure dropped, releasing the brakes and allowing and the train to slide down to a populated area where it exploded.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:32 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Thats... not true? A critical feature in the recent Lac Megantic rail disaster was that operators relied on air brakes to hold an idling train in place on a slope overnight. When a fire broke out, the air pressure dropped, releasing the brakes and allowing and the train to slide down to a populated area where it exploded.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:32 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
my favourite bit of movie geography
Mine is the A-Team movie, at least part of which is set in Frankfurt. I don't think actual Frankfurt featured at all - the main part was filmed somewhere in Canada (Vancouver?), while the standard opening shot to confirm the setting features a large title saying "Frankfurt, Germany" over Cologne Cathedral and railway station.
(Meanwhile, the credits of Arrow do feature the Commerzbank building in Frankfurt as part of their montage, which made me look twice.)
posted by scorbet at 8:56 AM on November 15, 2021
Mine is the A-Team movie, at least part of which is set in Frankfurt. I don't think actual Frankfurt featured at all - the main part was filmed somewhere in Canada (Vancouver?), while the standard opening shot to confirm the setting features a large title saying "Frankfurt, Germany" over Cologne Cathedral and railway station.
(Meanwhile, the credits of Arrow do feature the Commerzbank building in Frankfurt as part of their montage, which made me look twice.)
posted by scorbet at 8:56 AM on November 15, 2021
The Resurrected, set in Providence, RI opens with a long aerial shot of the expansive downtown, which looks nothing like Providence (or any other New England city, for that matter). Other pleasures are when you see the characters enter a building you are familiar with, into an interior that is nothing like that building's. It's a delicious bit of conceptual vertigo.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:21 AM on November 15, 2021
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:21 AM on November 15, 2021
I liked how he notes that this driver wouldn't even be getting workman's compensation bc of the seatbelt.
posted by bleep at 9:27 AM on November 15, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by bleep at 9:27 AM on November 15, 2021 [7 favorites]
We just watched this. When knife-arm guy popped up, I said, “whoa, where’d he come from?” Without missing a beat my husband replied, “transfer from the Geary.”
posted by LoraT at 9:34 AM on November 15, 2021 [29 favorites]
posted by LoraT at 9:34 AM on November 15, 2021 [29 favorites]
@popular_ethics Westinghouse air brake works as I described: air pressure holds the brakes open.
posted by kschang at 9:48 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Westinghouse system is thus fail safe—any failure in the train line, including a separation ("break-in-two") of the train, will cause a loss of train line pressure, causing the brakes to be applied and bringing the train to a stop, thus preventing a runaway train.However, I am not familiar with modern trains, which is said to have multiple brake systems, and they may interact in ways I am not familiar with.
posted by kschang at 9:48 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
@Popular_Ethics Okay, found the problem, which is actually several fold. My description of the system is correct, but the train had several problems that negated the safety features, esp, as quoting from Wikipedia:
Source
posted by kschang at 9:57 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
The train had locomotives that could automatically restart the air-brake system in the event of a brake failure, provided that these locomotives were not shut down, as they would be in this incident. Also, the TSB found that the "reset safety control" on the lead locomotive was not wired to set the entire train's brakes in the event of an engine failure.So the mistake was they turned the locomotive off, but did not detach the locomotive which would have activated all the brakes, AND the leak was slow enough it did not "fully" deploy the brakes. Nor did the operators activate the individual car's "hand-brakes".
Source
posted by kschang at 9:57 AM on November 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
Favorite movie geography gaffe is when the Griswold's start their vacation by crossing the Mississippi going the completely wrong direction. Great shot of the Gateway Arch though!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:48 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:48 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
The movie geography that I attempted to verify was the subway ride from Van Cortlandt Park to Coney Island from The Warriors, or at least as much of it as I could (minus, say, the bits where they're running through the tunnels), when I lived in NYC, but I couldn't, because no video rental place in Park Slope carried it, possibly because of the shootings during the initial release.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:02 AM on November 15, 2021
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:02 AM on November 15, 2021
World War Z had Glasgow standing in for Pittsburgh (?), which amused me because I lived there long enough to recognize George Square when the camera panned overhead. In general movie geography never seemed to bother anyone until it's a place they know, so Malaysians as a rule never really experienced this until Entrapment when it opened with people gently taking the river route in Kuala Lumpur near the Twin Towers, except that was actually the Melaka River and they literally composited two places in one shot to get that one setting that makes no sense.
Anyway, this thread was fun too, because i managed to take this bus exactly once lol.
posted by cendawanita at 11:02 AM on November 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
Anyway, this thread was fun too, because i managed to take this bus exactly once lol.
posted by cendawanita at 11:02 AM on November 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
I was watching this movie just last night with the family and when he cut the line to the air brakes I said the same thing as on this Twitter thread. Air brakes work the opposite. Air pressure keeps the brakes open, when you apply the brakes it just opens a valve to let the pressure out. I am a little disturbed to wake up to this coincidental metafilter thread.
posted by interogative mood at 11:03 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 11:03 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
P.S. Scouting NY had The Warriors' actual filming locations covered: Part 1, Part 2.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:06 AM on November 15, 2021
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:06 AM on November 15, 2021
favourite bit of movie geography
There's a scene in Mission Impossible 6 which is supposed to be in Kashmir but when they take off in helicopters they have a chase through mountains in New Zealand and when they crash those helicopters they crash them close enough to the Preikestolen in Norway that they can have a fist fight there.
Less far apart, Mission Impossible 3 has a scene where they get out of Berlin in a hurry, again with helicopters and have a chase scene through a wind farm which is actually in California.
posted by biffa at 11:29 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
There's a scene in Mission Impossible 6 which is supposed to be in Kashmir but when they take off in helicopters they have a chase through mountains in New Zealand and when they crash those helicopters they crash them close enough to the Preikestolen in Norway that they can have a fist fight there.
Less far apart, Mission Impossible 3 has a scene where they get out of Berlin in a hurry, again with helicopters and have a chase scene through a wind farm which is actually in California.
posted by biffa at 11:29 AM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
Anyway, this thread was fun too, because i managed to take this bus exactly once lol.
was it like the way it is in the movie
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:51 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
was it like the way it is in the movie
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:51 AM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Can you imagine how difficult it would be to operate a bus in the Marvel Universe? Fights breaking out, Spider-Man catching rides, traffic disruptions….
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:14 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:14 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
favourite bit of movie geography
My favorite example of this is in Stir of Echoes. If you listen to the director's commentary, he explains that while all the action takes place on this one street, one of the houses "on this street" is actually in a different neighborhood. (He wanted this particular house because of the big front porch.) The director's commentary describes how through props and camera work, they made it appear that Big Porch House was part of the main street. It's very cleverly done and makes the story more compact and intimate.
posted by SPrintF at 12:18 PM on November 15, 2021
My favorite example of this is in Stir of Echoes. If you listen to the director's commentary, he explains that while all the action takes place on this one street, one of the houses "on this street" is actually in a different neighborhood. (He wanted this particular house because of the big front porch.) The director's commentary describes how through props and camera work, they made it appear that Big Porch House was part of the main street. It's very cleverly done and makes the story more compact and intimate.
posted by SPrintF at 12:18 PM on November 15, 2021
It's not often you see a crazy action scene in a movie and can say, "It real life this situation would have been much less dangerous." It makes me happy that real buses are much safer than action movie buses.
posted by straight at 12:36 PM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by straight at 12:36 PM on November 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
Among DC residents, the geographic fantasy in the Kevin Costner No Way Out film is legendary. That city wouldn't allow any filming in their Metro system so the train platform scenes were shot in the Baltimore subway. And then Lt. Costner exits from a non-existent (and oh-so-contentious) Georgetown station!
posted by Rash at 12:49 PM on November 15, 2021
posted by Rash at 12:49 PM on November 15, 2021
Favorite movie geography gaffe is when the Griswold's start their vacation by crossing the Mississippi going the completely wrong direction.
To be fair, Clark Griswold is presented as kind of subcompetent and could easily have plausibly ended up crossing it more than once before sorting out the right directions.
In Deep Impact, after the comet fragment crashes into the North Atlantic, we see the disaster porn scene of the tsunami racing through Manhattan, demolishing the city. It moves through south to north... save in Washington Square, where a guy sitting on the fountain gets washed away by a hundred-storey high wall of water which has snuck around behind him and stealthily approached from the north.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:38 PM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
To be fair, Clark Griswold is presented as kind of subcompetent and could easily have plausibly ended up crossing it more than once before sorting out the right directions.
In Deep Impact, after the comet fragment crashes into the North Atlantic, we see the disaster porn scene of the tsunami racing through Manhattan, demolishing the city. It moves through south to north... save in Washington Square, where a guy sitting on the fountain gets washed away by a hundred-storey high wall of water which has snuck around behind him and stealthily approached from the north.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:38 PM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
That was delightful! And what a perfect way to advocate for public transit.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:29 PM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:29 PM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
It might have been a Doris Day movie, she’s sitting in the back of a London cab and the (so obvious) rear projection is showing Big Ben through the back window. Then The Mall with Buckingham Palace in the distance, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, then Trafalgar Square again and you just want to scream at Doris to pay attention! the taxi driver is running up the fare you dozy tourist!
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:49 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:49 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Dark Knight caused me to laugh out loud when they referenced the "bridge and tunnel crowd" in what is clearly, nakedly, not even trying to hide it Chicago Gotham. And ferries? What, people are commuting by ferry to South Bend Bludhaven? Gah.
Another favorite is Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. It may shock you to learn that, in a series so relentlessly devoted to accurately portraying real-world physics, most of the film is an utter mess, especially the bit after the car crash (in Aoyama) where they take a train (very clearly an American subway car, because the Tokyo Metro refuses most any requests to allow filming) to Roppongi (there is no direct train between those places) to find safety at the guy's dad's house (there are no single family houses with garages anywhere in that area that any guy who may or may not be here with the Navy could possibly afford).
God, I love that movie.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:49 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Another favorite is Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift. It may shock you to learn that, in a series so relentlessly devoted to accurately portraying real-world physics, most of the film is an utter mess, especially the bit after the car crash (in Aoyama) where they take a train (very clearly an American subway car, because the Tokyo Metro refuses most any requests to allow filming) to Roppongi (there is no direct train between those places) to find safety at the guy's dad's house (there are no single family houses with garages anywhere in that area that any guy who may or may not be here with the Navy could possibly afford).
God, I love that movie.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:49 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Among DC residents, the geographic fantasy in the Kevin Costner No Way Out film is legendary. That city wouldn't allow any filming in their Metro system so the train platform scenes were shot in the Baltimore subway.
It's not that they don't allow filming, per se.
What’s up with Hollywood’s fake Metro stations?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:53 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
It's not that they don't allow filming, per se.
What’s up with Hollywood’s fake Metro stations?
“We reserve the right to approve or deny commercial filming requests following a review of the script,” Morgan Dye, a spokeswoman for the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, said in an e-mail. Essentially, if you can’t do it on Metro, you can’t do it on TV. That means no running, for instance, so chases like the one in the aforementioned Costner film are out (that, too, was filmed in Baltimore).Emphasis added.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:53 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
if you can’t do it on Metro, you can’t do it on TV
Imagine this being an FCC policy, and now imagine all of television being basically Jim Jarmusch films and monologues and plots, all the time.
I'd not complain, really.
posted by hippybear at 8:08 PM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Imagine this being an FCC policy, and now imagine all of television being basically Jim Jarmusch films and monologues and plots, all the time.
I'd not complain, really.
posted by hippybear at 8:08 PM on November 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
Ironically in my youth in DC one of my pals jumped off the escalator down to the platform to try and get the metro — because they had seen Kevin Costner do it.
posted by interogative mood at 8:11 PM on November 15, 2021
posted by interogative mood at 8:11 PM on November 15, 2021
is this where i confess watching the macguyver intro week after week (the bit where he slipped past the gates) was the only reason how i could make the split second decision to escape the cops who were trying to breakup a peaceful rally? pop culture is educational (i've seen it done, it must be possible)!
posted by cendawanita at 8:43 PM on November 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 8:43 PM on November 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
It's as good a place to confess that as any!
Really, the secret to that is to see the trouble happening early and leave without wanting "to see what happens next". That's always the temptation, and the peril.
posted by hippybear at 8:47 PM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
Really, the secret to that is to see the trouble happening early and leave without wanting "to see what happens next". That's always the temptation, and the peril.
posted by hippybear at 8:47 PM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
Lol indeed. That was the next year (when I had to corral a group of middle class kids* who've never been to a rally before). Managed to slip before the kettle started proper.
*Overprepared with a gas mask and a whole bag of the free salt sachets from McDonald's, but stiiilll wanted to stay on because they wanted to see what happens next.
posted by cendawanita at 8:56 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
*Overprepared with a gas mask and a whole bag of the free salt sachets from McDonald's, but stiiilll wanted to stay on because they wanted to see what happens next.
posted by cendawanita at 8:56 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
kaibutsu Vancouver Never Plays Itself
(albeit admittedly weak) counterpoint: Category:Films set in Vancouver
On brief perusal, 'Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever' and 'Once a Thief' aren't completely unknown.
'Continuum' (2012-2015) is set in Vancouver, too.
posted by porpoise at 11:23 PM on November 15, 2021
(albeit admittedly weak) counterpoint: Category:Films set in Vancouver
On brief perusal, 'Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever' and 'Once a Thief' aren't completely unknown.
'Continuum' (2012-2015) is set in Vancouver, too.
posted by porpoise at 11:23 PM on November 15, 2021
Speaking of London, in the not-very-good-at-all movie London Has Fallen: the Presidential motorcade leaves Somerset House to go to a funeral at St. Paul's...but they turn left, going in the completely wrong direction.
(There's a pretty decent burrito place right across from Charing Cross Station and next to Trafalgar Square...maybe the President was hungry.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:41 AM on November 16, 2021
(There's a pretty decent burrito place right across from Charing Cross Station and next to Trafalgar Square...maybe the President was hungry.)
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 4:41 AM on November 16, 2021
Isn't the Strand a one way system at that point? You would turn left then turn right and circle back pretty much immediately. In real life I guess the presidential motorcade would just go the other way.
posted by biffa at 5:24 AM on November 16, 2021
posted by biffa at 5:24 AM on November 16, 2021
Fair point--I'd forgotten that detail after not living there for a few years. As you say, though, a presidential motorcade can pretty much go wherever it wants.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:47 AM on November 16, 2021
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 6:47 AM on November 16, 2021
Well, London is notorious for playing the movie-watching game "You can't get there from there". There's even that gag in Paddington, where Matt Lucas takes the Brown family from Paddington Station to Ladbroke Grove (literally next door) via every tourist attraction in London (something Mr Brown points out).
posted by Grangousier at 10:46 AM on November 16, 2021
posted by Grangousier at 10:46 AM on November 16, 2021
San Francisco has been famous for its visually dramatic but geographically impossible car chases since Steve McQueen in Bullitt.
But two of my favorites are
- the nod and wink of the chase from The Dead Pool, where someone is trying to assassinate SF cop Dirty Harry by means of a remote control toy car with a bomb in it. A toy version _of_ the car from Bullitt, with fruit stands and tiny high speed slo mo hill jumps and everything. Vrrrrrrr!
- my Castro theatre viewing of Cherish, where Robin Tunney's character has broken electronic house arrest and has to get back inside her apartment before her ankle monitor notices. What started out as a big laugh when some queen in the back yelled "YES! You run, girl! Run those lil' titties off!", then turned into the whole theatre gleefully making something like roller coaster -esque noises as the path went back and forth from plausible to impossible, locals shouting "No!, Wrong Way, turn around!", "oh honey no, is that North Beach; this bitch is lost" and a final group WTF! as she finally gets home to her place. Right under the tower for the Oakland Tribune, on the other side of the Bay.
posted by bartleby at 1:11 PM on November 16, 2021 [5 favorites]
But two of my favorites are
- the nod and wink of the chase from The Dead Pool, where someone is trying to assassinate SF cop Dirty Harry by means of a remote control toy car with a bomb in it. A toy version _of_ the car from Bullitt, with fruit stands and tiny high speed slo mo hill jumps and everything. Vrrrrrrr!
- my Castro theatre viewing of Cherish, where Robin Tunney's character has broken electronic house arrest and has to get back inside her apartment before her ankle monitor notices. What started out as a big laugh when some queen in the back yelled "YES! You run, girl! Run those lil' titties off!", then turned into the whole theatre gleefully making something like roller coaster -esque noises as the path went back and forth from plausible to impossible, locals shouting "No!, Wrong Way, turn around!", "oh honey no, is that North Beach; this bitch is lost" and a final group WTF! as she finally gets home to her place. Right under the tower for the Oakland Tribune, on the other side of the Bay.
posted by bartleby at 1:11 PM on November 16, 2021 [5 favorites]
A really good exception to the geographically-impossible car rides in San Francisco, if I'm recalling correctly, is the 1970s version of the Invasion of the Body with Donald Sutherland when he and Brooke Adams drive around the Tenderloin in a great scene that captures their growing sense of paranoia that they're surrounded by zombie aliens. A nice little snapshot of the City in the late 1970s!
posted by flamk at 2:11 PM on November 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by flamk at 2:11 PM on November 16, 2021 [1 favorite]
Ironically in my youth in DC one of my pals jumped off the escalator down to the platform to try and get the metro — because they had seen Kevin Costner do it.
Well, who among us hasn't used this rationale for doing something? This is exactly how and why I ended up prosecuting criminal charges in the Kennedy assassination, bringing the Chicago mob to its knees, being adopted into the Sioux, and being seduced by Susan Sarandon.
That was a crazy year.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:47 PM on November 16, 2021 [6 favorites]
Well, who among us hasn't used this rationale for doing something? This is exactly how and why I ended up prosecuting criminal charges in the Kennedy assassination, bringing the Chicago mob to its knees, being adopted into the Sioux, and being seduced by Susan Sarandon.
That was a crazy year.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:47 PM on November 16, 2021 [6 favorites]
This just appeared on my twitter which I think pertains to this bus chase scene.
posted by hippybear at 7:40 PM on November 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 7:40 PM on November 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
I'm not sure if that's impressive or reckless.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:16 PM on November 17, 2021
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:16 PM on November 17, 2021
Well, given that the bus is not being driven but is a prop being driven by a vehicle with hydraulics painted in blue to be matted out later, it's mostly impressive.
These kinds of things are planned out to the nth degree, generally.
I just hope the cars' owners' insurance will cover the damage. Were they notified ahead of time?
posted by hippybear at 9:36 PM on November 17, 2021
These kinds of things are planned out to the nth degree, generally.
I just hope the cars' owners' insurance will cover the damage. Were they notified ahead of time?
posted by hippybear at 9:36 PM on November 17, 2021
Well, whoever took the video seemed to be prepared for this to happen. I can’t imagine it was going to be a surprise to the car owners (if indeed the cars were not owned by the production company and just being trashed for the scene).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:53 AM on November 22, 2021
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:53 AM on November 22, 2021
Y'all. This was a filmed movie scene shot on a closed street. The garbage truck was part of the movie. The cars were part of the movie. In the movie, she intentionally steered into the truck and cars to stop the out of control bus. Yes, it was filmed on a real street, but none of this was done to vehicles that were not already part of the movie.
If you haven't watch Shang Chi, you should. It's a fun movie.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:10 AM on November 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
If you haven't watch Shang Chi, you should. It's a fun movie.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:10 AM on November 22, 2021 [2 favorites]
I assume people knew that and hippybear was just joking?
posted by tavella at 8:22 AM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 8:22 AM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I can't tell!
posted by hydropsyche at 12:30 PM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by hydropsyche at 12:30 PM on November 22, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think hippybear was joking, hydropsyche was, and I agree you should watch Shang-Chi (and maybe read the recent comic, written by Gene Yang, which is good).
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:49 AM on November 23, 2021
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:49 AM on November 23, 2021
I assume people knew that and hippybear was just joking?
I guessed as much, but regular viewing of social media often leaves me uncertain as to what level of reality people are operating on, particularly as regard movie-making. I am reminded of the plaintive wails of the management of the Beverly Hills restaurant Kate Mantilini, where De Niro's and Pacino's characters have their tense face-to-face meeting in Heat. They seemed dismayed at the revelation that a scene that lasts six minutes on screen was not going to filmed in six minutes. I seem to recall an interview that told us they reckoned with cameras and lights and such, the cast and crew would be in and out in 45 minutes, maybe an hour tops.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:52 PM on November 23, 2021
I guessed as much, but regular viewing of social media often leaves me uncertain as to what level of reality people are operating on, particularly as regard movie-making. I am reminded of the plaintive wails of the management of the Beverly Hills restaurant Kate Mantilini, where De Niro's and Pacino's characters have their tense face-to-face meeting in Heat. They seemed dismayed at the revelation that a scene that lasts six minutes on screen was not going to filmed in six minutes. I seem to recall an interview that told us they reckoned with cameras and lights and such, the cast and crew would be in and out in 45 minutes, maybe an hour tops.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:52 PM on November 23, 2021
I assume people knew that and hippybear was just joking?
A sense of humor so dry I can't whistle.
posted by hippybear at 5:43 PM on November 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
A sense of humor so dry I can't whistle.
posted by hippybear at 5:43 PM on November 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
I don't think anyone thought they were wrecking random cars with the cameras rolling. I'm more concerned about the surrounding houses and, evidently, people IN those houses filming the thing out their windows.
But then it's a Hollywood stunt, so what could possibly go wrong?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:43 PM on November 23, 2021
But then it's a Hollywood stunt, so what could possibly go wrong?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:43 PM on November 23, 2021
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posted by pjenks at 9:16 PM on November 14, 2021 [2 favorites]