• From: Indiana, USA
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Topic: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Thought experiment...

A guy learns he has to go to New York City for a couple of weeks on business. On his way home, something mysterious happens... blackout or accident or lights in the sky or something. He gets home and tells his girlfriend he has to go to New York City. And she says, "What? New York City is only in the movies."

Guy checks around. Indeed: New York City no longer appears on maps. It is considered a fictional place.

Heart-pounding action blockbuster or quirky Woody Allen movie?
The Verrazzano Parallax or Finding New York?
Matt Damon or Albert Brooks?

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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  • Registered: 2010-12-27
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Twilight Zone Episode

Protection and power are overrated. I think you are very wise to choose happiness and love. -Uncle Iroh

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  • From: Gardena, California
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

I'd be more interested in the quirky indie version, myself.

Of course, you might always have it both ways. What if the world the guy has flipped into is one that we consider fictitious? What if he lands in Metropolis (or whatever, a comic book city you make up), where they read comic books about New York and Seal Team Six? What's the life of the average guy in a world of superheroes and villains? Someone who never knows what the evil mastermind's plot is, he just has to call in the insurance claim when the hero punches Dr. Nemesis through his car.

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Do all for different sections of New York.

He goes to Greenwich Village and runs into a short Jewish man with severe neurosis who needs help questioning the existence of life and stamp collectors." Why are we here for such a finite period of time and why would we spend it finding rare editions of snoopy"

He goes to Manhattan and gets chased by a large marshmallow man and a gorilla, Aliens attack queens.
He finally runs into a mob movie in the Bronx.

Last edited by dj_bakerman (2011-06-27 16:35:18)

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

If NYC is only in the movies, what's physically there in his world? Gotham City? An active volcano? A huge bathplug?

What else is "only in the movies"?  iPhones?  Velcro?  Ejaculation?  Pizza?  Nipples on your chest where your USB ports are supposed to be?

Is the movie called "Purple Rose of Cairo 2: Recursive Boogaloo"?

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  • From: Farmington, CT
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Dorkman wrote:

What's the life of the average guy in a world of superheroes and villains? Someone who never knows what the evil mastermind's plot is, he just has to call in the insurance claim when the hero punches Dr. Nemesis through his car.

*immediately starts writing*

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

1) The Statue of Liberty looks out on open ocean.
2) Only the city of New York is gone (all five boros). New York State still exists, and therefore so does Mutual of New York Bank and New York strip steak. The New Yorker magazine is fictional, tho, as are The New York Times and Post. The Newark Yankees is a beloved baseball franchise.
3) The title is either The Verrazzano Parallax or Finding New York.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

"New York, New Yooork, a helluva town!
It's all made up in the bladders of clowns,
Who pee it all through a hole in the ground.
New York, New Yooooork,
It's a fictional toooooown!"

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  • From: Buffalo, NY
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Doctor Submarine wrote:
Dorkman wrote:

What's the life of the average guy in a world of superheroes and villains? Someone who never knows what the evil mastermind's plot is, he just has to call in the insurance claim when the hero punches Dr. Nemesis through his car.

*immediately starts writing*

Sounds like something you could set in Alan Moore's TOP TEN, about a city made completely of super heros and the cops who try and keep them in line.
(I am surprised that one hasn't been adapted into a film yet)

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  • Registered: 2010-05-21
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

So do Newark and Jersey City take over as massive cities in this world, or is it like real life where outside New York there are just small pockets of civilization trying to scrape by?


- Branco

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Newark is a still a shit-hole. They get the Yankees; that's it.

The Giants, Mets, and Knicks are fictional. Nerds think the "baseball Giants" and "football Giants" were the result of a continuity goof on a popular television show.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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  • From: Red Deer, AB
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Dorkman wrote:

What's the life of the average guy in a world of superheroes and villains? Someone who never knows what the evil mastermind's plot is, he just has to call in the insurance claim when the hero punches Dr. Nemesis through his car.

Weird, I had literally that exact same idea not even a week ago.

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  • From: Seattle, WA
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

maul2 wrote:
Dorkman wrote:

What's the life of the average guy in a world of superheroes and villains? Someone who never knows what the evil mastermind's plot is, he just has to call in the insurance claim when the hero punches Dr. Nemesis through his car.

Weird, I had literally that exact same idea not even a week ago.

Cloverfield or War of the Worlds, but for a story with superheroes/villains? I'm in.

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Doctor Submarine wrote:
Dorkman wrote:

What's the life of the average guy in a world of superheroes and villains? Someone who never knows what the evil mastermind's plot is, he just has to call in the insurance claim when the hero punches Dr. Nemesis through his car.

*immediately starts writing*

There's a comic called "Powers". If you haven't read it, do so. It's about a couple of detectives who don't have powers who are in charge of dealing with powers-related homicides. I don't even like superhero comics, but I pick that one up when the trades come out cause the writing is so awesome. They're gearing up to shoot a pilot for the FX network. It will be the best show ever.

The book isn't set in any particular universe, so there aren't any familiar superheroes in it and they use that to their advantage. It's probably the most clever take on super powers I've ever seen.

I would vote for a non-blockbuster flick for the suggested story, tho Woody Allen wouldn't be my first choice. Maybe Duncan Jones or Oliver Hirschbiegel. Also, someone give Oliver Hirschbiegel a decent script so he can make a flick over here and get rich and famous and stuff, please. Thanks.

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

Squiggly_P wrote:

...someone give Oliver Hirschbiegel a decent script so he can make a flick over here and get rich and famous and stuff, please. Thanks.

YES!  I saw DAS EXPERIMENT at an art-house theater in Dublin, and the crowd was so captivated that the fire alarm went off near the climax and not a single person moved from their seat.  When the manager came in a few minutes later to reassure us that it was just a false alarm, he was quickly shushed.


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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

I'm not familiar with Hirschbiegel, but I'm on record as saying I actually don't like Woody Allen movies. Maybe Rian Johnson, Wes Anderson, Spike Jonze, or Michel Gondry would be better choices. I was just thinking of Allen's new Midnight in Paris when I thought of it.

It's interesting that so far this sounds like a dreamy indie comedy satire and nobody so far has said it should be a loud, freak-out action movie. Altho, I'll note that Squiggly's idea that it be a non-blockbuster directed by Duncan Jones is interesting, since he just did Source Code, one of the other movies I was thinking of when the idea popped into my head.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

I'm not sure Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry are actually good directors.  They both got came out of the gate strong (Being John Malkovich/Human Nature), then got hooked up with AMAZING scripts (Adaptation/Eternal Sunshine), but haven't really done anything great since (Science of Sleep/Be Kind Rewind/Where the Wild Things Are/Green Hornet).

Their music videos are great, but their features average out to pretty mediocre.


- Branco

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Re: Action blockbuster or Woody Allen movie?

So, if it's a dreamy, quirky comedy, it's obviously going to be a satire of modern life, NYC's status in the world, and even storytelling itself. The idea that a major city can disappear in a moment creates an existential crisis in the main character that makes him question reality and his place in the universe.

When Lyle—we'll call him Lyle—learns that NYC is apparently no longer real, he naturally becomes distraught, which frightens his girlfriend, Brenda. He talks to an astronomer about the—let's say—solar flare incident and to a comic book shop manager about Metropolis, Gotham, and NYC. He confides in his friend Dall and makes contact on the Internet with others who believe in NYC. They're tempted to believe that, rather than their location making them shielded from the solar flare, they were actually more affected than others, and NYC really is just a metropolitan version of "Anytown, USA".

Does Lyle eventually go back and discover NYC right where it's supposed to be? Does he find true love with another? Does he convince Brenda and then bring her to see NYC? Does the power of love bring NYC back or another solar flare? Or is NYC fictional after all?

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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