Oh, The Places (From Movies) You'll Go!

Did you know that non-superhero movies film things in real locations? You can go there and take pictures and everything.

If you’re reading this, it’s too late. I’m in Prague or Vienna.

I guess it depends on when you open the email or click the link, but if it’s still early March when you’re viewing this, I’m most likely in Europe. Anyway, like the insane person that I am, I’m writing this weeks in advance, so that you still get 600-1,000 words from me this week on all things movies.

The plan for Prague was simple. Go to wherever Anthony Bourdain went, and go to any bar that had absinthe in its name. There was one thing that I needed to do in Vienna—other than enjoying myself, of course—and that’s to make sure to see some of the sights from Before Sunrise, a sumptuous romantic drama starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as two world-travelers that spend a day together wandering around Vienna. I wrote a comprehensive paper about the Before trilogy’s cinematography in college, so you can say that I’m a tad obsessed.

Luckily, the main Before Sunrise hot spots aren’t too off the beaten path. It shouldn’t be anything like that one time in California when I made my family drive hours to the bridge in Anchorman where Ron Burgundy punts Baxter the dog into the water below. That certainly was a decision. Which I’d make again!

These travel plans are great for two reasons. 1. I get to travel. That one’s easy. 2. I have a topic to write about for Aerial Shot.

Let’s discuss a few of the coolest places to travel to from the movies. Obviously, there are a lot more than what’s below, but these are the first ones I thought of. If I didn’t put a movie that you think I should’ve put on here, it’s because I hate that movie.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a perfect comedy, yes, but do you know what it also is? A perfect tourism ad for the Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu, Hawaii. Every filming location looks better than the last and the hotel itself gets top billing along with Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Russell Brand. Segel’s a genius for writing this and finding a way to get paid to hang out with Mila Kunis in Hawaii.

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The Grand Budapest Hotel may not actually exist—we can dream—but many of the references and interior shots can be found across Europe, specifically in Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. Look at that above shot of the Palace Bristol Hotel and try to convince me that you couldn’t confuse it with the main abode of Wes Anderson’s best film. Also, Pfunds Molkerei in Dresden, Germany seems like the bakery to try as the 19th-century creamery is what led to Mendl’s.

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I’ve been to Italy (Venice, Florence & Rome) but Call Me By Your Name made me wish that I traveled to less touristy locations. What’s better than a small Italian villa with “patinated finishes, high ceilings and opulent architecture”? This movie is great as a love story, but it’s just as good as a depiction of the lush life of summer abroad. The town in the movie is about an hour outside of Milan in a place called Crema, and I for one wish I could bike around, play some piano and eat local Italian food for months on end.

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Perhaps the biggest draw of Mamma Mia! aside from the ABBA jams and watching Meryl Streep try to sing is the simple fact that nothing looks better than Greece. This musical is filmed on the island of Skopelos and researching the restaurants there is making me salivate. I mean, look at that water. It’s so blue. I don’t think it’s legal for water to be so blue. The Hudson River that borders Manhattan looks exactly like that except the opposite.

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I somehow hadn’t seen all of Sophia Coppola’s Lost in Translation until early 2021, and although I had already wanted to go to Japan, this movie merely exacerbated those feelings. Coppola somehow shoots Japan as both an exhausting horror and the most beautiful place in the world depending on how the film’s protagonists are feeling, and she even allows the hectic qualities of Tokyo to look beautiful.

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It Follows is actually just a terrifying documentary about living in Detroit.

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Where to Sit in a Movie Theater

This is something I think about a lot. We’ve already discussed why I don’t love eating, especially full meals, in a movie theater. It’s too loud, people get in the way, it’s a gateway drug to talking during the screening. Along with these slightly-OCD opinions, I also have some takes on where to sit to get the best bang for your buck.

Let’s say there are 15 rows, I believe you should try to find a seat in the sixth or seventh row. You’re in front of the majority of people so there are fewer distractions and you can lean back a bit for maximum comfort. Obviously, I’m not including recliners, which are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Those are a different beast altogether.

However, let’s say you’re in the sixth or seventh row, I have a personal preference to go to the right a little bit as my neck has more mobility to the left than the right. Why exactly? I don’t know. I’m not a chiropractor.

What I really don’t like is sitting all the way in the front or all the way in the back. This seems obvious, but sometimes that’s not always the case. Why would you want to be miles from the screen? I think my contacts are pretty good, but it’s still a nuisance. I want to be enveloped by the movie. I want to forget everything for two hours. The more needless distance between the screen and me, the worse off I am.

And that’s how I feel about that. Thank you for your time.