A Cinematic Clip Tour Of Dirty Old New York

Over at The EV Grieve, they've posted the fifth in a series of cinematic clip tours of New York from back in its less glamorous period. These were created by cinephile Jonathan Hertzberg, who is obsessed with the dirty old NYC of the late 60s, 1970s and 1980s. His latest 25 minute tour de grit is put together with a number of notable films (TAKING OF PELHAM 123, SUPERMAN, TAXI DRIVER) and some lesser known films, some of which even I couldn't guess (what is Barbra Streisand doing with a bunch of thugs cruising down the East River?!).

Some of the clips are classics, others curiosities, but the real interest is often the background or the location itself. There's one remarkable shot of 1970s Times Square that shows not only the old HoJo's (one of my favorite spots) but also a still-operating Horn & Hardart automat. And there is a great sequence of shots around the 8:00 minute mark of Jessica Lange and King Kong at the old World Trade Center, ending with Kong dead on the wide beach that used to abut the site made from the excavation of the twin towers and later developed into Battery Park City and the World Financial Center.

Make sure you stay 'til the end for an Oscar-like tribute to actors associated with NYC who are no longer with us.
Dirty Old New York aka Fun City, Part V from Jonathan Hertzberg on Vimeo.

Amazing Cast Photos For Season 2 Of AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Last fall, I kept hearing raves about Ryan Murphy's AMERICAN HORROR STORY. However, it didn't sound like something I'd be interested in as I'm not a big horror fan. But I checked it out anyway (probably because of Dylan McDermott!) and was instantly hooked. 

With its mix of real-life history (the Lindberg baby, the Black Dahlia) and fictional kinkiness (the Rubberman), it was the craziest show I had seen on television in a very long time...or quite possibly the craziest show I'd ever seen on television. But one of the most shocking things about it to me was that Ryan Murphy had revived a genre of TV that has been listed as dead for decades; the anthology series. Despite valiant attempts in the 80s to revive it with Spielberg's AMAZING STORIES and reboots of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, anthology was deemd un-doable. 

But much like he did with GLEE ((which essentially revived the also dead variety show genre), Murphy covered his tracks a bit and pretended the show was a series.  At least in the first season. That pretense seems to be over with Season 2 as the show has an entirely new setting (an instituational asylum) and new roster of characters, though Jessica Lange and a couple other cast members are returning but in utterly different roles.  The photos posted on EW's website this week give some tantalizing clues as to what's to come this year. Jessica Lange as a nun looks awesome and Joeseph Fiennes as a priest looks weirdly hot.  I can't wait for this one to air--it might even convince me to buy Hulu plus as the 10-day waiting period was killing me last fall!