Virtual Getaways
Travel via the Movies
Some people travel during the holidays and some just stay home. You might be spending time by yourself, or you might be trapped in a household of relatives. Either way, a cinematic trip is good for when an attack of cabin fever breaks out. Some movies feature so much of a specific city, watching them is like taking a little virtual vacation right from the comfort of your own house.
New York is in so many movies, it probably has its own agent. For gritty New York, try "Taxi Driver" or "The Warriors." Terry Gilliam's "The Fisher King" is set there, and so is the movie musical version of "The Wiz" with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
Los Angeles has had many movie roles from dramatic (LA Confidential) to comedic (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) and it even does mysterious character parts (David Lynch's Mulholland Drive) from time to time.
Nicholas Cage's movie "National Treasure" was like taking a super-fast budget tour of historic hot spots from Washington DC to Philadelphia to New York. You can also see Philadelphia in the movies of M. Night Shyamalan. He makes most of his movies take place near there, as that's where he grew up.
Can you name three movies that all will show you parts of Chicago? You can check out bits of the Windy City in "The Blues Brothers," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and the Harrison Ford thriller "The Fugitive."
For San Francisco, you can try the classic Steve McQueen action piece "Bullitt" or go with the more family-friendly "Mrs. Doubtfire."
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