Patrick Replies – The Megacities Episode

0:00 Hello and welcome to another episode of Patrick Replies, the show where I,

0:05 Patrick Williams, reply to your comments and questions about the latest video.

0:10 We are still, you know, five or 6 months behind on these.

0:14 So, we are talking about a video from December of last year,

0:19 the insane exaggerated cities of '90s cinema video,

0:24 which originally was going to be called like something about miniature cities,

0:28 which led some people to assume that it was going to be about like, you know,

0:33 kaiju movies and like small model cities

0:36 getting like stomped on, which it was not.

0:39 Um, but yeah, it's mostly about like Gotham City

0:43 and Babe Pig in the City and stuff like that.

0:46 You've you've watched the video and you know what it is.

0:49 We are going to dive right in.

0:50 There isn't really anything to do in this intro.

0:53 No housekeeping.

0:54 We're going to look at the comments pulled from the YouTube

0:56 comment section by Elliot Gammons and let's see what he selected.

1:03 Okay, our first comment comes from DJ Sh 1984 who says,

1:08 "Was there just something in the water in Hollywood?" Yes, cocaine.

1:12 Now, this is obviously a joke,

1:14 but like to to to take it too seriously for a second.

1:17 This will never happen, but I would love like a book about

1:21 the history of the influence of cocaine on American cinema.

1:28 Just like when did when did cocaine start to become a thing in Hollywood?

1:32 cuz we all joke about like, oh right,

1:33 in Hollywood everyone's on coke all the time, but like at what point can you

1:37 start charting the influence of cocaine on movies?

1:42 Obviously like the8s are what we we point to, you know,

1:46 Don Simpson and films that he was uh involved with.

1:50 Like for instance, in terms of like like '9s movies,

1:53 like I I do not chalk like the Batman movies up

1:56 to like Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher doing a bunch of cocaine.

2:00 like the way those movies look is just a result of their their general,

2:04 you know, vibes and aesthetics and and and interests and and that kind of thing.

2:08 I have always been fascinated by just when when artists,

2:12 whether musicians or filmmakers, have like a Coke era or have like, you know,

2:17 their their works that are like influenced by them getting like deep

2:20 into Coke and then like hopefully later like pulling themselves out of it.

2:24 But yeah, the last thing I'll say about this is that if if

2:27 in fact all of these crazy cities in 90s movies were the product of cocaine.

2:33 Maybe maybe we need more cocaine in film making.

2:37 I've been on this comment for too long.

2:38 Let's move on.

2:39 J Hank Ed Lion, four names,

2:42 says Babe Pig in the City should have been in Gotham.

2:46 The tagline would have been got a ham.

2:49 This used to be a country.

2:51 Okay, first of all, good pig pun.

2:53 Second of all, I don't know what there is to reply to here.

2:56 This used to be a country.

2:57 I think we should just be happy that we got Babe Pig in the City at all.

3:00 That like a Hollywood studio agreed to greenlight that movie cuz it's insane.

3:07 And yes, I I in regards to the this used to be a country thing,

3:10 I know people in the comments are going to be like,

3:11 "Well, actually, it was an Australian film." Yes, I'm aware.

3:14 I'm aware.

3:15 Some of these I don't know how to respond to.

3:17 I don't I don't know if they need a response other

3:18 than like you click like on it and chuckle a little bit.

3:21 But let's move on.

3:22 Aaron Boro says, "Honestly,

3:24 really surprised you didn't mention Megalopouloolis at all.

3:27 It kind of feels like a grand return to this type of mega city aesthetic

3:31 to the point of literally being named

3:33 Megalopouloolis." I can actually respond to this one.

3:35 So, here's why I didn't mention Megalopouloolis.

3:38 Because the city in that movie isn't very interesting.

3:40 I had kind of hoped that it would be some big crazy like 90s style city,

3:47 but a lot of it is just filmed on location in Atlanta

3:51 and it's meant to to mostly look like presentday New York City.

3:56 Like like really like look, you can say a lot of things about that movie,

3:59 but I one complaint that I have is that I I

4:04 wish there was more done with the design of the city.

4:07 There's like a a handful of striking images,

4:10 but like, you know, there's nothing like that.

4:13 It's called Megalopouloolis,

4:14 which I think is the most interesting thing about the city in that movie.

4:18 That's all.

4:19 I mean, here, feel free to tell me that I'm wrong.

4:21 Okay.

4:22 Joshua Kalenberg says, "Your train videos were some of my favorites of yours.

4:26 Some of us really appreciated them.

4:28 Sad they didn't do well." Okay, this is now taking me back in time.

4:32 the the cities video was the first video where I acknowledged

4:38 the failure of the train videos and made it like a running bit.

4:42 I feel like now at this point when I'm shooting this in May,

4:46 people have heard me talk about the the underperformance

4:50 of the train videos so much whether in the regular videos,

4:53 whether in the past two replies videos which were about the trains.

4:58 Uh, and so people are probably sick

4:59 of me talking about the train videos underperforming,

5:02 but I will just say thank you to everyone who

5:04 watched the train videos and and especially those of you who,

5:08 you know, like took the time to tell me that you that you enjoyed them.

5:12 I will say I just got back from the Can Film Festival and I met

5:16 like multiple fans there who told me in person that they loved the train videos.

5:22 So I I really love how often people bring those up.

5:26 And hey, who knows?

5:27 Maybe maybe like 2 years from now they will find

5:31 their audience and suddenly like have this huge surge in views.

5:36 Probably not.

5:36 I will say I am not I am not like bitter about them underperforming.

5:42 I'm fine with it.

5:43 I just think it's funny to to put it in the videos as if I am like,

5:48 you know, still like haunted by those videos failing.

5:51 Anyway, let's move on.

5:52 Storm Nor Storm and Norman I I got it finally.

5:57 Uh says, "It is worth mentioning that the miniatures used

6:00 for the city in the Hudsucker proxy were continually reused for other films.

6:04 Batman Returns, The Shadow, Godzilla: The Fifth Element, Independence Day.

6:08 I actually own a piece of one

6:09 of those buildings left over from its destruction in Godzilla.

6:13 Yes, this is true.

6:14 and and really something that I kept trying

6:17 to find a way to mention in the video,

6:20 but just couldn't really find a place for it cuz it was

6:23 just kind of like a a tangent that was like a fun anecdote.

6:26 But yeah, when they would build these miniature buildings,

6:29 because they're miniature buildings, but they were still pretty big.

6:32 Like like if you look at the photos

6:33 of them shooting the Huducker proxy or Batman or anything,

6:37 the buildings are still like taller than a person.

6:40 They're they're big.

6:42 Um, yeah, they would store them and then

6:44 reuse them for for other movies because, as we talked about in the video,

6:47 there were a lot of movies in the '9s that needed miniatures of cities,

6:51 usually New York looking cities.

6:53 And yeah, the Hudsucker ones in particular had like the longest life.

6:58 Those were used in so many other things cuz they look so good.

7:01 And I will say I am very jealous of you

7:04 owning a piece of one from its destruction in Godzilla.

7:07 I would, again, I I live in a New York apartment.

7:10 I don't know where I would put this.

7:13 I don't have room for it here, but man,

7:15 I would love a piece of one of those buildings.

7:18 They're so cool.

7:19 The atl says, "Here is a '90s film with an insane

7:23 city in it that you might not have considered.

7:25 Water World." Yeah.

7:27 Towards the end of the film,

7:28 the mariner takes Helen to a ruined underwater city.

7:32 It's all done with miniatures and is in fact modeled off of Denver, Colorado.

7:44 So, I just looked up this channel, The ATL,

7:47 and as I suspected, this is an allwater world YouTube channel.

7:52 The description is The ATL, your home for Waterworld fandom.

7:56 I just want to say I love that there

7:57 is a whole channel dedicated to Waterworld fandom.

8:01 A movie that was not really a hit when it

8:02 came out that you might not think has a fandom,

8:05 but here is proof that everything has a fandom.

8:09 I'm going to admit I have not seen Waterworld since I was a kid.

8:13 I think in like the late '9s, I don't remember most of it very well,

8:17 and I fully forgot about the underwater city.

8:22 And so, look, I guess I've got to rewatch Water World

8:25 and maybe then I will become a member of the Waterworld fandom.

8:30 Anything's possible.

8:31 TXS I I MK.

8:34 I don't know what that's supposed to be.

8:36 Anyway, says, "How can you not mention Akira?

8:39 Akira's Neotokyo has one of my favorite mega cities, and honestly,

8:43 visiting Tokyo is probably the closest anyone can get to being in Bladeunner."

8:48 That is that is a totally fair question that I'm sure many people had.

8:51 I I mean 30 people liked that comment.

8:53 Why didn't I talk about Akira?

8:56 Akira is a movie that I love.

8:58 I've loved for many years.

8:59 I recently got the 4K steelbook of it.

9:02 And yes, it has one of the greatest

9:04 like futuristic sci-fi mega cities in cinema history.

9:08 Why didn't I talk about Neo Tokyo?

9:11 For a long time in the development of this video, I was planning on it.

9:14 it was like on my list of of cities to talk about and finally I

9:19 just decided that getting into animation just opened up too big a can of worms.

9:26 Uh it was it's just like there are especially like

9:28 in the 80s and 90s so many anime mega cities

9:33 whether Neo Tokyo the one in Ghost in the Shell

9:37 even things like do you remember that show the big

9:39 O the one that was like kind of Batman

9:42 except if Batman was like a guy who like piloted

9:45 a giant robot and then like even American animation getting

9:48 into like Batman the animated series and stuff like that.

9:50 And actually, if we're talking about anime movies,

9:53 I think the bigger omission than Akira is Metropolis,

9:58 which was written by Kasahiro Otomo, you know, inspired by the Tazuka manga.

10:03 Um, it came out in I think like 2000,

10:06 like I think I think around then, you know, it's based on a manga.

10:09 It's also inspired to some extent by the Fritz Lang movie.

10:12 And in that movie, the city and the ziggurat at the center

10:16 of it plays an even bigger role than the city in Akira.

10:19 Yeah.

10:19 I ju just like all stuff that I wanted to talk about,

10:23 it was just like that would be its own video, you know, animated mega cities.

10:27 And so I'm sorry that I didn't talk about them,

10:30 but just know that it hurt me as well to leave them out.

10:33 Catholic samurai.

10:35 Interesting.

10:36 Says Nobles being present in the theater on the opening night

10:40 for Metropolis not only implies he was alive in the 1920s,

10:44 but also that he was German.

10:46 And Nobles's compilation of people being

10:48 thrown off of buildings includes Klesmir music.

10:51 Perhaps it was right of Patrick to not

10:54 ask too many questions about Nobles's lore.

10:57 Look, Nobles's backstory is a mystery to many of us.

11:00 I'm not going to comment on it right now,

11:02 but all I'll say is feel free to speculate as much as you want.

11:07 Cody Walton, 1979 says,

11:09 "Roocop is a much more accurate Detroit movie than The Crow." True,

11:13 but ironic considering Robocop was famously shot on location in Dallas

11:17 and prominently featured both Reunion Tower

11:19 and Dallas's brutalist city hall building.

11:21 I believe you, but I have never been to Dallas

11:24 and don't know anything about the architecture of that city.

11:27 I've also never been to Detroit.

11:29 So really, I shouldn't be saying what is an accurate Detroit

11:31 movie and what isn't because I don't know anything about that city.

11:36 Should I visit Detroit or Dallas?

11:38 Like not to make videos, just like to, you know, visit and and hang out.

11:42 I don't know.

11:42 Tell me in the comments.

11:44 El Catala Music, Ecatala Music, I don't know.

11:48 says, "I imagine it was not mentioned for Time/not Super Central,

11:52 but 1999's superhero parody Mystery Man actually

11:56 went to great lengths to replicate the feel

11:58 of a Batman like Mega City being rather expensive to make for a comedy.

12:03 Maybe the fact that it flopped at the time also

12:05 contributed to ending the trend of mega cities in films." So,

12:09 I saw Mystery Men as a kid.

12:11 Obviously, I would watch any superhero related thing as a kid

12:16 because there wasn't a lot of it back then.

12:18 I have not seen Mystery Men since 1999.

12:23 And yeah, I briefly considered re-watching it for this video and then just,

12:29 you know, eventually I was like, I I got to draw the line somewhere.

12:32 So, apologies to Mystery Men.

12:34 I will say I don't think Mystery Men Flopping

12:38 really had anything to do with ending this trend.

12:41 I just don't think that movie had a big enough influence.

12:44 I think it was really what I talked about in the video.

12:47 You know, mostly Batman and Robin flopping and just

12:50 kind of like a backlash against that aesthetic and also,

12:54 you know, Dark City underperformed, Babe Pig the City flopped.

12:57 All of these things were like flopping around the same time.

13:00 And so I don't think Mystery Men really had much of an impact

13:04 in any way other than giving the world Allstar by Smashmouth,

13:08 which lest we forget debuted in Mystery Men 2 years before Shrek.

13:13 Shrek gets all the credit and it did none of the work.

13:17 Oh, and there's more to the comment.

13:18 Edit also minor mention for Predator 2,

13:20 which although mostly filmed on location in Los Angeles,

13:23 still had its camera work do a lot to emphasize verticality.

13:27 You know, I'm embarrassed to admit this in this video.

13:30 I still have never seen Predator 2.

13:32 I should fix that very soon.

13:35 I really should.

13:36 Yeah, maybe this week.

13:37 I don't know.

13:37 Don't don't don't check back in.

13:39 I'll watch Predator 2 soon.

13:41 Geology Johnson, good name.

13:44 Says Ridley Scott is from my home of Cleveland T-side in Northeast UK.

13:49 There's a Cleveland in the UK, huh?

13:52 He based a lot of the visuals of the Nostromo in Alien

13:55 and the city in Bladeunner on the heavy industry of our home.

13:59 Search T-side industry at night and you will see how closely they translate.

14:05 Maybe because of this and the fact that we

14:07 have a beautifully bleak almost alien post-industrial coastline and lots

14:11 of old Gothic ruins is probably why I've always

14:13 been so drawn to these kinds of movie cities.

14:16 Same with the 200 AD mega cities and the Warhammer 40k Hive cities.

14:20 Excellent episode.

14:21 I enjoyed it while eating my Christmas brunch.

14:24 Also, I thought the train episodes were rad and I'm not even that into trains.

14:28 Hell yeah.

14:29 Love to hear that.

14:30 Yeah, I've never been to that part of the UK where Ridley Scott is from.

14:34 I I I've heard about like the the very industrial landscapes there,

14:39 like having an influence on some of his work,

14:41 but I've never really like looked at pictures of them.

14:44 Have people done video essays or written

14:46 extensively about the influence of like the UK

14:50 industrial coastline and stuff like that on just

14:53 on the city's weather in like science fiction,

14:56 you know, 2008 AD, Judge Dread and stuff like that?

15:00 That does seem interesting and I've never really delved into it,

15:03 but yeah, that's something for someone else to make.

15:05 But, uh, someone does, uh, I will watch slashread it, but also I I want photos.

15:10 I want photographic evidence to see the connections.

15:14 Tim O'Hare says, "Patrick, your train video was great.

15:18 People didn't appreciate Citizen Cane either

15:20 when it was first released." Thank you.

15:23 I really I really will never get sick of people praising the train videos.

15:26 I will say Citizen Kane did win an Oscar for its

15:30 screenplay and uh the train episodes did not win any awards.

15:35 They were snubbed by the Webbies.

15:37 Do the webbies give out awards for like individual videos?

15:42 I don't know.

15:42 I don't know.

15:43 I'm never going to win one.

15:44 Art Cub says, "I have high hopes for Gun Superman movie.

15:48 That Lex Skyscraper looks dumb and I adore it.

15:51 I also have high hopes for James Gun Superman.

15:54 Looking forward to it.

15:55 Really hope it's great.

15:57 And yeah, I love that Lex Tower or whatever it's called here is

16:02 a a big ridiculous building that looks like it's out of the comics." Good.

16:07 Yeah, we don't need any more boring building.

16:09 Like remember in Man of Steel when the Daily Planet doesn't

16:12 even have like the big the big like globe on top?

16:16 What are you doing?

16:17 Why wouldn't you put that in there?

16:18 Ridiculous.

16:19 Carl Carlos says, "A good counterpoint

16:22 to your argument that Hollywood lost interest

16:24 in miniature city sets after the '90s

16:26 is Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films.

16:29 I really wanted to shout out the awesome work did there.

16:32 Great video as always, Patrick.

16:34 I also loved your train video.

16:36 Everyone is mentioning the train videos.

16:38 So, look, as someone who back in the early 2000s,

16:42 every year got the Lord of the Rings extended edition four dis DVD set,

16:48 would spend Christmas break just watching

16:50 every single making of documentary on there.

16:52 I am very wellversed in the miniatures that Weda

16:55 did for the Lord of the Rings movies.

16:58 And and yeah, as much as we talk about like,

17:00 you know, the like the 21st century being like,

17:03 you know, the the decline of practical

17:05 effects and the rise of everything being CGI,

17:08 in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and in the Star Wars prequel trilogy,

17:12 which everyone thinks of being like all CGI all the time,

17:16 both of those had really extensive miniatures for the locations.

17:21 Like you look at the miniatures for like Mustafar in Revenge of the Sith,

17:26 Argianosis in Attack of the Clones are like elements of of Coruscant,

17:31 the pod racing track in Phantom Menace,

17:33 incredible miniatures, and then obviously like every tower,

17:36 every structure in Lord of the Rings like Minister Terth and all all that stuff.

17:41 Miniatures are still used in movies.

17:42 There have been many like great uses of miniatures in the past 25 years.

17:47 They're just, you know, for a different thing.

17:49 So, I didn't get into them in the video.

17:52 Awesome bot says, "While Burton's Gotham is amazing in its

17:56 own right and evidently more relevant to the topic at hand,

17:58 I think most people actually think of Batman the animated

18:01 series Dark Deco Cityscape when they think of Gotham,

18:05 even if they don't realize it.

18:06 It's just more ingrained into popular culture through references and such.

18:11 This is something that really can't be

18:13 proven either way and we could debate forever.

18:16 I will just say that while I think Batman

18:19 the animated series is the best version of Batman

18:23 and that world that has ever been done

18:26 in in the comics in in live action in anything.

18:29 That's that is that is the absolute peak of Batman and of Gotham.

18:34 I I just fundamentally think that the giant

18:37 blockbuster liveaction movies are always going to reach

18:42 a wider audience than a Saturday morning

18:44 cartoon that is like aimed mostly at kids.

18:47 So while for you and me the animated series is

18:51 the Gotham that like you know lives most prominently in our minds,

18:56 I think for the majority of people the one in like

19:01 the 89 movie is probably the the first one they think of.

19:05 Reiniac says Poor Things feels like the closest thing to this in modern times.

19:12 Yeah, I I mean Poor Things really struck me

19:15 as having like a really big Jean Pierre Jane influence.

19:19 Obviously, you know,

19:19 he did like City of Lost Children and Delicatess in the '90s.

19:24 I rewatched City of Lost Children for this video

19:27 and was then surprised how few miniatures it ended up having,

19:33 so I didn't really talk about it in the video.

19:36 Um, it does have like huge like like amazing uh like

19:40 sound stage sets of the city exteriors and that's what Poor Things

19:45 reminded me the most of all these just like constructed like artificial

19:48 cities but mostly being done with like sets as opposed to miniatures.

19:53 But yeah, I was really happy to see that in Poor Things because I just I

19:57 I miss I miss that like you know

20:00 European like like theatrical city aesthetic of the '90s.

20:04 And yeah, I wouldn't have guessed that Yorgos Lanos would be the guy

20:07 to bring back like the vibe of 90s June, but there we are.

20:11 Shizu Wolf says, "My theory about your we cannot escape the train videos.

20:18 My theory about your train videos is either because most

20:21 of your viewers are from America and such public transportation is

20:25 pretty niche or the algorithm is owned by General Motors

20:28 and it thought you were trying to promote trains over cars." Yeah,

20:32 I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

20:34 General Motors and the American auto industry

20:36 is trying to keep the train videos down.

20:39 They don't want people to see them.

20:40 Those videos flopping was definitely not because I miscalculated

20:44 the titles and thumbnails and didn't package them well.

20:48 Definitely not that.

20:49 Definitely not my fault.

20:50 Let's blame the system.

20:52 James Lner says Mortal Engines should have been in this video.

20:56 It's literally a movie about mega cities on wheels.

21:00 Traction Cities.

21:02 Uh, yeah, Immortal Engines Wild Movie.

21:05 If you haven't seen it back in 2020,

21:07 I talked about that movie in the Gonzo Blockbusters

21:10 video because it is it is indeed a Gonzo blockbuster.

21:13 And yeah, big giant cities on wheels.

21:16 Pretty crazy.

21:17 I can't talk about every city in in every movie ever.

21:20 Uh, that one came out like 20 years after the ones that But yeah,

21:25 I didn't talk about it in this video because

21:27 I just don't think it would have added much.

21:29 The cities were all done with CGI, not miniatures.

21:33 You know, it was a movie that had some crazy cities,

21:35 but also like I can't mention every city in every movie ever.

21:38 So, yeah, I'm sorry that I did not talk about Mortal Engines,

21:41 but I have no regrets.

21:42 Mr.

21:44 Gagi says, "I hope you guys read this.

21:47 Luke Basson said in a Reddit AMA that New

21:50 York in the Fifth Element has actually been built down,

21:53 as in they dug the soil up to gain more land,

21:56 more height." at the 30 minute mark exactly.

21:59 You can see the Brooklyn Bridge in the background is very high up.

22:03 Like they added struts below it.

22:05 Makes sense.

22:06 This is an incredible detail and totally missable.

22:09 That is really cool.

22:11 And I absolutely never noticed that detail at all.

22:14 I'm I'm so sorry to apply realism to The Fifth Element,

22:17 which you should not do because that that movie

22:19 doesn't care about realism and that it doesn't matter.

22:22 the idea of like digging down to like like like build under

22:27 the ground or like like lower the level of the ground in New York.

22:32 I mean, it's a crazy idea in general, but also Manhattan is an island.

22:35 So, if they just like dug down and like tried to lower all the ground,

22:39 it would just flood.

22:41 Okay, look, it does it doesn't matter.

22:42 It's a movie, but I like I don't know.

22:43 I would love to see more of the like the designs about like like

22:48 like this world that they were creating cuz I'm just like I don't know.

22:50 Maybe they thought through how it would actually work.

22:53 Look, this is why we need way more like making of documentaries on Blu-rays

22:57 because I want like a 2-hour documentary

23:00 about the New York of the Fifth Element.

23:03 Like, come on, guys.

23:05 Okay, long comment.

23:07 I'm not going to read this entire comment cuz it's really,

23:09 really long, but I will summarize it.

23:11 Okay, so this comment is in regards to the part where I talk a bit about fascist

23:15 architecture and how it is designed to make

23:18 people looking up at it feel small and insignificant.

23:22 And what Joshua here is arguing is that it is okay to accept that really,

23:28 you know, in the grand scheme of things,

23:30 all of us are pretty small and insignificant and will not, you know,

23:34 end up in the history books and that it's okay to just,

23:37 you know, be aed by the vastness of the world and space and, you know,

23:42 and man-made structures and to accept that that we

23:45 as individuals are not the center of the universe,

23:47 which I can't really argue with.

23:51 This is a very philosophical comment that raises

23:53 big philosophical ideas as in, you know, h how do we look at ourselves?

23:58 Is it better to accept that that really our lives are are

24:02 ultimately fairly meaningless and that we don't really matter and that the world

24:06 will move on without us as opposed to needing to feel like like

24:10 we are the main characters essentially and that we are powerful and important?

24:15 You know, I don't know.

24:16 I'm shooting this at 10:00 a.m.

24:18 in the morning.

24:19 These are conversations to have like I don't know late at night

24:23 when you've had a bunch of drinks and you're sitting there with friends.

24:26 I'm I'm not equipped to ponder this right now while in front of a camera.

24:31 But for all of you, you can read the comments.

24:33 You can you can debate it in the comments

24:36 section and I hope you all have fun with that.

24:38 And thank you Joshua for the long and thoughtful comment.

24:42 And also I am not an expert on fascist architecture.

24:45 I was just like, you know,

24:46 pulling some quotes in from, you know, from other sources.

24:50 And so, like, look, let's let's also let like, you know,

24:53 the the art historians and like architecture students discuss this.

24:58 Zach Bob says, "Oh man,

25:00 I've never been on the same page as you with anything as much as this.

25:04 I genuinely hate how Nolan portrayed Gotham in his Dark Knight trilogy.

25:08 And when I even heard Reeves was shooting in Liverpool for his Batman movies,

25:12 I knew I was going to eat good.

25:14 I'm really hoping Guns DC universe leans

25:17 into these stylized cities with personality of the '90s.

25:20 To me, Batman and Superman just do not work in regular ass boring cities.

25:25 You need a Batman to fight crime in a city

25:27 where buildings are so tall and ornate and the streets

25:30 are so buried under overpasses and bridges and tracks that crime

25:33 can hide anywhere and be completely inaccessible to the cops.

25:36 I'm generally with you here.

25:38 Although although I don't hate how Nolan portrayed Gotham in the Batman movies,

25:42 I think especially in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight,

25:46 it works for those movies.

25:48 It's not my ideal Gotham.

25:50 See my Nebula bonus video where I rank all the Gothams

25:53 in the Batman movies uh for more thoughts on that.

25:56 But yeah, like Batman,

25:57 you can get away with it because he is a nons superpowered character

26:01 and obviously in those movies there are no other super beings in the world.

26:06 It's just Batman and his supporting cast.

26:09 But yeah, if you're doing a DC universe

26:11 that's like populated by lots of of like crazy,

26:15 you know, superpowered characters in colorful costumes,

26:18 why would you just use like regular boring ass cities?

26:21 Have some imagination.

26:23 I'm really hoping that as Gun's DC universe expands,

26:27 we get to see some cool exciting locations.

26:31 Jay Strekert says, "Maybe this is a bizarre thing to ask,

26:36 but did 9/11 play a role in the decline of the mega city on film?

26:41 Did the site of the World Trade Center burning mean that portraying skyscrapers

26:45 on film in any kind of dramatic way became some kind of unspoken taboo?

26:51 I realize that this makes me sound vaguely unhinged,

26:53 but I can't get it out of my head.

26:55 Did 9/11 help kill the cinematic mega city?" I would not worry about

26:59 sounding unhinged because the thing is

27:02 that whether whether it's accurate or not,

27:05 basically any cultural or societal change that happened

27:11 around the turn of the 21st century,

27:13 you could make an argument that 9/11 played a role.

27:16 It's a seismic enough event in like especially American history um that yeah,

27:22 you can make a case for it.

27:24 And so you can make a case that 9/11 killed the mega city film.

27:28 I don't think that is the case because I would point

27:31 to Spider-Man in 2002 which was obviously a like giant superhero

27:36 blockbuster but it took a much more realistic approach to its

27:40 portrayal of New York and that was in production before 9/11.

27:46 And obviously then after 9/11 they like digitally painted

27:49 out the World Trade Center from some like skyline shots.

27:53 But that movie, which portrayed cities in a very

27:56 different way than the '90s Batman movies,

27:58 was already in production before 9/11 happened.

28:01 And so that is the evidence I would point to that no,

28:05 9/11 did not really play a role there.

28:09 But I'm open to hearing counterarguments.

28:11 So sound off in the comments.

28:13 Okay, and that is it for the YouTube comments.

28:16 We now jump over to the questions from our Discord server.

28:22 As I must say in every video,

28:24 we have a Discord which is available exclusively to members of the Patreon.

28:28 You sign up for the Patreon, you get the link to the Discord,

28:31 you can jump in and talk about movies.

28:33 And we have an Ask Patrick channel where if you

28:35 ask questions there that pertain to the most recent video,

28:39 I will answer them in these videos.

28:41 And if they're not about the latest video,

28:42 they're just about like any random thing,

28:45 uh, I will answer them in Discord, but I will answer all of the questions.

28:49 Okay, first up, we have a question from my favorite username to say,

28:54 Crantastic, who says, "Patrick,

28:57 I thought you should know that a buddy of mine who studied urban and planning

29:00 in college wrote his senior year thesis on the city of Sanel in Demolition Man,

29:06 a notable '90s cinema city that got left out of your video.

29:09 I'm curious to hear what thoughts, if any,

29:12 you have about the city depicted there,

29:14 especially since according to the film, it is only about eight years away.

29:19 Ooh, San Angeles in Demolition Man.

29:22 So, this might come as a shock to some of you,

29:24 but I only saw Demolition Man for the first time like 2 or 3 years ago.

29:28 Yeah, somehow had just like never gotten around to seeing it,

29:31 but I I saw it on 35mm at Nighthawk Cinema in in Brooklyn.

29:36 really really fun movie,

29:37 but also I can't remember the futuristic city in it that much.

29:41 Like I remember like before they go to the future in the movie,

29:44 I remember the opening shot of like the Hollywood sign on fire,

29:48 which is a great opening image.

29:50 But yeah, when I think of the city in the movie,

29:52 I think of like the Taco Bell and the interior of the police

29:57 station and then just like like grassy exterior areas in it.

30:02 Are there like miniature city shots or like skyline shots?

30:07 Like I I cannot remember what the city looks like.

30:10 It clearly did not really like imprint itself on my brain.

30:15 But yeah, your friend clearly got enough out of it

30:17 to write a whole senior thesis about that city.

30:18 So it really makes me think I should watch the movie again.

30:21 So uh sorry for the non-answer, but that's all I got.

30:24 Okay, Patrick W.

30:26 Look at that says, "Hey Patrick, nice name.

30:29 really loved both the Mega Cities and Gotham videos and the train ones.

30:33 I saw those immediately.

30:34 Everyone mentioning the trains.

30:36 First, I want to point out that The Dark Knight Rises has zero Chicago in it.

30:40 It's actually New York, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles,

30:43 which is wild considering the winter scenes.

30:45 And you are correct for ranking it last of the Nolans.

30:48 But I mainly wanted to ask, have you visited Chicago?

30:52 I highly recommend coming and taking the architecture

30:54 boat tour from the Chicago Architecture Foundation.

30:57 One building that you might enjoy is the Tribune Tower.

31:00 It's basically a 36-story Gothic limestone building that I'm actually shocked

31:05 is not featured in any shots in either the Nolan R.

31:08 Snider films, all of which were filmed here.

31:11 Anyway, I want to encourage you to come visit my lovely

31:13 city and explore the architecture and sites where films were shot.

31:17 Shout out John Hughes, Michael Man, and Andrew Davis, all Chicago guys.

31:21 Also, I hope your sweater video mentions the delightful Sandy Bullman romcom,

31:25 While You Were Sleeping.

31:27 Okay, Chicago.

31:28 I have been to Chicago, but only for like a couple days.

31:32 Like I I saw basically none of the city.

31:35 Like I don't even really consider that like visiting Chicago.

31:38 If if someone said like, "Have you been there?" I I wouldn't lie,

31:42 but I would be hesitant to say yes because I just haven't spent any time there.

31:47 But yeah, I would love to visit Chicago.

31:49 Obviously, I love Chicago on film.

31:51 like you mentioned there, John Hughes, Michael Man,

31:53 Andrew Davis, you know, so many great Chicago movies.

31:57 Transformers: Dark of the Moon, of course.

32:00 Yeah, I I I would love to spend time there.

32:02 I would love to explore the architecture.

32:04 Uh this this boat tour sounds awesome.

32:06 So, yeah.

32:07 I don't know.

32:07 Like, someone invite me to come like intro a movie at a movie theater.

32:11 Give me an excuse to do a Chicago trip cuz I would love to.

32:14 Pinball Witch says, "Hey, Patrick.

32:17 No real questions about the main mega cities video,

32:20 but one about the companion Gotham video.

32:23 Also, for those who are not aware, on Nebula,

32:25 there was a a a bonus video exclusively there all about Gotham City on film.

32:32 I got a lot of thoughts on it.

32:33 It didn't make your list, but I was curious about your thoughts on the Gotham

32:36 City we see in the Harley Quinn film Birds of Prey.

32:40 I haven't watched it since the theater,

32:41 so I would want to rewatch before I would give any of my own,

32:44 but I recall enjoying the landmarks of it that related to Harley.

32:48 Great video as always.

32:50 Everyone doing stellar work.

32:51 Happy holidays to all the crew and your families.

32:54 Okay, so the Gotham City of Birds of Prey.

32:57 I also only saw the movie once back when it was in theaters,

33:00 which was in February 2020, one of the last prepandemic movies.

33:06 Yeah, from what I remember of the Gotham City is

33:09 that other than some fun like Batmany elements, you know,

33:12 like the the abandoned theme park and stuff like that, Gotham

33:17 I think should be like an exaggeration of New York City.

33:21 And the Gotham in Birds of Prey felt to me a lot more like Los Angeles.

33:25 I I don't even really think of it as Gotham because like

33:28 so little about it connected to like my mental image of Gotham City.

33:33 It just kind of seemed like a a city.

33:36 So yeah, that's why I left it out of that video ranking all

33:39 of the Gotham cities because I fully forgot that that movie was set in Gotham.

33:44 Okay, our final question comes from Sam Arinau who says, "Hey Patrick,

33:49 do you think there's any overlap between your dystopian/futuristic

33:53 mega cities and fantastical depictions of real cities?

33:58 Watching your video,

33:59 I couldn't stop thinking of New York as depicted in the Royal Tenon bombs,

34:03 which feels like an evolution of this type of setting.

34:06 Though it's obviously much more colorful and positive, and it came a bit later,

34:10 there is some overlap in the sense of being a real city

34:14 as imagined by someone who's only

34:16 experienced it secondhand through movies and books.

34:19 That is a really interesting question

34:22 that I hadn't really thought that much about,

34:24 but I love the New York of that movie which goes

34:28 out of its way to to to basically have like madeup geography.

34:33 Like they even like there's things like there's

34:35 a scene in set in Battery Park where they

34:39 place the actors in front of the Statue

34:42 of Liberty so you can't see that it's there.

34:45 Uh obviously they have like what is like the 242nd street Y.

34:50 There is no 242nd Street in Manhattan.

34:54 The house that you know that the Tener Bombs live in having

34:57 obviously filmed at the house for the the Wes Anderson X-Men video.

35:02 They say in the movie that it's on Archer Avenue.

35:05 There's no Archer Avenue.

35:07 No, it's on like it's on like 147th Street, something like that.

35:12 It's like it it's a place in Harlem.

35:14 Like the geography of that movie is all fictional and made up.

35:18 I'm even like, do they even call it New York in the movie?

35:22 Do they ever explicitly say it's New York City?

35:25 Cuz like every every location name is like a fake thing.

35:29 But yeah, it does give the city this kind

35:31 of fantastical storybook quality while using almost entirely real locations.

35:37 But yeah, that is definitely an offshoot

35:39 of the ideas that I'm talking about in the video.

35:42 You know, when you look at things like the Huducker Proxy or the Shadow,

35:46 which are set in New York,

35:49 but it's like it's not like any New York that really exists.

35:52 So, yeah, this this is a topic really for someone else to to run with.

35:56 So, like Sam, if if you have more thoughts on this, post them in the comments

35:59 or the Discord because I would love to see

36:01 other examples because it's just it's a cool thing.

36:05 Okay, so that does it for the questions and comments,

36:09 which means we can now move over to my favorite part of these videos

36:13 because I have to do like the least thinking and talking during this part.

36:19 This is the part where I open the mail from the PO box.

36:24 If you weren't aware, the PO box address is in the description of every video.

36:28 It's on the about page on the channel.

36:30 If you want to send me mail for whatever reason that I will generally open,

36:33 you know, in these videos, um, that's where you send it to.

36:37 So, up first, let's see what we've got.

36:40 Okay, it looks like this.

36:43 This is a card.

36:44 This is from Massachusetts.

36:47 Okay, this is very cool.

36:48 We have a card with Mads Nicholson and a little hat.

36:52 Let's see.

36:53 Patrick, to thank you very much for years of essays and entertainment,

36:58 I felt you needed some poetic money from director Alejandro Yodaroski.

37:04 Best wishes, Shaun Graham.

37:07 And contained here, okay, this is amazing.

37:14 two pieces of Diero Poetico,

37:18 a $1 and a $10 with both images of Yodaroski on Yodaroski makes money,

37:30 poetic, but like look at these.

37:33 The This is amazing.

37:35 This is this is extremely cool.

37:37 Where where do you get these?

37:39 Uh oh, and and the card is by Brandon Bird.

37:42 This is awesome.

37:43 Sean, thank you so much for the poetic money.

37:45 I will probably never spend it.

37:47 I will just hold on to it and cherish it forever.

37:50 I really appreciate it.

37:51 Up next, we've got a padded envelope.

37:57 Okay, so we have a typed letter.

38:00 Hello, Patrick.

38:01 I am a law librarian and long-term fan of your channel.

38:05 One of the things that I especially enjoy is how you convey complicated

38:09 and sometimes counterintuitive concepts in a way

38:12 that is both incredibly clear and amusing.

38:14 Because a lot of my work winds up explaining aspects of film and film criticism

38:18 to an audience of legally trained people who

38:21 need some brief instruction on engaging with film,

38:23 I find myself citing your videos often.

38:26 Thank you.

38:27 That is extremely cool to hear.

38:29 I've included one of my relatively recent articles that cites

38:32 you in a way that I think you would find funny.

38:35 For an example that you might be prouder

38:36 of, I keep on trying to put together a law

38:39 and film class that would most likely assign

38:42 your how to analyze movies film studies 101 video,

38:45 specifically the first section that you identify as a fine

38:48 cut off point before jumping into a series of lawyer films.

38:52 I am mostly just sending this to you to express my appreciation

38:55 for your work and hope that you find the included source funny.

38:59 I have tabbed where I cite you, but if you want a question,

39:02 do you have a favorite more academic

39:05 source that addresses the topics that clearly

39:08 and concisely covers the material you go over in your film studies 101 video?

39:14 I'm happy to keep citing you for this stuff,

39:16 but it would be nice to have an optional short reading

39:19 that would cover the same material with a bit more academic weight.

39:22 Thank you for everything, Sam.

39:24 Sam, this is lovely.

39:26 Thank you so much.

39:27 Okay, to answer your question here,

39:29 do I have a more academic source that addresses the topics

39:32 that I cover in the how to analyze movies video?

39:36 Yes, I do.

39:37 Film art, an introduction by David Bordwell and Kristen Thompson.

39:41 Bordell and Thompson's website as well has just like like so many articles.

39:47 David Bordwell actually I think just passed away last year.

39:51 Really like some of the absolute best writing on film language,

39:55 film grammar, how films are put together.

39:58 When I was in college taking cinema studies classes,

40:00 we read a lot of essays by these guys.

40:04 Some of the best education you can get just about how cinema works.

40:09 I'm just reading these guys.

40:10 And you can buy this book used online, which is what I did.

40:14 So, if you want to move beyond citing silly YouTube videos,

40:18 this is what you should check out.

40:20 Okay.

40:20 But yeah, I want the Hofster Law Review, which you can see there.

40:25 And hey, Hofster University.

40:27 I visited there to talk on a panel at a symposium

40:31 like a year and a half ago, I think.

40:34 Yeah.

40:34 So, I I took the Long Island Railroad out to Hofra.

40:38 Oh, this is funny.

40:38 Your piece is called The Law is Weirder Than AI,

40:41 and I was there to talk about AI film making and why it's bad.

40:46 I'm in a footnote.

40:47 This is This is very fun.

40:49 Okay, here it is.

40:51 In the words of film focused YouTube video essaist Patrick H.

40:55 Williams art.

41:04 Okay, keep in mind everyone this this this is the Hofster Law Review.

41:09 This is a a a a published piece

41:11 from the Maurice Aeen School of Law at Hofster University.

41:16 And in a footnote here on this page, uh Sam writes,

41:21 "In the words of film focused YouTube video essaist Patrick H.

41:25 Williams, quote, artificial intelligence,

41:30 more like shard official into my pants.

41:33 I I shout out the the great Jake Torpey.

41:36 He is the one who wrote that joke

41:38 and I debated whether or not to actually say it.

41:41 This will happen often where like Jake or Mike

41:44 will will write a joke where they'll be like, "I know you're not going to say

41:47 this, but I'm just putting it in the script anyway,

41:50 just so you can laugh before you delete it." But yeah,

41:53 I decided to keep that one.

41:54 Williams acknowledges that the joke is terrible, but quote,

41:58 "It sucks in a way that only a human could

42:01 suck." This joke comes as part of a conversation about

42:04 how a series of AI generated videos parodying the style

42:07 of filmmaker Wes Anderson do not even replicate Wes Anderson,

42:11 but a Saturday Night Live sketch riffing on Wes Anderson.

42:13 A problem replicated and even higher quality

42:16 legal AI products discussed and discussed below.

42:20 Wow, this is this is really one of the great honors of my life.

42:24 I cannot wait to tell Jake that his joke

42:29 has been quoted in the Hofster Law Review.

42:32 Well, this made my day, Sam.

42:34 Thank you so much.

42:35 This This is absolutely wonderful.

42:37 I I I did not ever expect this to happen.

42:41 And next up, last up, we have Okay,

42:48 I just saw the name on this and I know what this is.

42:52 We have a poster tube that I am going to I'm cutting open here.

43:13 The Okay, this is this is like the the greatest thing ever.

43:18 Okay, so this is from Pauly Lit,

43:21 an actor who you may remember played Spridal Racer in Speedraer.

43:28 Obviously, Speedraer, a movie that I love so much.

43:31 Uh, we recently did the video about Speedraer and and Paulie

43:35 reached out to me after he saw the video,

43:37 which was amazing because I I love Spridle.

43:40 You know, I talk about in the video the moment

43:42 when Spridle stands up and says he's going to do it.

43:45 I love it.

43:46 So, so Paulie reached out was like, "Hey, you know,

43:49 can I like send you a package?" This this is it is

43:53 a a a a print of Spridle and Chim Chim there in the Mach 5 signed.

44:01 Patrick, thank you for your support of the racers.

44:03 Go speed go.

44:05 Poly lit.

44:06 I mean, I'm getting this framed.

44:08 I'm I'm obviously getting this framed.

44:10 This is amazing.

44:11 Paulie, I will I will shoot you a message, but but thank you so much.

44:15 This this rules this this this is so cool.

44:19 Look, it's stuff like this that makes the stress

44:21 and frustration and exhaustion of making these videos worth it.

44:26 Thank you everyone who who who sent stuff in, but also just who like,

44:29 you know, posted great comments and and and questions.

44:32 This was great.

44:33 This is really fun.

44:34 Um I'll do another one of these soon.

44:36 The next one is about the sweaters episode.

44:38 Oo, that's going to that's going to be fun.

44:40 Great.

44:40 Thanks for watching.

44:41 by us.