Monday, January 11, 2010

"Adventureland": take a ride!


2009 wasn't the most memorable year in film, if you ask me. But there were some mighty exceptions -- and one of the mightiest happened to be one of the most heartfelt coming of age films in decades.

Written and directed by Greg Mottola, the film traces the story of our hero, James Brennan (played by the likeable and hugely relateable Jesse Eisenberg) as he takes a seemingly nowhere job at his local amusement park for the summer - which turns out to have life-changing turns. Set in 1987, it's got a great retro sensibility, aided in large part by a BOSS soundtrack (you'll be humming "Rock Me, Amadeus" for days -- I'm just warning you)and a talented cast of young actors, including "Twilight"'s Kristen Stewart as Brennan's love interest.

"Adventureland"'s amusement park sequences were shot at Pittsburgh's Kennywood Park, although the real Adventureland Park is in Farmingdale, NY on Long Island (and, yes, I DO plan on visiting it for my book, you better believe it).

2 comments:

  1. What about the amusement park in Zombieland? Where was that filmed, do you know? Are you planning to visit it for your book?

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  2. "Zombieland" was filmed at Georgia's Wild Adventures Park, which opened in 1996. All the parks I'm visitng must be at least 40 years old or older, so this one's a tad too young! But it sounds really cool!

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