London Filming Locations: Mission Impossible (1996)

Posted on January 20, 2011 by tokyofox

With the Mission Impossible locations in Prague in the bag Tokyo Fox now brings you the ones used in London though in reality I actually did them a few days before I even went to the Czech Republic! Having met up with Richard Richard in London between Christmas and New Year I had a bit of time to kill before returning to my parents house so went in search of a couple of locations. This certainly wasn’t an impossible mission (do you see what I’ve done there?!) as they were very easy to find.

The story properly moves to London on 72 minutes and Liverpool Street Underground station (below) is seen with the safe house right above it being the place where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and Pilot Franz Krieger (Jean Reno) hide away. It’s seen again six minutes later as Hunt heads across the road to the railway station.

  

Hunt meets up with Jim Phelps (Jon Voight), who he had presumed was dead (having fallen off Charles Bridge in Prague), by a row of telephones under the stairs (below) by the Liverpool Street Railway station exit. Since filming took place in 1995 the phones have been replaced by cashpoint machines following a makeover of the station.

 

The interior of County Hall (below), next to the London Eye, became the ‘Langley, Virginia CIA Headquarters.

Tower Bridge (below) is prominently in the background of the helicopter landing on 88 minutes. My shot was taken from the other side of the river.

  

The final London location to feature (104 minutes) is the Anchor Tavern pub (below) at 1 Bankside by Southwark Bridge. It’s where Hunt and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) unwind in the films final moments.

     

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    Trainspotting    Lara Croft Tomb Raider    The Bourne Ultimatum   Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone   James Bond    About A Boy    Quadrophenia    Bridget Jones’s Diary    Goodnight Sweetheart    Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels    Basic Instinct 2    Batman Begins/The Dark Knight    The Italian Job    Snatch    Rom-Com Special    Skyfall    Notting Hill    The World Is Not Enough

Posted in London Film Locations, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 50 Comments

Prague Filming Locations: Mission Impossible (1996)

Posted on January 18, 2011 by tokyofox

The 1996 re-make of the TV series was mainly set in Prague and London and I certainly wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to scout out the filming locations while I was in the former. Once I’d done a couple of Casino Royale spots I found myself at Hotel Evropa (yes that is the correct spelling!) at Vaclavske namesti 25 (below) which was the headquarters of mysterious arms dealer Max.

  

A bit further down the same road and just past Wenceslas Square is the National Museum (below); the ‘American Embassy’ where the teams first operation commences as they infiltrate some fancy reception.

   

Liechtenstein Palace (below) is just a stones throw from Kampa Park (as featured in ‘The Bourne Identity‘ and mentioned in ‘Prague Pt II’) and was not where I thought it was. I’d actually given up on finding it but on my descend from Prague Castle I found it by chance. It was actually this place that provided the exterior shots of the ‘American Embassy’ as the real embassy was no doubt deemed to not be glitzy enough for the movie.

 

Undoubtedly the city’s (and indeed the films) major attraction is the world heritage Charles Bridge (below) which connects the Old Town with Prague Castle. It’s here that things really go wrong with controller Jim Phelps (Jon Voight) plunging into the Vltava having taken a bullet on the bridge. This famous bridge was also used music video’s by Linkin Park (Numb) and Kanye West (Diamonds From Sierra Leone) as well as ‘XxX‘ (2002). It’s here that Vin Diesel comes up with an out-of-this-world stunt to save the bridge and the city of Prague from a deadly bomb!

       

London Pt III: Mission Impossible Filming Locations can be seen here.

Posted in Euro Travel, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Prague Filming Locations: Casino Royale (2006)

Posted on January 16, 2011 by tokyofox

The 2006 re-boot of the 007 franchise begins in black and white with James Bond (Daniel Craig) earning his licence to kill. This was shot near to my hostel in the Karlin district on the banks of the Vlatva River in Prague. I had almost given up on trying to locate Danube House (Karolinska 650/1), the fairly new office block where it was filmed, when I found it almost by accident and mightily relieved to find it I was as it had been a slow start to my morning.

 

However, that wasn’t my first Bond location of the day as before that I had ascended Vitkov Hill which wasn’t too easy due to the very icy paths and steps and also because it was actually roped off but as no-one was around I ignored that and climbed up to find the Vitkov monument under reconstruction. Scaffolding and work being done on buildings seems to be the bane of my life which can be annoying when one has gone to a certain place to see that landmark. Luckily I didn’t go to Prague just to see this monument which was home to the ‘Miami Body Worlds’ exhibition for a short scene involving ‘M’ and Bond before the film moved onto ‘Montenegro’ which was yet another case of the Czech Republic filling in for another place but that one was outside of Prague.

Next up was Strahov Monastery (found at Strahovske Nadvori 1/132) at the top of the hill in Petrinske Sady. The picture below is the exterior of the place but it was the library interior that was used but I wasn’t interested enough in the place, which was the committee room in ‘London’s’ House of Commons, due to the cost of entry and a pressing need to move on to the next locations in order to maximise daylight hours.

 

You can see my other ‘Casino Royale’ Como & Venice filming locations here and here.

Posted in Euro Travel, James Bond, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Prague Pt II: Bourne, Amadeus & The Sex Machines Museum

Posted on January 13, 2011 by tokyofox

Most of the main Prague locations will be mentioned in ‘Prague Pt III’ and ‘Prague Pt IV’. This entry will include the rest and we start with Kampa Park across the river from the Old Town which featured in the opening 11 minutes of ‘The Bourne Identity‘ (2002) and is where Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) duffs up a couple of Zurich policemen (as Prague was used as a substitute for the Swiss city) after they wake him up from his sleep on a bench by the Certovka stream near Charles Bridge. He then runs away through the park (below) passing the tree which I am lurking behind in the next shot.

bourneidentity     

Nearby were a trio of sculptures which were just crying out for this type of photo (above) to be done!

It seems that Prague is rarely ever used to portray itself as it fills in for Vienna in the 1984 film ‘Amadeus‘. I’ve not seen it but it features in a lovely book I got from my parents for Christmas. Maltese Square was supposedly the setting of a lively market scene but when I was there it was far from lively. Almost empty in fact! St. Giles’ Church at Husova 8 was where Mozart and Constanze got married in the film. Hopefully that will mean something to someone!

 

Mid afternoon I found myself in Old Town Square and from there I went down Melantrichova (that’s the street name by the way) to the Sex Machines Museum. I didn’t even know about this place until Richard (not to be confused with Richard Richard!) and Mizuki told me about it only hours before I left them in London to fly to the Czech capital.

 

This place was quite expensive by Czech standards but I thought I better take up the opportunity to go to such a unique museum and very amusing it was too. Spread out over three floors there were over 200 weird and wonderful objects and mechanical appliances on view but don’t worry as I am not going to detail any of them! The place included a cinema with some very old erotic films playing and so exciting was it that I actually fell asleep briefly as I hadn’t taken a break all day.

Posted in Euro Travel, Hentai, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Prague Pt I: Czech You’ve Got Everything!

Posted on January 13, 2011 by tokyofox

Whilst on my New Years Day flight to Prague I realised that I had forgotten to print out or write down details of where my hostel was. As I’d booked it months before I also had no idea of whereabouts it was located. I’d remembered all the details and information concerning the film locations I’d be checking out the following day but not the most important stuff! I asked at the Airport info desk but the woman was of no help whatsoever so I decided to just get on the bus and then take the train to the centre of Prague.

During the journey I mailed my sister (asking her to google directions) but as it was a work ‘blackberry’ it was on silent and she wasn’t checking it. At Museum station in the Old Town I asked a man who told me which station I had to go to. That station was Florenc and thankfully very close but as it was New Years Day the place was dark and deserted. On top of that it was also freezing cold and the ground was covered in snow and ice making it quite difficult to walk.

After about an hour, and having asked a few people (using my bad German which the locals seemed to speak more than English) I finally found the correct address and buzzed to get in but even after that it wasn’t so simple as reception was on the 1st floor of a very dark building with no lighting on the ground floor.

When I got up to my room I wasn’t happy as there were a group of Germans smoking and drinking in a very dirty room. To be fair they were fine and gave me a beer but I didn’t want to sleep in that smokey room so I later (once they had left to go out) asked reception if there were any other rooms to which he said no.

A bit later as I was cleaning up a bit and talking to a Norwegian guy in the room the receptionist appeared saying he had a room for me. I had low expectations given the state of the place but was pleased to find that I was being moved into a single room of my own which had a double bed and was very warm with the radiators on. He didn’t mention any change in price so I obviously didn’t say a thing and left early the next morning with the key and without mentioning it so that I could keep the room for my second night. As it was the hostel was pretty much empty that night so there was no chance of me being moved again.

Posted in Euro Travel | Leave a comment

London Filming Locations: Trainspotting (1996)

Posted on January 11, 2011 by tokyofox

When my friends took me to see ‘Trainspotting‘ during the Easter holidays in 1996 I had never heard of it or Irvine Welsh (the author of the book which the story was based on for those not in the know) and had no idea what I was about to see. I loved the film and its movie poster, soundtrack CD and video was a major part of my University life and a fair few years later I worked my way through all of Irvine Welsh’s other books.

Whilst I was with Richard Richard in the capital city recently he said that ‘Trainspotting’ was his favourite film so we decided to track the first of two London locations down. Of course the majority of the film is set in Scotland but the boys go down south to do a drug deal.

Sick Boy leads the guys out of Smallbrook Mews, across Craven Road and in to the Royal Eagle Hotel. We went to Lancaster Gate underground station to get there and do our own version of the “small-time wasters” parody of the Beatles’ Abbey Road album cover. Needless to say that one person crossing the road (below) doesn’t quite have the same impact as four guys crossing it.

 

A couple of days later I went to West Kensington tube station which was the apartment Renton allows Begbie and Sick Boy to squat in in order to get them out of his place. He’s working as an estate agent and describes it as a “beautifully converted Victorian townhouse” which is very ironic when you actually see the picture of it below.

 

For other London filming locations click on the links below:

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace    Mission: Impossible    Lara Croft Tomb Raider    The Bourne Ultimatum   Harry Potter & The Philosophers Stone   James Bond    About A Boy    Quadrophenia    Bridget Jones’s Diary    Goodnight Sweetheart    Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels    Basic Instinct 2    Batman Begins/The Dark Knight    The Italian Job    Snatch    Rom-Com Special    Skyfall    Notting Hill    The World Is Not Enough

Posted in London Film Locations, Movie Locations | Tagged , , , , , | 41 Comments

The Phantom Menace Filming Locations: Star Wars Traveller – Naboo (a.k.a. Watford, UK)

Posted on January 9, 2011 by tokyofox

On the 23rd December I was back in England and in the capital itself so I decided to go on the underground to Watford station (at the end of the Metropolitan line) with the idea of walking from there to Whippendell Wood. The roads were very icey though and difficult to walk on plus I lost my sense of direction so just took a taxi to the area which was used as the Naboo forest in ‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace‘ (1999).

 

Due to the recent heavy bout of snowfall that had pretty much brought the country to a standstill (yet again!) the place was more reminiscent of the remote ice-world of Hoth. Having entered the wood through the Grove Mill Lane Car Park I came to the sign shown in the picture above on the right. From here there are three paths and I took the one on the right for about two minutes whereby I came to the first shot which is recognisable by a huge drop and an interesting mark on one of the trees which is where Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi save Jar Jar Binks who in return agrees to guide them to Otoh Gunga.

naboo1  Dec2010-Jan2011 020

To get there they travel underwater which involved the use of CGI to add water to a wood which has no swamps or lakes. This part of the wood was nearby but it was like trying to find a needle in the proverbial haystack so I gave up and settled on some easier to find locations. Going back through the car park and over the country lane I then arrived at what looked like a golf course where a few scenes were filmed and these were far easier to locate. In fact they were all in one place but just shot from slightly different angles. This is where Amidala and the rebels make plans to attack the city of Theed (the capital of Naboo) towards the end of the film.

           

I then headed back to the station on foot this time thanks to some directions by locals. It took about 40 minutes in the snow. I’d been meaning to do these locations for a couple of years and was fairly satisfied with my mornings work but maybe I will return one day when I am next back in England. Though the snow added a bit of festive beauty to the area I would still like to see it in its more normal setting but I can’t say its gonna be too much of a priority.

Update: You can see ‘Naboo Revisited’ here

You can see other Star Wars Traveller entries by clicking on the following:

Posted in London Film Locations, Movie Locations, Star Wars, Star Wars Filming Locations | Tagged , , , | 57 Comments

TF Top 10……10 Filming Location Trips For 2010

Posted on December 31, 2010 by tokyofox

1. Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, 2002 (More details here, here & here)

Dec '09 - Jan '10 262  Euro Trip 2010 Pt VI: Star Wars Traveller - Naboo (a.k.a. Villa del Balbianello)

2. The Bourne Ultimatum, 2007 (More details here)

Dec '09 - Jan '10 051  Dec '09 - Jan '10 071

3. Anna & The King, 1999 (More details here)

Malaysia: Penang Pt II - 'Anna & The King' Filming Locations  Malaysia: Penang Pt II - 'Anna & The King' Filming Locations

4. Casino Royale, 2006 (More details here)

Euro Trip 2010 Pt V: Como - 'Casino Royale' Filming Locations  Euro Trip 2010 Pt V: Como - 'Casino Royale' Filming Locations

5. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, 1989 (More details here)

Euro Trip 2010 Pt X: Venice (Italy)  Euro Trip 2010 Pt X: Venice (Italy)

6. From Russia With Love, 1963 (More details here)

Euro Trip 2010 Pt XI: Venice - James Bond Filming Locations

7. Moonraker, 1979 (More details here)

Euro Trip 2010 Pt X: Venice (Italy)  Euro Trip 2010 Pt XI: Venice - James Bond Filming Locations

8. The International, 2010 (More details here)

Euro Trip 2010 Pt VIII: Milan (Italy)  Euro Trip 2010 Pt VIII: Milan (Italy)

9. The English Patient, 2009 (More details here)

Euro Trip 2010 Pt X: Venice (Italy)

10. Lawrence Of Arabia, 1962 (More details here)

Dec '09 - Jan '10 154  Dec '09 - Jan '10 212

Bonus: Seven Samurai, 1954 (More details here)

P1110551  P1110546

Posted in Movie Locations | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Leicester Fightback On Boxing Day

Posted on December 30, 2010 by tokyofox

When I booked my ticket to fly back to the UK this Christmas I have to say that I wasn’t planning to actually see Leicester City play due to other commitments. However, when my mate asked if I wanted to go I was quite surprised and jumped at the chance to see my first live City game in two years. So on Boxing Day Sam, Becky, James and myself joined nearly 32,000 others at the Walkers Stadium to see if our fine home form under Sven Goran Eriksson could be continued.

 

Leicester had the lions share of possession in the first 10-15 minutes but then Leeds took the lead and inevitably it was ex-Leicester boy Max Gradel who headed home as one of our defenders slipped. The first half was a fairly dull spectacle but the second one was a bit better even if it did take another Leeds goal to get us going.

Ex-England player Vassell seemed to get a lucky break and was sent clear one-on-one with Schmeichel pulling him down for a penalty. Incredibly the keeper only saw yellow and justice was done as Gallagher sent the penalty down the middle following a fairly novel technique whereby he stands with his back to the keeper until the whistle is blown so as not to be psyched out in any way.

That made it 2-1 and five minutes later Andy King hit a superb dipping shot from 25 yards for the equaliser. It really was a great goal and there were still a few more scrambles in the box and penalty appeals before the referee called it time and we could be on our way and get some feeling back in our feet which had frozen during the game.

Before the game I was hoping for a win even if Leeds are second in the table but after a poor 70 minute display I guess I was happy enough to leave with a point.

Posted in Leicester City, Sport | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Pop Up Santa’s!

Posted on December 24, 2010 by tokyofox

Not too much to report on this years Christmas lessons in terms of new ideas. It was basically a load of re-hashed festive lessons but one new thing was an art and craft activity which involved making the pop-up Santa’s you can see the kids holding in the pictures below as well as on my last day in Shimo-Akatsuka. Basically, they coloured in the chimney and Santa, cut them out, stuck them on some coloured paper, cut out again, folded, stuck together and then used a chopstick stuck to the back to pop Santa up through the chimney. 20 minutes work to get a minutes prepostion practice from it!!

   

Posted in English Teaching | Tagged , , | Leave a comment