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Classic New York Movies: Three New York Movies, Three Great Location Shots

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We've been sick this week and thus our attention span, when not doing shots of Nyquil, has dwindled down to naught--just like the budgets of a million would-be filmmakers trying to tell the quintessential New York City Story.

But don't despair! All you really need is one great location shot to put your viewers in NYC, as the following big-budget movies make perfectly clear:

"Vanilla Sky" (2001) -- Yeah, the original Spanish movie is better, but we'll never forget that memorable non-spoilery shot of Tom Cruise standing in a deserted Times Square. This isn't a special effect either; Cameron Crowe was allowed to block off the entire square for three hours, his one chance to get this shot.

"Coyote Ugly" (2000) -- This below-average sleepover movie has more than a jigger of truth to it: The adventures of naive bartendrix Piper Perabo at the dive were loosely based on a story in GQ magazine by author Elizabeth Gilbert--who's now famous for Eat, Pray, Love.

"Night at the Museum" (2006) -- You might not spot Dick Van Dyke or Ricky Gervais there, but even the bumblings of Ben Stiller can't take away from the grandeur of the American Museum of Natural History, as seen (in a sadder context) in 2005's "The Squid and the Whale." The rest of the film may as well have been shot in Rupert Murdoch's basement.

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