Washington, DC

I have been waiting months for this movie to come out and this Friday, December 21, 2007, the movie is finally coming to theaters. It looks like it will be a great movie featuring locations such as Mount Rushmore, Paris, and of course, Washington, D.C. Below is the description I wrote in this post.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a live action Disney movie that is the sequel to National Treasure, which was first released in theaters back in 2004. This movie currently scheduled for a release date of 12/21/2007 in theaters. The movie brings back most of the main characters from the first movie for another American History type treasure quest. This one is not really looking for treasure, but more for answers relating to the John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Lincoln. The plot is set up around a missing page of Booth’s diary being found that lists the conspirators including Thomas Gates (great-great-grandfather of Ben Gates played by Nicolas Cage) and thus leading Ben on a quest to clear his family’s name. He seeks the president’s Book of Secrets that is said to have the information to clear Thomas Gates name and thus that is the treasure hunted after in this movie. The Book of Secrets contains the United States secrets and meant for only the President to see. Part of the quest to see it includes them at least attempting to kidnap the President. Several of the scenes are based in D.C. and according to Wikipedia exact sites in D.C. include the Capitol building, the Library of Congress, Lincoln Memorial, and the White House.

A Trailer for the movie can be seen here. It sure looks like it will be as good as the first one and definitely does not look like a flop sequel.

Also, if you are going to be in D.C. over the holidays and have kids take them to the National Archives and do the scavenger hunt celebrating this movie’s release.

National Treasure, Archives

Man of the Year is a relatively recent movie having been released in theaters back on October 13, 2006. This movie takes an interesting look at how technology can mess up the way votes are counted making the wrong candidate the winner. The character that ends up President played by Robin Williams is also quite an interesting one to end up winning kind of by just on the whim running for President. The movie has some interesting twists and cover ups related to the company that makes the electronic voting system. The movie also has some moments of comedy. With this being a movie about a Presidential race and the main character becoming President there are many scenes set in the D.C. area. Overall I remember enjoying seeing it, but it does stand out as a movie I wanted to go out and buy.

The movie is now available in DVD format.

movies, D.C., Man of the Year, Robin Williams

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde is the 2003 sequel to Legally Blonde. It is not quite as great as the first movie, but it is still a decent movie set in D.C., although actually not filmed at all on location. Elle wish to have her dog’s mother at her wedding leads to her discovering the unjust animal testing done by a cosmetic company her law firm represents leading her to lose her job and moves to D.C. to work for a Congresswomen. While in D.C. she also works towards outlawing testing products on animals. In the movie she learns about Wahington politics and tries to work her way through them including using blackmail to get a Congresswomen’s vote for Bruiser’s Bill. The movie also has an interesting end that leaves a 3rd movie possibility open, however I doubt it will ever be made as this sequel was not all that successful despite the 1st movies success. If it ever is made, though, the ending of this movie certainly leads to at least part of the movie being set in D.C.

Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde is available in DVD format. It was also released just last month as a video download on Amazon.

Legally Blonde 2, D.C.

Thirteen Days is a movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis based on The Kennedy Tapes - Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis by Ernest May and Philip Zelikow. The movie released in select theaters the end of 2000 and most places in 2001. The movie revolves around the decision making process during the crisis featuring President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Most of the scenes are set in the White House, thus the relation to Washington, D.C. This movie gives an interesting view into the internal tensions on what to do while giving a relatively historical presentation of this time during the Cold War.

This movie is available on both VHS and DVD.

Cuban Missile Crisis, Thirteen Days, movie, JFK, D.C., cold war

My Date with the President’s Daughter is a 1998 Disney Channel Original Movie. This movie is about the President’s daughter going on a date and then ditching her secret service people. The two then have a wild night led by what the President’s daughter wants to do and dragging along the somewhat reluctant and worried boy who wants to get to his high school dance. The movie has sinced been released on VHS and still occasionally airs on the Disney Channel.

D.C., president, movie

The First Kid is a great comedy movie done by Disney. The movie is about the president’s son, hence the name the First Kid, and the secret service man (played by Sinbad) who has the job of protecting him and trying to keep him out of trouble. The kid is not happy about having his secret service man following him everywhere and the secret service man would rather be on the president’s detail, but the two grow to have a friendship and the secret service man kind of becomes a father figure for the First Kid whose father is often too busy for him. The main climax of the movie is around the First Kid being kidnapped. This is a good family friendly movie.

First Kid is available in DVD format, as well as VHS format.

First Kid, D.C., movies, White House

National Treasure: Book of Secrets is a live action Disney movie that is the sequel to National Treasure, which was first released in theaters back in 2004. This movie currently scheduled for a release date of 12/21/2007 in theaters. The movie brings back most of the main characters from the first movie for another American History type treasure quest. This one is not really looking for treasure, but more for answers relating to the John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Lincoln. The plot is set up around a missing page of Booth’s diary being found that lists the conspirators including Thomas Gates (great-great-grandfather of Ben Gates played by Nicolas Cage) and thus leading Ben on a quest to clear his family’s name. He seeks the president’s Book of Secrets that is said to have the information to clear Thomas Gates name and thus that is the treasure hunted after in this movie. The Book of Secrets contains the United States secrets and meant for only the President to see. Part of the quest to see it includes them at least attempting to kidnap the President. Several of the scenes are based in D.C. and according to Wikipedia exact sites in D.C. include the Capitol building, the Library of Congress, Lincoln Memorial, and the White House.

A Trailer for the movie can be seen here. It sure looks like it will be as good as the first one and definitely does not look like a flop sequel.

Movies Set in D.C.: National Treasure
Visiting Government Buildings: Library of Congress

D.C., National Treasure, sequel, movie

National Treasure is one of my all time favorite movies. For one it is made my Disney and is definitely among the more amazingly done live action movies by them. Also, it has great tidbits of history, which are used to solve the clues and find the treasure. The movie is full of action scenes throughout with the race to be the first to get the treasure before the bad guys. The movie has scenes in D.C. mostly related to when they steal the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives. Other places featured in this movie include Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. This movie was first released in theaters in 2004. The main star is Nicolas Cage who plays Benjamin Franklin Gates. The main “bad guy” is Ian Howe played by Sean Bean. While the movie does do some things that play on history, there are also many inconsistencies. Some of these can easily be noticed, but others are amazing that people have caught and added to the Wikipedia article on this movie. Overall this movie is one that can be enjoyed by pretty much all ages and is a wonderful movie for a family movie night, especially if you are getting ready for a family trip to any of the cities featured in the movie. By having seen the historical sites in the movie kids will be more excited to see them in person and hopefully then more excited in learning the history of the site and the United States.

The movie is now available not only on DVD, but also in PSP UMDformat. National Treasure is also expected to be released in Blu-Ray format next summer.

National Archives Photo of the Day 8
National Archives Photo of the Day 1

D.C., National Treasure, movie