Watched “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” the other night.

Sweet, harmless teen romance. Not terribly filling.

But — has Manhattan really become that non-threatening? 

Is there no grime left anywhere in that great city?

Is it all just hipster kids living on trust funds?

A blogger describes a similar reaction to the trailer for “The Taking of Pelham 123.”

The original Taking of Pelham One Two Three is, for me, the best expression of the world weary existence of New York City in the 1970s.  I love Taxi Driver, I love French Connection, but Pelham’s prostrate characters aren’t just mad as hell and not going to take it any more.  There is an evident humor – a gallows’ humor perhaps – that all New Yorkers, even in the nice Bloomberg administration, can recognize.