Movie: Grand Canyon (1991)

“Grand Canyon” [uk] is a great movie from 1991 with Danny Glover (after the 2nd “Lethal Weapon” movie) and Kevin Kline. I originally saw it when it came out and re-watched it today. It is a bit more somber in the middle than I remembered, but ends fairly upbeat. Lawrence Kasdan wrote and directed it. As an aside, he is responsible for the 2nd and 3rd original Star Wars movies having good scripts. For the new ones, George Lucas decided that he could write the scripts himself. And we all know how that turned out.

Lost in translation: the Suntory scene translated

This page translates the Japanese part of the dialog. Really funny. Incredibly, Sammy Davies Jr. actually did commercials for Suntory Whisky in the early 1970s. Francis Ford Coppola, Sophia Coppola’s father, also appeared in a Suntory commercial in Japan, which inspired her to write “Lost in translation”. [Sources: Daring Fireball, Wikipedia]

DVD: Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (2008)

This movie is called “I've loved you so long” in English. It is really good French cinema, starts with a convincingly dark secret and ends quite sad, but uplifting. The movie makes many acute observations about society’s difficulties with outsiders. Kristin Scott Thomas is great in it. Her excellent French reminded me of the fact that she lives in Paris and appears in many French movies. IMDB tells us that she dubbed herself in the French version of “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. And that her first feature film was the 1986 Prince movie “Under the Cherry Moon” (those really were different times...).

Two fun eighties movies

Over the weekend, I watched the following two movies from the eighties:

• “The secret of my success” (1987) with Michael J. Fox and Helen Slater. Plot: Young man uses a trick to make it from mail boy to the top of his company.


• “Working girl” (1988) with Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, and Sigourney Weaver. Plot: Very similar to above. This time it is Melanie Griffith as a creative secretary. She finds a way to realize one of her ideas after it almost got stolen.

Both movies are still fun, including the occasional laugh about the hair.

Spock is back!

The new Star Trek movie is going to be released in Germany on 7 May. In preparation for that date, more and more pictures (the picture below is part of that gallery) are showing up [via trekmovie.com].
By the way: It is Kirk that is being strangled by Spock.
Update: A new trailer is online.

Gun Kata – amazing-looking fake martial arts

The movie “Equilibrium” has a great cast and is atmospherically and visually well done (the plot and the characters are a tiny bit simplistic, though). Especially its fake fighting style called “Gun Kata” looks amazing. Thus, when I found out that there was an article called “5 movie fighting styles too awesome to actually exist”, I immediately knew that it was going to be in it. Below, you can see the Gun Kata video posted on YouTube:

DVD: Stranger than fiction (2006)

I just watched Stranger than fiction on DVD. Great movie. It does a lot with its fantastic premise without losing sight of character development. Will Farell is convincing enough in a "serious" role and Emma Tompson and Dustin Hoffman tone it down; so they don't distract from the movie too much.



Tip: I'm usually not too much of a sucker for extras, but this DVD's "deleted scenes" contain good improv material and scenes that actually give the movie more depth.

Upcoming movie: "Defiance"

Defiance is a new movie [source: whedonesque.com] currently in the works that stars Daniel Craig and others. It is based on the book “Defiance: The Bielski Partisans” by Nechama Tec:

Powerful account by Holocaust survivor Tec (Sociology/Univ. of Connecticut; In the Lion's Den, 1989, etc.) of the operations of a Jewish partisan group in WW II Belorussia. Seeking to counteract the widespread conception of European Jews as victims who went meekly to their deaths, Tec researched the extraordinary story of the three Bielski brothers and their partisan group, using interviews with group survivors in Israel, the US, and elsewhere. Led by the oldest brother, Tuvia, the partisan group had grown to more than 1,200 Jews by the time Russian forces liberated them in 1944. The Bielski brothers, Tec explains, determined early on to save not only themselves and their families but every Jew who would join them. Resisting efforts to limit their group only to fighters, Tuvia accepted any Jew until more than 70% of the group was comprised of women, children, and middle-aged and elderly men. A charismatic leader of limited education but great intelligence and diplomatic ability, Tuvia maintained good relations with a variety of other partisan groups, some initially hostile. Putting his emphasis on saving lives rather than on killing Germans, he nonetheless acted ruthlessly against those collaborating with the Nazis, and in so doing saved many Jewish lives. At the end of the war, with Stalin's control of Belorussia becoming more oppressive, Tuvia and his brothers escaped to Romania, traveling on to Palestine and then the US--although Tuvia never again gained the recognition or prominence that his leadership qualities might have justified. A remarkable story of a great leader, as well as of a neglected aspect of WW II. [Copyright Kirkus Associates, LP; via Amazon.de]

Why am I posting this? I’ve read the story and thought it was remarkable, it’ll be interesting to see how the movie turns out.

Linklater's "Boyhood"

How is that for a cool movie idea?

The movie ["Boyhood"] tells a story of two divorced parents (Hawke & Arquette) trying to raise their precocious child (Salmon). It will span 12 years, beginning when the child is 6 years old and ending around the time he graduates high school. [1]

Director Richard Linklater started shooting in 2001, but the movie will not be out until 2013. That will make the aging effects very realistic, because, well, they are real.

[1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyhood_(film)