Samstag, 8. Mai 2010
Flight (7.5.2010)
At the moment I am sitting in the plane to JFK. Our departure was delayed because once again the Island volcano released an ash cloud and parts of the northern Atlantic are blocked. So we had to wait an hour sitting in the plane before takeoff. In addition, we have to fly a longer route so that the flight also takes longer. Fortunately, the original arriving time was in the afternoon and I should not arrive too late. After watching three films I am a bit fed up now, but would like to give a small review:

- planet 51 (2009):
It is an animated film about an human astronaut arriving at an alien planet with a life similar to the 50s in the US. The (nice) idea of the film is that the roles are swapped and the astronaut is the alien and the aliens are the normals. The plot is essentially about how the human tries to get back to his spaceship which is difficult because military took his landing vehicle. Positive is that I did not know all jokes from the trailer. The funny thing about this film are the many citations, like Aliens, Odyssey 2001, and other which I do not remember.

- soul kitchen (2009):
It is a german film (by the famous Fatih Akin) about a greek trying to manage a restaurant in Hamburg. Doing so he is having a lot of trouble of all different kinds, His girl friend is in China and he wants to visit her. Because of all the problems he has with the restaurant, he only manages very late and by coincidence meets her at the airport (with a chinese guy). The story is a bit more complex with other things going on. In summary, I enjoyed watching it, but found the story a bit too constructed. In particular annoying is the story that he hurts his back and throughout the film complains (reminded me a bit of Frodo who suffered throughout three film because of the burden of the ring). Probably, the part with the back was included to introduce a character.

- up in the air (2009):
I had high expectations related to this film and must say I am not disappointed. Ok, it is the best film I say for a long time, but it is reasonable and I can definitively recommend it. It is about a guy (George Clooney) who's job it is to fire people. Companies essentially pay his company to send him to do this job. He gets a new colleague, a young smart-alek with a degree in psychology, who proposes do the same job via video-phone. Obviously, he does not like the idea, because he might loose his job as well. Moreover, he likes his way of life, spending 320 days of the year traveling – airports and hotel. He likes how friendly he is welcome at the counters, when people see his frequent flyer stuff. He meets a women who seems to have the same life style as he does and the come closer. I don't want to tell how all this ends, but I think this film is much about life and decisions in general. The guy is restless and does not settle. Obviously, he does not have a family. I think somehow the guy is a metaphor for people who do not want to settle, who are afraid of something, who want to be independent, and who don't even know what they want.

By the way, few people are watching Avatar, either they have already seen it or they are not interested (I am still boycotting it).

... link