Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Adapted from Movies of a Different Language

It's Thursday! Time for Movie Picks. I'm so gutted I missed last week's theme, especially as I had only recently watched Flightplan! Anyway, Thursday Movie Picks is a fantastic series hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, where each week she picks a theme and we all choose 3 movies that we feel fit.

I really love taking part in this series, but every now and again there will be a theme that just sits right outside of my comfort zone, and I back out. This week’s theme in Movies Adapted from Movies of a Different Language. This is well out of my comfort zone. Firstly, I can count on one hand the number of foreign language movies I’ve seen, and I don’t need to use many fingers, either.

In fact, there are only 3 movies I can think of that I’ve seen that were adapted from a movie in another language, so this is not a ‘best of’ or a ‘hidden gem’ list in the slightest! They’re also all English language movies. So, please forgive me this week, but I’m looking forward to learning a lot from everyone else taking part.

Brothers (2009) is adapted from the Danish-language movie, Brødre (2004). It’s actually a fantastic movie in my opinion, but hard to watch for sure. Jake Gyllenhaal’s character is left to comfort his brother’s sister after he goes missing at war in Afghanistan. This is heartbreaking enough, but when his brother, played by Tobey Maguire, is found and returned home, tensions run high.

Delivery Man (2013) is adapted from the French-Canadian movie, Starbuck (2011). I’m a big fan of Vince Vaughn, but this was a bit of a let down. I didn’t actually realise until this week that it was a remake, and I’m curious to see the original now. Surely it wouldn’t have been re-made if it was terrible? Anyway, Delivery Man is based on a real-life situation where a man in the US came to realise that due to his donations, he was the father of 150 children.

And now I’m breaking an unspoken rule by picking a movie I’ve already chosen for another theme. Sorry! The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) is adapted from the Swedish-language movie, Män som hatar kvinnor (2009). Now say that 5 times quick. This is also based on a book of the same name, which I’m sure you knew already. It’s a great read, if you’re on the hunt for something new to start. It’s the story of a journalist who hunts down a woman who has been missing for over 40 years, with the help of a young computer hacker. It’s compelling, and gritty, and I highly recommend it!

Mini Reviews: Love and Mercy (2014), Hot Pursuit (2015) & Unfinished Business (2015)

This was a complete accidental find, I hadn’t even heard of this film but I love the Beach Boys music so I thought I may enjoy it.  It’s based on the true story of Brian Wilson, who was once a member of and continued to write for the Beach Boys, he wrote some of their iconic song such as Wouldn't it be nice and Good Vibrations.  I can say that the soundtrack to this was brilliant, I was singing along and I loved hearing the development of the music as Brian (John Cusack/Paul Dano) was developing it. It was terribly sad to watch his breakdown over the years but great to see his relationship with Melinda (Elizabeth Banks) develop and her save him from his manager.  Heartwarming and awesome awesome soundtrack.

When I first saw the trailer for this, I thought, great a rip off of The Heat but not as good.  Then I warmed to the idea (since falling in love with Modern Family and Sophia Vergara) so a quiet Sunday night on the sofa with my duvet led to this.  Turns out I was right the first time, it was a terrible version of The Heat with Cooper (Reese Witherspoon) as the ‘play by the book’ cop and Mrs Riva (Sophia Vergara) the high maintenance witness in her ‘care’.  The jokes are poor, the story is worse and the characters are completely unlikeable.  Where Sandra Bullock was hilarious in portrayal of the stick in the mud cop, Witherspoon was just irritating, I know Vergara can be funny but the script just didn’t give her enough to work with.  Pretty poor across the board to be honest.

Vince Vaughn’s movies have always been of the hit and miss variety, The Internship – big hit, The Delivery Man – big miss!! Unfortunately, this was the latter.  I really wanted to love it, I really liked the cast and as a story it has kind of potential, it just didn’t play out well.  Honestly, I saw it a few weeks ago and I can’t remember most of it already.  What I do remember was a host of gross out comedy (if you can call it comedy) and ridiculous surname jokes (Mike Pancake, really?!).  I wont be watching this again and I am rapidly losing faith in Vince Vaughn as a leading character without his partner in crime, Owen Wilson.

Mini Reviews: Brothers (2009), Taken 3 (2014) & Delivery Man (2013)

I watched Brothers as part of my crusade to watch every Jake Gyllenhaal film out there. Brothers is actually a remake of a Danish film of almost the same name, back in 2004. It’s a powerful drama that begins with Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) being presumed dead in Afghanistan. The main focus of the story is how his wife Grace (Natalie Portman) and brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) cope with his disappearance. 

Although slow paced at times, I was glued to the screen the whole time and was fascinated by the events on screen. It’s some of the best acting I’ve ever seen from Natalie Portman and Tobey Maguire. The ending in particular stuck with me all night, and as much as I could praise this film, it’s not one you would happily re-watch on a Saturday afternoon. One thing I’ll say is that if you fancy watching this, don’t watch a trailer! It gives away the whole film.

This is what I dream of every time I hear the doorbell ring...

My ultimate guilty pleasure, Liam Neeson. To be honest, even I can say now that the guy really needs to play a different character soon. Although admittedly, I’ll still go and watch whatever film he’s in! Taken 3 is...exactly what you expect. Although, no ones been taken this time. Unless you want to be poetic and say Bryan’s ex-wife’s life was taken away. Boo. Now Bryan is on the run trying to find her killers.

Taken 3 wasn’t as bad as I was gearing myself up for, but it certainly wasn’t a masterpiece either. Still, it was miles better than Taken 2. There was a twist I guessed a mere milisecond before it happened, but most people probably would have guessed it ages before. This really needs to be the end of it though now, I won’t support any more Taken films. I just get too much stick. Oh, who am I kidding…

I can’t believe Delivery Man was out two years ago. Wow! I was a huge Vince Vaughn fan a few years ago and I try to make an effort to watch his comedies when they come out. Delivery Man tells the story of David (Vince Vaughn), who discovers that after his many fertility clinic donations he is the father of over 500 children, and now a large quantity of them are trying to oppose the anonymity rules.

Although this isn’t my favourite of his films, I did enjoy Delivery Man. It’s a silly premise, but fairly unique (to me at least!) but I can’t help but think it would have worked better as a drama?! One with dark humour of course. It just felt like the jokes weren’t funny enough, but there were some touching moments and I had a little cry at the end. Worth a watch for sure, but don’t rush!