The FiFi Report 057

The Terminal by Stephen Spielberg
Don’t listen to all the tough reviews of this movie, The Terminal is actually a really funny, laugh out movie. Yes, it’s a bit smultzy and soppy, but what do you expect from Stephen Spielberg and a movie which is a cross between Castaway and ET? The New York Times said “the plot is a mess of runny egg yolks and artificial sweeteners that Mr. Spielberg has somehow cooked into a light and pleasing soufflé” I love Souffle. The movie is about Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) who,“ on his first visit to New York from the imaginary Eastern European republic of Krakozia, arrives at J.F.K. just as a military coup abolishes his government and renders him effectively stateless. A web of bureaucratic regulations strands him at the airport for a year ”.Anyway how can I resist a movie that encourages shopping? When Victor asks what to do while waiting in the airport, he is told “ Shop, of course!” Oh, Yes, the product placement here is scary. More interesting is that the whole airport is actually a complete movie set and “ Spielberg commissioned a full-sized terminal, 60 feet tall and nearly 100,000 square feet. It was built at Hangar 704, a former B-1 bomber facility that once housed the Columbia shuttle. It has 58,000 square feet of polished granite flooring from China and 112,000 square feet of glass windows. Rather than create airfield views using CGI they opted for a 31,200-square-foot scenic backdrop—the largest ever—lit from both front and back to simulate changing weather, seasons, and times of day. It was also equipped with thousands of tiny lights “so that when you had a night scene you could see runways lit in the distance.” Incredible! Great for a laugh, it’s the kind of movie you’d see on a plane…