# "Grand Piano" - a new thriller coming out



## Guest (Dec 22, 2013)

There's a theatrical trailer out now for a new movie called "Grand Piano" which stars Elijah Wood and John Cusack and comes out March 7th next year. The premise might be amusing to some here.

A brilliant concert pianist returns to stage after several years due to an earlier episode of stage fright. While on stage he finds out he's targeted by a sniper who will shoot him if he plays even one wrong note. In order to keep himself and his wife alive he has to overcome his fears and give the perfect performance. The sniper is a fan who wants him to perform his best.

This link should work:
https://s-trailers.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/grandpiano/#

So waddaya think? Is it gonna be a hit? Will you go see it?


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Oh, Lordy, that looks dumb. Young pianist who choked as a performer has a chance to redeem himself, but the stakes are high...if he misses a note, he dies!


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

BPS said:


> A brilliant concert pianist returns to stage after several years due to an earlier episode of stage fright. While on stage he finds out he's targeted by a sniper who will shoot him if he plays even one wrong note. In order to keep himself and his wife alive he has to overcome his fears and give the perfect performance. The sniper may be a fan who wants him to perform his best.


Is it just me, or does this sound like maybe 15 minutes of screen time?

Might be kind of fun, but I don't think I'd seek it out.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2013)

It'll be interesting to see how they handle the classical music element of the film - what pieces he plays, how they make him appear to be a virtuoso, etc.

This could be classical music's big break into pop culture. It could do for classical what Saturday Night Fever did for disco!


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

BPS said:


> It'll be interesting to see how they handle the classical music element of the film - what pieces he plays, how they make him appear to be a virtuoso, etc.
> 
> This could be classical music's big break into pop culture. It could do for classical what Saturday Night Fever did for disco!


Maybe, but we've already had _The Red Violin_ and _Immortal Beloved_ and _Shine_ and, more recently, _[A Late] Quartet_ and that awful-looking thing with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx about the cellist.


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## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

A Late Quartet was really good I thought.


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

GodNickSatan said:


> A Late Quartet was really good I thought.


I didn't see it, but it looked all right. I saw _The Red Violin_ about 15 years ago, but I seem to remember that it was quite good.

On seeing the trailer I've changed my mind: _Grand Piano_ is going to be terrible. If the premise was the last 20 minutes of a Hitchcock film it would probably be great, but there's never an hour-and-half's worth of plot there, and I hate hate hate the character of the anonymous omnipotent bad guy with no motivation.


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

GodNickSatan said:


> A Late Quartet was really good I thought.


I also enjoyed it, besides the daughter's performance. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is usually great.


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## ScipioAfricanus (Jan 7, 2010)

hopefully it flops.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

The piano player could save himself easily by just playing John Cage's 4'33" :lol:


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

senza sordino said:


> The piano player could save himself easily by just playing John Cage's 4'33" :lol:


And if not, the sound of an assassin's rifle going off would just be part of the music.


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## Bayo flow (Dec 23, 2013)

ahammel said:


> Is it just me, or does this sound like maybe 15 minutes of screen time?
> 
> Might be kind of fun, but I don't think I'd seek it out.


Its actually supposed 2 be really thrilling, I've seen the trailer nd its nice, also, critics reviews have been mainly positive, so it might be a good movie 2watch,


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## Bayo flow (Dec 23, 2013)

Ah, I don't think silence would satisfy the sniper dude


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Methinks the story was inspired by the faces made by Katsaris during this performance






(you go to the 3:25 mark and try to tell me those aren't the eyes of a man who knows his life is in danger)


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## scratchgolf (Nov 15, 2013)

The Austin Chronicle loved it so I'm out. They also flipped pretty quickly through the critic's comments so I'm assuming "Bob's Website" and "Uncle Walt's Movie Reviews" loved it as well. It also seems like a movie within a movie gag preview, ala Tropic Thunder.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

BPS said:


> While on stage he finds out he's targeted by a sniper who will shoot him if he plays even one wrong note.


That's ridiculous and insane, and completely illogical.

There better be something more to the movie than that, otherwise no way.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Sounds like "Speed" (1994) with a better soundtrack. But no buses flying though the air! And Dennis Hopper died, so he can't play the crazed fan. Otherwise, I'd go see it...maybe...


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## ahammel (Oct 10, 2012)

KenOC said:


> Sounds like "Speed" (1994) with a better soundtrack. But no buses flying though the air! And Dennis Hopper died, so he can't play the crazed fan. Otherwise, I'd go see it...maybe...


I dunno about you, but when I think "brilliant yet murderous psychopath", I think "John Cusack".


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Sounds absurd... I'll probably check it out... Then again, I might not... Whoa, I think I'm coming up with another thriller here. All I need to do is add in a sniper and I think we have a movie on our hands.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

If you're not already done with it after reading the precis (I'm done with it already the trailer will have every bit of it you would find at all interesting -- four minutes, tops.

It is about that interesting


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Immediate thought: It needs zombies.

Like that movie last year, what was its name? Violist is invited to join a famous quartet, and only then begins to suspect what actually happened to the previous violist...

Here's a better trailer for Grand Piano, in Spanish!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

A good satirical parody of that version would be the main character not getting shot because he played a wrong note, but that he forgot to do a written slurred-staccato articulation for a phrase. :tiphat:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

ahammel said:


> I dunno about you, but when I think "brilliant yet murderous psychopath", I think "John Cusack".


"Brilliant yet murderous psychopath" needs a thread of its own. How about John Malkovich, "In the Line of Fire" with Clint what's-his-name? But Dennis Hopper had his own brand of crazed goofiness.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Kevin Spacey is a pretty cool brilliant murderous psychopath. And I can't forget Anthony Hopkins.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Vesuvius said:


> And I can't forget Anthony Hopkins.


Anthony Hopkins, yes. But he loved the Goldbergs, so all is forgiven.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Instead of the piano, should be harpsichord just for something different and the sound of a harpsichord is probably more suited to this type of unusual drama!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Psychopath, my [email protected]@ -- just another modern obsessive who no longer attends live concerts and is far too used to recordings


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2013)

Well I for one am encouraged that Frodo found a new career path. I guess those European job retraining programs really work!

It's good to see he got off the crystal meth as well!

Before:









After:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

PetrB said:


> Psychopath, my [email protected]@ -- just another modern obsessive who no longer attends live concerts and is far too used to recordings


Not Dr. Lecter's fault! He was barred from concerts because of his penchant for eating pieces of the audience.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

PetrB said:


> Psychopath, my [email protected]@ -- just another modern obsessive who no longer attends live concerts and is far too used to recordings


In the original script, he didn't kill the pianist, he just went to Amazon send gave him a two-star review for dropping a note.


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## mstar (Aug 14, 2013)

GreenMamba said:


> In the original script, he didn't kill the pianist, he just went to Amazon send gave him a two-star review for dropping a note.


Oh, the rage of two-star reviews!!


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

After seeing RottenTomatoes give this movie excellent reviews, I gave it a shot. About 35 minutes in, I had to tap out. Super unrealistic and corny.


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## Fugue Meister (Jul 5, 2014)

GodNickSatan said:


> A Late Quartet was really good I thought.


Really I thought it was really awful.. and I love op. 131 and all the actors in the movie the screenplay was terrible.

Oh and my answer to the OP is no I probably won't see it unless someone forces it on me and I do know those people.... sigh.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

Checked out the DVD from the library. Clever use of original music as both the orchestral performance and the film score underlying all the action. Otherwise, a highly strained premise that resembles little in the classical music world or in recognizable human behavior.


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