Martin Yan Movies
- 2008
Filmmaker Derek Shimoda offers a comprehensive look at the history of the confection known more for its entertainment value than its taste in this documentary examining the origins and pop culture value of the ever-popular Chinese fortune cookie. From the debate over who invented the ubiquitous Chinese restaurant treat to its evolution into a global phenomenon, the story of the fortune cookie isn't as simple as one might think. A visit to a factory that produces up to five million fortune cookies a day offers a tantalizing glimpse at how these treats are made, and conversations with the folks who actually write the fortunes climax in a challenge to pen the perfect prediction. Additional segments include a talk with the 120 Powerball players who struck it rich by playing their lucky numbers, and a trip to a Chinese restaurant with a conceptual artist who replaces the traditional fortunes with absurdist messages. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- 2000
This video train tour features well-known public television chefs on board in a four-part exercise in food and fun. In this episode Martin Yan, author and chef star of Yan Can Cook, takes the Eastern and Oriental Express through Southeast Asia. A region of many contrasts, the land offers up some of its treasures to Yan. The viewer goes shopping with him in bustling Singapore, visits the bridge over the Kwai River in Thailand, helps a nun prepare a meal for 200 at a monastery there, searches for spices on the island of Panang in Malaysia, cruises down canals in Bangkok to visit temples and markets, and of course helps the train chef prepare risotto along the way. At the end of the line, the charming Yan prepares perfect Thai iced coffee to relax from this action-filled train ride. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- PG
Alan Arkin plays a hapless architect named Jeffrey Martley, separated from his sprightly writer wife Diana (Mariette Hartley) and his wise-beyond-her-years five-year-old daughter Nancy (Sarah Stevens). When Nancy is injured in Jeffrey's camper, she is taken to the hospital where a misunderstanding leads doctors to believe she is the victim of child abuse. An imperious social worker, Gloria Washburn (Monica Parker), compiles a computer dossier on Jeffrey, and Nancy is taken away from him and put in an orphanage. When Diana finds out the situation, she gets back together with Jeffrey in order to try to get their daughter out of the orphanage. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alan Arkin, Mariette Hartley, (more)
