We went to our favorite movie theater yesterday to watch Skyfall, the new James Bond movie. Going to the movies is something that I really appreciate after a year in Afghanistan. This theater is a good multi-plex: big screen, clean and comfortable seats, huge buckets of popcorn with free refills, and a good sound system. Quite a bit different from the Kandahar Air Field version, which was a projector, a T-wall, and whatever fold-up chair you brought!
Skyfall was a lot of fun. It's your basic action flick. Don't go looking for deep meanings in Bond movies. Daniel Craig is the best Bond by far (my opinion) and he did a thoroughly creditable job. So did Judy Dench as M. There were lots of amazing chases, vicious fights, blowing stuff up, beautiful women, and more ammo expended that during the entire Iraq war. What more could you ask for?
Out in the lobby, we saw a poster for the upcoming Jack Reacher movie. We've read a bunch of the Reacher novels. He's a former Army MP officer who is now out of the service. He has no fixed home and wanders around the country, and wherever he goes, he finds serial killers on the loose, and kills them. Reacher novels are the guilty pleasures you read at the beach, and they have even fewer redeeming qualities than Bond movies. The problem with this movie, in my opinion, is the casting. Reacher is a big guy, dark, brooding, monosyllabic. A young Robert Mitchum would be the perfect guy for the role. Maybe Daniel Craig with dark hair. Instead, they cast Tom Cruise. I mean, Tom Cruise? Reacher is not a pretty little boy and I just don't see Cruise doing the role justice. But what the heck, we'll go see it anyway.
Speaking of Cruise, last night we watched A Few Good Men. This movie came out a couple of years after I had been stationed in Guantanamo Bay, so I had a special interest in it. I think the courtroom scene with Jack Nicholson is one of the classic scenes of all moviedom. Both actors were on the top of their form. Much of the rest of the movie is just okay, but it's worth it for that one scene.
A couple of nights ago, we watched the new Spiderman. This one was much better than the previous versions, in my opinion. It stuck more closely to the original storyline, with Peter Parker as a high school kid, and in this movie, he behaved more like a teenager with serious issues. So in addition to the great special effects and fight scenes, it had a bit of substance to it. Good stuff.
Next weekend, we're going to go see Lincoln. In between, we'll see what Janis has lined up with Netflix.
Skyfall was a lot of fun. It's your basic action flick. Don't go looking for deep meanings in Bond movies. Daniel Craig is the best Bond by far (my opinion) and he did a thoroughly creditable job. So did Judy Dench as M. There were lots of amazing chases, vicious fights, blowing stuff up, beautiful women, and more ammo expended that during the entire Iraq war. What more could you ask for?
Out in the lobby, we saw a poster for the upcoming Jack Reacher movie. We've read a bunch of the Reacher novels. He's a former Army MP officer who is now out of the service. He has no fixed home and wanders around the country, and wherever he goes, he finds serial killers on the loose, and kills them. Reacher novels are the guilty pleasures you read at the beach, and they have even fewer redeeming qualities than Bond movies. The problem with this movie, in my opinion, is the casting. Reacher is a big guy, dark, brooding, monosyllabic. A young Robert Mitchum would be the perfect guy for the role. Maybe Daniel Craig with dark hair. Instead, they cast Tom Cruise. I mean, Tom Cruise? Reacher is not a pretty little boy and I just don't see Cruise doing the role justice. But what the heck, we'll go see it anyway.
Speaking of Cruise, last night we watched A Few Good Men. This movie came out a couple of years after I had been stationed in Guantanamo Bay, so I had a special interest in it. I think the courtroom scene with Jack Nicholson is one of the classic scenes of all moviedom. Both actors were on the top of their form. Much of the rest of the movie is just okay, but it's worth it for that one scene.
A couple of nights ago, we watched the new Spiderman. This one was much better than the previous versions, in my opinion. It stuck more closely to the original storyline, with Peter Parker as a high school kid, and in this movie, he behaved more like a teenager with serious issues. So in addition to the great special effects and fight scenes, it had a bit of substance to it. Good stuff.
Next weekend, we're going to go see Lincoln. In between, we'll see what Janis has lined up with Netflix.
I enjoy your writing so much - no matter what the subject. Thank you for keeping it up. I know I have repeated this in one form or another for as long as I have been reading but I fear that if you don't hear from some stranger out here once in a while you will quit. So thanks.
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