Skyfall and Adios, Janet
I spent the first portion of the day continuing my Die Hard watching spree, something I hope to conclude by the end of the week. I don’t mean that to sound like I’m disparaging the Die Hard franchise. This is more like one of the countless little projects I give myself that, at the end, I can say, “I did that.” It’s not a lofty goal but it sure is attainable. The afternoon screening was Die Hard 2: Die Harder, an excellent sequel to an excellent part one. If you’ve seen it and forgotten it (like me), it involves the Dulles Airport being hijacked by former soldiers gone rogue while in Central America. If, like me, all you remembered about it was John McClane shoving an icicle into a guy’s eye socket followed by a snowmobile chase, there’s actually a lot more that happens. Can you believe it?
Tonight was supposed to be rescheduled archery night with Janet since the range is closed on Sundays. This may come as no surprise to the reader, but the range is just as closed on Mondays as it is on Sundays. I found this out on the website, the same website I assume Janet looked at to learn they were closed last night. Very strange.
After some exchanged messages, we settled on seeing a movie at The Crest in the evening as replacement. I realize I’m about four months late to the party, but I finally saw Skyfall. There are oodles of good things to be said about the film, but if I had to sum it up with one talking point, it would be: Skyfall is a Bond movie for people who don’t think they like James Bond but who like movies a great deal. It’s fantastic. And I don’t particularly like James Bond (though I did enjoy Casino Royale lots).
From the POV of a student of film, Skyfall had several nods to cinema history that I noticed (and remember). The underground chase through the London tube tunnels seems to be an homage to Harry Lime in the sewers of Vienna in The Third Man while Javier Bardem’s arrival in the helicopter, music blaring, is clearly a nod to Apocalypse Now. For a Bond aficionado, I assume there are many sly Bond references to the entire oeuvre, Aston Martin aside, but the soundtrack fits perfectly into the canon and is clearly and undoubtedly Bond while also being fresh and new. Adele’s theme is outstanding and totally worthy of last night’s Oscar win. I can’t recommend this movie highly enough. It offers everything a good action movie should, yet so much more. But I’m told if one is a hard-core 007 acolyte, this may not be the greatest thing you’ve ever seen.
After eating a lot of sour patch kids and dark chocolate and drinking root beer throughout the movie, both of us needed to consume something more substantial. Or that was the theory. I went back to Janet’s house to find a) she only lives about a mile away from me and b) she’s already so packed up and moved out that she only had Top Ramen and eggs in the kitchen. She made me ramen and instead of beating the egg before adding it to hot soup, she poached it. Isn’t that interesting? We sat talking about Bond and about travel and I tried to remember all the places I’ve been and people I’ve met since high school and it became a little overwhelming. When there are so many different me’s back there, looking at them can be confusing.
We parted ways and that may be the last time I see Janet. Friday is her last day of work, then it’s adios, sayonara, and so long Seattle for her. And that just happens to coincide with the start of March, the start of a month of shows I have no interest in, and the start of no longer having a theater buddy (except, you know, the other friends I had before).
To bury that loss a bit further, when I got home I popped in the third Die Hard - this one With a Vengeance. Part three is where the series starts to get sillier than the first two. Bruce Willis gets paired with Samuel L. Jackson on a wild goose chase through Manhattan where they are trying to stop terrorist Jeremey Irons from blowing things up. It’s great fun but a day of nothing by Dying Hard and seeing Bond get beaten up and shot at gets to be exhausting. Maybe there is thread of truth to the pervasive violence in movies polluting young minds in this country. Those movies sure have a lot of guns and shooting.
Tonight was supposed to be rescheduled archery night with Janet since the range is closed on Sundays. This may come as no surprise to the reader, but the range is just as closed on Mondays as it is on Sundays. I found this out on the website, the same website I assume Janet looked at to learn they were closed last night. Very strange.
After some exchanged messages, we settled on seeing a movie at The Crest in the evening as replacement. I realize I’m about four months late to the party, but I finally saw Skyfall. There are oodles of good things to be said about the film, but if I had to sum it up with one talking point, it would be: Skyfall is a Bond movie for people who don’t think they like James Bond but who like movies a great deal. It’s fantastic. And I don’t particularly like James Bond (though I did enjoy Casino Royale lots).
From the POV of a student of film, Skyfall had several nods to cinema history that I noticed (and remember). The underground chase through the London tube tunnels seems to be an homage to Harry Lime in the sewers of Vienna in The Third Man while Javier Bardem’s arrival in the helicopter, music blaring, is clearly a nod to Apocalypse Now. For a Bond aficionado, I assume there are many sly Bond references to the entire oeuvre, Aston Martin aside, but the soundtrack fits perfectly into the canon and is clearly and undoubtedly Bond while also being fresh and new. Adele’s theme is outstanding and totally worthy of last night’s Oscar win. I can’t recommend this movie highly enough. It offers everything a good action movie should, yet so much more. But I’m told if one is a hard-core 007 acolyte, this may not be the greatest thing you’ve ever seen.
After eating a lot of sour patch kids and dark chocolate and drinking root beer throughout the movie, both of us needed to consume something more substantial. Or that was the theory. I went back to Janet’s house to find a) she only lives about a mile away from me and b) she’s already so packed up and moved out that she only had Top Ramen and eggs in the kitchen. She made me ramen and instead of beating the egg before adding it to hot soup, she poached it. Isn’t that interesting? We sat talking about Bond and about travel and I tried to remember all the places I’ve been and people I’ve met since high school and it became a little overwhelming. When there are so many different me’s back there, looking at them can be confusing.
We parted ways and that may be the last time I see Janet. Friday is her last day of work, then it’s adios, sayonara, and so long Seattle for her. And that just happens to coincide with the start of March, the start of a month of shows I have no interest in, and the start of no longer having a theater buddy (except, you know, the other friends I had before).
To bury that loss a bit further, when I got home I popped in the third Die Hard - this one With a Vengeance. Part three is where the series starts to get sillier than the first two. Bruce Willis gets paired with Samuel L. Jackson on a wild goose chase through Manhattan where they are trying to stop terrorist Jeremey Irons from blowing things up. It’s great fun but a day of nothing by Dying Hard and seeing Bond get beaten up and shot at gets to be exhausting. Maybe there is thread of truth to the pervasive violence in movies polluting young minds in this country. Those movies sure have a lot of guns and shooting.