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Happy Chappie at the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

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‘t Was time for another double feature movie day, today. I met up with Gert at Pathé around 12:30 for the one o’clock showing of Chappie. I’d seen the trailer and was sort of interested. I like sci-fi, I like robots in general, but I wasn’t sure about the story line and the other characters. After seeing it, I still mostly feel like this.

The movie takes place in the very near future in South Africa. After the development of a robot police force, the Scouts, crime in Johannesburg (which is one of the most crime-ridden places in the world) is down drastically. One particular gang of criminals, containing Ninja & Yo-Landi Visser of Die Antwoord, owes a lot of money to a local crime lord. They decide to rob a money truck but realise they need to shut down the Scouts first. They learn, via the internet, that they were created by Deon Wilson, played by Dev Patel, and figure if they kidnap him, he can help them shut them down.

paintingI really liked Dev Patel as Deon Wilson. In his free time he’s working on developing the first ever true AI. When he succeeds but is not allowed to use a destroyed chassis to test it, he steals it and is on his way home to insert the AI when he is cornered and stopped by the gang. They take him and the van with materials to their hide out and force him to insert the AI. He reluctantly does so and Chappie comes alive.

Like a baby, he learns things, but at a vastly accelerated rate. Which is good, since he only has about five days to live due to the damage to the battery and the chassis. Deon is sent away but keeps returning to help teach Chappie. He teaches him good morals like no crime and no killing, and shows him books and teaches him to paint. Ninja, on the other hand, needs him for the heist on the truck so wants to teach him gangster life. Outright, Chappie does not accept this, because no crime and no killing. Ninja then rephrases it as ‘recovering his stolen property’ and ‘making people sleep’ and teaches him other weaponry like shuriken and nunchuks.

Chappie-photoChappie also becomes fully sentient as he realises he has a battery that is running out. When told that the battery can’t be changed and that he will die when it runs out, he becomes sad. He does not want to die. Deon tries to help him deal (picture), but Ninja uses it as a tactic to get him to agree to the heist telling Chappie they can use the money to buy a new body. They practice by stealing cars and Chappie, having seen the neural interface earlier, works on isolating consciousness so it can be transferred.

Meanwhile, Deon’s colleague Vincent, played by Hugh Jackman, has his own robot. A military monster, controlled through a neurological interface instead of having an AI, with a fully loaded arsenal. He is trying his best to promote his robot over Deon’s Scouts but their boss isn’t buying it. So he decides to take matters into his own hand. The Scouts can only be programmed by inserting a Guard Keu into their brain. This key is under strict guard. Deon took it so he could program Chappie and Vincent finds out its missing.

He follows Deon and finds out about Chappie. He briefly manages to steal, or kidnap since he is sentient at that point, Chappie. He takes the Guard Key and saws of one of Chappie’s arms as punishment then throws him out. Using the Guard Key he later manages to install a program into all the Scouts causing them to stop working. As criminals start to realise this, mayhem is unleashed upon Joburg.

635609864249152310-XXX-CHAPPIE-MOV-JY-4648-71171578Chappie makes his way home to the gang, with some stops along the way (picture), and Deon fits him with a new spare arm. Chappie then goes with Ninja and the others to do the heist. A news helicopter catches him while they rob the money truck and the broadcast of a “Scout gone bad” brings even more panic. Both in the public, as well as in Tetravaal, the company Deon works for. The president of Tetravaal authorizes Vincent to use his robot to destroy Chappie. Which is exactly what he wants.

What follows is a robot versus robot battle at the gang’s hideout with a lot of casualties before Chappie manages to disable the mecha. Deon is fatally wounded, Yo-Landi is dead, and Ninja is left to pick up the pieces. Chappie frantically drives Deon to Tetravaal to try and transfer both his own consciousness as well as that of Deon into a new body.

In the end, I found the movie too broad. It is trying really hard to be an action movie and at the same time it would like to pose you several deep thoughts about consciousness and what it means to be sentient and human. And because of this, both parts suffer. I would’ve preferred it had they scrapped the whole Hugh Jackman plot and focused on Chappie figuring out what he is, who he is, asserting himself as his own person and coming to terms with mortality, whether he actually dies or not.

I’m also not really happy with Ninja and Yo-Landi. I kept seeing them more as themselves, i.e. Die Antwoord, than as the gangsters they’re supposed to be. Which is only made worse by them actually wearing Die Antwoord shirts and them using their own names. Their acting is lacking, and as such I do not believe and feel them as characters.

So, in summary, I liked Chappie and Deon and don’t really give a shit about the rest.

tumblr_nl6kli086m1tpnup8o1_500After Chappie, we took a quick detour to the supermarket, and then came back in for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Another movie featuring Dev Patel as main character. I really liked this movie. It’s an unpretentious feel good movie, and follow-up to 2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. In the first movie, Sonny is trying to build up his hotel in India where most guests are elderly and have basically moved in to spend their last years. Now, the hotel is doing really well, so well in fact, that Sonny and one of the residents, co-manager Muriel (a fantastic Maggie Smith), go to the US to ask for financial support from a franchise to open a second hotel. The franchise is interested but not willing to commit just yet so they agree to send out a mystery guest observer to see if it’s worth it.

video-undefined-241664FE00000578-873_636x358Once back, Sonny is stressed out and dealing with way too many things on his own. Not only is he waiting for the observer, he also has his own upcoming wedding to worry about. And with how Indian weddings go, this means three parties. Shortly later, two new guests arrive, Mrs Lavinia Beech, who gets the last free room in the hotel, and Mr. Guy Chambers.

Sonny gets all frenzied, convinced that Guy is the observer, since the franchise CEO said he would “send his Guy”. He bumps Mrs. Beech to a barely finished room, and starts pampering Guy. Guy has more manners and switches rooms with Lavinia after dinner. Over the next few days, Sonny expends all his energy on making Guy Chambers like him and the hotel ignoring his other guests, and his fiancee Sunaina. He is also jealous of his fiancee’s friend Kushal as he is the choreographer of the wedding dances and spends a lot of time with Sunaina. Next to that, he has bought the hotel Sonny had his eye on to expand into.  As a result, he gets into arguments, bungles the dance on their first party, and gets in trouble with Sunaina, and her family.

Marigold-hotel-dan_3181469bMeanwhile, the guests each have their own problems. Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Evelyn (Judi Dench) are very fond of each other but afraid to say it so they keep going in circles and missing each other. Madge is dating two wealthy Indian men and having trouble choosing between them. Norman accidentally takes out a hit on his girlfriend, and is jealous of her other relationships (as they never said they were exclusive) but afraid to say so. And Guy Chambers is interested in Sonny’s mother, who is reluctant to think of a new relationship.

And behind all this, Muriel is doing her best to keep everything together and teach Sonny to do the right thing. After all, she will not live forever and at some point he has to do this on his own. Fortunately, everything works out in the end, every one has their own happy ending, and we get treated to an awesome Indian wedding dance(party). Dev Patel is a very fine dancer 🙂

 

And The Moral Is…

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Above all you must always have courage, and be kind

I saw Cinderella Wednesday with Gert. Of course the story is a familiar one and even more so since this is a Disney remake of the original Disney animation.

The movie spends a lot of time setting the background of Ella and her family. Her parents love her and each other, they live in a nice big manor house with a handful of servants and a bunch of animals. Then her mother falls ill and dies but not before telling Ella the above, and not to stop believing in magic.

Ella grows up, her father remarries the Lady Tremaine aka Cate Blanchett and gains two stepdaughters, Anastasia and Drusilla. At first things are tense but okay, and then Stepmother turns the quiet, peaceful house into party plaza.

It is clear that Ella’s father can’t forget his wife and that this second marriage isn’t all that great. We get glimpses now and then of Lady Tremaine’s feelings and see that she isn’t happy either, but not enough time is spent on this. Anastasia and Drusilla are nothing more than cardboard.

IMG_0371.JPGThen daddy dies while overseas, and Ella’s life starts to change. Before long, she is nothing more than the maid, and renamed to Cinderella by her stepsisters. She runs off, or rather: rides, and meets the Prince.

They hit it off, they talk and flirt and go their separate ways. We then spend some time in the palace with the Prince and King. The same applies here, there’s glimpses of backstory and character stuff, but it is flimsy and superficial.

Then, ball happens, Fairy Godmother comes along (an all too brief part for Helena Bonham Carter), cgi magic happens to turn pumpkin, mice, lizards and goose into coach, horses, footmen and driver and off to the ball Cindy goes.

Visually, it’s stunning. Cinderella’s dress is fantastic and the decor is beautiful. We get some more royal background which adds the tiniest bit of plot. Cindy and Kit dance, then run off into the garden where they talk more and it is from there she runs off when the clock strikes midnight.

The rest is familiar, the Prince searches all through the land to find her, and although interrupted by a wee bit of scheming, succeeds and they live happily ever after.

On the whole, the movie misses substance. The plot is already pretty thin, and it would have been nice to really add some actual character development. Unfortunately, I find neither of the actors playing Cindy and the Prince strong enough to carry the movie. 

 

Manners maketh man

Afterwards, we saw Kingsman: The Secret Service. This movie is fantastic! It’s a British film, and, fortunately, it shows.

Kingsman is an intelligence agency formed in the 19th century to be an independent secret service, free from government allegiances and influence. All members are gentlemen, and generally coming from a wealthy background, clad in the best bespoke suits you can find. In fact, their front is that of a high end tailor making said bespoke suits.

IMG_0372.JPGThey are led by “Arthur”, their tech genius is “Merlin” and every member has a codename of one of the knights of the round table. This means there’s a set number of agents, and when one dies, the others all put forth a candidate. After an intense testing, process the one remaining candidate gets the job.

At the beginning of the movie, Lancelot dies, so there’s an opening.

Every agent brings in a candidate, and all are upper class youth. Except Galahad’s choice. He brings in Eggsy, the son of his candidate the last time there was an opening, and who didn’t make it. Eggsy is in his early twenties, no job, several brushes with the law, living with his mum, her abusive boyfriend and his half sister.

From there on we follow Eggsy as he goes through the training and selection process, and Galahad as he works, until the two plotlines meet and shit hits the fan.

The movie has this old school gentleman spy feel, and knows it. It alludes to it several times, and manages to blend this old school attitude with modern tools and equipment. It also has a very good mix of serious and fun. Coupled with excellent casting choices (Colin Firth as Galahad, Mark Strong as Merlin, Taron Egerton as Eggsy), this film is a joy to watch and very much recommended.

 

I forgive myself

IMG_0373.PNGThen yesterday, Kim and I went to see Insurgent. It picks up almost immediately after Divergent, only a few days have passed. We meet up with Tris, Four, Caleb and Peter in Amity where they have taken shelter. At first, they seem mostly settled in as they wait for things to happen and make plans. But things are not quite what they seem and before you know it, they’re back on the run, heading into the city with the end goal of killing Jeanine.

Along the way to do that, they meet the Factionless, split up, find people, and loose people, and we spend time with both Candor and Erudite before this movie’s endgame begins.

The movie skips a fair amount of book, but I feel this was the best choice as the skipped part is mostly repetitive of things seen in Divergent. By cutting it, the rest of the movie can take a slower pace and dive into things with more detail.

We get several touching Tris/Four moments, more insight into the other factions, more Sims, and we also get to see Tris struggle with herself. She’s riddled with guilt about the death of her parents and the shooting of Will, as already established in Divergent. Throughout the movie, we see her grow, and slowly deal with it.

The end is a bit anticlimactic; it feels a little bit rushed, and too easy. It does, however, leave a perfect starting point for the last film. And, even though I wouldn’t mind more of this series, I do hope they do just one movie for the last book.

Jupiter Chasing

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Went to see Jupiter Ascending with Gert tonight. We’d been wanting to see it for a while now, but it was always being shown at ridiculous times (middle of the afternoon or late in the evening). But, today we got lucky as there was a 18:00 showing and with it being my day off, and Gert also free around that time, we finally got to go.

I’ve heard some buzz about the movie being both awesome and disappointing at the same time, and I can see that. Visually, the movie is stunning. The costumes, the sets, the decor, the CGI. Everything is elaborate and filled with details, and the action sequences are fantastically made.

I also really liked the backstory, where Earth is just another planet in a universe filled with inhabited worlds and where Earth isn’t actually all that important. It’s just another commodity to be traded. The only advantage it has, is its sheer number of people, and that makes it valuable enough, that it is worth scheming and killing for.

The various aliens are fun and interesting, and the steampunk vibe coming off the ships and buildings is a nice change from standard, smooth, grey, metal in sci-fi. The glimpse of the culture of bureaucracy in the origin of humankind planetary conglomerate of Orous is fantastic to see as Advocate Bob leads Jupiter and Caine from one desk to another to get her inheritance settled. The steampunk elements are strong in this sequence, with a drizzle of cyberpunk added, and it really sets the scene, visually.

The characters are not very well developed. Kalique isn’t shown enough to have any development whatsoever. Titus is okay, but his part (with Jupiter) of the story goes so fast that it is not at all believable. Balem is fantastically played by Eddie Redmayne. His facial expressions and creepy voice make him a perfect ‘mad king’. Unfortunately, the character’s main drive, profit and a mommy-complex, is too thin to carry the plot.

Jupiter herself is sort of interesting, but I wish we could’ve seen more of her. I do like the lack of romance. Except a mention about twice, there is no swooning and pining and other such nonsense until the very end where they kiss. Which was a nice ending.

I also like Caine very much. I found his story, and that of Stinger, the most interesting and would have liked to see more of that.

Plot and story wise, the movie is lacking. Jupiter has very little agency, most of the movie she is moving around from place to place because people bring her there, and then she runs off only to be found or captured by someone else, who brings her elsewhere. The main reason for all that moving about is to gain the title to Earth from her, either by wanting to murder her, or get her on their side. This is not fleshed out enough, because the movie spends most of its time doing chases or running. The chase sequences are very well made and look awesome, but they are too long, and too often. The running away seems fairly pointless. Other than that, it just jumps all over the place seemingly without connection.

All in all, I do like the movie, but it isn’t great. I might see it again if it’s ever on TV or anything, but I have no need for it in my collection. Which is a disappointment as I had hoped, from seeing the trailers before it was released, to love the movie.

Show ’em What You’re Made Of

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Oh, the teenage memories tonight! I went to see the Backstreet Boys documentary “Show ’em What You’re Made Of” with Ingrid and Nienke tonight. It was shown in cinemas all over Europe at the same time, and then afterwards there would be a small concert of the Boys shown live. I was a pretty big fan of them during their first three or so albums, in my early teens. I can still sing along to most of the songs if I hear them.

I was over at Ingrid’s earlier this week to have dinner and we got to talking about movies, as we still need to go see one with the three of us for her birthday. We did see Begin Again, but we couldn’t make Step Up 5 work with all three of our schedules and the times it was shown. While doing that, we noticed the Backstreet Boys film in the line up for tonight and we were both interested.

Once home, I showed Nienke, but she wasn’t really interested, so Ingrid and I decided to go with the two of us. I reserved us two tickets, which was a smart move as there were few seats left.  Since we had some time between the start of the show and when I was off work, we figured we go to eat someplace. As Nienke was also in the city in the afternoon, we agreed to eat together.

We settled on old favourite Pappa Joe and I met up with Ingrid, Nienke and a surprise Marleen with whom she had been out and about. We had a good time, but then we had to leave to make the movie in time. Marleen had to go the other way, so Nienke walked us to the cinema.

There, she changed her mind and decided that if the seat next to us was still free (we had near edge seats and the single one beside us was still free when I made the reservations), she would also go. We headed for the info desk, as we couldn’t get the single seat from the machine, and fortunately it was still available!

The documentary was fun, it showed the 20 year history of the band and followed them while they were making their last album and world tour, showing both the fun times and the struggles. Nothing earth shattering, but a glorious view back in time to my teenage years, and a glimpse into the lives they had and have now as people, and not just Backstreet Boys.

Afterwards, it switched to London, if I remember correctly, where the Boys were present for the European premiere of the movie and where they would do a short a cappella concert. They sang about seven or so songs, both old favourites as well as things from their last album. They still sound really good, although their voices have changed some as they have grown older which sounded a little bit strange sometimes especially with the older songs where certain parts are so ingrained in memory.

Michiel de Ruyter

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Bol,_Michiel_de_Ruyter

Ferdinand Bol. Michiel de Ruyter. 1667

Okay, so I went to see Michiel de Ruyter tonight. It’s a Dutch movie about one of our best known admirals, back in the 17th century. As a lover of history, I had been intrigued about the movie ever since I saw trailers, so Gert and I decided we had to go see.

I didn’t remember a lot about Michiel de Ruyter himself from my history classes. I recognised some names of characters, and I remembered the brothers De Witt as I’d seen a painting of them last year at the Rijksmuseum.

The movie starts with a sea battle in which fleet admiral Maarten Tromp dies, witnessed by Michiel de Ruyter. After, when Michiel comes home he has been on the road out on the oceans for the better part of the last fifteen years with only occasional breaks and he’s tired of it. As Michiel gets used to home life again with Anna, his wife, and his three remaining children (an older boy and two young girls) we cut to politics. And from here on out, there be many spoilers. Be forewarned!

Johan de Witt is named the Grand Pensionary of the States of Holland, and as a consequence of that, due to the power of Holland, the de facto leader of the whole of the United Provinces. At this time, the Anglo-Dutch War is going on, and Johan realises they need a strong man to lead their navy. Unfortunately, with the admiral of the fleet dead, he needs a new one.

Cue Michiel de Ruyter. Michiel doesn’t want to, he wants to retire. But Johan is his friend, and Michiel is dedicated to his fatherland so he relents and accepts the commission. We then get shown, in quick succession, a number of sea battles Michiel leads, winning most of them. Taking pointers from The Matrix, every time a cannon ball hits a ship we see sailors and crewmen flying around the decks in slow-motion, accompanied by a blast of sawdust and splinters.

While well-shot battle scenes, using replicas of period ships for the main action and filling it in with CGI for background, this sequence got tiresome as it was very repetitive, and besides on screen titles naming the battles, there were no dates to indicate flow of time.

Peter van de Velde. The Dutch burn down the English fleet before Chatham, June 20, 1667. ca. 1670

Peter van de Velde. The Dutch burn down the English fleet before Chatham, June 20, 1667. ca. 1670

During one of these battles his second in command Cornelis Tromp snaps and disobeys an order. As the son of the previous admiral, who was a hero to his men, he fully expected to take over the job. He doesn’t like Michiel and doesn’t trust his strategies. So he breaks formation to pursue two straggler ships and as a consequence, the battle is lost. Michiel is furious and fires him on the spot.

On the whole, though, the Dutch are decimating the English, culminating in a sneak attack on the Medway near London where they burn part of the English fleet anchored there, and steal the flagship. This is also the founding of the Dutch Marine Corps. The English are then somewhat willing to sign a peace treaty. Charles II of England (very well played by Charles Dance, aka Tywin Lannister) is pissed of at this, though, and conspires with the French.

At the same time, in the United Provinces, William III of Orange (nephew of Charles) is unhappy because he isn’t Stadtholder yet, and there are continuing clashes between republicans (anti-him) and orangists (pro-him). He is also a bit of a wet blanket. However, the peace treaty also comes with a demand by Charles for a better position for William so he ends up Stadtholder after all.

Jan de Baen. De lijken van de gebroeders De Witt. ca. 1672-1675

As time goes on, the unrest grows, the peace is broken, battles keep on happening. Political scheming also increases greatly. Meanwhile, the French are knocking at our doors in the south and Louis XIV‘s armies invade, secretly helped by Charles II. The orangists are getting really sick of Johan de Witt and his brother and conspire to have them killed. This is done in a rather gruesome way, matching the earlier mentioned, and shown here, painting.

Michiel is devastated, Johan was his best friend, but he remains first and foremost loyal to his country. Despite being a republican, William likes De Ruyter and wants to keep him on as Admiral. He reinstates Tromp and orders them to put on their big boy pants, suck it up and work together. Despite no love between them, they shake hands and seal the deal. As strategies are devised and battles planned, Tromp begins to see that Michiel is a really brilliant strategist with an excellent grasp of battle dynamics, and the role the ocean plays.

William is influenced by his power-hungry orangist retinue and starts to distrust Michiel. After a glorious victory, William announces it was thanks to Tromp’s achievements they won and Michiel realises he’s pretty fucked. He tries to retire again, so he and his wife and kids can live out their lives in (relative) peace. William has other ideas, however. After a wee shouting match in the hallways, they part. Only for William to stop him at the last minute. Michiel has declared his continuing loyalty to the land and has reaffirmed he will follow orders during the argument. So William sends him, severely outgunned, to the Mediterranean to fight.

There, Michiel and his men, knowing they will not survive, engage the enemy. When indeed he gets shot down and dies, the French they are fighting stop and give him a gun salute. Michiel is brought back home, and given a state funeral.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie. It is of an un-Dutch style and grandeur and evokes patriotism in an almost American way (think lots of flags flying and grand-standing speeches). I am personally rather allergic to patriotism, but even I could not escape it wholly while watching the film.  And I don’t think I would’ve wanted it any other way. Michiel de Ruyter is, after all, one of the heroes of our tiny country. There’s some ruckus about this now, because he also did things that we now see as bad (slavery, whaling) so some people are clamoring we shouldn’t see him as a hero.

But we must keep in mind that this is centuries ago, in a society, a world, with different morals, different laws, and frankly, a different reality. Within that context, Michiel gave everything for our country and worked tirelessly to keep us free, free to trade, free to live. Looking back on that now, we should realise that, as morality and ethics have changed over the years, so has our reality. We enacted new laws, stopped practices we now deem wrong. So yes, definitely acknowledge our history, good ánd bad, so we can learn from that, but stop overlaying (y)our current moral viewpoint on a time and place where it is not (fully) applicable.

The actors are good, with one or two exceptions, and I liked most of the characterisations. I especially enjoyed Frank Lammers (Michiel), Sanne Langelaar (Anna) and Barry Atsma (Johan de Witt). I found William III (Egbert Jan Weeber) and his boy-toy Hans William Bentinck (Jelle de Jong) to be played rather as if they were prissy weaklings, which annoyed me.

Other than that, the movie is rife with historical inaccuracies. The writer(s) played loose and fast with the timeline, both compressing it, and rearranging events as they liked it. Historically speaking, the movie covers a period of about 25 years. In the movie, it can’t be more than about three years. And even that is a stretch. There are never any dates shown, but his children at the beginning of the movie are played by the same actors as at the end, and none of them are aged in any way. Therefore, it can’t be more than just a few years.

Jurriaen Jacobsz. Michiel de Ruyter and his family. 1662.

Jurriaen Jacobsz. Michiel de Ruyter and his family. 1662. In the back: Engel (with falcon), Michiel, his wife Anna, her son from an earlier marriage Jan, Alida (with flowers) and on the right Cornelia and her husband Jan. In the front are the two daughters from Michiel and Anna playing with their cousin Cornelis (son of Cornelia and Jan).

And speaking of his children, as an example of things changed in the movie, Michiel de Ruyter married and then lost that wife, as well as the child, in childbirth. He then later married again and, with that wife, had a son named Adriaen, a daughter named Cornelia (Neeltje), a child that died a few days old, another daughter named Alida (Aaltje), and another son named Engel. His wife then died about a year later, and two years after that, in 1652, he marries Anna. This is the wife he has in the movie.

Anna was a widow at that time, with a son and a daughter from a previous marriage. Together, they have two more daughters, Margaretha in 1652 and Anna in 1655. Also in 1655, his oldest son Adriaen dies, leaving them with six or seven living children between them (I couldn’t find if the daughter is still alive at this point).

In the movie, Anna is pregnant at the beginning. She gives birth and loses that baby. Beyond that, they have a son, Engel, and two daughters, Neeltje and Greetje. So, the number of kids is wrong, the order of the kids is wrong, and the names of the kids are wrong. And none of these kids have aged in any way at the end of the movie… This while Engel in actuality also went out to sea, fought alongside his father and separately, rising to a rank of vice-admiral two years after his father’s death.

Having said that, I recommend you watch the movie, and then spent an hour or two reading up on Actual History. The Wikipedia articles I linked are an excellent starting point. If you read Dutch, though, I recommend the nl varieties of he Wikipedia links, they are more in depth.

The Battle of the Holiday Cards

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20141211_151353Wrote Holiday cards with Mom yesterday as we usually do.

In the evening I went to the city to meet up with Gert to go see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It was a good movie with many things I liked and loved, but it just felt a bit off. I’m curious for the extended edition release next year because I felt, at several moment, that things were cut that would be excellent moments to restore for the extended.

Then tonight, I went again, but then with Nico. I’m not sure if I’ll be seeing it more than these two times (in comparison, I went to see Desolation in cinemas thrice).

Saturday, Kim is coming over to watch the Extended Desolation of Smaug in preparation for watching Battle, later on.

Strange Things Did Happen Here

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Saw Mockingjay (part 1) tonight with Kim. I was very curious to see how they would continue and especially how they would split it. The first two parts were really good, so I was hoping they would continue that trend. And they did.

It’s a really good film. A comfortable pacing keeping the action happening while making time for emotional gut-punch moments so you actually get to experience the feels and not rush through them. I think they made a good choice where to make the cut and end this part. This way parts 1 and 2 aren’t just one film that just happens to be in two parts, but each have a different all-over theme.

They also made a really good rendition of the Hanging Tree song, which is very nicely sung by Jennifer Lawrence. It becomes a tune that sticks in your head.

We stopped at Starbucks on the way back since I’d seen the sign announcing the return of the Christmas flavours the other day and I love honey almond hot chocolate. It’s like drinking a liquid marzipan bar, one of those with a thin layer of chocolate around them.

In a Mine! In a Mine! Where a Million Diamonds Shine!

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20141026_000544I bought this book recently, but didn’t get around to actually using it until today. The point of the book is to carry it with you while you turn your normal daily life into a scavenger hunt to find the items listed in the book. And when you have found one of the items, you turn around the book and flip to a random page. The edge of the page then tells you what to do with the item you’ve found and then, after you’ve done that, you can register it in the book.

20141026_000602Yesterday I joined Ingrid in going to The Farm to celebrate Julius’ birthday. It was a really fun day with good people and tasty food (they had made a wide assortment of cakes, tea and candies). While walking around checking out the new goats I found a magnificent white feather. And today I realised the book had a feather on the list 😀

As you can see, it has a space to note the time and date and how and where I found it. I wrote in the corner what I was supposed to do with it (Play) and since that isn’t something you can really show, I described it around the feather. And to keep it festive, I taped it to the page with fabric tape.

20141025_213358I also spent some time, yesterday, building my new Warcraft Lego Set. It consists of a Goblin on a rocket and a Night Elf on a sabercat (aka “Barren’s Chase”).

On Friday, Gert and I went to see Pride. This is an historical film taking place in England during the miner’s strike of 1984-85. The movie opens in London during a march for LGBT rights. After the march, a group of friends meet up in the bookstore of one of them and discuss politics. As they get to the strike, they realise that the plight of the miner’s is not unlike theirs. Both are not seen very positively in the public eye and garner a lot of abuse.

The group decides to band together to raise money for the miners. Raising money is very much needed as the union’s funds are getting depleted and social security is limited, so the miners are short on money and necessities.

Thus the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners organisation is formed. It doesn’t always go well, but eventually they have raised a fair amount and go about looking for a way to get it to the needy. They contact the National Union of Miners, but they refuse the donation, not wanting to be associated with the LGSM. At first discouraged, the group decide not to give up and start looking for a town to give their money to. They find the Welsh town of Onllwyn and are ecstatic when they accept the money.

Pride_posterThey pile into their van and travel to Wales to hand over the money. Once there, the atmosphere is awkward at first, as the town had not quite understood they were a gay group. However over the course of the movie, the continued support and interactions show most of the town that the LGSM are people, too, and they gain a mutual understanding of each other that is paid back after the strike ends.

I loved this movie. It takes place in the same time period as The Normal Heart, and touches on some of the same topics (acceptance, gay rights, AIDS) but mostly this is a heartwarming story in a difficult time, whereas The Normal Heart is heartbreaking.

Welcome to Your Life

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I’m liking Luke Evans more and more. I saw him, consciously, for the first time in The Hobbit (where I was, at first, mightily confused about the two Orlando Blooms…) and I really like what he does with Bard. Today I saw him in Dracula Untold.

I’ve been seeing the trailer for weeks now and it pushes all my buttons. Supernatural creatures, historical referencing, fantastic costumes and sets, and a good lead actor. So, Gert and I went to see it. As I expected I loved the movie. It’s a fictionalized account (obviously) of Vlad the Impaler. As a kid, he was traded to the Ottoman Empire to be raised there as a political hostage together with a 1000 boys for the Ottomans to use as cannon fodder in their army. As such, he fought in the Ottoman army as well and there gained his nickname of The Impaler for the heinous ways he would dispose of his enemies.

As an adult, no longer suited to fight, he is released and returns home, the Ottomans decline somewhat. He gets married, takes over the throne and has a son, all the while trying desperately to forget the past. This works decently until about ten years later. Over the years, the Ottomans have started to rise in power again. There are incursions of scouts and an all around feeling of unease.

One night, during a banquet of sorts, the Ottoman prince comes a-calling. He is of the same age as Vlad, they were raised together.  But tonight he comes to claim another 1000 boys, including the young prince. Vlad refuses him and a fight breaks out. He loses the fight and is forced to concede. A few days later, they meet the Prince’s caravan on the road to do the hand-over of the boy. There, Vlad rebels and kills the men of the Prince and rides off.

Having basically put his country at war with the Ottomans, Vlad searches for help. He enters a cavern in the mountains of which there are many rumours of horrible things. In there, he meets the vampire and strikes a deal. He gains the powers of a vampire for three days and three nights. If he does not succumb to the powers in that time (i.e. drinks human blood) he will regain his humanity afterwards. If he does succumb, he will become the vampire.

With his new found powers, Vlad takes on the Ottomans in battle and fights both them, and his new urges, while trying to hide the monstrous side of his abilities from his family and his people.

Koos, Thomas and Robert

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Social Media can be a really useful thing 🙂 After my birthday party last Sunday, my little (second) cousin lost his favourite stuffed animal Koos while on the way home. He was seated on the back of the bicycle and fell asleep and probably dropped it. Since it was his favourite, he was devastated. Monday I discussed this with Kim and later that day she sent me a link and said “isn’t this it?”

The link was to a Facebook post in a a local group, someone had found a stuffed animal and was looking for the owner. It sounded just like Koos. So I posted there, saying it was probably my cousin’s and warned my cousin that it looked like Koos had been found. She contacted the lady and indeed, it was Koos! Yesterday they picked him up there.  Lucky for them he’d already fallen off the bike still in town, and luckily there are people that are willing to put in some effort to return lost goods. Faith in humanity restored 🙂

Monday I also went to the movies with Kim. We saw The Mazerunner. It was entertaining, but a bit too fast and easy. It also reinforced that it’s really not a good idea to read the books that close to seeing the film (I finished the book that morning). The differences really stood out, and I think if there had been a week or twee between, I would’ve liked the movie better. Not that it was bad, but was okay-good, not good or good-good.

Then yesterday I went to see The Equalizer with Gert. I don’t normally watch straight-up action movies, but I’d seen the trailer for The Equalizer a few times among the previews before other movies and it seemed interesting. I’m glad to be able to say that the movie lived up to my expectations.

The story revolves around Robert, a middle aged man with a hidden past, who lives a quiet life with set routines. During the day, he works at a big hardware store where he tries to help his co-workers. At night, when he can’t sleep, he goes to a diner to read his book and talk with another regular there: Alina, a young prostitute. One night, he sees her being abused by her pimp and stands up for her. When she is then so severely beaten that she is hospitalized, he decides to act.

He seeks out Slavi who ‘owns’ her, and offers his savings to buy her freedom. Slavi ridicules him and declines the offer. Robert then kills Slavi and the four other gangsters present in about 16 seconds. Later, Robert is called in by the authorities and we learn he used to be a special ops agent who is now retired, and that the gangsters he killed were hotshots in the Russian mafia.

This is the start of the main action. Robert is pursued by a mafia hitman named Teddy and has to use all his skills and wits to outsmart him. Of course he succeeds, but the twists and turns in that are interesting, and not always as expected.