Scribblings from the Mitchy Side

Thanks to my Cineworld Unlimited membership, I got to see this movie tonight. I loved it but I must confess I have absolutely no idea how to describe what I just watched.

It stars Colin Firth as a very British spy (the headquarters is based on Saville Row) along with a host of stars and up and comers. Samuel L Jackson plays a very different kind of role and does it brilliantly, as usual, but if you'd ever told me he could play a convincing villain who talks with a lisp, I'd have laughed at you :) (Not a spoiler, it gets revealed in the first 10 minutes). The premise is the usual Big Bad Wants To Rule The World plot, with action sequences that you'd expect in a Bourne or a Salt movie and gadgets from the Roger Moore Bond era. At first you're sitting there thinking you're watching a very clever British spy movie with the sort of humour mixed in that only us Brits can do, and you are. And then you get into the last third and the plot goes places I wasn't expecting at all!

I can't really go into details without honking great spoilers, which is a shame, but I will say that there is a long-ish sequence that would rival Tarantino yet they've managed to somehow do it and keep a 15 certificate. Also it really isn't as gory as it should be even when people are dying in various gruesome ways. No, I don't know how they did it either, but they did. There's a least one "OMFG THEY WENT THERE!!" moment which shocked my cinema into silence. And there are some fantastic lines that had everyone hooting with laughter. Also there's an end credit sequence that didn't make people cheer so much as cacklefit :D

And you will never be able to hear "Land of Hope and Glory" the same way again. Trust me. Actually, I will spoil that, go peek under the cut below for details if you must.

All the performances are rock solid but I was very taken with young lead, Taron Egerton. I just looked him up on IMDb and I thought he looked familiar; turns out I have seen him in a few episodes of UK drama "The Smoke", which I gave up watching because it was shite. But he was good in that and he's brilliant here, so hopefully I'll be able to see him in more non-shite things :)

Do I recommend this? You probably need a certain type of humour, I think, because yeh, it does get a little weird in a "what the fuck did I just watch?" kind of way, but it's a fun movie, probably worth seeing for the fight scenes and the humour alone. And Colin Firth and Sam L Jackson are always worth the admission :)

( Honking Great Spoiler )

Toddled over to the Cineworld in Stevenage this afternoon. Initially I was going to see "The Artist", to see what all the Oscar fuss was about, but when I got there, I decided I was more in the mood for "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". This is a glorious gentle movie, starring the creme de la creme of British stage and screen (Seriously, just look at this cast list). It's moving, hilarious and sweet in about equal measure. Recommended!

Beaming gently, I left the cinema and wandered into "Frankie and Johnny's", a nearby chain restaurant, where I happily tucked into dough sticks with garlic butter dip (Ooog! Sooo bad but so good!!) followed by a dee-licious bacon cheeseburger with fries. Nyom!

I then drove to the football via the garage to get petrol. It says something about how little I'm using the car that a) I can't remember when I last had to fill it up and b) I hadn't even noticed the petrol was so low. *blush* Anyway, it didn't take long and by 7pm I was at the football, comfortably esconced in my seat reading the programme :)

Stevenage were playing Huddersfield, which amused me because Huddersfield are now managed by Simon Grayson, Leeds' ex-manager. I was kinda hoping we'd stuff 'em 4-0 or something but 'Boro went 0-2 in the second half to two very good goals. Dammit. But we fought back! Got back to 1-2, then we got a penalty! AHAHAH! we laughed at the Huddersfield fans.....and then the Huddersfield goalie pulls out one HELL of a save. The Huddersfield fans may have been impolite in our direction :P But we had the last laugh because with 2 minutes left, we got the equaliser! Woo hoo! 2-2 it finished. :)

And now I'm home, slurping tea and trying to convince the cat he isn't the Most Neglected Kitteh EVAH. :D

So my plan to post every day this month fell on Day 15 *sulks* I completely forgot to post anything yesterday because I was side tracked by shiny, shiny TV shows. I currently watch US shows and, naturally, 4 of them are broadcast on Tuesday nights. Hmf. Have they no consideration for us TV viewers?!

I did go out and about yesterday, I had to do a big food shop so I went to the shiny new Sainsbury's in town. *winces* They might be lovely but I still spent about £15 more than I would have if I'd gone to Morrison's. So I don't think me shopping there will be a regular occurance. But now and again could be fun :)

Today, 'm pondering going to see a film. I finally got my Unlimited card from Cineworld and I need to start using it. This is by way of an experiment. If, at the end of the year, if I've at least broken even in terms of cost, I'll probably get the card again. If not, not harm, no foul. The big downside for me is you can't prebook tix online which is a pain in the arse. But we'll see how I go :) Certainly I'm hoping it'll encourage me to see more movies on the big screen.

Was a lil' stir crazy today so decided to Get Out Of The House. Hopped in the car, picked a direction and just drove. Got as far as Stevenage and though that seeing a movie later might be fun, so paused to buy a ticket to see "Mission:Impossible - Ghost Protocol". Ticket bought I headed North on the A1(M) until I saw a sign for a turning leading to a Falconry Centre. Took it and ended up in the middle of nowhere between Hitchen and Bedford. Found the centre but it was (unsurprisingly, given it was gone 5pm) closed but now I know where it is :)

Drove on up to Bedford, turned around and headed back to Stevenage. Got back around 6.30 and went to a Harvester for a leisurely meal. I maaay have overindulged a lil *cough* I couldn't decide what I wanted so went with the mixed grill which was pretty much everything. Oooog. Found that the Kindle is brilliant for having in a restaurant, you can lie it down next to your plate and read while eating. Takes up a lot less room too :D

Waddled back to the car and then to the cinema where I was in plenty of time for the 8.15 showing. Film was great fun, the usual MI tosh, but still a damn good action film. I know Tom Cruise has his detractors and while I don't think much of him as a human being, I always enjoy watching him on the screen. Still not a Simon Pegg fan, and I thought he was slightly miscast here, but he kept the right side of "annoying" and "cringeworthy" most of the time. Really liked Jeremy Renner, must check what I've seen him in before. Anyway, the film's good, some terrific stunts, and the Dubai scene has to be seen on a Big Screen at least once. If you want some mindless fun, I heartily recommend it.

And now 'm home and slurping tea and fending off a furball who is trying to convince me he's the most neglected kitty EVEH. :)

How on earth did this movie stay off my radar for so long?? Look at that cast list!! It should have shown up on my "To be watched nanoseconds after release list" with fireworks and neon lights! Sheesh. Well it's on my list now....>.>

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=69835

I was bored last Saturday but the weather wasn't quite good enough to tempt me into a long drive to my favourite beach. So I poked the web for local goings on and noticed that Stevenage FC were playing at home. I've been once before when I took jenni411 to her first football game, and really enjoyed it. There's a terrific atmosphere there, it's easy for me to get to and there's loads of free parking. So I hopped in the car and headed on over.

( The Football Match )

Tuesday night was cheap ticket night at the cinema so I went and saw Inception, again :D I was considering rewatching Salt but halcyon_shift used her evil Jedi mind tricks on me so I saw Inception instead. Newsflash: it was still brilliant :) I'm tempted to post some meta, just to lure a Lithy into discussion about it. Maybe at the weekend :) Next week, I may well go and rewatch Salt. Dammit, I want the DVDs of both these movies rightthissecondnow! *stamps foot, whines*

In three weeks time, I'll be off to the States - Seattle and Portland in the first week, San Francisco (and Bouchercon) in the second week. Reckon I'll be coming back to work for a rest :D Still got to book hotels for the Seattle/Portland bit but Jenni should have her flight plans sorted by tonight, so we can dot the i's and cross the t's this week.

I'm also pondering a Christmas break. It's not easy - what I want is somewhere quiet, remote, self-catering, preferably near the coast but with a high speed internet connection :P My online searches haven't bourne much fruit because rentals seem to assume large parties of people, with prices to match, so I may throw myself at the mercy of a travel agent. I was seriously considering doing New York for Christmas. It's still an option but really, I think I should save my money and do a proper 2 week NYC holiday next year. I've never been in NYC longer than 4 days at a time, so it'd be good to have a decent spell there. Plus there will be baseball and I'll be able to go watch the Mets, oh yes :D

Work is so meh, 'm not going to bore you with my boredom. Suffice to say, the job search continues.

So I went to see Salt tonight with thalinoviel - we're both Jolie fans and decided the opening night would be the best night to go. We were right too, we caught the 6pm showing and the cinema was only half full :D Got in before the post-work crowd and then got out before the big post movie rush to McD's crowd. Nicely timed by us.

And in between, there was the movie. And much, much squee. :D

(Really, seriously, do NOT read under the cut if you plan to see the movie at any point. Some of the twists must NOT be spoiled before you see them. 'M warning you!)

( SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! )

Overall, this gets two thumbs up from a mousey and a wholehearted recommendation that you check it out at the cinema. If you like action-y Bourne like thrillers, this will be right up your street. :)

SQUEEE!!!

( 30 Days of Movies Meme - Day 18 )

So I went to the cinema this afternoon/evening with thalinoviel, to see "Burn After Reading". Great movie, if you're a Coen fan, which I generally am, full of the usual stupid people, farcical situations and howlers. Janey was late but fortunately for her, because the movie is quite short, they didn't start it until half an hour after the scheduled show time, so she only missed about five minutes :) And I got lucky when I bought the ice cream, the guy behind the counter went overboard with the scoop and my double scoop (very berry strawberry and coffee ice cream) was more like a quadruple scoop! Hee!

Anyway, we happily scampered out after the movie, idly plotting food and gossip, only to come to a screeching halt when we looked outside.

It was SNOWING!

Real, honest to goodness snow. Fat snow flakes that were settling well and judging from the pavements and parked cars, it had been snowing for a while, at least an hour. We looked at the roads, looked at the skies, looked at each other and agreed to take a rain check on the food and gossip. Neither of our cars are great for bad weather driving so we opted to scamper home while the roads were still busy and thus relatively clear of snow. "Relatively" being the key phrase in the sentence. The visibility was awful. I didn't go over 40 the entire trip.

*makes notes to text Janey and make sure she got home*

Anyway, have a couple of pics of the weather - I'm sorry they're large, I haven't downloaded any photo software yet. I'll try and shrink 'em later :)

(And btw, can I get a wtf? Snow in October? If they say on the news tonight it's the first time it's snowed in the South this early since the 1962/63 winter, I wouldn't be a bit surprised. I can't remember the last time we had snow before late November/early December.)

( Here be pictures )

My week, it hasn't sucked. In fact, I was so encouraged I bought lottery tickets this evening :) This was mostly prompted by going to pay for parking at lunchtime and finding £1.20 in the ticket machine refund coin thingy. I believe in riding the luck while it's with you.

Last night I ventured into deepest, darkest Hemel Hempstead (only took 1 wrong turn, I am improving) to see a lady who'd advertised house clearance goodies on the work's intranet noticeboard. Turns out she's moving to New Zealand, having already spent 2 years over there, decided they love it, so she's come back to pack up and sell the house. Anyway, I was after some crockery, as most of mine is crap, and I came away with 3 plates, 4 bowls, a pestle and mortar, a casserole dish and a huge lovely serving platter that's meant for pasta but will work for pretty much any communal food. It's all in decent nick and I got it all for £20. Frankly, the serving platter would have cost at least that new, so I reckon I did ok out of the deal.

I'm in severe danger this week of having an actual life. I don't know WHAT's come over me. :P Today I had a lovely lunch with Pauline and we caught up on various matters. We went to the new Weatherspoons in Hertford, called The Six Templars. If you're in Hertford, I can recommend it. They have several very good meal deals and we had fish and chips each (NOT small portions, either!) and two drinks, all of which came to a tenner.

Tomorrow I am going to see The Dark Knight with thalinoviel. This makes the second week in a row we've gone to the movies, having gone to see Hancock last week. BTW, I can thoroughly recommend that film, I really enjoyed it. It's going to be one of those I watch a LOT when it's out on DVD, I can tell.

Saturday there is drunken debauchery decorous drinking with thessalian in WGC. Cold, crisp cider, I have been dreaming of it this week. Oh yes. Sunday may be cancelled due to lack of interest :P

Oh and I get paid tomorrow. Life is good :D

I can't get into this match, I'm trying, but really, I just can't. It would help if I really cared about one of the teams, even in a neutral "I like them when they're not playing my team" kinda way. But Cardiff and Leeds have a history, so I don't really want to cheer for them, even though they're the underdogs and who I'd normally cheer for. And I detest Portsmouth manager, Harry Redknapp, for the way he behaved when he left Pompey a few years back. So I'm just a ball of "meh" over it, really.

So far, it's not a bad game, Portsmouth are leading 1-0. I think I'd like Cardiff to at least score and make a match of it, but I suspect Pompey will win.

Off out to the movies tonight with thalinoviel, we're going to see Iron Man. I'm looking forward to it, I've read nothing but good reviews. And yes, I know to stay until after the credits :).

We were going to go to G-A-Y, a club in London, to see Idina but financially I can't really do it and Idina doesn't even go on stage until 1am which makes travelling a bitch. (It's half an hour after my last train home from King's X for a start :P) So we're giving it a miss and doing the movie thing instead. It will be nice to see Janey, I haven't seen her for aaaaaages. I foresee a good girly gossip in our near futures :D