So, I'm back in Ireland - it's my mother's birthday on Tuesday, so I said I'd stay in Ireland until Wednesday. Looking at films for yesterday, I saw Killers of the Flower Moon is out - the trailer looked excellent for this film, starring Leonardo diCaprio in the true story of the persecution of an Indian tribe in the 1920s - they have become rich from the oil on their land. Robert de Niro plays his uncle, the bad guy, whose lawyer is Brendan Fraser (still looking chubby), John Lithgow is the prosecutor. Directed by Martin Scorsese, how can you lose?! Showing at a manageable time in the Omniplex..
So, off I went. But, busy as Saturdays in Ireland always are, I ended up rushing to get my mother's pension and local shop done, then get into Limerick - and everything conspired to get in my way: a herd of cattle, traffic jams in Broadford because of the cars parked on both sides, jaywalkers all over.. and a severe lack of parking at the cinema. When I got in, that scene from the trailer was playing, where De Niro is asking diCaprio whether he "likes money", and the latter, who displays somewhat less than average intelligence, says he certainly does. I don't think I missed anything material, apart from, perhaps, how diCaprio came to be there. I had to turn on the torch on my phone to see where my seat was - which was how I saw there was a coat over the back. So, rather than inconvenience the owner unnecessarily, I sat over a bit.
The film is about 3.5 hours long - and I loved it. Throughout, there's this fantastic, low, rhythmic drumming, which, of course, is reminiscent of Native American music, and which is alternately soothing, and anticipates drama to come. Just as the end, as matters are resolved, it finally becomes joyful.. Similarly, the performance of, in particular, the lady who plays DiCaprio's Native American wife is wonderfully understated; she comes across as a lady of great fortitude, with great inner strength. Until her family starts getting bumped off, one by one - which is fair enough, I think.
It's shocking to realise that this is a true story - frankly, you couldn't make it up. The amount of power that De Niro wields over this community is crazy. The white community comes across pretty badly in this overall, what with the Ku Klux Klan also making an appearance - remember, they were popular in those days. But they don't have a role in this story - it's just De Niro, dispensing orders to have people killed, property destroyed or whatever. DiCaprio comes across as a patsy, easily led, does as he's told - does love his wife, but not as much as he fears De Niro. In a final insult to the white community, the summaries of what happened to the characters after the film are displayed to the audience as part of a radio show, the events condensed for our pleasure..
They're right, it is an epic - and well worth the watch! Go see..
Last night, I got busy playing my phone game, so that put paid to the blog.
For today, it looked like The Creator, another from the Star Wars universe. Fine by me.. only afternoon showing was in Ennis. And with it on 10 minutes later than yesterday, and a shorter drive, this time I did make it in time - despite the lack of parking, due to the county final! I was to discover plenty of parking in the multi-storey car park at Dunne's Stores - must remember that in future. Free parking as well, it being a Sunday!
At the cinema, I had to queue behind a family who seemed to be ordering a full lunch - crikey, some people get very hungry while watching a film! Still managed to make it in during the ads, and before the film - just. Only five of us at this screening - I never bother to check where I'm supposed to be sitting; it's never yet been an issue, here.
The film is set in the relatively near future, in 2065 - apparently the same year as another new release, Foe, a Sci-Fi starring Paul Mescal and Saoirse Ronan as a married couple who are told that he's been chosen for the new population to colonise the moon (because, of course, we've ruined the planet). She hasn't, sadly - but never fear, they'll make her an AI replacement for him. Apparently, the rest of the film consists of them debating the pros and cons of this. Supposed to be awful. Anyway, as the reviewer I was reading said, they should really get together and decide what film gets to bag which year..
So, back to this film, in which AI (there it is again!) has apparently attacked humans, nuking Los Angeles - so the Americans have declared war on robots (simulants). "New Asia", however, has embraced them - secret locations continue to develop AI, and people live with simulants quite happily. Meanwhile, an American weapons space station - Nomad - hovers over New Asia, ready to zap any targets it doesn't like. John David Washington plays the protagonist, an American ex-soldier, called back for a final mission, Ken Watanabe plays a simulant soldier, Allison Janney is the US General in charge of our protagonist's mission.
The story is best understood if - referring back to the original Star Wars - you see the US as the evil Empire (an interesting stance), with Nomad as the Death Star, all set to annihilate innocent communities. Now, our protagonist's mission is to steal, and neutralise, the weapon that the simulant-loving communities (the Rebel Alliance) have built to destroy Nomad. Which, again interestingly, makes him a Stormtrooper. This weapon, it's not a spoiler to say, I think, is a small child - think of her as Yoda..
So, we have a film that deals with the fear of incipient AI, one that has the US at war with Asia.. fairly topical, there. The scenery, as with all Star Wars films, is gorgeous - Thailand was used, it seems. It's beautifully scored by Hans Zimmer. It's always easy to spot the simulants - some really look like machines, some have human faces - there are campaigns to get people to have their faces scanned for use. These more realistic ones have, eh, holes in their heads, by which you can access their inner workings. Oh, and something like R2D2 even shows up, as a (ahem) running bomb - I kid you not, tell the thing to arm itself (I guess its timer is preset), and off it runs, into wherever you want it to blow up. One thing did bother me about the simulants - if they're not supposed to harm humans, how can they have an army to fight humans? (The LA thing was, apparently, a coding error by the humans, not the AI getting nasty.)
Anyway, I enjoyed it - it didn't touch me massively, but the ending is quite emotional. It could maybe have done with some comedy along the way - part of what made the original Star Wars films great. Also, the action left me a bit cold. The SFX are marvellous, as you'd expect. Yes, an interesting watch - but not groundbreaking in any way. But it was fine.
Tomorrow, my mother is dragging me off to get flu vaccines. Tuesday is her birthday, so we'll see - if I escape to the cinema, it's going to be The Miracle Club. Starring Maggie Smith, Laura Linney, Kathy Bates, Stephen Rea as Kathy Bates' husband, and the voice of Brenda Fricker (!), this seems set in the Ireland of the 60s, and focuses on a group of women who want to go to Lourdes: a big deal, back in the day. Looks a bit naff, but could be all right.. Also in the Omniplex. Anyway, back to London on Wednesday.
On Saturday, I was trying to organise another get-together of my ex-coworkers. Back in the happy days when I had coworkers I could see in person.. So yes, back to herding cats again.. But it turns out Ivan would prefer next Sunday. So on Saturday, around midday, Expat Bucket List London finally scheduled something I'm interested in, and can make. They're off to visit Neasden Mandir, Britain's first authentic Hindu temple and Europe's first traditional stone temple! Looks spectacular - I'll have to figure out a way to come down that staircase, I guess..
That evening, I'm continuing the Hallowe'en theme with an idea by Design My Night. I'm going to something called The House of Dust, which is ghost stories, with three included cocktails, for £40. Which sounds reasonable..
And on Hallowe'en, I'm headed to Skinjacker. Set on Skye, the scenery promises to be spectacular, at least. And if I can find something else scarifying to do that day, well..
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