Film: Final Destination - Bloodlines

Last night, I booked at Sadler's Wells with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS) again, for Oona Doherty-Specky Clark. Which sounded.. curious, being an interpretation in dance of a family history involving a family of butchers and, on the other side, working in an abattoir.. Anyway, also booked for The Wilmington again. But then the organiser of The Hideout messaged me, late the night before, to ask whether I was free - and offered me a free ticket to the Final Destination double bill (the original, in which people who have cheated Death have it come after them, in the order in which they were originally supposed to die, plus the new one, Final Destination: Bloodlines, in which we see a family connection) at the Odeon West End yesterday evening, for which they had an event! He couldn't go, in the end.. well, gee, sounded good - I'd have booked in the first place, if I hadn't been booked for the other performance! So I said yes, cancelled the other, and booked Bella Italia for dinner - they were meeting early, of course, with the programme starting early too, which means I had to make tracks pretty early..

And so it went - I headed off early, ate early (to the same great welcome at the restaurant), made my way across to the cinema. I was the first, apart from the night's host, who had a rather cute DIY Meetup sign, the group organiser being in possession of the more professional-looking one! The others arrived in due course - and I had a Chardonnay from the bar, as they don't serve Sauvignon by the glass. We had a lively chat before going in - to our comfy, recliner seats.

The original is an excellent film, and it was great to see it again - particularly on the big screen. The characters still looked familiar - from a film that came out 25 years ago. Mind you, someone later remarked that it seemed quite dated - and yes, there's truth in that. Some of us noted things like, for instance, the dad of one of the characters comes to tell him someone is on the phone for him - no mobiles in those days! And someone else noticed the presence of books in the film - as she said, they're just not a thing any more. Which is sad, but true.

Duly noted - but we all agreed it's a terrific film. At the time, it was an original idea - how often do we see that?! - and a brilliant one, with some very inventive deaths, frequently involving a chain of linked occurrences. And some laugh-out-loud moments - it doesn't take itself too seriously.

A 15-minute interval followed - I ran to the loo, then a couple of us queued for a drink, only to be told by an usher that we'd be better queueing at the food counter, where the crowd was, because no-one was likely to be serving the bar! The queue was so long that we were late for the second film - not to mention that I forgot I hadn't had a Sauvignon beforehand, and asked for one now, only for the usher to start lecturing me about how they didn't serve Sauvignon that way! It was only when she mentioned I could have Chardonnay that I remembered.. 

Anyway, I don't think I missed anything important from the second film - it starts with a disaster involving a young woman in the 1950s, and we got to see that much. Again, a clever series of events, and a lovely, dramatic setting in an elevated restaurant. And the point is that she was supposed to die, except that she had a premonition, and saved a number of lives - the film, however, only follows her, and the descendants she shouldn't have had: children, grandchildren. Her granddaughter, in particular, seems to have inherited the gift of premonition from her own mother, and once she figures out what's happening, she goes around like a modern-day Cassandra, trying to persuade her sceptical relatives to watch out for themselves.

The actors are engaging, and it's sad to see them being picked off, one by one. The deaths are entertaining enough too, if not quite as inventive as the original. I think, though, that we were unanimous in our opinion, afterwards, that it wasn't as good as the original - of course, it'll always lose points for being a reprise of something else. The idea of following it through a family isn't really enough of a USP, and by the way, I think they got the order wrong - I think they were going in order of age, but as I recall, the brother (who, to be fair, is older) and his children all come in order before his sister. If they go by age, surely she should have come first after him, then all the grandchildren, in chronological order..? Plus there's a whole storyline about someone not being biologically related, all of which seems to be ignored when push comes to shove. However, that's nitpicking, really - basically, it's entertaining, and worth a look if you're into the franchise.

Glad I managed to squeeze this event in - I had a great time. Took me flipping ages to get home, mind - I had to take two buses, the first of which didn't come for ages, during which time I got chatting to a very nice Korean tourist, waiting for another bus, and wondering why they were so delayed. Anyway, when mine finally came, it was so packed, it just sailed past - when I saw the next wasn't due for over a quarter of an hour, I gave up on it and walked all the way to the other side of Waterloo Bridge, to catch my second bus. (I was nearly there when the bus I could have taken finally passed me.) I then spent nearly an hour, cooling my heels on the bridge, waiting for the second bus - frustration doesn't describe it.

Today, I was to be back with Laurence Summers and the 45+ Not Grumpies.. this time, for The Wallace Collection. But sadly, he's now postponed it till next month. Still, Helen was coming to town, and we had a rough plan to have lunch at The Archduke, then follow our noses for the afternoon.. until lo, my mother took a turn, and I had to fly back to Ireland first thing this morning - at least, at that time of day, there were no crowds, and everything ran smoothly. I visited the hospital in the afternoon - she is definitely going downhill. With shopping to do, I subsequently took myself to the shopping centre, and ate at Nando's - and for once, had time for their delicious chocolate fudge cake! Lordy, it's years since I had it.. still as good.

I was leaving tomorrow free in case my ex-colleagues could come to a consensus to meet that day! But as it happens, Ivan couldn't make it that day, and with the sudden news of a cousin visiting, James isn't sure what he's doing for the whole month. So, for that day, I spotted an event from London Museums A-Z: for Gen Xers and Millennials (LoMAZ). I never heard of them before, but they seem to be zipping randomly around the alphabet.. this is T - for Tutenkhamun: The Immersive Exhibition, which apparently uses VR to put you right back in Ancient Egypt. Booked through an outlet called Fever, which I'd never heard of - also available on Eventim. Sounds interesting - and I do love VR. No problem in joining straight away, either.. and the organiser was nice enough to send me the link to their WhatsApp group, so we could organise meeting on the day! Of course, now that's not going to be possible, and I've had to cancel - gutted to miss it. And realistically, everything else this week is now at risk.

On Monday, heading with my companion from the Swiss trip to a classical concert in St. John's Waterloo - booked with Eventbrite. We're eating at The Archduke beforehand.

On Tuesday, was planning film - unfortunately, London Net was down temporarily! Checking individual film sites - and finding there was a bit of a lack of choice - I came across Riefenstahl, a documentary about the photographer and film-maker that propagandized the Nazi regime, among other things, and afterwards claimed to have no knowledge of what went on. Looks interesting. Showing in the Curzon Bloomsbury - and was mostly sold out already, so I booked!

On Wednesday, back with London Literary Walks - for the Alan Turing walk, about the man said to be the father of theoretical computer science. Meeting at The Prince Alfred, where I've booked to eat beforehand.

On Thursday, back with The Hideout - for The Lighthouse, lovely! A psychological horror directed by Robert Eggers, who so recently blew all of our minds with his new version of Nosferatu, and co-written by him and his brother, Max, this stars Robert Pattinson, and the always-excellent Willem Dafoe, as the sole occupants of an isolated, 19th-century lighthouse - where the occurrences might be down to the supernatural - or to their fevered imaginations?! Interestingly, my taxi driver loves it, although he describes it as a comedy - but then, he never was into horror.. Always wanted to see this, and never quite managed it - but now it's showing at The Prince Charles, excellent. As usual, I'm eating at Bella Italia beforehand, and we're meeting for drinks at Victory House before the film. This showing is sold out already, so the cinema has arranged another showing in its other screen, starting a bit after this one on the same evening! Also now sold out.. and I really, really hope I can still make this. Then I'm supposed to be back to Ireland, but if I do manage to get back to London this week, I won't bother..

And on the 19th, back with UITCS for How to Fight Loneliness, showing in the Park Theatre.