Well, I'm taking this week off again - need to use up those days. And yes, thinking film - and next up on Amazon Prime for yesterday (and also risen in ratings) was Remember, where Christopher Plummer is an Auschwitz survivor who makes it his mission to wreak vengeance on the person responsible for his family's deaths.
Now, as it happened, yesterday was half decent for television, so I didn't get to watching it till later. It was also a bank holiday in Ireland, so they flooded us with films.. one of which I even watched, which was Ocean's 8. A kind of sequel to Ocean's 11, where George Clooney staged a spectacular art heist, in this, he's supposed to be deceased (maybe - we see a framed photo of him), and Sandra Bullock is his sister, newly out of prison and planning revenge on the guy who put her there. So she's planning a spectacular jewellery heist. To assist her in this, she enlists the help of her old partner in crime, Cate Blanchett - and some others, of course. All ladies - as she says, a "him" will be noticed, a "her" won't. They've decided to hit a gala ball; they get a designer - Helena Bonham Carter, with a passable Irish accent - to persuade a famous actress, Anne Hathaway, who's attending, to wear a fabulously valuable necklace, so they can steal it. Elliott Gould, who was also in Ocean's 11, even makes a quick cameo as a friend of Sandra Bullock!
Now, this is gorgeous to look at, of course - everyone glams up for the ball, and the jewels are spectacular. And the whole thing is quick, clever, and terrific fun! You might miss some plot points, but just go along with it - the gist of the story is obvious. A great way to spend a bank holiday evening, and highly recommended for a movie to please pretty much everyone.
So, I eventually got around to my other film. Christopher Plummer has dementia, his wife has just died, and his friend, another resident of the care home, is quick to remind him that he'd said that, once she died, he'd do something for the friend. Something the friend can't do for himself, as he's confined to a wheelchair and on oxygen. Christopher's dementia could be a problem in itself, of course - but his friend has kindly given him a letter to carry with him, with all the instructions he might need. All he has to do is remember to read it. Basically, a camp supervisor at Auschwitz is living in the States, under an assumed name - there are four possible candidates (well, one is across the border in Canada), and Christopher has to determine which is the right one, and kill him.
It's great how he manages to get around - just has to keep remembering to read that letter. Includes addresses of hotels he should stay at, and addresses of the men on the list. Very organised, his friend! (And wow, am I jealous of him, staying in hotels.. I miss it!) It's also astonishing to see how easily he manages to get a gun - and later in the film, he sets off a security alarm when leaving a shop, having bought a change of clothes - he didn't bring any with him. It's not the gun that set it off, mind - it's a security tag that was mistakenly not removed. And when the security guard checks his bag, and finds the gun - is he phased? Not a bit of it - he smiles nostalgically, and remarks that it reminds him of his first gun. Jeez, I shudder at the thought of living in a country where guns are treated so casually..
As you might expect, the man he's looking for is last on the list. And as he meets each in turn, we learn some different perspectives of German men about the war. Sometimes it's shocking, always thought-provoking - and the twist at the end is quite unexpected. A journey of discovery for himself, as well as for us. Highly recommended. Very happy with yesterday's films! Mind you, with a Tesco delivery this morning, by the time this was over, it was time for me to go to bed, so I didn't have time to blog.
For today's film, I have quite a choice, as I'm now moving down a level in ratings. Thinking of Crazy, Stupid, Love, in which Steve Carell's wife, Julianne Moore, tells him she's leaving him, so he's back on the dating scene again. His new pal, Ryan Gosling, takes him under his wing. We have Emma Stone as Ryan's love interest, and Marisa Tomei for Steve - although I think she's also his son's teacher. Also stars Kevin Bacon. Should be fun.
And for tomorrow, jeez, London Social Detours finally has an afternoon Meetup again! She's reading from one of her Tudor books again - this time, it's a talk about Edward VI, Queen Jane, and Mary I. Well, it's ages since I was at a Meetup - it'll make a nice change, so I've signed up.
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