Skip to main content

Fields of Grass and the Pop Culture Legos

Life and weather got in the way of going to a restaurant this week.

Monday: The Sea of Grass (1947)
      This western stars Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. You know it is going to be a good movie when it stars those two. I don't typically like westerns but I had to watch it if they were both in it. This movie is about a city girl who marries a cattle rancher. She moves out to his ranch. It is a huge piece of property with lots of grass for the cattle to eat. As time goes on she discovers that he is not a good man. She falls in love with a lawyer. When it is discovered that her toddler doesn't belong to her husband she is exiled back to the city. They both struggle in their separate lives. This is a good movie. I wish it was in color because I'm sure that massive field of grass would look even more beautiful.

Tuesday: The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
       In this film a struggling artist (Humphrey Bogart) falls in love with a young woman (Barbara Stanwyck). She becomes his muse and his art flourishes. The only problem is he has a wife in the city. To solve this problem he slowly poisons his wife. He marries the young woman and his life seems better. But soon the cycle starts again with another young woman. The new Mrs. Carroll starts to suspect that something is not right when she becomes sick for no reason. Tension builds as we see whether she will suffer the same fate as the first Mrs. Carroll. This is classic film noir. Shadows across faces to show darkness and mystery. The loud church bells in the town they live in help to build the tension. When the wife starts to put the pieces together she circles around the room in panic. The camera follows her and you feel the panic too. I liked this movie.

Wednesday: A Private War (2018)
      This is the real story of war correspondent Marie Colvin. She reported on all the major wars in the 2000s. She was in the Middle East and Africa. Marie sees more war than most soldiers. She even goes blind in one eye after an explosion. She suffers from PTSD. Yet she continues to go back to report on these wars. She is addicted to it. Marie was able to shine light on issues that we wouldn't have known about otherwise. Rosamund Pike plays Marie. She does a really good job and I see why she got some award attention. I thought the movie was ok.

Friday: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
      The lego characters are back for another adventure. In this movie Emmet and his friends are living in a apocalyptic land. They are attacked by an alien space ship and his friends are kidnapped. Emmet must rescue them. These movies are always fun. I love the animation. Like when someone's feet get wet it's just little blue circles that are thrown on their feet. I also love all the pop culture references. This movie is enjoyable for both children and adults. Maybe adult even more so because they get more of the references.

Saturday: The Girl in the Spider's Web (2018)
       This is a Lisbeth Salander story. It is based on the 4th book in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. This isn't a sequel to the movie that came out in 2011. So there is a whole new cast. In this story Lisbeth is hired to hack into NSA and steal back a nuclear weapon program. She gets it easy enough but then it gets stolen and she learns there is way more to this than just stealing a program. She discovers there is a criminal group after the program with connections to her past. She teams up with Mikael Blomkvist again to retrieve the program and discover what is really going on. Lisbeth is a cool character. She is really smart and can handle herself in almost every situation. I get an almost Swedish James Bond feeling from the movie. It is a good movie.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Travel Friends and the Logger's Life

 Friday: No Other Choice (2025)         This is a Korean film. Man-su was let go after working at a paper factory for many years. He struggles to find a new job. Without his income his family has to start making cuts. It really starts to wear down on Man-su. There is a position at another paper factory. There are only a few men qualified for the job. Man-su realizes if he eliminates the competition he will get the job. So he eliminates them, permanently. I thought this movie was alright. Weird and violent. The acting is good. Saturday: Merrily We Roll Along (2025)          This is actually a broadway musical that they filmed. It shows the friendship of a lyricist, Frank, a playwright, Charley, and a writer, Mary. The plays starts in the mid 70s. Frank is a big shot in Hollywood. Mary comes to visit him after the success of his most recent movie. Their relationship is strained. He doesn't even talk to Charley anymore. From there the story...

Surprise Chorizo and the Floating Castle

         Well after two months I was finally able to go to a restaurant on my list. I went to Tight Tacos, the SE Division location. There is neighborhood parking on the streets behind it, but you might have to drive around a little. It is a small restaurant next to other restaurants and shops. They were only open for take out but there were picnic tables you could sit at on the sidewalk. The tables were in the shade so it was nice on a warm day. From what I could see inside it was clean and modern. There is some color and hanging Christmas lights. The service was good. I got three tacos: chicken, carnitas, and asada. I think that I got chorizo instead of asada. It was actually the best one flavor wise. The carnitas meat was good but there wasn't a lot of flavor. I forgot to ask for no onions so I had to scrape them off. The tacos were good. I would go back. The one problem I had was they serve the food in takeout containers. And they have tables for you to sit ...

King George III and the Abandoned Door

 Friday: Fight or Flight (2025)       Lucas is a former secret service agent. He was stranded in Bangkok after a failed assignment. Later he receives a call from his ex who know works at a different agency. A target, only known as Ghost, is getting on a plane headed for the U.S. He is the only one close enough to get on the plane in time. Lucas has to find Ghost and bring them home. Soon he discovers the plane is filled with people wanting to kill both of them. Lucas has to protect Ghost. This movie was ok. Except for the two main actors, all the acting is bad. The writing is bad. It's like they thought they could just put in a bunch of swear words and not have to actually write dialogue. There are some fun moments. It's basically Bullet Train but on a plane. Just watch Bullet Train instead. Saturday: Suzume (2022)       Suzume is a teenage girl living in Japan. One day she meets a mysterious young man, Souta, who is looking for an abandoned place with...