News: Drunken Party Girl Saves Seoul

“Colossal”  (2017)  —  movie review
Today’s review is for the “comedy / romantic” movie “Colossal” (2017).  I “air quote” the comedy / romantic, because although advertised as a rom-com, this movie is a SciFi drama and has no comedy or romance in it.  (Okay, maybe some silliness, but no real comedy.)
The movie stars Anne Hathaway as Gloria (the main character and reptile like monster / “Kaiju”);  Jason Sudeikis as Oscar (the second main character and robot like monster), who is the adult version of Gloria’s childhood “friend”;  Dan Stevens as Tim, Gloria’s ex-boyfriend;  Austin Stowell as Joel, adult Oscar’s handsome friend;  and Tim Blake Nelson as Garth, adult Oscar’s other friend.
Basically, Gloria is a drunken millennial who is out of work and living off her boyfriend (Stevens / “Tim”).  She comes home after staying out all night and he breaks up with her and kicks her out of his place.  Gloria returns “home” to some small town where she lived for some time as a child and which is inexplicably empty, but still owned by her parents – so she can move back in, rent free.
Gloria meets an childhood friend (Sudeikis / “Oscar”) who owns a bar and he offers her a job as a waitress and then proceeds to bring her furniture so she can settle in to town.  Oscar also introduces Gloria to his two “best” friends (Joel and Garth), and Gloria eventually gets around to sleeping with Joel (which upsets Oscar).
Meanwhile, back in Seoul, South Korea a giant lizard like monster appears and crushes a lot of people.  Blah, blah, blah a second monster (a giant robot) appears and blah, blah, blah – big fight.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.  Another fight.  Blah, blah, blah, blah.  Childhood memories.  Oscar not really my friend – “just” a jealous brat (psychoanalysis part of movie).  Blah, blah, Gloria travels to Seoul.  Reptile monster (Kaiju) visits hometown (in America) and kills “real” Oscar, as “real” Gloria defeats the giant robot (in Seoul).   …Happily ever after.  Mostly.  The end.
Okay.  Two questions:  does it work (make sense) and is it entertaining.  Two answers (with a preface):  once you get over the fact this is NOT a rom-com (which is why I picked the movie to view) and adjust to it being a SciFi / drama, yeah, mostly it does work and yes, I found it pretty entertaining.  Surprisingly so!
First off, I like Hathaway and Stevens.  I like her a lot and have from her “Princess” roles, through her Batman / Catwoman roles.  I didn’t find her at all believable as a drunk in this role.  But all in all, at the end, I liked the movie and her performance (as a “good person / hero”) in it.  It wasn’t well explained (even with the psychoanalysis) why she was a hero, but it ended up making sense (mostly) by the end.
I liked Stevens in “Downton Abbey” and “The Guest” and his limited bit in “Beauty and the Beast“.  I didn’t “really” like him in this role, though.  Something about his character just didn’t ring true.  I don’t know if it was the writing or his portrayal.   While I still like him, this performance was disappointing and I’m not sure why.
Anyway, final recommendation:  moderate to strong.  I was expecting a rom-com.  It took me a while to realize this wasn’t that at all.  After I adjusted my brain to drama-mode, I got into the story (and the acting) and found it surprisingly interesting.  The movie isn’t really “almost believable” SciFi, but it is entertainingly interesting.
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On This Day In:
2023	You Can Start With These Three
2022	Refreshing My Look Ahead (Back)
	I’m Still Mediocre With Easy
2021	I’m An Optimist
	Talent Is A Ticket To Ride (Midnight Highway)
2020	Works For Me
	Rivers Versus Waterfalls
2019	Better To Do
	News: Drunken Party Girl Saves Seoul
2018	Keep Moving
2017	Fighting Good
2016	Size Matters
2015	Maybe The Best Thing
2014	Ready To Be Fried?
2013	A Real Lover
2012	Winning Wars
2011	A Different Lesson

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Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil!!

Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife.
—    Franz Schubert
[Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil
You are my true friend for life…
Love Always,
Your Kev
XXX
00
X
—    kmab]
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On This Day In:
2022	Happy 38th Anniversary, Hil!! (My Love)
2021	Happy 37th Anniversary, Hil!! (My Love)
2020	Happy 36th Anniversary, Hil!! (You Are The Sunshine Of My Life)
2019	Sampling 3:16
	Happy 35th Anniversary, Hil!! (You Raise Me Up)
2018	Happy 34th Anniversary, Hil!! (I Can Love You Like That)
2017	Happy 33rd Anniversary, Hil!! (Evermore)
2016	Happy 32nd Anniversary, Hil!!
2015	Happy Anniversary Hil!!
2014	30th Wedding Anniversary
2013	Number 29 (And Counting)
2012	Hammer ‘N Roses
	Happy Anniversary
2011	I Can Hear It Now

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Movies And Juicing

Last weekend I wrote my review (Nerd Heard – And Good-Bye) of the documentary “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead“.  I mentioned at the end of the blog that I’d gone out and purchased a blender and was now (then) off to buy some fruits and vegetables.
Well, today I’m finishing day seven of my juicing fast / diet.
Observations and comments:
To start off with I’m definitely thinner.  I’ve been having 64oz of fruit juice, 64oz of vegetables juice and at least 48oz of water each day.  The fruit juice is mostly apples (red and green), a lemon, carrots, grapes, strawberries and cherries.  I tried using bananas, but I used two giant bananas and got about four drops of juice.  The rest just ended up as cast off in the pulp.  (More on this later.)  The juice isn’t what I would normally call “sweet”, but it is “fruity” tasting.
The vegetable juice is just that – greens, greens and more greens (at least it looks that way).  Basically, various kinds of kale, spinach, red lettuce, beetroot, mushrooms, ginger, onions (red and white), radishes, a couple of apples (red) and some whole lemons.  This is surprising filling, but does not seem to provide an energy boost (as I expected). Instead, I’m feeling a sense of heat flush on my skin – mostly my arms – after drinking some.
For both types I’m tending to drink about four or five swallows and then a little water as a chaser to clean the palate a bit.
Yesterday, after work Hil and I went to a new grocery in the area which has a tremendous turnover of fruits and veg and we stocked up.  Probably too much as I made three jars – one juice and two veg – and I’m on my second jar now.  I also made a change to the straight forward juicing by making a smoothie with the fruit.  I bought a large hand of bananas and switched to the blender instead of the juicer for the fruit jar.
Weight-loss wise I’m doing fine.  Not outrageous, just fine.  I estimate I’ve dropped between 8 and 12 pounds.  I’m not entirely accurate because I started with a clothes off weight of 339lbs the Friday before the fast and now I’m a clothes on weight of 334lbs.  I had a “big” drop of three pounds during the week when I developed the runs on Tuesday.  My understanding is that is a normal experience of combining fruit and vegetable fasting.  I don’t recall the experience in my other earlier fasts, but that’s probably because they were so long ago.
This is my fourth fast.  I did it three other times for 30 days each when I was in my mid 20’s and 30’s, so it’s been over 25 years since my last time.  Back then I did fruit smoothies and vegetable broth.  This current version is much more fiber free on the fruit and uncooked on the vegs.  As I said, each time was for 30 days and each time I lost at least 30 pounds.  This fast is only partly about losing weight.  Mostly, it’s about cleansing out my system and any weight loss is an added benefit.
My ultimate goal is to get to a “flesh” meal not more than twice a week.  Other than that, I’ll be trying to stick to as much raw fruits and vegs as possible.
I haven’t been doing any working out for the past week.  My gall stones have been pretty bad and I’ve had to start work early so I’ve not been going to the gym (at work).  I’ve got three doctors appointments this coming week, so I will probably get only two days in at the gym.  I’m mostly a high-energy morning person and between that and the juicing, I don’t feel like I have much energy to even go for walks at the end of the day.  I will say my gall stone pain is a lot better this week than is was last week, so hopefully the juicing has been helping that as well.
One final comment:  I’m struck by the large volume of waste at the end of the juicing process.  Even though it feels mostly dry, it seems as if it’s immoral to discard that much roughage.  I think when I ultimately come off of the juicing mode, I’ll feel a lot better (“hippy conscious” wise) about eating (and enjoying) the whole fruit / plant.
Movie Review Time:
This week started off with “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” made in 1961.  Not much to say, really.  It’s a classic, old-Hollywood style, romantic comedy (lite-comedy, not HA HA comedy).  The movie stars Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard.  The movie is a feast for those with an eye to 60’s style – particularly the narrow black ties, which would now be a fashion statement.  One thing I found amusing is how much the young Peppard resembles Dan Stevens – the Matthew Crawley character in the British series “Downton Abbey“.  They’re doppelgängers!!  Truly one of those few movies you can say (at the end): “Wow!  That was a classic!!”
The second movie I watched this weekend was the DVD of “Deliverance” from 1972.  This is another “classic” movie.  This one stars Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty as four “city folk” who decide to go on a river canoeing adventure over a weekend.  The adventure quickly devolves into a survival movie and morality play.  The movie is still (after 40 years) too intense for children due to its “famous” male rape scene and its fairly graphic death scenes – so it’s also not for the squeamish.  To my mind, the closest comparison to any film I’ve seen recently and remember as a classic is “The Deer Hunter” which was made in 1978.  I’m not sure why “Deliverance” reminded me of “The Deer Hunter“, but it did.  Yes, they both had a “hunting of deer” scene in each, but it was more than that.  I think it was that each tried (with varying degrees of success) to capture a moment in American history.  As a movie, I enjoyed “Deliverance” much more than “The Deer Hunter“, but neither were particularly believable.
The third movie was “Shoot ‘Em Up” with Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci.  I like Owen.  I’ve never liked Giamatti.  And, I’ve never heard of Monica Bellucci.  This is really a terrible movie!  The title is the plot.  I think I was hoping for something a little like one of the “Die Hard” series, but nope, just a bad action movie.  Completely unbelievable characters.  The ONLY redeeming factor was the occasional one liner from Owen.  But, they are not enough to save this movie.  Now that I own it, I’d probably watch it again to see if there’s anything of value I didn’t notice in the first viewing, but I would not watch it if it was on TV and I had to sit through commercials too.
Finally, there’s “Righteous Kill” starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pachino.  This is kind of a geezer-buddy-cop movie.  It’s two NYC cops trying to catch a serial killer.  Anything more pretty much gives away the movie.  A lot of (mostly) unnecessary “effing and blinding” (as we say used to say in England), but all in all, a pretty good movie.  I wouldn’t say it was in either of the lead actors great roles lists, but it was interesting seeing them together.
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On This Day In:
2023	Simpler Is Better
2022	Modern Republicans Have Long Since Concluded…
2021	Do Senate Republicans Believe In The Constitution And The Rule Of Law (Or Not)?
	With Your Red Dress On (Sherry)
2020	Morally Treasonable
2019	Lost Again Or Still?
2018	Why #LazyDonald Starts Work At 11AM
2017	At Least Most Of The Time
2016	But Doctor, I Never Learned How To Read
2015	Punch The Keys, For God’s Sake!
2014	Ouch!
2013	Revelations
2012	Movies And Juicing
	Brady Gets #4 (Prediction)
	Happy To Get Up
2011	What About Good Blogs?
2010	Slowly, Slowly…

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