It Isn’t The End

Last night, Hil and I watched (actually re-watched) “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2011).  The movie is about a group of seven retired (elderly) Brits who decide to move to India to retire and live out the rest of their days.  Well, actually, it’s only six.  One of the pensioners (Dame Maggie Smith’s character) is actually only going to India for a hip replacement.
The hotel owner / manager Sonny Kapoor is played by Dev Patel.  His dream is to take a falling down hotel which his father owned and turn it into a modern hotel to “out-source” old age to foreigners.  The business concept is in-fact quite viable as my wife has a good friend who knows two colleagues who have done just this very thing (retired to India) and I have a good friend who spends six months of every year living in the Philippines.  The fact is, if you can stand the climate and the culture, it is quite feasible to leave the United States to live out your retirement years in relative comfort in a “poorer” part of the world where your currency (retirement pension) buys more.
The cast of this movie is exceptional.  The movie is a lightly comedic drama.  That is, it is meant to convey a number of ideas about “finding one’s self” in old age, by being willing to take chances and start over in a new place.  As such, it is a “fairy tale” as much as a pure drama.  The comedy comes in from the “normal” course of cultural clashes the retirees experience and there is a particularly funny set piece involving the girlfriend of the hotel manager, his mother and one of the guests.
If you enjoyed “The King’s Speech” or “Quartet“, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this film.  I certainly did.  Final recommendation:  Highly Recommended!
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On This Day In:
2023	Wide And Yawning
2022	Where One Goes
2021	A Direct Relationship
	Another Night Train South (Can’t You See)
2020	One Person’s Roses…
2019	In The Long-Run
2018	#NeverAgain
	Doss II
	Doesn’t / Does
2017	Talent Hates To Move
2016	Looking To November
2015	It Isn’t The End
	Prospero’s Precepts
2014	Friends
2013	Learning Bitter
2012	Remembrance, Minstrels & Going Off To War
	May I Have More Happiness, Please?
2011	There Is No God, But God
2010	Another Running Book…

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The King Is Oscar

Well, if there was much doubt about my review the other day about “The King’s Speech“, it was laid to rest tonight when the movie won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay at the 83rd Academy Awards.  Bravo Colin Firth!  Well done, lad!
I must admit, “Inception” did not do as well as I thought it was going to when I first saw it.  I felt it was a brilliant movie and would have a long term impact on the industry and society – much like “Matrix” did.  But it (“Inception“) never has.  It also won several awards tonight, but they were technical awards mostly about sound.
Friday night, I re-watched “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen“.  I must admit it was much better on the smaller screen and I was able to follow the fight action much better with the limited view of having everything directly in front of me instead of having to shift my eyes or head as I would have to do at a theater.   I’m going to watch T:I and T:II again before T:III comes out later this year.  I think, so far, the first was better than the sequel because the first had more (and better) humor, but T:II had some pretty good moments too.  I particularly like the action shot of the carrier being destroyed by the Transformer bad-guy “meteors”.  That was a very well done action sequence.
Last night (Saturday), I re-watched “The Guardian” with Kevin Cosner and Ashton Kutcher.  It’s a cross between “An Officer And A Gentleman” and “The Karate Kid“, but it really works for me.  They both worked individually (for me) so there is no reason to think a combo wouldn’t.  The movie is about the US Coast Guard elite jump-swimmers (they jump from helicopters) who save lives at sea.  Of the two, I’d rate Guardian over T:II if only because it was less comic bookish.  All in all, a good weekend for watching movies and relaxing.
Non-Movie Notes:
Friday I got a permanent crown put in.  I got the temp a couple of weeks ago.
Yesterday, Hil and I went out for another meal with Donnie (my son’s god father).  He’s going away on vacation for a couple of months, so it was kind of a farewell dinner.
Hil and I went for an afternoon walk around Lafayette Reservoir this afternoon, after church.  It was beautiful – sunny but with a nice cool breeze.  It felt good to spend some time out with Hil – just walking and enjoying the air, view and each other’s company.
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On This Day In:
2023	Your Children Are Watching You
2022	Like Smiles, Flowers And Rainbows
2021	On Your Marks, Get Set…
	Absolutely Nothing (War)
	Roses And Chores
2020	Which Is Which
2019	Were You Saying Something?
2018	Ethics Lesson
2017	May I Have Some More, Please?
2016	A Little Lost
2015	This High Place
2014	Elected Madness
2013	Well Written
2012	Related Parts
2011	The King Is Oscar
	Better Reputation?

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