Friday 4 August 2017

#208 Movie night

As takeaways went, I'd long considered the humble shish kebab to rank highly for taste (Mmm... chilli sauce), value (around six nicker) and health (it's grilled meat accompanied by a mountain of salad). My latest order was in danger of becoming poisonous though.

I'd been watching the "chef" like a geek watches Star Trek and thirty seconds ago, the pita that he'd thrown onto the grill had landed right up against another skewer loaded with uncooked chicken. 

I'd never been fond of complaining. Actually that wasn't quite true, I often loved it but at certain times I felt it far easier to keep my mouth shut. This left me with a dilemma. Was there a third way?
I leaned over the counter and asked if they could put the shish in a cold pita.

I'd read earlier in the week that some London commuters had called for a complete ban on food on the tube, following similar discussions in New York. No doubt many passengers on journey tube home would have read it. It was only two stops though and my meal was fairly well wrapped. I looked around as I boarded, half-expecting to be looked at like I was carrying a dead baby. The poker-faced sharks lining the carriage kept their gazes fixed though. ASBO avoided.

For the evening's movie, I picked Jurassic World. I hadn't seen it before. After the criticisms received by the last two films, I wasn't expecting much. As always, I enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs roar on screen. I used to particularly like it when the dino put its face up next to its prey and let out a low-pitched gurgle, so I was thrilled that it happened at least twice.

The character of Claire, the businesslike redhead, is as terrible as her haircut. The unique nature of the theme park she manages might go some way to excusing her larger-than-life personality but having an unbelievable human play a main part doesn't make the unbelievable dinosaurs any more believable. It just makes the whole thing more tacky.

Despite its impressive visuals and the epic magnitude of the newest monsters, the movie isn't grand enough to have required its own memorable soundtrack. To warrant that, the creators would have had to depart in some way from the whole "it's been several years and we haven't learned anything so let's open the park again" storyline. Fortunately, that is exactly what they plan to do next.

Scriptwriting for the fifth film in the series began in August 2015. The film is expected to be released in about a year's time. The plan is to take the plot line way from continuous revisits to the world's deadliest entertainment venue. It's pleasing news. I have a soft spot for the Jurassic films though. Don't tell anyone this but for me they're a bit like the Star Wars franchise. Even if they did go and remake the same story over and over again every couple of years, I'd probably still carry on watching.

4 comments

Running on empty said...

Got gastro from a shish kebab in a roadside van once.

Fizzfan said...

Nice dodge on the salmonella crisis (or whatever it is that uncooked chickens harbour)
I watched Jurassic Park years ago and liked it a lot. More so because of Jeff Goldbloom than anything else I think. Mind you nothing tops him in The Fly. He's a bit mad genius creepy but cool.

Profound Familiarity said...

Oh Cath, yeah gastro is horrible. Did you ever go back to the van and tell them?

Goldblum is awesome, I hope he's in the next film.

Running on empty said...

No, didn't go back, but people told me it was a notorious place to get sick AFTER the event. Makes you wonder why the health dept didn't shut them down. My first hubby got it too, he was hospitalised because he had no immune system by then.