where: CINE ARTS @ PLEASANT HILL in Pleasant Hill, CA
when: Friday, December 11th, 2009
show: 7:35 p.m.
costs: $10.00 Ticket + $14.74 Chinese Buffet dinner ( + $2.26 Tip ) at Buffet City = $27.00
auditorium: 4
seat: 4th row, 10th column
synopsis: A police lieutenant, Terence McDonaugh ( Nicolas Cage ), investigates the execution of an illegal alien family of five from Senegal as his drug habit worsens and his gambling debts pile up.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) Flooded jail; 2.) Snorting cocaine; 3.) Executed family; 4.) Pharmacy; 5.) Gator's Retreat stakeout; 6.) Davereaux Hotel; 7.) Retirement home; 8.) Grandson; 9.) Bookie; 10.) Alligators; 11.) Toke; 12.) Dog; 13.) Back at the retirement home; 14.) Investigating police abuse; 15.) Loan shark; 16.) Deal with drug lord ( Xzibit ); 17.) The waterfront drop-off; 18.) Game fixing; 19.) Reformed Frankie ( Eva Mendes ); 20.) Drug lord versus loan shark; 21.) The football game; 22.) Lucky three; 23.) The round-up; 24.) Another stake-out a Gator's Retreat; 25.) Room service; and 26.) The aquarium.
audience reaction: The audience liked this movie.
recommendation: I liked this movie, too. Go see it.
spoiler alert! When McDonaugh walked into the Davereaux Hotel and to the retirement home, and when he sat down at the aquarium, his shoulders were level with each other. How can somebody high on drugs not be noticeable when out on patrol and when out performing routine investigation? And the scene with the break-dancing soul, I don't know about that!
fyi: Is it just me, or does Nicolas Cage's lower lip droop lower with each passing year? He should avoid using side shots of his face as much as possible.
word of advice: If you don't have an upper lip ( like Nicolas Cage ), put on a mustache to add a better symmetry to your face.
tidbits: While I was eating at the buffet, I had a minor nose bleed--it would have been a major one had I not swabbed my nostrils with petroleum jelly before leaving my condo earlier in the day. I had a major nosebleed seven years ago while having lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Terra Linda in San Rafael, CA--not a pretty sight!
Just before the movie, at 7:30 p.m., I went to the men's room to wash my hands and rinse my mouth. I used the lavatory on the far right to clear my throat. As I did so, I noticed that somebody before me had already "deposited" a piece of "lung oyster" ( phlegm ) in the sink. With the motion activated faucet, I had my hands try to direct water to the dried-up "oyster" and my fresh one to have them both go down the sink. But the dried-up one was stubborn, so I just went to the paper towel dispenser to crank out a piece to dry my hands with. As I did so, I heard a faucet turning on and off. When I turned around to look, it was the far right hand side faucet ( there are three of them ) which was turning itself on and off repeatedly with nobody near enough to physically activate it. I was about six feet away from it at the other end of the lavatory counter while another man was in a toilet stall and two other men were at the urinals. I mentally thanked "whatever it was" for finishing the job for me.
