where: CINE ARTS @ PLEASANT HILL in Pleasant Hill, CA
when: Friday, December 11th, 2009
show: 10:10 p.m.
costs: $10.00 Ticket + $4.25 medium Diet/Zero Coke + $2.12 bulk Chocolate Candies + $4.00 Bridge Toll = $20.37
auditorium: 5
seat: 4th row, 11th column
synopsis: A very slow road trip, with lots of rest stops, of the bleakest kind.
In a post-apocalyptic barren American wasteland, a father ( Viggo Mortensen ) and son ( Kodi Smit-McPhee ) head south to escape winter and to avoid cannibals, ever hopeful of a better life.
prediction: Viggo Mortensen is a strong contender for an Oscar.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) The landscape; 2.) Wildfire; 3.) In the barn; 4.) How to use the gun; 5.) Cannibal gang; 6.) The talk of suicide with the wife ( Charlize Theron ); 7.) Coke; 8.) The ring; 9.) Cannibals' mansion; 10.) Boyhood home; 11.) The box; 12.) Bomb shelter; 13.) Bath; 14.) The old man ( Robert Duvall ); 15.) Skulls on stakes; 16.) Falling trees; 17.) The church; 18.) The thief; 19.) The beetle; 20.) The arrow; and 21.) The stranger ( Guy Pearce ).
audience reaction: This movie got the audience's attention.
recommendation: I liked this movie which delves into the human soul and is not dependent on CGI effects to convey its message. Go see this movie.
spoiler alert! I do not know the cause of this movie's apocalypse since it was never shown. Why didn't they head south sooner before things went from bad to worse, especially since the apocalypse struck in the fall season? Why did one of the cannibals become modest and urinated away from every one else? Was he afraid that the other cannibals would ogle at and drool all over what looked like a vienna sausage to them? A head wound like that would cause much bleeding and would make the side of the face swell-up for about three days--trust me on this! Why didn't the dog bark when it sniffed-out the father and son? The father looked like he was suffering from Tuberculosis which is very contagious. So every one that the son will come into contact with will run a high risk of infection--whoops! there goes humanity ....
fyi: The scenes with the burned trees were filmed at Mt. Saint Helens Volcanic Monument in the state of Washington.
My nutrition professor told the class that people ate people in Europe's Dark Ages. But they called meat from such prey as, "two-legged mutton."
Cannibal tribes in New Guinea described humans as, "long pork." Also, it is rumored that as part of their burial custom, some cannibal tribes have taken to canning human meat and selling it as, "The OTHER White Meat." Of course, this got the white people all worried--must be why the white folks in that area love to get a tan! Boy! am I glad that I was born with an all-over tan.
Vegetarians taste like beef, according to cannibals.
When I studied Anatomy and Physiology, I couldn't help but notice how human skeletal muscles look like beef. I couldn't eat beef for two weeks after that!
word of advice: "It is darkest just before dawn."
Invest in a mountain bike with puncture or flat-proof tires.
tidbits: I was gonna drive by Harvest House Health Food Store to see if they are still in business because months ago I noticed a "For Lease" sign in front of their window. But it was already past midnight and it had been raining on and off all night. So I just decided to go home, instead. Maybe sometime later I'll swing by this place again so I can check out bone meal and glandular protein powders.
In a post-apocalypse, I don't think the Mexicans will appreciate Taco Bell's ad slogan: "Run for the Border."
