where: CENTURY 14 VALLEJO in Vallejo, CA
when: Friday, February 5th, 2010
show: 7:45 p.m.
costs: $10.00 Ticket + $1.05 Tropical Punch Fuze, 18.5 oz bottle ( which I bought at the nearby CVS Drugstore and drank before and after the show ) = $11.05
auditorium: 13
seat: 5th row, 7th column
synopsis: Orange you glad that I didn't say, "Bomb Anna!" Or ... Wax-on and get waxed-off.
An aide to the U.S. Ambassador of France, James Reese ( Jonathan Rhys Meyers ) secretly works as a low-level CIA agent who yearns to have high-security level assignments thrown his way. One day, he gets his wish--and then some--when he is partnered with a high-ranking operative, Charlie Wax ( John Travolta ), on assignment in Paris to get rid of a terrorist threat.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) License plates; 2.) Chip; 3.) Bedroom curtain; 4.) Staple; 5.) Short notice; 6.) Customs; 7.) Mrs. Jones; 8.) Le Lotus de Neiges; 9.) Egg Foo Yong; 10.) Tail; 11.) Dragonheads; 12.) Stairs; 13.) Show; 14.) Sweat shop; 15.) Snort; 16.) Elevator; 17.) Stake out; 18.) Satellite; 19.) 5 Kilos; 20.) Scenic route; 21.) Bad guys' car; 22.) Photographs; 23.) Police car; 24.) Royale with cheese; 25.) Dinner; 26.) Wired; 27.) You-Tube; 28.) Pay Phone; 29.) U.S. Delegation; 30.) Car chase; 31.) Summit meeting; 32.) Access denied; 33.) Orange Chadors; and 34.) Chess game.
audience reaction: The audience enjoyed it.
recommendation: I, too, enjoyed this over-the-top, and played for laughs, action movie. If you're into action movies, go see this one.
spoiler alert! Did Reese have to wear his suit all the time that they were chasing down and disposing of the bad guys? When the pistol rolled across the table, the bad guy had ample time to track it and shoot Wax, but didn't. Does it really make any sense that Caroline ( Kasia Smutniak ) would go to such a place just to buy fabric? Why wasn't the news media all a-buzzed over the killing rampage? When they left their Cadillac SUV in a bad part of town, nobody carjacked it or, at the very least, stole its wheels. Even though Reese had his left arm in a sling because of a gunshot wound, he had no trouble holding a gun "cup and saucer" style, then playing chess later on with no sign of pain and/or difficulty in arm movement.
fyi: The French get the chance to stereotype us, Americans, this time around!
Can you imagine being a paramedic and going to a scene of an accident or a crime and have to tend to Muslim female victims? It is such a quandary! On the one hand, you have a duty to provide emergency medical aid to anyone in need of it; but, on the other hand, Islamic law forbids you from touching a Muslim female. What can you do? What will you do? What are the repercussions for committing acts deemed inappropriate? Whatever happens, the paramedic will be damned if he does, and be damned if he doesn't! I don't envy him his job.
The female U.S. Delegate, in real life, would be the one to get fired. And I would put her in jail, too, if I were the President, for reckless endangerment.
word of advice: Don't bring a vase to a gunfight!
tidbits: One of the things that I did after work and before going to the theatre was stopped off at the Benicia Police Station to file a complaint about what happened the day before, Thursday. Last night, when I got home from work after 9:00 p.m., I found 53 messages on my answering machine--and 51 of them were blank with nothing more on them other than the "date and time" stamp. Somebody called my number up to 51 times without saying one damn word! And, I should note, 9 days before Valentine's Day. Does somebody have a FATAL ATTRACTION on me or what?!?!?! Some girls, through the years, have called me "handsome", "hunk" and "sexy" ( some guys, too, I'm embarrassed to say ), but this unwelcome obsession is more worrisome than it is flattering. Perhaps, the attraction that they have for me can be boiled down to one constant: Here, I'm what one would call an "Exotic Dish", of course, back in the Philippines I'm probably just a "Staple Diet" to those with a discriminating taste. Or, to put it more bluntly, in the Philippines I'm just a "Tuyo ug Kan-on" ( fried dried & salted fish and steamed rice ) on a banana leaf whereas here I appeal to those with an adventurous taste. So, I guess it just makes sense that I should charge in Dollars, instead of Pesos, for the same old thing. Yeah, why not? My other sister had a classmate back at The Philippine Women's College in Matina, Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines, who had an ugly-looking brother who walked into their living room one day, sighing and exclaiming, "I'm tired of being handsome!" I'm beginning to feel the same way. Now, where was I ... oh, yeah! The dispatcher at the police station said that they can't do a thing about my situation.
When I got home, I called the AT&T operator. She said that she can't do anything about it, too. But she gave me an 800 number to call just in case of a repeat occurrence and added that I would have to take note of the particular time for each harassing call. What ...? Is she nuts? All of those calls ...? Maybe it would be better to just have whoever it is who is sexually obsessed with me break into my condo, over-power me, tie me up, and do kinky unmentionables to me--but I digress!
If I'm so sexually attractive, why doesn't Hollywood take notice of me, yet? Oh, I just remembered ... because they already have somebody who looks like me: Esai Morales, my somewhat famous Hollywood Celebrity look-alike. But, unlike him, I don't have Herpes! But I just might end up with a "hair piece" someday if I don't do something aggressively pro-active about my situation.
