where: CALIFORNIA THEATRE in Berkeley, CA
when: Thursday, April 7th, 2011
show: 7:15 p.m.
costs: $10.00 Ticket + $0.00 medium Popcorn w/ Butter ( free reward on my Landmark Theatres' movie watcher card ) + $4.50 medium Diet Coke + $3.50 Bart Train Ticket + $5.00 Carquinez Bridge Toll = $23.00
auditorium: 1, on the 1st floor
seat: 9th row, center section, 5th column
synopsis/overview: After helplessly watching the local drug dealer, Jacques ( Kevin Bacon ), take his wife, Sarah ( Liv Tyler ), away from him, "Average Joe" Frank ( Rainn Wilson ) assumes the persona of a pseudo-superhero, Crimson Bolt, to fight crime and to get his wife back. Without any kind of superpower at all, he relies on his trusty pipe wrench and his foul-mouthed over-eager sidekick, Boltie, a.k.a Libby ( Ellen Page ), to get the job done.
noteworthy scenes: 1.) "Life of humiliation ..."; 2.) Perfect moments; 3.) "I was weak"; 4.) "People look stupid when they cry"; 5.) "I don't think she wants to see you anymore"; 6.) Burned burgers; 7.) Pet shop; 8.) "I hate you, God"; 9.) Prayer;10.) The Finger-of-God Vision; 11.) Comic books store; 12.) Journal; 13.) Library; 14.) Euclid Street; 15.) "Superheroes without powers"; 16.) "That will do"; 17.) Pipe wrench; 18.) Flashback; 19.) TV news; 20.) Waiting in line at the theatre; 21.) Front page news; 22.) "Somebody became a real one"; 23.) Images; 24.) The nosy detective; 25.) Ditching the image; 26.) "Give me a sign"; 27.) "Lust Dust"; 28.) The bad guy's mansion; 29.) Libby's house-warming party; 30.) "That's not him"; 31.) "I want to show you something"; 32.) "I want to show you something"; 33.) Boltie; 34.) "This is what you do"; 35.) The car vandal; 36.) "I'm pretty sure it was him"; 37.) The gas station; 38.) "It's called internal bleeding, and then you f--king die"; 39.) "In-between the panels"; 40.) The gun store; 41.) Shooting range; 42.) "Friend or foe"; 43.) Pipe bombs; 44.) Seduction; 45.) Toilet bowl; 46.) Female Wolverine; 47.) "Nobody can blame me for this"; 48.) Diversion; 49.) "Shut up! crime"; 50.) "I can't know that for sure unless I try"; 51.) "I saved Sarah"; 52.) The children; 53.) "Something much more"; and 54.) Voice-Over after the Ending Credits.
favorite scenes: I liked the scene where Libby was "auditioning" for the part of the sidekick.
And I like the scene where Libby was showing-off her new superheroine outfit.
audience reaction: The audience really enjoyed this movie.
recommendation: I enjoyed this movie, too. This movie is this year's adult-oriented answer to last year's KICK-ASS. This movie is very funny and very bloody violent, which is why it carries an NR rating. Go see this movie if you're into "superhero" movies with more than a touch of down-to-earth mortality.
spoiler alert! For someone who got beat-up by three bad guys, he sure didn't look worse for the experience. Nobody got the car's description and/or license plate number down? Why didn't the drug dealers on the street have guns? Why did he trespass in broad daylight? Why were there no guard dogs at the bad guy's mansion? How could a short-order cook at some local greasy-spoon joint be able to afford thousands of dollars worth of ammo, weapons, etc. on the kind of money that he earns? Don't they usually hold the ammo and weapons for a certain length of time while they do a background check on the potential buyer first? And all the stuff that Frank bought would make for some really serious "paper trail" that the local authorities will eventually check-up on. Since Frank didn't grease the ends, the threads and the caps of his pipe bombs with petroleum jelly, one of those bombs would have exploded as he was screwing on the caps, simply by way of friction! Heck, if I were to make pipe bombs, I'd make them extra long. Why didn't the bad guys go to investigate their targets? The bad guys had plenty of time to shoot at either Crimson Bolt or Boltie while either one was lobbing the pipe bombs at them. And why didn't the bad guys dive for cover instead of just stand there? This movie has a very let-down scene towards the end in the shoot-out with the bad guys. Boltie's mask should not have come-off, if you think about it. A big gaping wound like that with no blood ...? With the gunshot wound that he got, he shouldn't have been able to raise his arm over his head or even carry someone. Didn't Frank leave his fingerprints, and other incriminating stuff, at the apartment that will most likely be searched after someone filed a "missing person" report with the authorities?
fyi: This is the second time that I went to see a movie at this theatre. The first time was approximately 25 years ago.
I wanted to see this movie yesterday, a Wednesday, after paying a visit to my friend, Hector, in Oakland, CA. But my Geo Metro's left rear tire blew-out on the I-80 Freeway between San Pablo Dam Road and McBryde Avenue in Richmond, CA, at around 12:30 p.m. I pulled over to the shoulder right after the overpass. And I was very scared as I changed the tire, what with my body just less than four feet away from the edge of the road where cars were zooming by between 55 and 70 miles per hour. The funny thing was, I said to myself that if I'm going to go on a cross-country trip in this car sometime in the next two years, I had better have the tires replaced--then the tire blew out!
And speaking of my Geo Metro's tires, they look practically brand new even though I had the set installed about eight years ago. But the weather made the tires brittle and the potholes made the sidewalls weaker, resulting in the blow-out. I will need to have all four of them replaced. And the emergency spare tire was under-inflated but I couldn't pump it up because the bicycle pump that I kept in the trunk broke at the plastic handle because the summer's heat, through the years, made it brittle, too. So, the spare tire hummed all the way to my friend's house in Oakland. Luckily, he had a portable tire inflater that he had me borrow just so I'd have some peace of mind on the drive back home.
If you ask me, I believe that Ellen Page is better looking than Liv Tyler. ( My favorite scenes' picks say it all. ) Too bad that Ellen is a lesbian. But, at least, she's a Lipstick Lesbian, not a Bull-Dyke Lesbian!
word of advice: Heroes are not born, they are made.
Petroleum Jelly = It ain't just for your hair, lips and/or butt anymore.
tidbits: First thing in the morning today, I took my Hyundai Accent to Wheelworks here in Vallejo, CA, because the "Check Engine" light came on again. I already replaced the spark plugs and the air cleaner; and I also put in a bottle of Fuel Injector Cleaner. And I made sure that the gas cap was on tight. But the light came on again. At a loss for any other possible solutions to my problem, I had the mechanic do a diagnostic check on my Accent. It turned out that my car had a leaky Valve Gasket, a bad Knock Sensor, and bad Oxygen Sensors. That would be over $800.oo worth of repairs! But I needed to have them done because I have to get my car smogged next week in order to get a new license tag for it.
The strange thing about this is that my white Geo Metro is seven years older than my blue Hyundai Accent. But I never had this problem--knock on wood--with my Metro at all.
And while I was at Wheelworks, I had the service adviser do a search for 12-inch tires for my Geo Metro since they are very rare and hard to come by these days because most tire manufacturers have altogether stopped making this size. I worried that if he doesn't find size 12 tires for my Metro, I would be forced to upgrade to size 13 tires and wheels ( which would translate to more money out of my own pocket than I can easily afford to part with ). But, luckily for me, he eventually found a warehouse later on in the day that still has size 12 tires in-stock.
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