I went to see this yesterday, Tuesday, November 17th, 2015, in Richmond, CA, at the CENTURY HILLTOP 16, for the 8:15 p.m. show in auditorium 6, 4th row ( counting from the front ), 7th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $10.25. And I bought Nachos for $5.40, a $0.65 upgrade on a free small Zero Powerade Fruit Punch and a $5.05 junior Buttered Popcorn at the concessions counter. I paid $5.00 at the Carquinez Toll Booth on my return trip to Vallejo.
Quickie Review: Dilwala ( Salman Khan ) is a character stage actor in Ram-Leelas who embodies the good virtues of the characters that he plays on-stage. His unrequited love for a princess leads him to a royal family torn by rivalry, envy and betrayal. In this "prince and pauper" story, Life is but a stage; and Dilwala takes the pivotal center stage.
The audience liked this movie.
I liked this movie, too. Go see this movie if you like Love Stories.
There was one scene of a hanged man that did not sit particularly well with me; it was unnecessary for this kind of movie. Although this movie pulls on one's "heart strings," it's not like some movies out there that assault one with a "lacrimal deluge"! The set pieces are visually stunning, especially the Sheesh Mahal ( glass palace ). And ... the lead actress, Sonam Kapoor, is visually stunning, too! As for the ending, it's kind of high on my "creepiness factor".
All the time that I'd been using the word, Sheesh, as an expression, I didn't know that I was actually saying a word in Hindi ( Punjabi? ).
The beginning credits showed the names of Salman Khan's lawyer and accountant (?). I wonder how much they paid for the publicity.
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At the Century Hilltop 16, I walked up to the box office to buy my ticket, expecting to shell-out just $6.25 because it was "Bargain Tuesday All-Day." But, according to the clerk, the studio classified it as a "special feature" to gouge people an extra $4.00 for the show! I think it's a rip-off, if you ask me. For the price that I'm paying, it had better be a good movie, I said to the clerk. The box office clerk said that she didn't see it so she wouldn't know.
A fitting song for this movie would be England Dan and John Ford Coley's song, "It's Hard To Belong To Someone Else When The Right One Comes Along." If I do get married someday, I hope that this particular song will be the farthest from my mind on my wedding day! 'Just sayin' ....
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I had to rent a car today, Tuesday, for an appointment in Los Gatos, CA. I waited 45 minutes for the rental car driver to come and pick me up. I called at one point to find out why it was taking the driver so long. Well, I was told that he was on his lunch break! WTF?!?!?! It would have taken me 35 minutes to walk to the local Hertz Rent-a-Car! I shall be sure to complain about this inconsiderate incompetence.
The following photos taken with my digital camera all show the wrong time because I still haven't adjusted the clock back one hour for Daylight Savings Time.
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| The car in the middle, a 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage, is the one that I rented. |
Before I left the car rental place at 1:00 p.m., I programmed my Samsung Galaxy Mega's GPS. But, wouldn't you know it, it wouldn't work. It just showed me a text direction on how to get there; then, it turned itself off!
Oh, to heck with it, I'll just drive to Los Gatos the old fashioned way: via map and scribbled notes, I said to myself.
My impression of the Mitsubishi Mirage:
It was noisy, depending on the road condition. It lacked power. It was slow to accelerate--which provided for some scary thrills whenever I had to change lanes on an incline grade! A car this tiny with a 74 horsepower, 3-cylinder engine should never be equipped with an automatic transmission. And it was shaky whenever I came to a stop. And its dam "Eco" mode would give me cause for alarm every time that it would come on because it would remind me of my cheap-ass Hyundai Accent's "check engine" light! But its steering wheel didn't make the car veer off to the right, like some people claimed it would; its steering wheel simply has a tight tolerance and should be steered accordingly.
My 55 horsepower, 3-cylinder manual transmission '94 Geo Metro was actually more refined than this Mitsu.
Anyway, according to my Samsung Galaxy Mega's text direction, when I get to Lark Avenue in Los Gatos ( The Cats ), I should turn left, drive across the overpass and turn left on Los Gatos Boulevard where my destination will be on the right side. Well, it wasn't .... It was actually on the left side! Damn dyslexic GPS!
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| This was my destination in Los Gatos, yesterday. |
I had to go to Los Gatos for a 3:30 p.m. consultation with a surgical specialist. He is considered one of the best--if not The Best--in the country in his field of specialty. I wanted to know what my viable options were. The doctor broke it down for me, options and out-of-pocket costs ( my own insurance will not pay for it ). My best option, unfortunately, is priced similarly as a new Mitsubishi Mirage---Ouch! Depending on how fast I can scrimp and save enough money for the surgery, I will either have it next Spring or next Fall. Either season, it has to be performed next year; I can't stress this enough.
And I still have to have Knee Surgery, on top of it!
My word of advice to all of you is this: Don't Get Old--it ain't fun.
The funny thing about Los Gatos, Spanish for "The Cats," I didn't even spot one cat anywhere in that city. Go figure ....
I got back in the rental car and tried my GPS once again. Well, guess what? It worked this time around. Geez, Luis!
I started on my trip back home at around 4:45 p.m. Just in time for the afternoon rush hour traffic. There was an accident further down the freeway to add to the delay. Well, at least, it didn't come to a stop; traffic moved at a slow pace, though. And my GPS kept nagging me to take alternate routes--what a bitch! I got off the freeway in Richmond, CA, at 6:30 p.m. because of the traffic, and because I needed to chill-out to de-stress at a theatre while traffic winded down for the evening.
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I went to see this double feature today, Wednesday, November 18th, 2015, here in Vallejo, CA, at the CENTURY 14 VALLEJO, for the 4:30 p.m. show in auditorium 11, 3rd row ( counting from the front ), 9th column ( counting from the left ). The price of admission was $20.00. And I bought a $4.70 1-litre bottle of Dasani water at the concessions counter. During the intermission, I went back to the concessions counter to buy a $5.05 bag of junior size Kettle Corn.
Quickie Review: The Rebels have finally had it and turn their weapons to the Capital.
The audience liked this movie and gave both features a "Hands Clapper" ending.
I didn't like the 1st one because it was too melodramatic for me. The 2nd one was better but somewhat predictable. Go see this if you're a HUNGER GAMES fan.
What are wrong with these movies? A bad guy is likened to a snake because he uses poison on his enemies; I think the proper term is, Venom, or the apt animal description is anything that's poisonous, not venomous. Poison and venom don't affect the body the same way. The attacker, programmed to kill someone, didn't know how to choke his victim correctly. She recovered her voice rather quickly. The flame-shooting trap fired in the wrong sequence. The bad guys didn't have expeditionary forces to pinpoint the rebels and destroy their weapons stockpile. You never turn your back and drop your guard when there's a perceived threat. That cat was out of character because it didn't act scaredy at all. ISIS and other terrorist groups might get upset because the rebels in these movies "borrowed" from their playbook on embedding, terrorizing and sacrificing to gain the upper hand against the enemy. Before and after the execution, one main character wore the same dress, even though the Mocking Jay ( Jennifer Lawrence ) had changed her clothes.
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I got up today with the need to get my money's worth on the rental car before I returned it. It was high time that I paid a visit to the dental lab where I used to work at over 19 years ago because I dreamed about it last week.
Take a look at the Mitsubishi Mirage's speedometer, shown above. Is it very optimistic, or what? I think that they took this speedometer from their Eclipse model. Anyway, it's good for a few laughs.
This Food-Max is on Monument Boulevard in Concord, CA. I had to come here to buy cookies because the Safeway Supermarket, just a block away, closed and moved across the freeway to Pleasant Hill, CA. The cookies are for the dental lab techs.
The former store manager at the Pleasant Hill Safeway Supermarket was a son of my co-worker. He passed away a few years ago.
This is the dental lab, shown above, where I used to work at 19 years and 2 months ago. It's in Concord, CA. Only four of my former co-workers are still there. Although I only saw two of them: the co-owners. There were some new faces. I learned that most of my former co-workers quit or retired, one started his own lab, a few got fired and three passed away already ( two died of cancer ).
I will have to visit again to hopefully see the other two former co-workers. I'll bring bagels, next time. This lab had me hooked on bagels. Every time someone had a birthday, the owner, the late Mr. Jochim ( who kinda looked like Homer Simpson's boss, according to one of the former lab techs ), would treat everyone to all kinds of bagels!
I swung by the 99-Cent Store Only, on Sonoma Boulevard in Vallejo, to buy some more protein/health bars. Then, I returned the rental car with an additional 217 miles on its odometer.
When I got home, I decided to go have a buffet lunch before going to see this double feature. I craved some Indian food so I went to the Taj Grill in the Safeway Supermarket Shopping Center on Admiral Callaghan Lane here in Vallejo. By the way, the waiter at this restaurant looks better than Salman Khan--he could be a model or an actor.
At the end of this corridor is the Taj Grill where I had an Indian buffet lunch a few hours before the start of the double feature. I stood in front of Fed-Ex Kinko's while I took this picture.
This last photo was taken with my Samsung Galaxy Mega. I took it after the double feature ended. It was around 9:20 p.m. or so. You can see on the bench my water bottle, my movie wristband, my collector's key strap holder with a Mocking Jay card attached to it, and my tally counter ( modern-day substitute for prayer beads ) that I use whenever I do my Zhunti Mantra.
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| I took this photo across the hallway from auditorium 11. |
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