I went to see this on Saturday, April 23rd, 2016, in Napa, CA, at the CENTURY NAPA VALLEY AND X-D, in auditorium 9, 5th row from the front, 1st seat from the right. The price of admission was $12.00. And I bought a $6.05 small Buttered Popcorn and a $2.20 ( $2.00-off movie watcher e-mail reward coupon ) small Lemonade/Fruit Punch.
Quickie Review: A desperate salesman ( Tom Hanks ) goes to Saudi Arabia to try to sell a holographic telecommunication system to the king. His local driver ( Alexander Black ) and a female doctor ( Sarita Choudhury ) help him learn about the way of life in the desert kingdom.
The audience liked it. I liked it, too.
Go see this movie. To paraphrase Borat, "This is for cultural learning of Saudi Arabia for make benefit incredulous salesman of America. Please watch this movie film ... or I will be execute!"
I liked the local driver. He had a good on-screen persona.
The name, Sarita Choudhury, sounded familiar to me. So, when I got home, I googled her name. Yup, I saw her for the first time 20 years ago in the movie, KAMA SUTRA, at a rinky-dink old theatre, the Orinda Theatre in Orinda, CA. It's the only other movie that I saw her in. She was so beautiful back then. Well, she still is. But this 20-year time has not been so kind to her face.
One Saudi Arabian character in the movie said, "We don't have unions. We have Pilipinos." True, there are a lot of Pilipinos working in Saudi Arabia, doing jobs that the Arabs feel are beneath their dignity. Did you know that in Saudi Arabia, Pilipinos are derogatively referred to as, "Brown Niggers"? Yeah, I think that that also holds true in some other Middle Eastern countries.
And, sad to say, some Pilipinos have been beheaded in Saudi Arabia. When it comes to beheadings, ISIS has a long way to go if it wants to play catch-up with Saudi Arabia!
If life was better for the majority of the people in the Philippines, Pilipinos would rather work in the country than go abroad to some other country just to support their loved ones at home. The Philippine economy is actually on a fast-track for improvement. Now, if only political corruption--unchecked and rampant--at the local and national levels could be gotten rid off.
I have a cousin who works hard in the Middle East just to support his family in the Philippines. Most of the money that he makes, he wires to the Philippines. Especially since he has a daughter and two sons going to school. They're doing well in school, at least. He has a medical condition that needs to be attended to, but he would rather save his money for his wife and kids than take care of his health problems. He is so looking forward to his retirement. And I worry for him.
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I drove to Vacaville, CA, first because the BRENDEN VACAVILLE 16 had a tribute show to the late artist formerly known as, Prince. Prince's movie, PURPLE RAIN, was shown at 7:00 p.m. The parking lot was almost packed because it was a Saturday and because of the Prince movie. I got in line with just five minutes to spare before the start of the movie. I looked up at the Show and Price Listing. The movie was priced at only $5.00. Yay .... When my turn came up to buy a ticket, the box office clerk told me that the movie had already sold-out! I mouthed, F-ck ....
I drove all the way to Vacaville, a distance of about 23 miles ( 37 kilometers ) just to be told that the movie was sold-out. Dang it! Then I remembered that there was a 7:35 showing of, A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING, at the Napa City theatre.
I hurried back to my car as I texted a post to my Facebook page to let my friends know that the Prince movie was sold-out.
I got back on the 80 Freeway to head south. I knew that Highway 12 connects to Napa; but at its junction with Highway 29, I forgot whether to turn left at the light or to turn right. I was thinking that I would need to take a left turn at the light. But I didn't want to take a chance since I was on a very tight schedule.
I exited at the American Canyon Off-ramp. And drove down the winding road until I got to Highway 29. There, I made a right to head to Napa City. When I got to the intersection of Highway 12, I realized that I would have had to take a right to go to the theatre. I'm glad that I didn't take Highway 12 like I wanted to do earlier or I would have been late for the movie. But now I know for next time.
I stepped into the auditorium with just a minute to spare before the movie started.
I, once again, parked at the very far end of the parking lot, hoping that I could jog back to my car. But there were cars coming and going in the parking lot. I just walked it because I didn't want to risk getting hit by a car.
There is a Jack In The Box Restaurant just a block away. But it was around 9:35 p.m. and I believe they close at 10:00 p.m. I decided to go to the MacDonald's Restaurant in the Wal-Mart Super Center in American Canyon for dinner because they close at midnight.
While I was eating my dinner of Double Cheeseburger ( I didn't eat the bun ) w/ Side Salad, a former co-worker of mine came over to say, "Hi!" I saw him two nights earlier at the MacDonald's in the Target Shopping Center in Vallejo. I think that he is following me around---Night Stalker Alert! Ha, ha, ha.
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