Monday, January 07, 2019

The Games Grown Boys Play

Began the morning after breakfast with a couple of chores and some crafting I've been wanting to do. The bed needed to be made. I hadn't done it since the day Amanda visited early last month. I finally had enough catalogs to make a winter-themed collage. It took me a while, since most of them were actually from the late fall-Christmas season and didn't have a lot that was specifically winter-themed, but I think it came out well enough.

Watched Solo: A Star Wars Story while I worked. The second anthology film reveals the origins of everyone's favorite scoundrel, smuggler, and princess-lover. Growing up on the mean streets of industrial Corellia, all Han (Alden Ehrenreich) wants is to escape the filth-clogged streets with his girl Qi'da (Emilia Clarke). He does manage to get off-planet, but has to leave Qi'da behind. He joins the Empire in the hope of becoming a pilot, but ends up in the trenches. He's thrown to "The Beast" for insubordination...who turns out to be Chewbacca (Joonas Sutamo), a wookie who was captured and taken from his tribe. Han can speak his language and is able to help him escape. They join up with Beckett (Woody Harrelson) and his crew to steal a precious fuel from a train. It all goes south when they're invaded by Enfys Nest (Erin Kellyman) and her Marauders chase them down. The fuel is destroyed, along with Beckett's wife and friend.

The remaining trio head to explain things to mob boss Drydan Vos (Paul Bettany). Turns out that Qi'da has taken up with him as well. Han insists that they can get another source of fuel on the mine of Kessel. She suggests getting a ship from smooth smuggler Lando Calarissian (Donald Glover) and his rebellious female droid L3 (Phoebe Waller-Bridge). They take The Millennium Falcon to Kessel, where L3 proceeds to instigate a slave uprising. The group barely escapes with their lives through the infamous "Kessel Run." Now they just have to get the fuel processed...and make sure it lands in the right hands.

I actually love this movie. I think it's the most fun Star Wars has had in ages, and is a huge improvement on the dour Rogue One. Ehrenreich and Glover are pitch-perfect as Han and Lando, and Harrelson isn't bad as Han's mentor in crime Beckett. It does have some problems - the cinematography is way too murky in the first half, the second half is confusing, Vos is a boring villain, and it kills off three of it's best characters after about 10-20 minutes of screen time each.

This movie didn't deserve anything resembling what it got at the box office last Memorial Day. I still maintain it's a good movie released at a bad time. If you're open to knowing about your favorite characters and where they came from, you may have just as much fun with this one as I have.

Switched to Hello Kitty Furry Tale Theater as I had a quick yogurt-and-banana lunch and got ready to head out. Kitty is "K.T: The Kitty Terrestrial," who has to phone home in order to avoid scientists Catnip and Grinder. Hello Dorothy has to join several unusual friends to find "The Wizard of Paws" and get home to Catfish. "Kitty and the Kong" has her as a sailor who makes friends with giant dog-creature Grinder on a tropical island. Catnip wants to take him to New York and show him off. but he doesn't belong in the Big Apple and wrecks havoc. "Cat Wars" has Tuxedo Sam Skywalker trying to get Princess Kitty home to Catern, only to be thrown off-course. It takes a chat from Grandpa Cat-nobi and "The Power of the Fur" to boost his confidence.

The sun was out when I got up this morning, but by the time I strolled out my door, it was cloudy and much colder than it has been, probably in the 30's. I still had a few things I wanted to do, starting with a quick run to the Oaklyn Library. They're still in the midst of re-organizing the DVDs. Other than ESPN talking about the Eagles' win yesterday and the college football championship tonight, there wasn't much going on there.

Made my way a couple of blocks down to Dollar General. I've wanted to buy a plastic container for my Christmas tree for years now. I've kept it in its original box for fifteen years, and the box is now falling apart. Finally found one that was long enough and deep enough to hold the whole tree. Also grabbed multi-purpose cleaner, sponges for the dry erase board, and eggs. (Theirs are only $1.50, much cheaper than the $2.99 they cost at the Acme.)

As soon as I got home, I made sure the tree fit in the box. I chose wisely. The tree and all its parts fit perfectly. I even managed to find room for the vintage cardboard Santa hanging that was too long to slide in the other Christmas containers. I also found something to do with the plastic three-drawer set I bought a while back. It's now too small to use for the dolls' clothes, but it works great to organize the cookie cutters Jessa gave me years ago and either clear out the plastic container I used for them or find another use for that.

Watched the second half of "Cat Wars" and the remaining Furry Tale Theater short on the disc while I worked. "Paws - The Great White Dog Shark" is chewing everything wooden on the beach, including Mayor Fangora's Catamonica Pier. Lifeguard Sam, Surfer Kitty, and Professor Chip try to figure out why Paws has gone bad.

Switched to listening to Led Zepplin II on LP while I cleaned the bathroom. It really needed to be done. The sink was especially covered in gunk. Washed some of the dirtier slats in the window blinds, too.

Worked on writing for a while after I finished the bathroom. Leia, Han, and Chewie find their way to the Snow Queen's palace in the barren Frozen North. They find Luke huddled in her throne chamber, leaning over a pile of colorful tiles. He doesn't recognize them and tries to push them away, but they help him figure out the puzzle.

Broke for dinner at 6:30. Made shrimp stir-fry and later chatted with Lauren while watching Tag. Five men play a game of Tag one month a year. The game has been going on for 30 years, and it shows no signs of stopping. Whomever was tagged "it" at the end of the game the year before is "it" until the next game. This year, Hoagie (Ed Helms) is "it." He's determined to finally tag the elusive Jerry (Jeremy Renner), who has never been touched in the entire three decades they've been playing. Jerry is getting married to lovely Susan (Leslie Bibb), and the guys and Hoagie's mouthy wife Anna (Isla Fisher) think this is the perfect opportunity to finally catch him. He and Susan are onto them, though, and make them sign a "no Tag during the wedding" clause on their invitations. That doesn't mean that the time between the wedding preparations aren't fair game, though...

And people say there are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore. What's more, this one seems to actually be based on real-life. If the credits are any indication, there really are 10 guys who play a game of tag that's gone on for over two decades, and a reporter really did do a major article on them. In some ways, it reminds me a bit of Game Night, which also commented on suburban aggressiveness and obsession with playing childhood games. The guys play because it keeps them close as friends...which makes Jerry's elusiveness all the more humiliating. They aren't sure they even really know him, because they can't catch him.

This is another one that I'm not sure critics knew what to make of. Audiences weren't sure, either. It did well enough at the box-office last year, but was by no means a huge hit. If you can get around how plain strange the premise and some of the performances are, you might be able to have fun with this odd look at just how much competing in even a simple game of tag can turn men into real boys.

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