April 26, 2013
Dear Everyone:
“Jeannie” met two days ago with her
orthopedic specialist who wiggled
her arm around in various ways and pronounced her fit to work again,
provided she refrains from lifting large, heavy objects.
Yeah! Sitting around
resting does not seem to be something that this family does very well.
We will try; but, before you know it, we’re in the closet sorting
out old clothes; or rearranging the furniture in the bedroom, just to
see if it works better this way.
Or sweeping the patio because “it might rain…”
Inactivity is very trying.
So now “Jeannie” is attempting to get as much work done as possible,
while simultaneously not
using her right arm too much, before she flies off to spend a week
visiting “Frankie” in
North Carolina.
Which was originally meant to be spent while recuperating.
Maybe timing is another family trait that needs some work.
In other news…
“Jeannie” and I finally went
to a movie last weekend.
Yes, it has been a long time, mostly because “Jeannie” refuses to waste time
and money on movies that don’t look appealing.
I must confess one reason we chose this one is that it stars
Tom
Cruise, who has a history of making pretty good films.
And what some might regard as unfortunate personal choices.
The movie is
Oblivion.
The year is 2077. Bad
Guys (aliens) attacked Earth, severely damaging the
moon.
Good Guys fought back with everything they had, including
nuclear
weapons, in a
pyrrhic victory.
Earth is now uninhabitable.
What’s left of humanity is colonizing
Titan, one of
Saturn’s
moons. Jack (Tom Cruise) and
his partner, Victoria, are “the cleanup crew”, keeping “drones” in good
working order so that the drones can patrol and wipe out any leftover
Bad Guys.
Cruise looks pretty good, considering he passed The Big Five-O (50) last
summer. That puts him at 17
years older than his leading lady.
They communicate with their boss, Sally (Melissa Leo), on a space
station called the “Tet”, because of its
tetrahedral shape.
And their memories have been “wiped” just in case, so they can’t
reveal anything if captured.
Jack has recurring dreams involving the
Empire State Building and
another woman (19 years younger than Cruise.)
He also has a nice cabin, by a pretty lake, somewhere out there
in all that total destruction, where he goes to think.
This is where he keeps his collection of little bits and things
he’s found while out on patrol.
All these keepsakes are probably inside jokes for the Hollywood crowd.
The only one I recognized was a
pair of aviator sunglasses, like the ones Cruise wore in
Top Gun. The whole movie
is based on an “unpublished
graphic novel” written by the producer.
Jack meets Malcolm, played by
Morgan Freeman in his best
magisterial
form, and discovers The Big Secret.
Unfortunately, this is why you have to check your sense of logic
at the door. Like
The Matrix, the entire thing
rests on a foundation built on a fundamental misinterpretation of basic
science. But if you can
ignore that, lots of pretty people; lots of great special effects;
more-or-less Happy Ending. A
fit beginning for the summer movie season.
Love, as always,
Pete
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