Weekend take 2
Sep. 17th, 2003 01:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annuinSecond attempt at posting this, as my computer locked up and ate it last time.
Saturday's initial plans to go to Six Flags were cancelled due to the dreary and rainy weather so instead we decided on more indoor activities. The plan was to meet
Tom and Karen at Makeda's for dinner. We'd decided on an early dinner, 6pm so that we could do stuff afterwards like maybe see a movie or go over to Tom's house afterwards. We met up with Cherie and Brian beforehand and headed off for food. Makeda's was yummy... downside to eating with your hands is that even after washing several times you can still smell the food o.O
After dinner Brian left to go hang out with his band as it would be the last oppertunity he had before leaving for London for a few months. We tried organising it so thatKit could join us, even postponing the showtime we'd originally planned on... only to find that that wouldn't be happening as his car was apparantly broken and he had no means of coming down to NB. We headed over to Tom and Karen's place to wait until the next showtime. While chatting away and drinking tea Cherie got a call from Audrey who was finished at work and so could join us for the rest of the evening. PreZ and Cherie headed off to pick Audrey up in NB and I headed off to the theatre with Tom and Karen to get tickets and seats as we expected it to be busy on a Saturday night with a recent film.
We picked Once Upon A Time In Mexico, a sequel of sorts to Desperado starring Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. Depp stole the show for sure.
* * * SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! * * *
It's a sequel of sorts to Robert Rodriguez's Desperado and stars Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi and Johnny Depp as CIA agent Sands. Other cast members include Salma Hayek in the flashback scenes, Willem Dafoe as Barillo, a cartel leader, and Mickey Rourke as a US drug criminal who evaded capture and is now working for Barillo while in exile in Mexico.
To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be quite as funny as it was, and that was a great surprise indeed. I've seen Rodriguez's Desperado, which I enjoyed quite a bit, if not for the somewhat unremarkable plot but because it's very well shot, atmospheric, so I expected him to deliver on that count again, which he did and much more.
Banderas reprises his moody hell-bent-for-revenge mariachi role, and does it well. Amusingly enough Enrique Iglesias plays a fellow mariachi who along with another helps Banderas on a mission they've been hired to do by Sands, though they end up doing their own thing mostly. Iglesias also camps it up by poking fun at his real life music sex-god persona which is very amusing.
Depp steals the screen as Sands, the dodgy CIA agent. He goes around orchestrating various events to bring about the downfall of cartel leader Barillo, who is planning to assassinate the president and commit a coup-d'état with the help of general Marquez, the man who is on Banderas' personal hit list after shooting him and killing his wife (Salma Hayek) and his daughter. Sands enlists Banderas to kill Marquez after the coup-d'état, he also manipulates a retired FBI agent to go after Barillo, and tips off his girlfriend that there's something going down so she can make a bust and a name for herself as she's in some Mexican police taskforce.
The various story threads tie up well together towards the end, the pace is unrelenting and the film is very atmospheric, using Mexico as a character in its own right. I really enjoyed the Day of the Dead festival scenes that they used as well.
While the above description of the movie doesn't make it sound very funny, there are quite a lot of visual and verbal gags inserted, comedic situations created and witty banter. Depp is really brilliant as Sands, the role suits him to a tee.
The scene at the bullfight is absolutely hilarious.
Two thumbs up! I highly recommend this if you want an entertaining romp.
* * * Ultra Spoilers!! You've been warned* * *
And damn if Depp doesn't still look sexy even with his eyes gouged out and with blood streaked down his face. Yes, I know I'm sick
After the movie we headed over to the Edison diner where an English waiter swapped stories of the mother country withKaren and then proceeded to continually ply us with tea, even though he only charged us for one mug each. After the tea and some food Cherie and Brian headed off home and PreZ, Audrey and I went back with Tom and Karen to go watch some Eddie Izzard. We saw Unrepeatable, which was lots of fun... it was Audrey's first encounter with Eddie and I think she enjoyed it. It was about 5.30am before we finally headed off home dropping Audrey off along the way.
A very tiring day, but lots of fun.
Saturday's initial plans to go to Six Flags were cancelled due to the dreary and rainy weather so instead we decided on more indoor activities. The plan was to meet
Tom and Karen at Makeda's for dinner. We'd decided on an early dinner, 6pm so that we could do stuff afterwards like maybe see a movie or go over to Tom's house afterwards. We met up with Cherie and Brian beforehand and headed off for food. Makeda's was yummy... downside to eating with your hands is that even after washing several times you can still smell the food o.OAfter dinner Brian left to go hang out with his band as it would be the last oppertunity he had before leaving for London for a few months. We tried organising it so that
Kit could join us, even postponing the showtime we'd originally planned on... only to find that that wouldn't be happening as his car was apparantly broken and he had no means of coming down to NB. We headed over to Tom and Karen's place to wait until the next showtime. While chatting away and drinking tea Cherie got a call from Audrey who was finished at work and so could join us for the rest of the evening. PreZ and Cherie headed off to pick Audrey up in NB and I headed off to the theatre with Tom and Karen to get tickets and seats as we expected it to be busy on a Saturday night with a recent film.We picked Once Upon A Time In Mexico, a sequel of sorts to Desperado starring Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. Depp stole the show for sure.
* * * SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!! * * *
It's a sequel of sorts to Robert Rodriguez's Desperado and stars Antonio Banderas as El Mariachi and Johnny Depp as CIA agent Sands. Other cast members include Salma Hayek in the flashback scenes, Willem Dafoe as Barillo, a cartel leader, and Mickey Rourke as a US drug criminal who evaded capture and is now working for Barillo while in exile in Mexico.
To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be quite as funny as it was, and that was a great surprise indeed. I've seen Rodriguez's Desperado, which I enjoyed quite a bit, if not for the somewhat unremarkable plot but because it's very well shot, atmospheric, so I expected him to deliver on that count again, which he did and much more.
Banderas reprises his moody hell-bent-for-revenge mariachi role, and does it well. Amusingly enough Enrique Iglesias plays a fellow mariachi who along with another helps Banderas on a mission they've been hired to do by Sands, though they end up doing their own thing mostly. Iglesias also camps it up by poking fun at his real life music sex-god persona which is very amusing.
Depp steals the screen as Sands, the dodgy CIA agent. He goes around orchestrating various events to bring about the downfall of cartel leader Barillo, who is planning to assassinate the president and commit a coup-d'état with the help of general Marquez, the man who is on Banderas' personal hit list after shooting him and killing his wife (Salma Hayek) and his daughter. Sands enlists Banderas to kill Marquez after the coup-d'état, he also manipulates a retired FBI agent to go after Barillo, and tips off his girlfriend that there's something going down so she can make a bust and a name for herself as she's in some Mexican police taskforce.
The various story threads tie up well together towards the end, the pace is unrelenting and the film is very atmospheric, using Mexico as a character in its own right. I really enjoyed the Day of the Dead festival scenes that they used as well.
While the above description of the movie doesn't make it sound very funny, there are quite a lot of visual and verbal gags inserted, comedic situations created and witty banter. Depp is really brilliant as Sands, the role suits him to a tee.
The scene at the bullfight is absolutely hilarious.
Two thumbs up! I highly recommend this if you want an entertaining romp.
* * * Ultra Spoilers!! You've been warned* * *
And damn if Depp doesn't still look sexy even with his eyes gouged out and with blood streaked down his face. Yes, I know I'm sick
After the movie we headed over to the Edison diner where an English waiter swapped stories of the mother country with
Karen and then proceeded to continually ply us with tea, even though he only charged us for one mug each. After the tea and some food Cherie and Brian headed off home and PreZ, Audrey and I went back with Tom and Karen to go watch some Eddie Izzard. We saw Unrepeatable, which was lots of fun... it was Audrey's first encounter with Eddie and I think she enjoyed it. It was about 5.30am before we finally headed off home dropping Audrey off along the way. A very tiring day, but lots of fun.
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Date: 2003-09-17 07:12 am (UTC)it's usually:
< lj user = "LJ NAME">
Hmmmm...
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Date: 2003-09-17 08:58 am (UTC)