a filmy story

Big week for Team Anne and Richard this week: went to the cinema to see two movies! And in both cases, we had "are we going to get there on time?" moments.

Last Saturday, we thought we'd tie together an IKEA visit with seeing The Town. Traffic on the I-93 -- at 3 in the afternoon! -- was stupidly busy. We were aiming for the 3:30 showing and got there with 5 minutes to spare. Loved the movie. Affleck, as the saying goes, is the bomb. Dark humor, drama, violence not too gory. A few too many uses of the same helicopter shots of Charlestown, but a very nice-looking film and well-told story. 

IKEA wasn't too bad, either. However, the line to check out was stupid. Richard at least has a patience gene, but the long queue and Xmas deco all around us made that gene go into hiding. To help us through, I suggested picking up pizza from our favorite pizza place and opened up their menu on my iPhone. Before we knew it, we were zipping back home, picking up our steaming hot Za's and then gobbling down the goodness in front of our f'ing-huge tv.

Our other movie story of the week occurred last night. Traffic was a bitch because everyone has to get in their car at rush hour on a holiday weekend -- and a very questionable holiday to boot. Left work at 5, got home at 6, shouting up the stairs that I was ready to fly out the door so we could make the 6:30 showing of The Social Network in Harvard Square. No problem, said Richard. It's just 5 minutes down the road. Yeah. Except all those masshole drivers on the turnpike were now trying to make their way around the rotary at Harvard Common. We had just started devising our Plan B (out to dinner instead), when we finally made it into the parking lot and raced into the cinema -- in time to see the last preview.

Now, the movie was fine. But my experience was hijacked by the 60ish-year-old man directly in front of me wearing earmuff headphones with a battery pack at the top of his crown-- the battery's solid red light pointing at me. Happily for his back (and ultimately mine), he sat up straight during the whole movie. I should feel some level of sympathy for a person who must have some hearing difficulty or if not, a substandard intelligence level. But that damn battery pack and his crown took up the lower right corner of my view of the screen. I'm whining, I know.  

And I'm seriously digressing. Probably because the earmuff dude is a slightly better story than my thoughts on the movie. An interesting story of a young kid genius, but it has been overly dramatized by screenwriter Sorkin. 

To complete the night, we opted for Algiers for a late dinner. I was hungry, not a good thing, and over-ordered. Tabbouleh came (thought it would be a small plate because it was in the appetizer section of the menu) at the same time Richard's hummus and bbq chicken came. I ate slowly, waiting for my rice and couscous plate, while Richard threw his down his throat. Of course, he finished his dinner so when my high-fiber delight arrived, I scarfed it down in fewer minutes than I have fingers. Ugh. Anchor in stomach. At night. But at least I've got a container full of tabbouleh to enjoy at some later time this weekend.