Throwing It All Away

L Parkruns at Forest Rec this morning. I play it safe and go for the bacon sandwich option instead.

We are both hiding in the bedroom from the football match as Derby unexpectedly take a 3-0 lead away at Rotherham. We come back downstairs in time to hear them throw it away and the game finishes 3-3.

Later we are at Broadway.

The latest film from the Coen Brothers 'Hail, Caesar!' depicts life in the Hollywood studios in the 1950s through the role of Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) as the head of studio whose job it is to keep everything running smoothly.

The main problem he faces is keeping the Biblical epic ‘Hail, Caesar!’ on track after its star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is kidnapped by a group of communist script writers (see ‘Trumbo’) known as ‘The Future’, who demand a $100,000 ransom in exchange for his safe return.

Then there’s DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson), an actress who becomes pregnant out of wedlock in the middle of her film and there's Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), a cowboy actor in Westerns being asked to take over a part in a more serious role, where he really can't cut it.

Meanwhile Mannix is being seduced by a possible new employer, who offers him more money and the chance to be home in time for dinner with his wife every evening. 

Writing about it now the plot sounds like it has promise, so I'm not sure what exactly went wrong because it really didn't seem to work. 'Hail, Caesar!' is a rare thing, a disappointing Coen Brothers film.

For a start there are too many actors and actresses fighting for screen time because there are additional roles for Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton (twice, playing twins), Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand and many others.

The film is part tribute and parody of Hollywood's Golden Age with its many references to the films of that era but it’s an unfocussed one, that will fall flat on most of his audience who do not really go back that far.

In a way it’s the sort of film that Woody Allen would make and that wouldn’t have been for me either. It was probably great fun to make, much less to watch.

Post-film is again spent in the Golden Fleece. I think we need a drink after that one.

(Saturday 12^th March)

Winter Training Sorted

This morning there’s the Forest Rec Parkrun where I support both L and the cafe. Then L heads off to Pilates and the début of my squash opponent at the session. Should be interesting.

I head home with the boys before later heading to the opticians without much hope that they can do anything for my eyesight which is fading fast on both fronts, long and short sight. I see my fourth different optician in five visits which isn’t good for continuity of treatment but this chap dispenses with the ‘letters board’ and instead takes me out into the shop where he asks what I would actually like to see. I like his style and he promises to sort me out with a trial pair for next week.

I have taken up the Derby Velodrome’s offer of 50% off a three month gym subscription. So that’s the winter training sorted as just the act of joining a gym gets you fit. Isn’t that how it works?

Apparently not. So today, with L on a five day freebie trial, we head there for a couples cycling session on the indoor Watt Bikes. I ride behind her so that I can keep my eye on her. Then later we head to Broadway.

Bridge Of Spies is a historical drama 'inspired by true events' which tells the story of a spy swap during the Cold War. It sees Steven Spielberg in collaboration with the Coen Brothers in collaboration with Walt Disney. Quite a combination.

In Brooklyn in 1957, Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) is arrested under the suspicion of being a Soviet spy. James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is a mere insurance lawyer who is asked to defend Abel in order to show the world that the American justice system is just and fair, even though the public have already convicted him.

Donovan may be defending the most hated man in America but he wants to do right thing, legally, by his client. That isn’t easy when even the judge has already reached his decision.

When Abel is convicted Donovan has the foresight to persuade the judge not to send him to his death. He foresees a time when having a Soviet spy in your jails could be useful.

Donovan is vindicated when an American U-2 spy plane is shot down over Soviet territory and the pilot, Francis Gary Powers (Austin Stowell), fails to destroy both the plane and himself, as ordered. The Soviets capture Powers, convict him as a spy, and send him to prison.

When the Soviets get in touch with Donovan, he is sent out to East Berlin to negotiate a prisoner exchange. This he has to do as a private citizen rather than an American official. Any deal is further complicated by Donovan’s wish to also release another US prisoner, a student called Frederic Pryor (Will Rogers).  

Overall it is pretty good film if you can cope with the large dose of American patriotism that it comes served with. Patriotism that attempts to paint the East Germans as clowns which I'm sure they weren't. There’s also the totally over the top (and unnecessarily so) crash scene of the U-2. This is the only nod to your typical Hollywood action movie which this thankfully isn’t. The rest of the two hours is mercifully free of any other such gimmicks.

The film seems to be largely historically accurate and the cinematography is fabulous with some great scenes of cold war Berlin such as the construction of the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie etc.

Tom Hanks is solid as Donovan but it is Mark Rylance who shines out as the star of the film. His understated performance as Rudolf Abel is pure class.

‘Bridge of Spies’ shows that the power of a good story can still stand up on its own even in modern day Hollywood.

We have a few beers afterwards in a very busy and slightly riotous Peacock. The OP isn’t up to scratch either.

 

(Saturday 28^th November)