Walk-in Movies

I've been to a few drive-in movie theaters but I haven't taken advantage of the many outdoor movie showings that pop up in NYC. This one was going to have Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory but I didn't wait for nightfall.

Shooting Film in NYC

These are some vehicles for a film shoot...equipment trucks and dressing rooms. They must appreciate being in a less busy part of town where they can park their trucks so close to each other. Usually they would be spread out over several blocks.

The trucks were just coming in this morning so filming must be later in the day.

The posted signs indicate that filming is for a project called Power which may be a Starz production.

Morning temperature: 39 degrees
Morning steps: 7111

Captain Phillips

A movie worth the money. When I thought I might be interested in seeing this movie I deliberately did NOT refresh my memory about the story. Having now read some reports the basic story seems to be fairly real.

The movie in a nutshell is about an American cargo ship boarded by Somali pirates. When they perceive that the ship is dead in the water the pirates take the captain hostage and leave the ship in a lifeboat. The remainder of the story covers their escape from the ship and the military rescue mission.

The movie gives a little insight into why the Somalis might "choose" to be pirates...if you consider their lifestyle to be a choice rather than what they might have seen as a necessity. It helps the viewer to understand a little why 4 young Somalis might take on a huge cargo ship and then the United States government and even think they had a chance to win.

Tom Hanks, not unexpectedly, does a great job with the role. Barkhad Abdi also nails his role as leader of the pirates. And the director, Paul Greenglass, has a way with a story...a little unexpected at times which isn't all bad.

Once the military got involved I was slightly distracted by the thoughts of the millions of dollars that had to be expended on this rescue mission...and that there really are people already trained for missions such as this.

Semi-spoiler alert: You leave the theatre knowing that there is a young Somali man serving a sentence of 33 years for piracy in an Indiana Penitentiary and Captain Phillips was back on the high seas in just over a year after his harrowing hostage situation.

(By reading the movie credits I noticed that the Department of Defense has an Entertainment Division.)

In other NYC news - Comic Con is in town at the Javits Center and the post-movie "show" was a treat.  Many convention attendees were walking to the Javits in various degrees of costume...from very elaborate (and expensive) full costumes to just the addition of a cape or weapon to their regular street clothes. Better than Halloween!

Gravity

The movie.

I could have saved the money and waited for cable on this one. If you always wondered about tragedy in space...here's one story. (I don't often wonder about that.) And if you are wondering if you should do 3D...don't pay extra for it.  Other than a little debris in your face...not really necessary. (And debris in my face is never really necessary.)

Sandra Bullock hyperventilated through most of the movie. Granted there were a lot of life threatening issues but hyperventilating in limited oxygen situations is never a good thing. You probably learn that in astronaut school. Other than finding that annoying I thought she did a good job with the role.

George Clooney was George Clooney...calm and joking his way through some of the same situations Sandra Bullock was hyperventilating through.  Maybe a veteran astronaut has it together. And it's never a bad thing to have to look at Clooney for a while.

Not a total waste of time but even at 91minutes I was ready for it to be over.