Monster Movies
I completed my second round trip flight to Iceland of the summer on Wednesday, which is a new record for me. I usually try to keep my carbon-footprint from international flights down to one a year, although I know there have been times when it has been twice a year. Just not usually within three weeks of each other to the same destination. Clearly a very silly plan.
One of those four flights was on WOW Air, and I'm very glad that was not on the return flight home yesterday. It is of course a recognized business strategy of low-cost airlines that after you buy your ticket, they subsequently charge you for absolutely everything, and although I knew that, I must say it surprised me that this extended to getting water on board. I sort of thought they were legally required to at least give people water. But nope, you have to pay for that too. But the biggest surprise is that although the plane was new and fancy, there was no entertainment console.
Flying back and forth to Iceland is an important way for me to catch up on my movie watching, and I really enjoyed watching Anðið eðlilega when I flew Icelandair in July. It is set at the airport and at the former military base, the base where my parents met and where I had an apartment when I lived in Iceland. So it was really good to recognize so many places in the film, plus the storyline and acting are really well done, believable and complex. It´s English title is And Breath Normally; I defiitely recommend it even though it is a bit of an understated film.
Flying home Wednesday night I checked out several Icelandic short films, some fictional and some of the documentary sort. There were no less than four such films about the Icelandic soccer team, which struck me as a bit over the top. I couldn't even get through one; even though I cried like a baby when the score ended up even against Argentina, and am very proud that my son has an authentic team jersey, I am evidently not a superfan.
So I switched over to two Hollywood films I had wanted to see but hadn't had the chance. Enough Said was good, although the chemistry between the leads wasn't that convincing, but more uncomfortably, Julia Louis Dreyfus struck me as just an awful lot like me. She made lots of mistakes in every arena of her life. It was a bit more sad than funny for me personally, but I recommend the film for others.
Definitely the highlight of the trip was getting to see The Shape of Water. What an absolutely brilliant monster movie, beautiful and mezmorizing. And that it was written and directed and produced by Guillermo del Toro makes it all the more meaningful. It felt like I was able to lock eyes with him, and see into his soul, and to find there humor and horror and hurt and hope, all rolled into one.
It was certainly worth flying around the world and back and again, just for that.
One of those four flights was on WOW Air, and I'm very glad that was not on the return flight home yesterday. It is of course a recognized business strategy of low-cost airlines that after you buy your ticket, they subsequently charge you for absolutely everything, and although I knew that, I must say it surprised me that this extended to getting water on board. I sort of thought they were legally required to at least give people water. But nope, you have to pay for that too. But the biggest surprise is that although the plane was new and fancy, there was no entertainment console.
Flying back and forth to Iceland is an important way for me to catch up on my movie watching, and I really enjoyed watching Anðið eðlilega when I flew Icelandair in July. It is set at the airport and at the former military base, the base where my parents met and where I had an apartment when I lived in Iceland. So it was really good to recognize so many places in the film, plus the storyline and acting are really well done, believable and complex. It´s English title is And Breath Normally; I defiitely recommend it even though it is a bit of an understated film.
Flying home Wednesday night I checked out several Icelandic short films, some fictional and some of the documentary sort. There were no less than four such films about the Icelandic soccer team, which struck me as a bit over the top. I couldn't even get through one; even though I cried like a baby when the score ended up even against Argentina, and am very proud that my son has an authentic team jersey, I am evidently not a superfan.
So I switched over to two Hollywood films I had wanted to see but hadn't had the chance. Enough Said was good, although the chemistry between the leads wasn't that convincing, but more uncomfortably, Julia Louis Dreyfus struck me as just an awful lot like me. She made lots of mistakes in every arena of her life. It was a bit more sad than funny for me personally, but I recommend the film for others.
Definitely the highlight of the trip was getting to see The Shape of Water. What an absolutely brilliant monster movie, beautiful and mezmorizing. And that it was written and directed and produced by Guillermo del Toro makes it all the more meaningful. It felt like I was able to lock eyes with him, and see into his soul, and to find there humor and horror and hurt and hope, all rolled into one.
It was certainly worth flying around the world and back and again, just for that.
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