Back from hols, it was a Mission Impossible

It's been quite a while since I wrote about the movies I've seen. Not sure why I stopped, other than being busy doing other things and not really being bothered about dA very much. It was necessary for a while, but things change, different directions, other interests, etc. Trying to make a mark here seemed like a lot of work for not very much return, and I don't have time for that right now.

We went to Ireland and it was very wet most of the time. No kidding, I hear you say. It's Ireland, what do you expect? We went the Giant's Causeway, and to be honest I was underwhelmed. You have to walk a long way to get to it, and when you get there, it's just a pile of stones by the sea. On the way there, we took a little random detour to a tiny harbour which had been a location in Game of Thrones (when Theon Greyjoy returns to his father's home), and that was more exciting to us than the G's C.

So anyway, we went to the Titanic exhibition in Belfast, which was awesome and I would recommend it. Drove up the Falls Road, which frightened the kids. Went to a few lovely beaches, but it was cold and windy, not exactly beach weather. Went to Dublin on the way back, had Guinness in a pub on Friday night, of course, had a good time all in all, but were glad to be back home. Ireland was fascinating and I would like to go again, but further south now that we've done the North.

This week I was persuaded to see Mission Impossible Rogue Nation, and didn't expect much from it. I had wanted to see Hot Pursuit but my cinema mates had gone while I was away (cheek!) so it had to be Mission Impossible. I've never seen the earlier ones, amazingly, so I was just expecting a straightforward action flick, which isn't my genre of choice, but sometimes the best gems are the ones that are unexpected. It was funny and pacey and I really enjoyed it. As spy movies go, it was sharp, intelligent and exciting, and beat that dullard sociopath James Bond hands down. At least MI knows and acknowledges its own absurdity in a joyful way. No doubt I'll be dragged along to see Spectre, but I'm not a big fan of Bond in general and Daniel Craig in particular. I much prefer the Bonds who play it with a knowing, tongue in cheek humour, like Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore, not the meatheads like Craig and Connery, who sap all the humour out of it. But the plots are laughably formulaic and the women mostly disposable set decoration/f*ckware, which is depressing in this day and age.  In MI, the female lead was instrumental in the story, had a lot of screen time, and was kickass without losing her femininity. I liked her. It was a dizzying exercise to try and keep up with where her true loyalties lay. Tom Cruise was surprisingly watchable and still in good shape in spite of his advanced age. The villain could have been a bit more sinister, but all in all, a thumbs up from me.