Total Recall

It's a good thing I'm not a passionate fan of the original Total Recall or I'd be much more critical of the 2012 version.
While I don't really know why it was necessary to re-imagine (this is the term Hollywood uses these days) this one it isn't all bad. In fact, it does have some good points.
It's certainly not as out there as the Arnie version from 1990 and it isn't set on Mars (though that does get a mention) but somewhere a lot closer to home, for me anyway.
The world director Len Wiseman has imagined is one of the fine points of the movie. It's 2099 and the world has virtually destroyed itself to the point that only the United British Federation and The Colony (which is essentially Australia - surely a little in-joke on British colonisation in the 1700s) remain.
There's a rather cool, but completely implausible, method of travel between the two populous areas - a fast train through the centre of the Earth called 'The Fall', another great innovation.
Anyway, Colin Farrell takes on the 'Arnie' role. He's Doug Quaid, a lowly factory worker who is bored with his life - despite being married to the wonderful Lori (Kate Beckinsale) - and seeks out a business called Rekall which promises to implant fantastic memories in place of actually having the experience.
Everything goes awry when Quaid wants to have a secret agent memory implanted - and, well, you're left to work out whether he actually is a spy.
It turns out Quaid isn't married and is actually Carl Hauser, a super spy working as a double agent though we're not really sure if it is for the Resistance, led by Mattihas (Bill Nighy), or for Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) who wants to wipe out The Colony. Getting in the way of him working out whose side he is on is Melina (Jessica Biel), Hauser's girlfriend who could pass as a young Beckinsale.
At the end I basically felt like it was an inferior remake, it felt too safe even though they had the obligatory appearance of the girl with the three boobs. Although the experiences wasn't quite as severe as my deja vu during the Amazing Spider-Man.
Having said that I really enjoyed Beckinsale's performance, though I might be a little biased as a bit of a fan. She was almost Terminator-like and clearly revelled in the role.
I'm glad I didn't watch the original prior to seeing this version, as mentioned I reckon I'd be cutting it to pieces right about now. It has its moments but I can only go to a 6 out of 10.
Surely people have some original ideas out there so we don't have to sit through unnecessary sequels and remakes!

Emotional time travel

I really dislike anxiety.
It's something I thought, at least in the back of my mind, that I was starting to get control of. Then something else comes up and I feel like I'm right back where I started all those years ago.
I don't know for sure that the anxiety is over nothing, at the moment it feels pretty real and it doesn't seem to matter that on an intellectual level I understand that what I fear probably won't come about.
That's the nature of anxiety, right? Fearing something bad is going to happen despite the fact you have reviewed the situation over and over and believe it will be all right.
It's what I think but the fear of the situation is almost overwhelming, worse than what I experienced when anxiety jumped its way onto my back and started weighing me down.
Yes, I am afraid. I think I will be fine but I can't know for sure straight away.
It's the waiting around that is the worst....there's nothing I can do about the situation now, I just have to wait and see. I try not to worry about it, sometimes I get distracted and that's great, but then it all comes flooding back.
I know that worrying and getting worked up about it doesn't help one bit, can't change any outcomes and just makes me feel bad. It makes me fixate even more. It's that whole vicious circle thing. It's almost like I've gone back in time.
There are a couple of milestones to pass but they seem to be so far away.
Why isn't acknowledging that anxiety is causing me trouble enough to make it go away? I do know the answer to that, incidentally.
I guess it is back to the drawing board, back to the books, back to the relaxation, get better at exercising regularly. Find something else to focus on.
It all sounds so easy in theory.

Going bush

The city can get to you from time to time.
Maybe it's the fact that there are people everywhere, maybe it's the constant feeling of being in a hurry or the fact it takes so long to get anywhere.
I never used to enjoy where I grew up, a decent sized city but a minor suburb compared to the biggest city in Australia. You learn to appreciate the simple things though.
So a few days away from the rat-race and in the fresh country air will be appreciated.
So, as they say - road trip!

Wake up call

Sometimes when you're supposed to learn something the lesson is subtle, other times it's a lot more obvious.
At the moment I'm not sure which category this falls into but there has definitely been a wake up call over the past few days and now I know I have to change.
I always take my health seriously though at times I am guilty of oversights and lack of really thinking things through. No more.
Aside from my desire to improve as far as overall fitness goes - which I will be starting on shortly once my gym program starts (yes, I did get that done) - I've been pretty poor at keeping an eye on myself.
We all take risks from time to time, calculated ones mostly. I didn't knowingly take a risk but ultimately I am still responsible.
Yes, I've had a bit of a scare and it's not going to be clear for a while whether anything bad will come of it. My feeling is that everything is going to be fine but until you know for sure then it is hard to be completely certain. There's always a little doubt.
While I have to sit it out for a period it is time for an attitude change. A time to discover what it is I really want and how best to achieve it.
Hopefully it's just a subtle lesson.

The Campaign

I'm not really a fan of Will Ferrell and I find Zach Galifianakis funny most of the time so The Campaign  was really a 50/50 call for me.
Cam Brady (Ferrell) is the incumbent congressman for the 14th District and is facing a landslide win in the polls as he's running unopposed.
However, he's also taking advantage of his position but breaking just about every law of decency and gets caught out when he drunkenly, and mistakenly, calls a Christian couples home to leave a crude message to his mistress.
It's then that corrupt tycoons Glenn and Wade Motch (John Lithgow and Dan Ackroyd) decide they can oust Brady and put in a puppet who they can use to turn the North Carolina district into a sweatshop for cheap Chinese labour and make a fortune.
They decide on the unassuming, and a little odd, Marty Huggins (Galifianakis) to contest the seat and thus the campaign begins - and nothing is off limits.
Huggins is your classic simpleton - he's not necessarily dumb but he is certainly naive and a believer in the good in people. So the Motch brothers send in a campaign manager, Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott), to turn Huggins into a contender.
Overall I have to say I didn't mind the movie. The big problem I have though is that it wasn't funny, particularly, but it was still pretty good. Sure, there were a few laugh out loud scenes - one involving the confessions of the Huggins family - but I'd have to say I certainly wasn't in stitches.
Ferrell is actually pretty good in his role as was his sparring partner but for some reason they couldn't produce the laughs I was expecting.
That makes it a little hard to judge. As a comedy it pretty much fails because, simply, I didn't find it funny. But then again it was still good enough to hold my interest. I sense a missed opportunity here.
It seems the idea was good and even the casting was good but perhaps they couldn't decide on whether they were making a satire or a comedy or something in between.
Make of that what you will....it's not bad but just not funny. 6 out of 10.

A story in 10 sentences

Ryan turned, head down and breathed.

Tim followed, stopping him with a firm hand on his shoulder.

''You're not wrong,'' he said. ''It's complicated.''

A deep breath later Ryan faced Tim.

''We'll get through this together,'' he said.

They shook hands, embraced and entered the room.

It was quiet, empty, damp.

Ryan felt nervous but strong.

They sat, well aware of the people staring.

''So what if they're staring?'' he said.

Out of focus

It's really time that I got a bit of direction.
Sure, I've been coasting along reasonably well (considering a few things) and could quite easily continue that way. But I think I'll look back in five years or so and wish I'd handled things differently.
I certainly feel that way about myself five years ago at the moment.
Knowing what I know now, I really do regret not taking a few more risks then and not challenging myself at a time when I didn't think I had the strength to cope with them.
Now that I know I have the strength to handle more than I thought I have to take that confidence and ensure that I'm not the same person come 2017. You know what I mean.
In some ways I hope I am the same person but I need to be enhanced. Sure, physically I need some improvement and I must set a proper goal with my exercise program (or lack thereof the past few weeks).
What I'd really like by Christmas (since that's is a widely accepted end-time goal), or summer at least, is to have lost 5kg and be undertaking a proper exercise regime.
I have a distinct lack of focus these days. I've been distracted by certain things, things I have and am enjoying, and I think I've lost a bit of sight of what is actually a healthy lifestyle (by this I don't mean the exercise stuff, more what is considered emotionally healthy) and how to incorporate a number of aspects of life without affecting work and social aspects.
It's very important that I don't just note this down and then go away and ignore it.
This week I plan to stop into my gym (which is at work conveniently) and arrange to have a program worked out for me to start when I get back from holidays. In the couple of weeks of that break from work I need to ensure I'm exercising a bit and watching what I eat more.
I can't stress how important it is that I am able to lose the 5kg. It would actually be a pretty big psychological win because weight loss has long been something I have feared. That might sound like a silly statement but there is a very good reason for it.

Magic Mike

It may not look like it on the surface but there is actually a pretty good movie in Magic Mike. The problem is that it isn't quite realised.
Not surprisingly the movie has been marketed with the soft porn angle of the male revue it centres on but, a little like Coyote Ugly about a decade ago, there's actually a story behind the gratuity.
Mike (Channing Tatum) is the headline act, known as Magic Mike, of the revue but it isn't his life. He's attempting to start his own business building furniture but is having trouble getting the financing.
At one of his jobs he meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer), a 19-year-old whose life has no real direction and he doesn't seem to have the drive to give it one. Mike eventually takes Adam under his wing and introduces him to the world of stripping for women's entertainment, run by ageing stripper Dallas (Matthew McConaughey).
And Adam, known as The Kid, is a big hit.
The problems begin to stack up as Adam's sister Brooke (Cody Horn) is less than approving of his new lifestyle despite the money that it brings in. Adam clearly struggles to handle the new world of money, readily available sex and popularity.
As I mentioned at the start there is actually a decent film in here but director Steven Soderbergh doesn't seem to be able to make up his mind. We see the glittering lights and highs of the world that Adam is brought into, for a good looking young guy it's heaven.
He also gives us glimpses of the downside but doesn't take us all the way - Mike realises at 30 his days are numbered and he clearly doesn't want to be the next Dallas, there's the sex and drugs side that isn't quite as effective as it could have been.
There's also the very obvious sexual tension between Mike and Brooke that is taken a step too far for the movie to be believable, which is a shame because as a viewer I was able to put two and two together and didn't need to be told.
It's possibly a shade too long, not quite as tightly edited as it could have been and I would have loved to have seen Adam challenged a bit more by Mike towards the end. It's almost like he sees a younger version of himself but feels powerless to stop him from heading in the same direction.
Overall Magic Mike will go down as a film that had potential to be a Boogie Nights-style movie but they opted for the more commercial stripper angle. Financially it may prove to be the right move but as a viewer it sold a good story short. A 6 out of 10.