The name is, apparently, Bond...

Categories: days-out

Date: 06 November 2012 12:35:15

Yes, together with a lot of people, we went to see "Skyfall" the new James Bond movie.

We went to see it in Lyon - where there were many showings of it in VO. The theatre was packed - I don't think there was a spare seat there - and not everyone was Anglophone, by any stretch of the imagination. As MrD said, many people (him included) would much rather see a film with subtitles than dubbed.

I really enjoyed it. I'm not a huge James Bond fan, and Daniel Craig isn't my first choice Bond (mine is Pierce Brosnan) but he played 007 well. There is a slight running joke about age/active service catching up on him, and I warmed to him much more in this. The villain is fairly believable, and, in all, I found the film much more "down to earth" than many earlier stories, and although I've heard tell that there are plot holes you can drive a bus through, I didn't spot them, maybe because I wasn't looking for them. I didn't go to find things to criticise, but just to enjoy myself. The obligatory love scenes weren't long, and pseudo-"sexy", and there weren't Bond girls a-plenty. I won't give away any of the plot, but yes, I'd recommend it.

We then went out to a restaurant for a meal too. It was a Lyonnaise Bouchon (a traditional restaurant selling Lyonnaise food) The name of this one ("Bouchon Carnivore") gave a hint that it's not somewhere to take vegetarians! I had a very ordinary onion soup (I've made better myself) but the fricasée of chicken was delicious and the Tarte aux pralines (very pink) was tasty too- though very sweet. It is also a speciality of the Lyonnaise region.

Dear Mr D drove there and back - on the way home the CD player was playing lively music very loudly, as it was getting onto midnight, and he was tired. Thank you, Mr D, and sorry about being parsimonious and po-faced when you wanted liver. (He'll understand!)

On a film related topic, we also watched the DVD of the Aardman animation "Pirates and Scientists". I enjoyed it a lot, and it was quite amusing.