Let there be light

So last night I went to see the new pyrotechnic display by Groupe F, the people behind, among other things, the Eiffel Tower at the millennium. It was a free event in Preston Park, which I live 3 seconds from. Literally, almost. It was absolutely spectacular. Truly breathtaking. As was the amount of people who turned out for it. Preston Park isn't small, its perimeter is a mile around. And when one particularly large firework went off and lit up the crowd, I took a peek. The whole park was packed full. Packed. The display finished at 10:45pm, the park finally cleared at 1:30am. Fun. What was also fascinating to me was the amount of people I overheard on cell phones saying variations of "No, I'm near the road. You know, by the trees" and expecting their friends to find them.

Then today I went to see Mission Impossible 3. I really enjoyed it until the ending. You could tell a TV person was behind it in some ways, particularly in how he dealt with backstory, which isn't a bad thing. And while Tom Cruise might be the vilest celebrity on the planet, I don't hate him as an actor. He's got enough talent to make me disassociate. Unlike Jennifer Lopez, who I hate almost as fervently. Philip Seymour Hoffman was obviously having a riot as the bad guy (he's on record as saying he took the role to do something light and fun after Capote). And I LOVED that it opened with the tantalising prospect that Mrs Ethan Hunt doesn't make it out of the film alive. Of course, we all know she will, but to posit that at the start and seemingly carry it through (although of course it's a bait and switch) gave it an edge that I appreciated. If ONLY the ending hadn't sucked. Ah well.

Sadly, Poseidon has tanked. Horrible reviews and similar word of mouth has pushed it to a very lacklustre opening weekend of just $20 million, less than MI:III in its second week. Sigh.