In which I finally got to the movies!

I cannot tell you the last movie I saw in the theater. No, really. It seems that two or three times a year a flurry of movies I want to see will come out all at once, and I don't manage to see any of them until they show up on Encore in a year or two. Le sigh. And movie-going itself has become an extremely questionable pleasure given the proliferation of cell phones and PDAs and the people who wield them. Honestly, unless you're a transplant surgeon and there's a kidney in a cooler somewhere waiting for you, TURN IT OFF. You're not that important. At the risk of sounding cranky, I also long-ago gave up the idea of seeing a movie on a weekend night. The last time I had an encounter with "tweens" was during "Casino Royale" when I tore a strip off the girl sitting next to me for talking INCESSANTLY when Judi Dench was whupping up on Daniel Craig. People, you cannot mess with Bond.

Anyway, it had been AGES since the husband and I managed a date, so we took ourselves off to a movie at ten a.m. Monday. You probably think that's a typo, but seriously. Ten in the morning. It was GLORIOUS. There were about four other couples than us--all middle-aged, which was perfect. Middle-aged couples are the best movie-goers because they actually watch the movie. Very young couples are too busy slurping on each other, and very old couples are always asking each other what just happened. LOUDLY.

So we went to the first showing of "Angels & Demons", and I found myself scratching my head. A LOT. Most of the changes were vast improvements over the book--eliminating Langdon's presence in the helicopter was a moral necessity because between you and me, it was ABSURD. But some of the changes seemed to be for the sake of change, and I would dearly love to know why. (And one--the camerlengo's virtually non-existent motive in the film--was inexplicable.) One of the biggest criticisms of "The Da Vinci Code" was how much people just stood around and talked, and there's less of it here, but that also means there's less discussion of art and symbolism--my favorite parts of the books, although I dearly loved seeing a dramatization of conclave, however imperfect. I am a bit of a Vatican geek when it comes to conclave. I watched CNN round the clock during the last papal election. Waiting for a puff of smoke doesn't sound that interesting, but I find it RIVETING. (I called it wrong, though. I thought Cardinal Lustiger of France would be elected. Ah, well.) In all, it was very lovely just to be away with the husband for a few hours with a passably good movie and some VERY good popcorn. This should hold me over until the Dillinger film with Johnny Depp...