Take On Me

A quick round of housework this morning before the owner of the property comes by today to see what needs to be done before it is put on the market. 

- Julia and I watched Taken 2 last night.  I wasn't as, uh, taken with it as I was the first one, a thriller that was so bluntly effective and focused, giving the viewer exactly what he or she wanted.  This one just isn't as exciting, though wants the action gets going, there's no let up.  

Liam Neeson is back, of course, as Bryan Mills, everyone's favorite CIA operative dad.  This time, Bryan and his wife (Famke Janssen) are abducted while vacationing in Istanbul, and it's up to their teenage daughter (29-year old Maggie Grace) to try and get them back; don't fret if you think Neeson won;t eventually get free and start kicking butt too.

The fight scenes are more jerkily edited than they were the first time around (if memory serves right), and a good drinking game can be be started: every time you see an establishing shot of Hagia Sophia (you know, to remind us we're in Istanbul), drink up; by our count, you would imbibe a good thirty to forty swigs. 

Neeson has such presence, though, such rugged, hard-driving charisma, that it's impossible not to be riveted by him.  None of the other actors really register or have much to do.  The great thing about the Taken movies is that there is so little flab to them - no wasted scenes - that they're over before you know it.  This isn't the smartest of movies, but I was guiltily entertained.  The PG-13 rating is an indication that the violence won't be too excessive or explicit.     

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Top 10 Liam Neeson films:

10. Suspect (1987)
9. Rob Roy (1995)
8. Kinsey (2004)
7. Husbands and Wives (1992)
6. The Next Three Days (2010)
5. Unknown (2011)
4. The Grey (2012)
3. Love Actually (2003)
2. Taken (2009)
1. Schindler's List (1993)

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On a different note... What if, say, you had both a penis and a vagina?  And, let's say, that when having sex, you stuck your penis in your mate's vagina and vice versa, and then finished ten minutes later.  What next?  Why not just get rid of your penis at that point and grown another? 

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/02/this-sea-slug-discards-its-penis-after-sex-and-grows-another/

Ah, yes, the wonderful non-human world! 




Image courtesy of:  http://thecrat.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/taken2-bryan-mills.jpg