Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Cinemus Interruptus


In yesterday’s post about Solo: A Star Wars Story, I forgot to recount our near encounter with a fiery death right in the middle of the movie.

 
OK, there was no actual fire but the fire alarm did go off during the movie.
 
We got to see the Kessel Run….twice!
 
So here’s where we were. The unrefined coaxium ore has been loaded onto the Millenium Falcon. Because unrefined coaxium ore is very unstable, our gang needs to get it to the mining planet really quick. But stuff has gone wrong: Lando has been injured, L3 has been destroyed and there’s a big honking “we brake for nobody” Imperial cruiser in front, spitting out what looks like hundreds of Tie fighters. And to get to the mining planet before the unrefined coaxium ore goes BOOM means taking the Kessel Run which is 20 parsecs long, a bit too long a distance to travel before the unrefined coaxium ore goes BOOM!
 
We need a short cut! But the reason the Kessel Run which is 20 parsecs long is there is a bunch of dangerous space shit to go around. A short cut means going THROUGH the dangerous space shit.
 
Well, that’s a lot of for Han, Chewie and the gang to cope with. And then an alarm goes off! What the hell is going on now?
 
The alarm is not happening in the movie.
 
The noise of the alarm is not all that distinct from the movie soundtrack but the lights flashing the corners of the theater draw attention to it. The fire alarm is going off. 
 
NOW? The Kessel Run is about to start! We’ve been hearing about the damn Kessel Run since 1977! We’re about to see the damn thing finally and there’s a fire alarm going off? Really?
 
Dutifully, we exited the theater in an orderly fashion where we were informed by a staff member that there is no fire and we can return to the theater. I asked about the part of the movie we just missed and the staffer said they would replay that part. 
 
As we entered the theater once more, Han’s ready to shave that damn 20 parsec Kessel Run down to 12.
 
The alarm continued to beep for a while as the lights kept flashing. Then the alarm stopped and then the film stopped, then jumped back to the scene just before the alarm went off. Pretty cool. Then the film stopped again and the film jumped a lot further back. OK, we’re going to be here for a while. Randie took this as an opportunity to get snacks. 
 
When the movie was over for real, everyone in attendance received a free pass to the theater, thanking us for putting up with the fire alarm going off. Well, that was nice of them.
 
And this was our 2nd interrupted movie in two days. The night before, we were watching Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at the Fortress of Ineptitude when a storm hit about mid-way through the movie and our power got knocked out. We had to “rough it” for about an hour before power was restored and we resumed our movie. 
 
We enjoyed the movie with Martin Freeman perfectly cast as Arthur Dent and Zooey Deschanel, America’s Sweetheart, as Trillian. If you know the story of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy based on the books, the BBC TV series or BBC Radio productions, the movie represents a different spin on events. But that goes with the territory when it comes to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, perpetually being reinvented. 

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