20 Days of Chill - Movie Time

Welcome back to another episode of 20 Days of Chill!

Today's prompt is 

Movie Time

I'm proud to tell you that last year we managed to go to the movies! That's not only an achievement because cinemas have been closed due to the pandemic for the larger part of the year, but because our busy schedules barely allow for a night out. 

Sometimes I think back to when I was a kid. I couldn't wait to be an adult. Why? I thought it allowed me to do whatever I pleased and I was gonna have so much fun. Hahahahaha, think again, young girl! Adulting means 90% responsibilities and - if you do well - 10% of fun.

Anyway. Colin turned 13 in September, and we allowed him to invite his friends to a movie night at our house while Mom and Dad would be away for dinner and a movie.

I made reservations at my favorite panoramic restaurant and purchased tickets for the newly released Bond movie "No Time to Die".

Let's talk about Torre first. Torre is a tiny bar-style rooftop restaurant in Baden, a small town about a 20 minutes' drive from home. 

Toro in Spanish means bull, and torre stands for tower. I like to think they did a cool little word game there. They serve mainly beef, and looking out the window you can see the city tower.

Anyway. They serve bubbly, too.

The best salads are the ones I do not need to slave in the kitchen for.

Beef tenderloin and roasted veggies, a nice red wine - who's a happy girl?

It took a while till the food arrived, the reason being the size of their grill. You can't barbecue for a lot of people at the same time.

You can never get bored though. There's always something to see. It's like a real-life picture book. 

Depending which table got assigned to you, you may even stalk other people's parties from above.

My only worry was that we had to be at the movie theater in time. Sadly, we had to ask for the check as we were barely done eating. The portions are not huge (the prizes, on the other hand...), and I would not have minded a nice dessert.

James Bond was waiting for us though, so we hurriedly paid and almost ran to the movies. 

I had somewhat high expectations for several reasons:

Back in the days I was quite the 007 fan and expert. I especially loved the early ones with Sean Connery. 

I didn't like Roger Moore too much, let alone George Lazenby - even though On Her Majesty's Secret Service was otherwise on of my favorite Bond movies. Hey, it played in my country after all! The first Bond actor I liked better after them was Pierce Brosnan, and even though in my opinion, Bond needed to be tall, dark and handsome, I kept an open mind towards Daniel Craig, especially since we share our birthday (March 2nd).

Casino Royale happened to be the first Craig and my last Bond movie for a long time. Why? It aired before I became pregnant, and I didn't get out much anymore for a few years. 

As I was saying, I went into that cinema in joyful expectations of an entertaining Bond movie.

Some two hours later I walked out. Deflated, disappointed, in disbelief of many things.

This was it? This is what people have been waiting for since 2015? I mean, I knew that it was going to be Craig's last Bond assignment, and that they'd probably kill him off for good measures, but still?

I did not like it.

The intro was the best part. It showed the young Madeleine killing her mother's assailant and fleeing towards a frozen lake in Norway, almost drowning in ice water as she fell through cracked ice surface.

After that? A lot of violence, a lot of implausible characters (Nomi, Bond's official successor as agent 007,  Ben as Q, the gadget guy) and the unnecessary killing of Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA counterpart and long-time friend. Why?

"We should have rather stayed for dessert and watched Goldfinger or You only live twice at home" we said.

How did Colin's night go? 

I received a lengthy expenses report from McD. 

When we came home, some of the kids were still there, even though we agreed they needed to go home by 10:30pm. We were not amused. As it turned out later, they were watching a horror movie, and the ones who stayed, did Colin a favor as he was afraid to be home alone. So I guess we can call ourselves lucky that our son has such great friends. 

Who had a better movie time now? We're undecided ;-) None os us really had a splendid cinematic experience that night.

Mom and Dad defintely had better food, and the youngsters probably had more fun.

What's the last movie you have watched outside the comfort of your own home?

What's your favorite Bond actor? The best Bond movie in your opinion?

Head over and check out the other contributors' posts.