Skip to main content

Safe House


    Hey, everyone. I watched a terrific movie tonight that I thought you might like to hear about. It is a spy flick, which is one of my favorite genres. The title, as you might assume, is Safe House. One might wonder if the name for such residences is entirely apropos after watching this film.
    Denzel Washington stars as Tobin Frost, a rogue agent from a CIA background. He has no loyalties to anyone, anymore, other than to himself. He is in the business of avoiding the agents of a dozen intelligence services and of selling secrets to the highest bidder. Let me say right here that I will resist the urge to say that Tobin Frost is a cool guy. That would be sophomoric.
     Tobin runs into a bit of a jam. He is in South Africa and has bought some intel from a British agent who is slightly crooked. He takes the info, which is stored on a chip, and injects it into his body with a needle. I find this personally abhorrent and rather gross. It is clear to me that the spy game is not desirable as an occupation.
     Tobin walks into a U.S. Consulate and is immediately arrested. He is taken to a safe house. This is a secure location that is owned or rented through a dummy corporation or individual who cannot be traced back to the clandestine source. Each safe house, at least in this show, is kept by a watcher, a keeper, who answers the phone, mans the surveillance systems and is generally bored.
    Matt (Ryan Reynolds) is the keeper for this safe house and is a little freaked out when a team arrives with Tobin in tow. They begin to interrogate their captive with tactics that would have been deemed a little rough, in most places. Matt is disturbed about the truth of his chosen profession, which he had thought was pretty cool just moments before. In fact, he had just been  begging his boss for a more action-filled role in the espionage game.
    Tobin is amused by the kid and sees himself, the Tobin of his youth, in Matt's naivete. They seem to hit it off just a little. Until a 12 man team of killers show up and kill all the CIA dudes in the place. Except for Matt and Tobin, of course. These two mismatched traveling companions are on the run together, hoping to find a safe house that might be truly safe. They would also like to find out if one of Matt's compadres at "The Company" has sold them out.
    This movie is a 5 star action flick. It is well acted by all involved, which means top notch direction. I recommend it without reservation. Check it out, if you like.
     From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The White Chicken Mystery

    The other night I happened to come home very late. It was the middle of the night and I was driving up a steep mountain road. Near the top I saw something white in my headlights. It was standing in the other lane, standing very still. It was a large white chicken. It was probably a rooster because I thought I could see his comb as I whizzed by at my customary pace. He never moved a muscle. This is weird, don't you think?      After a couple of days to consider this phenomenon, I have come up with some plausible answers for his bizarre behavior. 1. He was conflicted whether or not he should cross the road. 2. He was feeling cocky and decided to play chicken with the traffic. 3.He was being hen-pecked at home and had decided to end it all. 4. Someone had egged him on to do it. 5. He had just watched the movie Fantastic Four and decided to try to stop a truck the way that Ben Grimm did on the bridge. 6. He had driven himself crazy wondering if ...

Egg Art

     Hey, everyone. One of the odd customs in America is the Easter Egg Hunt. Here at the Green Retreat, we do a hunt every Spring. I just ran across some of the pictures from this years hunt and it is obvious that an artist had sneaked into our midst. The orange egg is a rendering of one of the Angry Birds of gaming lore. If I were a bird and had to pass an egg that size, I would be angry too. Ha, ha.      We typically will dye about 10 dozen eggs and people get quite creative with their quotes and colors, as you can see. Many of the eggs are a bit risque for these pages. After having a few laughs, we hide the eggs. All of them are never found, which is cool. It is amusing to see old men (me) and all ages of folks, walking around with a basket on their arm. Some of the hiding spots are dastardly. Like eggs hidden in the guttering downspouts and ten foot up a tree. The kids are perhaps the most devious at hiding the colorful orbs, goi...

Cake Is Better Than Swords

Hey, everyone. On Thanksgiving, we had a get-together here at The Author's Green Retreat. One lady brought a cake which I wanted to show you. It had the look of a Roman Coliseum about it. Inside it was just as decadent...and fun, as ancient Rome. When I cut it open, homemade marshmallow cream began to ooze out in several spots, running over the chocolate cake and peanut butter icing. It is best served warm so the cream is fluid. Very tasty. The same lady, and her children, are people who have played a lot of Skyrim. They gave me some pointers on the game because I am having problems with it. They taught me how to fast travel, and a ton of other things, but the main thing was the armor and clothing problem. This is a little embarrassing, but let me explain. Okay. For several weeks when I played, I would enter towns and everyone I met would comment on my nakedness. I would select a tunic and shoes, whatever, go back around people and they would say something about it. I guess I w...