{"id":1383,"date":"2011-05-03T15:27:18","date_gmt":"2011-05-03T22:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayivey.com\/wordpress\/?p=1383"},"modified":"2011-05-03T15:27:18","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T22:27:18","slug":"spring-forward-day-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rayivey.com\/wordpress\/spring-forward-day-45\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>

Brussels
\nApril 26, 2011<\/h2>\n

Good movie:\u00a0 Route Irish<\/h3>\n
\"He<\/a>
He just heard about Donald Trump's candidacy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back to work!\u00a0 Almost a relief after the hectic three days I had as a tourist.\u00a0 Tourism, at least the way I do it, is very tiring.\u00a0 But, as David Letterman says, it\u2019s a good kind of tired.<\/p>\n

Today started a battery of classes.\u00a0 It was fun to get back into the classroom after doing mostly support for many weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Took care of the Attend a Movie requirement for Brussels tonight.\u00a0 I was running out of hope \u2013 everything in Brussels was either not in English, or I\u2019d already seen it, or I\u2019d rather drive upholstery tacks into my gums than see it.\u00a0 Then I spied a new Ken Loach film with the curious name Route Irish<\/em><\/strong> playing at a multiplex in the center of town.\u00a0 Score.<\/p>\n

I recommend the film.\u00a0 I have no idea if it\u2019s even opened in the states, or if it will<\/em> open.\u00a0 Ken Loach has never done big business there.\u00a0 He\u2019s an angry, frankly political filmmaker.\u00a0 Compared to Ken Loach\u2019s films, Mike Leigh\u2019s movies are Spielberg.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/a>
General Rommel ate at this Subway in 1942. Legend has it he ordered a foot long Spicy Italian on wheat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The market in central Brussels. It's got a titanic history, but is probably most famous for being the place where we made First Contact with aliens from outer space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This one treads similar ground to the much less successful Green Zone<\/em><\/strong> with Matt Damon from a year or two.\u00a0 In fact, the color in the title relates to the title of the Loach film.\u00a0 \u201cRoute Irish, \u201d according to the movie, is a nickname Americans give to the stretch of road in Baghdad which connects The Green Zone to the airport.\u00a0 It\u2019s considered the most dangerous stretch of road in the world.<\/p>\n

Mark Womack stars as a Liverpudlian ex-military, ex-mercenary who hears of his best friend\u2019s death on Route Irish.\u00a0 At the funeral, .listening to the fulsome speeches and condolences from the suits of the Blackwater-like organization that his friend worked for, Womack begins to get suspicious.\u00a0 He begins tugging at threads and soon the cover story about his friend\u2019s death begins to unravel.<\/p>\n

\"There<\/a>
There wolf!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I really liked the movie because I like anything that deals with complex moral ambiguity.\u00a0 By the end of the film, there\u2019s no one who\u2019s really innocent.\u00a0 I also must say that, while I\u2019m generally a complete wuss when it comes to depictions of torture on screen (or in fiction, for that matter), it\u2019s used in an extremely smart and nuanced way in this movie.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to say more, but let\u2019s just say it made the stakes in the movie even more morally messy.\u00a0 Which is a good thing.\"Spire\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Seek Route Irish<\/em><\/strong> out if you are up for a gritty, sad, beautifully acted drama about the moral complexities of modern war.<\/p>\n

Got home just in time to download the huge new Patch 4.1 for World of Warcraft<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 OMG tons of new stuff to do!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This is the only actual bodybuilder I've seen on the trip so far, damnit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some Good Movies About the Slippery Morals of War<\/h4>\n
    \n
  • Under Fire<\/li>\n
  • Salvador<\/li>\n
  • Route Irish<\/li>\n
  • Three Days of the Condor<\/li>\n
  • Syriana<\/li>\n
  • Gallipoli<\/li>\n
  • Breaker Morant<\/li>\n
  • Paths of Glory<\/li>\n
  • Black Book<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Average Rating: 5<\/span> out of 5<\/span> based on 300<\/span> user reviews.<\/span><\/div><\/p>

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