[Continued from Pt 1]

I thought the film was pure escapist fun, if you’re into the whole shoot ‘em up, bang ‘em up, beat ‘em up mentality.  Vikander was cool, Damon was hot, Stiles was captivating, and as the Director of the CIA, Jones was a craggy American version of the Emperor Palpatine. My only gripe (and I’m being overly fussy, here) was the continuity of the scenes shot on the Strip. 

For instance, two cars going top speed for more than ten minutes, are gonna travel much further than the mile between Spring Mountain and Flamingo.  Whenever the camera panned-up, there was the Paris on one side, and Bellagio on the other (when they could’ve been past Downtown, in that time).  Also, a car cannot fly off of the ramp at Bally’s, crash into a truck driving down Flamingo, and go careening into the Riviera.  Aside from the fact that the Riv no longer exists; one would have to pass through the not insignificant amount of real estate where stand the Cromwell, the Linq, the Flamingo, Harrah’s, O’Shay’s, the Venetian, the Palazzo, Wynn, and Encore (not to mention the Peppermill) in order to do so.  But, as I said, the movie doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is – two hours of well-filmed fights and chases and crashes and espionage, staged in international locales.

After the movie, Universal hosted a Filmmaker Dinner at Nobu, and it was fantastic!  We were among the first to arrive, so after using the men’s room (I’d had to pee since roughly four minutes into the screening), we grabbed a couple of trays and made our way down the buffet that had been fashioned from the service line, in front of the exposition kitchen.  Then, noticing that the tables in the dining rooms had signs with names like “Marshall” and “Stiles” on them (Damon had a private dining room, past the kitchens, adjacent to the restrooms), and that everyone else was expected to avail themselves of the dozen or so standing cocktail tables; I went to the lounge, seated myself at what I’ll always think of as “Tariq’s Table” – and ordered a Diet Pepsi with lemon, as a tribute to my friend.  A couple of friends walked in, and we invited them to join us.

At this point, the restaurant began presenting us with a seemingly unending procession of platters and trays piled with various Nobu delicacies, including sushi, sashimi, skewers, kabobs, wraps, and tacos – which really beat the heck outta getting-up and serving ourselves.  By the time they presented us with a sampling of Nobu’s desserts, we were stuffed.  I can’t ever remember being so full from a sushi dinner, but after two hours of cardio eating, what do you want?

All told, I had a great time, and, with the exception of a few Miso Cod-laced burps on my ride home, it was an all-around terrific night.

JASON BOURNE | US Premiere
The Colosseum | Caesars Palace
Click HERE for info

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#Bourne