A DANGEROUS METHOD

Bill and i rated this movie a 5. We have seen several low rated films in the last couple of weeks so i think we might take a break from the movie theater and instead haunt Bookman's.

This was the story of Freud and Jung's conflict and a patient played by an anorexic Keira Knightley who was treated by Jung and ended up having an affair with him. Jung was married and had a wealthy wife and many  children. After his mistress, Sabrina, (Knightley) stopped the sex (which consisted of lengthy bun beating scenes; she was the recipient. This desire was related to the incest she originally saw Jung for), Jung just took up with another mistress.

Yes, it was as dull as that! The acting was superb but grim and dour and i don't think anyone smiled during the entire film. It was also quite slow. Everyone wore either black or white; men and women. The only really interesting part of the film was Otto, another patient who was seen by Jung. Vincent Cassel played him and i think he's a wonderful actor. Otto was hooked on drugs (that immediately made him mesmerizing and exciting) and he was already off the edge of sanity; proclaiming that everyone should have sex all the time with everyone. He ended up starving himself to death.

The difference in opinion as to the psychopathology of mental illnesses and how to treat them between Freud and Jung is worth reading about but not worth seeing this movie.

WARRIOR

This film is a TV-movie of the week version of the most excellent film "the Fighter". There's a few differences but not enough to recommend this film. Bill gave it a 5 and I gave it a 5.5. And its looooooooonnnnnnnng too; 2 hours and 20 minutes.

One brother Tommy is brewing and spewing over with anger and resentment and rage against his father (wonderfully played by Nick Nolte; the only really good acting in the movie) and the other brother, Brendan, is also harboring anger against his father and Tommy is also pissed at Brendan and Brendan is disgusted with Tommy and they all are pretty fed up with themselves.

Tommy and Brendan train for a tournament in martial arts (endless bloody fight scenes) and oh, surprise, surprise, end up fighting each other in the ring. Tommy especially was a horrid actor and just stormed his way through the story like a bulldog in heat. He sort of just growled his lines.

Save the video rental money.

BISCUITS COUNTRY CAFE - TUCSON, AZ

Bill and i went here after putting the car through a successful emissions test and after stopping at K-mart to do some unexciting but necessary shopping (think mop). The food here was ok but nothing special. The prices were reasonable and the service good and the portions large but again, nothing stood out EXCEPT

the overdone patriotic theme. Every inch of that restaurant including the walls, tables, shelves, chairs and menu had flags, god bless america's, i love america's, stand for america, endless enveloping red, white and blue, banners and placques exhorting one to be for america; salt and pepper shakers that were red white and blue, a xmas tree decorated with american flags and uncle sam pictures and troops fighting for america grasping guns next to wall hangings which exhorted one to pray for peace and more flags and red white and blue tablecloths.

I felt like i had walked into a Newt Gingrich - republican - christian stronghold. The only place where i could escape the voter booth mentality was the bathroom which surprisingly was decorated with Elvis stuff. There were pictures of him in his prime and then in his bloated self and paintings of graceland and elvis statues and wonderful handsewn elvis boots.

However, Elvis couldn't make up for the red white and blue.

HAYWIRE

This is a great action packed film with non-stop chases and revenge scenes and escapes starring a terrific female lead. her name is Gina Carano and she did not annoy me at all throughout the entire movie. She was believable with a hint of humor; she was beautiful without being plastic looking or looking so put-together you know you never saw and would never see a female like that in ordinary life; she didn't change her persona with stupid and extraneous flirty sex episodes. She remained the same character; methodical, performing her job emotionlessly, and excellent at martial arts.

The plot was nothing really new. Gina (Mallory in the film) worked for a private agency who contracted with the government to perform secret ops. Her boss played with great slime and duplicity (and boy oh boy, did he get his in the end!!!!!!!) was Ewan McGregor. The government guy was Michael Douglas; Mallory's father was Tom Paxton and Antonio Banderas was the facilitator of these undercover plans.

What was really refreshing about this movie was the breakneck speed and relentless suspense (lately, it seems all movies are 2 hours minimum and most of the time that is way too long and the movie suffers by a lot of extra stuff that just weigh it down; this film was 90 lean minutes) and the innovative camera work. When mallory was trying to get away from the very people who hired her she did a lot of roof jumping and crawling under fences and running around buildings and the photography angles would vary. You'd see her from straight-on and then from above and then from below and then from the perspective of one of her chasers. This raised the excitement level a lot.

Both of us rated it a solid 8.

CARNAGE

This movie was produced by Roman Polanski adapted from a play which was just put on by the Arizona Repertory Company. Very good movie though its appeal would just be to adults of a parenting age.

The plot is simple; one 11 year old boy hits a playmate and school chum and knocks some teeth loose and the parents of the hitter get together with the parents of the hittee to 'work things out'. and from there the bitter, scathingly funny, intoxicated, ragefilled, poignant, sad, accusatory, insightful and nauseating dialogue starts flying.

The movie takes place in the apartment of the hittee's parents or in the hallway. The acting is superb with John C. Reilly, i think, having the most complex role since his outer persona is that of the reasonable and deliberate and rational and fairly laid back man but as the afternoon progresses, other layers of his personality get revealed but he always stays the most likeable.

The ending is perfect on 3 levels. and of course the most predictable finish as any parent of school age children knows or remembers is that without any outside interference the 2 boys work things out themselves and are back playing in the park.

We rated it a 9.

EL GUERO CANELO - TUCSON, AZ

We have been wanting to try this new location of a restaurant (i think the original) that we've eaten at before on the NW side. and we are very glad we did. Great food.

The restaurant is brightly lit with hardly any decorations. It is filled with metal green, red and white benches and there is a big salsa bar in the middle of the place. and the items on the bar are incredible; 2 kinds of roasted peppers, roasted long green onions (that are so incredibly sweet its like they've been dipped in sugar), 4 kinds of salsa, guacamole sauce, sliced limes and cucumber and radishes and pickled red onions. Oh, and grated cheese and mushrooms.

An employee was always hovering around the bar keeping it clean and picked up of droppings and leavings and drippings.

The food is great and very reasonably priced. Bill had a chicken torta and i had a chicken taco with a Sonoran hot dog kicker. Very tasty and the chicken was tender. We also ordered a side of chips which are  flavorful even without dipping them in salsa.

The atmosphere is quite festive and i think its because most of the people there were Mexican families and the space was just the right size without having seats too close together but also not having the feeling that the restaurant on the NW side has which is like eating in a Costco warehouse; since the area is so immense.

We will be back for sure.

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

When i whisper a help request to Bill in the movie theater, pleading for some understanding of a scene or the relationship of 2 characters and he looks at me with dumb confusion in his eyes, i know there is no hope for me in the cinematic chaos.

I understood the general plot of course which was a search for the high-placed mole in the british secret service who was giving classified info to the Russians. But i got continually lost as far as names and characters and what their job was in the agency.

There was no tension in the movie and the acting though superb (Gary Oldman as the main actor was phenomenal) was plodding and so upper crust as to be stiff with dullness. Everyone was grim and the entire color tone of the movie was grey-beige-black. And i never got invested in anyone so i couldn't cheer on the few discoveries which brought the unveiling of the mole closer to reality with any emotion.

I just didn't care. Especially given the current state of our rapidly evolving Obama led police state this film's depiction of the Cold War seemed like a snooze fest of spy play-acting.

We were both very disappointed.
I gave it a 4 and Bill rated it a 3.

MAD MARIO'S ITALIAN DELI - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant has been open for 3 months. The building was empty for about 3 years and before that vacancy there was a Vietnamese deli that Bill and i ate at during Tucson #1. We went in for their sandwiches and were very disappointed so never went back. Mario's sits right in the middle of a small strip of shops; coffee, pizza and beer and I think a laundromat.

Even though the location is good - right on Speedway in the University area - there's not very good parking access and what there is is not visible as one would drive past Mario's. So that leaves the students who are walking the neighborhood or between classes but they aren't around during holidays and the summer.

All this is to explain why i'm not sure if this restaurant will make it. Mario is a very friendly guy; very talkative. he worked for many many years for Sysco food service and I'm pretty sure that's where the food comes from. I had cheese ravioli with meat sauce and roasted red pepper and smoked gouda soup and a warm artisan roll. Bill had spaghetti with 2 italian sausages, a roll and a salad with ranch dressing.

Bill liked his spaghetti more than i liked my ravioli. It didn't come close on any comparison measure to Tony's New York deli on 22nd. Mario's sauce wasn't very flavorful; there was way too much cheese on top of the ravioli, the cheese filling was bland and the pasta pockets were way too thick and doughy. Bill had the same comment about the amount of cheese on his meal. However, the soup was extraordinarily supreme; great combo of flavors with chunks of tomato and tiny bits of cheese. Oh, it was delicious..

both our meals came in microwaveable tins which is another reason why i think they came from Sysco. The roll was very good also and the salad was too.

Mario's menu is huge with many entrees - chicken, veal and beef, salads, hot and cold sandwiches, panini, 7 different kinds of lasagne and lots of desserts.

We will re-visit the deli because its conveniently located on our way back from many of our winter hikes and i'd like to try some of their sandwiches. They are open till 8pm.

RAPT

This was a subtitled French thriller which WAS very thrilling and suspenseful. Also i appreciated that the english words were in bright white letters and large type so it was very easy to read.

A chairman and majority stock-holder of a financial group who had ties to government and big businesses was kidnapped. The ransom was 50 million euros. During many discussions between his family and the police and his fellow board members it was discovered that he was a womanizer, gambler, cheat; had many hidden accounts that he would draw on for his casino trips and gifts to his many women (he of course was married with 2 teenage girls.)

and this resulted in an on-going debate over just who wanted him back enough to front all this money since the people in his life were gradually becoming aware of his 'other side' and many of them didn't particularly want him surfacing again. His wife was disgusted and talking divorce, his mother was ashamed, his partners felt he had irrevocably sullied the name of the company and added to this was the fact that 20 million euros was the most money they could come up with.

The tension over the kidnappee's continuing dishonesties was interspersed with scenes of his kidnappers and his captivity. I don't want to give away the ending because it was surprising and just perfect.

We had never seen a kidnapping movie from this perspective.
I gave it an 8.5 and Bill gave it a 8.