LIFE OF PI

This was the story of an Indian boy, Pi, and his family as they were heading to Canada. The ship sunk during a fierce storm and Pi was the only survivor in addition to a few animals that escaped from the ship (Pi's family owned a zoo in India and they were bringing the animals to Canada to sell.). And the only animal that survived was Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger.

This story was told by an adult Pi (now a successful married with children teacher in Manitoba) to a man who was going to write a book about his adventure.

I kept feeling like the movie was trying to reach some cosmic heights of morality; to impart a wisdom that would be the answer to all of mankind's suffering; to teach one of those basic life truths that would astound the masses and suddenly make sense of the world. It never achieved that. In spite of the great visuals, I only gave it a 7.5 and bill gave it a 7.

The beginning of the film which showed Pi's childhood and interactions with his school chums and his family and the decision to emigrate and the storm which sunk the ship was very very interesting and fast paced. but once all the animals except the tiger died and Pi figured out some basic survival tricks because he was not only trying to stay alive floating on the open sea but also trying not to be mauled and eaten by the tiger, i became bored. Pi was on the water way too long. 

And the film never picked up speed or interest for me after he was rescued.

One of the greatest parts of the movie was that it did not ascribe human qualities and actions to the animals. This would have been especially easy to do with the tiger who stayed on the lifeboat the whole time they were at sea. Richard Parker stayed an animal up to the end and I really appreciated that.

SMASHBURGER - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant opened in the same building as Paradise on Grant and Swan. The seating area is pretty minimal though they do have a nice sized out door patio.

You go up to the counter and order your burger or chicken sandwich; either one of the already created ones or making your own with a big list of options. There are a lot of freebies you can add to your burger or sandwich also and about 8 other add-ons which are about 75 cents. These include fried pickles and onion straws.

There are also 2 sizes of burgers (regular and big). We ordered the big size which was BIG and Bill couldn't finish his. I got a classic which had special sauce (a zippy thousand island), ketchup, onion, dill pickles, lettuce and tomato and i substituted sharp cheddar for the american. Bill got the american burger which had american cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard and pickle.

The burgers were quite good; a tad salty but not enough to interfere with  the taste. I guess they are called smashed because they are not perfectly round burgers; it looks like meat was put on the grill and then flattened unevenly with a spatula.

For $2 we got a side of smashed fries which are shoestring's with sea salt, rosemary and garlic. Really tasty and one order was enough for both of us. The rosemary was not overdone. I'm glad we got the fries with this extra seasoning because as they got cool, i was starting to taste the leaden and doughy flour-y blah-ness of McDonald's fries (which stay good for about 54 seconds after coming out of the fryer.) I'm not sure why these fries are called smashed because they are not. maybe just to stay within the theme of the restaurant's name which is not a very clever name.

We will be back. The meal we had with just water was about $15; a good deal.

SKYFALL

This was one of the best Bond films if not THE best. and i've seen them all even the horrid ones with george lazenby and that patrick fellow.

It was different than other 007 movies because there was a plot that made sense and the movie really developed the characters - Bond himself and also the villain played by Javier Bardem and Judi Dench- M. In fact, i got more of a sense of Bond as being a real man instead of this superhero in a suit. The other sides of him including his age related physical changes really added to my involvement with him. It was like for the first time I actually cared for Bond instead of just watching him as an attractive (and oh, Daniel Craig is very attractive) automaton who was constantly flirting with and bedding unimaginably beautiful and exotic women. This sex aspect of Bond was at a minimum in the movie.

The graphics were incredible; brilliant and innovative. There was a fight scene with Bond and Bardem that portrayed them in black against an everchanging swirly color night sky scene in Shanghai. The skyline and night lights of the cities were wonderful and mesmerizing.

And casting Javier Bardem as the villain was a smart move. He is so likably creepy evil and his character and motivation was developed to the point that i became involved in his actions also and not only as a cipher that Bond could use to illustrate his fighting and running moves. Oh, Bardem was good. He wanted revenge on M and this led to the fleshing out of her character as well.

The car chase scenes and shootouts were also at a minimum.
We both rated this movie a 9 and there are some unexpected twists at the end of the movie.

CHOICE GREENS - TUCSON, AZ

I still call this restaurant by its original name - Chopped. that's what it specializes in - chopped salads that you can pick off the menu or create yourself by marking your choices on an 'order' form.

I have always enjoyed eating here though yesterday I did notice that the salads seemed a tad smaller and you can now only add 4 ingredients to the basic salad price; it used to be 5. Also there are more salad ingredients that you have to pay 50 cents extra for; however, its still a bargain to eat here especially given the excellent taste and freshness of the food.

We paid $16 for a salad and a sandwich; we split both of them (or rather the staff did.) Also each of us got a pc. of their rosemary bread - usually you just get one pc. for one salad. The bread is not warm and usually i don't eat it. I've asked for butter before but the butter seems like its been stored in the freezer.

The sandwich was a BLT panini and was very good. You can order the type of lettuce you want and if you want the dressing on the side or mixed in. They give you quite  a big container of dressing; its even enough for me. and i also try a new dressing each time i go in (in addition to my usual honey mustard or honey poppyseed); yesterday was feta cheese vinaigrette which was too sour.

We will keep coming back no matter what the name is.

PASTICHE - TUCSON, AZ

I wish the lunch had been half as scintillatingly delicious and innovative and of high caliber and quality as my eating partner, Chris. Instead i plodded petulantly through a meal at  Pastiche.

We ordered 3 appetizers to share. One was fried avocado with a chipotle sauce. The sauce was very good with just the right zip and the breading on the avocado was thin and tasty  but it just didn't work. I don't know if the avocado was a tad too ripe or what; but my mouth hit the crunchy breading and then the mushy avocado and wasn't happy.

Another appetizer was homemade potato chips with another type of sauce which we didn't sample because we rejected it. The plate was huge and piled like a pyramid with these chips (which didn't even taste as good as Kettle chips; these were very dry.). Our other appetizer was 3 sliders and that was accompanied with another mound of chips. There is no way we could have eaten (or would have wanted to eat) all those mediocre low quality chips.

I felt that the waitress should have informed us of the chips that came with the sliders. This type of courtesy happens a lot when the service is top notch. and a service in my opinion that warrants a 20%+ tip. She very very grudgingly asked the manager if we could order something else (after i asked her 2 times; she did not offer to do this)  and unsmilingly came back and informed us that we could.

We got a small portion of a salad with orange balsamic vinaigrette. It was just OK. I could barely taste the salad dressing but all the greens were fresh.

And the sliders were not even as good as Jack in the Box's version during the  time when they were on the menu. The buns were fresh but cold (oh, when we were first seated a plate arrived with 3 pcs. of french bread which were cold.). Each tiny burger had something different on top; blue cheese, BBQ sauce and a zippy cheese spread. Nothing special at all. I had to ask for some condiments.

So all in all a real disappointment especially given the price of the food.  The plus side was that we had a great table in a corner by a window and the bathrooms had hand lotion in them.

FLIGHT

Denzel Washington shines in all his movies but he's at the top of the brilliant stars in this film. He plays Whip, an experienced airline pilot who manages to competently do his job in spite of a drug and alcohol problem.

Washington is superb and totally believable in all the booze and cocaine scenes. and since Whip is acted by Washington, he is suave and glib and very attractive to the ladies and well-liked. But he is also a divorced dad who has alienated his ex and his teenage son.

So after a night of sex and drugs, he goes to work still loaded. The initial very very tense scene involving his piloting has to do with him threading a skinny channel of air turbulence to get above the rough rain and wind storm. He does this very successfully and as he's talking to the passengers he's emptying 2 bottles of vodka into orange juice.

About 20 minutes before descent, the plane starts falling apart; screws come loose and rudders are stuck and engines blow up but he manages in extremely suspenseful edge-of-your-seat scenes to land the plane with only 6 fatalities. Everyone acknowledges that no other pilot could have landed that plane and saved so many lives. so whip is declared a hero though inside he starts disintegrating since he knows the condition he was in and the fact that the toxicology report shows that he had alcohol in his system.

However, the airline union and the airline company start maneuvering to hide the fact of his drunkenness, to hype up the hero status and to blame everything on the faulty mechanics of the plane and the manufacturers of the parts.

The rest of the movie shows an evertightening noose around Whip and an increasing need to lie more and more to keep his 'secret'. There are surprises and twists throughout the film and the suspense and tension does NOT stop with the plane crash. John Goodman is Whip's drug dealer and he is hilariously in your face funny. There's a subplot involving Whip's involvement with a recovering heroin addict which could have been eliminated entirely. However, it didn't subtract from the movie's main narrative.

wow- Denzel Washington rocks; acting arrogant and cool and sophisticated and also desperate and hung-over and dishonest and rude and out of control and tender and full of rage and funny and depressed. We both rated the movie a 9. And Don Cheadle plays his lawyer and he is great.

R & R FAMILY KITCHEN - TUCSON, AZ

I've reviewed this restaurant before when it was located on Speedway and Wilmot (near Trader Joe's) and when the name was R & R BBQ. Even though the owner is  dour and gruff and has an unwelcoming stern manner, we kept coming back because the beef brisket was so extra-ordinarily tender and flavorful. (oh, i did  conduct a brief boycott after i asked him once if i could have a sample of the beans before I ordered them as a side to the sandwich and he informed me that he does NOT give samples and that EVERYONE loves them.)

Because of lease renewal problems, he moved the restaurant to 22nd and Kolb which is almost right across the street from Brushfire BBQ which serves excellent food, is large, has multiple TV's and serves alcohol. Also the building that he is now in, is very set back from the road and he doesn't have a big sign or even lights outside. And there are empty lots to the right and left. He also really expanded the menu (hence the name change from BBQ to family kitchen.) and this, i believe, allowed a slip in the quality of the beef brisket.

And last night was a definitive answer regarding the culinary state of the restaurant. and the answer was we  won't be back. There are no decorations in the place, it is small, the brisket wasn't excellent, the cashier girl was busy talking to her boyfriend constantly, most of the tables already had the chairs upended on them (like you do when you are getting ready to scrub the floors); even though we got there before 8 and they are open till 9.

And R & R is now only open from thursday to sat. (this is not a good sign) and the final blow to a pleasant eating experience was the prices went up and there was no damn heat in the building which makes it difficult to eat being weighed down with wool caps, scarves, a jacket and a sweatshirt; and wanting to put on gloves. (it was windy and in the 50's outside.)

what a comedown for this place! well, i had never eaten brisket before R & R  and now i'll just go back to a brisket-less state.

HUNGRY FOX - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant is just open for breakfast and lunch till 2pm (not on Sunday) and is located on Broadway close to Swan.

I really enjoyed my meal here. Below the name of the restaurant on their marquee is Country Kitchen and gift shop so naturally the decorations were pioneer, comfy, old-fashioned themed, nostalgic and predictably "cute". Lots of tea pots and plates, toy soldiers, old advertisement posters and ads for produce, and bears (oh, how i hate collections of bears in human poses and doing human activities; well, frogs are pretty bad too.)

I had a 5 item omelette with bacon, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and swiss cheese. It came with hashed browns and toast for $9. (sort of pricey). But the omelette was the best i've had here in Tucson; it was very big and all the ingredients were perfectly balanced and it wasn't covered in a thick glutinous layer of cheese; instead the cheese was melted inside the omelet. I didn't eat the potatoes (which looked ordinary to me) and i didn't take the toast because their menu boasted 1 pc. of french toast as a side. I've never seen that before so i wanted the french toast. However, i couldn't substitute so my entire breakfast (with only water) was $12 with tax.!

The french toast was sinfully wonderful. They make their own bread and the slice was huge and thick with a faint vanilla cinnamon taste. Oh Yum.

I, for sure, will be back. The service was good and the seating very comfortable.

THE SEPARATION

An Iranian film which painfully illustrates the influence of the Muslim religion, the sexism in Iran and cultural traditions on effective and compassionate communication;  between husband and wife and also between employers and employees and parents and children.

A man needs to hire someone to take care of his demented father. He is separated from his wife because she wants to leave Iran for a country with better opportunities and he doesn't want to leave because of his dad. The woman he hires is pregnant and doesn't tell her boss because she knows she won't get the job. and she needs to pay the bills because her husband is a hot-head, ne'er do well.

Because of an incident involving her leaving the demented man while she went to the doctor, her boss fires her and during a dispute over her getting paid for the days she did work; she falls down the stairs and subsequently loses the baby.

This is the fulcrum of the movie's plot. It starts out with one lie told by the woman who miscarried and further added to by her former boss and then that consequence leads a neighbor who partially witnessed the altercation to lie also. And a sad and tragic domino effect begins.

Bill gave it a 10 because he said the movie was excellently focused on the harm done to the 11 year old daughter of her 2 separated parents; her suffering at having to choose and please each parent and losing herself in the meanwhile. I gave it a 7 because i thought the cascade of consequences from the dishonesty eventually dissolved into soap opera-ness.

HA LONG BAY - TUCSON, AZ

We haven't eaten at this Vietnamese restaurant since Tucson #1. and we won't be eating here after this meal during tucson #2. I wasn't impressed at all.

We went with our friend Carol because of an awesome coupon; 20% off and if you dined on 11/1 between the hours of 3 and 9 pm; they doubled the % off.

The egg rolls were very tiny; midget crispy rolls of unremarkable taste. The fish sauce was bland. We shared 3 entrees: vegetable stir-fry (lots of perfectly  cooked vegetables but the sauce was pretty thick and i didn't like the flavor), curry basil chicken (i saw maybe 4 pcs. of chicken and no basil and this dish looked exactly like the vegetarian one except it was spicy because in addition to the curry flavor it was liberally mixed with dried red peppers) and a bun bowl with shrimp (the shrimp were good but there was hardly anything in the bowl except for noodles which were thicker than the glass vermicelli this dish is usually made with; peanuts were on top but no bean sprouts, hardly any lettuce, no cucumbers.)

Now i'm not complaining because the price for all this food (the portion size was large) was very good; a real bargain. However, i wouldn't eat here again even with a double anniversary coupon.