KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

A horridly embarrassingly bad movie which is being advertised as a spoof on James Bond films. there were a very few mildly and weakly humorous smiles but that was it.

As stupid as the plot was, i still didn't understand the opposing forces and the violence was pretty disgusting and accompanied by very loud rock music. The scene of people gathered for a church service suddenly killing each other was set to FreeBird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Colin Firth and Samuel L. Jackson (speaking with a lisp.) were the main actors and they must have been fulfilling a contract. I can think of no other reason than that for their appearance in this muddled movie.

I rated it a 1 and Bill gave it a 3.

BRUSHFIRE BBQ - TUCSON, AZ

This has always been our favorite bbq place in Tucson. Well, during Tucson #1 there was a great one on 22nd and Craycroft but that closed early on during our stay. I have always had great shredded chicken and pulled pork and Bill and I have split their rack of baby back ribs quite a few times and all this food has been delicious.

Including their sides; (exc. for their grilled bread; flavorless and very dry. oh and their corn on the cob but then again what does one expect getting corn in the winter in Tucson!!) their bbq'd beans are just zippy enough, coleslaw not too drenched in sauce, crispy fries, super sweet potatoes.

But our last 2 visits have been disappointing. We ordered during one of our dinners there during what we are now thinking might be a decline commensurate with the opening of their "small batch" ice cream place next door baby back ribs and some of them weren't very tender and the 1/2 rack was smaller than all other times.

And last night Bill had pulled pork and i had shredded chicken (they have several bbq sauces on the table so you can experiment; everything from way hot steaming palate to sweet molasses). Bill's sandwich was just ok. My shredded chicken was just on THIS side of tender and it wasn't shredded; it came in 2 huge chunks like a breast had been hacked in half. The coleslaw on the sandwich was put on the bottom of the roll and soaked through. I didn't get the onions i asked for. and the side of potato salad seemed like they had forgotten the mayo.

Very disappointing. Glad we are heading into the land of bbq. In fact, bill and i are already remembering with fondness some fantastic droolingly good bbq in Texas and Arkansas and Mississippi and North Carolina. Here we come!

STILL ALICE

Wonderful movie and Bill is very grateful to me cuz i nagged him into seeing this. He wanted to see Jupiter Ascending which had gotten negative reviews. We both rated this movie a 9 and Julianne Moore's acting was 10 squared! She was illustrious in portraying a 50 year old married linguistic professor with 3 adult children  who is diagnosed with early onset familial Alzheimer's disease.

The film shows in detail with no sentimentality or aggressive tear-jerker scenes and without soap opera drama, the devastation to the person with the disease and every member of the family. The movie was the perfect length too.

Alec Baldwin was pretty darn good as the overly workaholic doctor who was supportive and loving (it was obvious he and Alice had a good marriage) and yet realistic about her progression and how it would impact on his career.

There were some great scenes in the movie. One showed her family sitting at a table talking about a care-giver for Alice and she is sitting mute and with flat affect on the couch watching them and the camera reflecting her isolation and lack of understanding of what's going on by having the family filmed with a fuzzy out of focus technique.   Another scene is when she gets lost while doing her daily run on campus; the panic and confusion on her face was so intense, that i could easily feel that total blankness and  lack of identification with her surroundings. (i think i liked this scene so much because  i have been lost a fair amount of times in my life and i know what it feels like.)

The ending is perfect. I think the only 'criticism' of the movie is that Alice's life was so perfect with good looks and great children and a nice husband and a recognized and applauded career and money.   and because of these life privileges, Alice's story did not have to also address questions like health care coverage; living situations, lack of emotional support. The film is based on a novel.

PEI WEI DINER - TUCSON, AZ

They've changed their menu and now its sort of confusing. you can get bowls or platters with rice (different kinds) or noodles or no starch and you pick your protein and then your sauce from 2 different places on the menu which is on boards along the area which approaches the order "desk".  everything has 2 sizes with different prices. and the sauces are just named on the board and not described until you get to the counter and then in very very small print on a dimly lit shelf is the description; only all the descriptions sound the same.

So then i had to query the order gal with multiple questions. It wasn't busy and there was no one else in line but i can imagine the back up I would have caused if it was lunch time for instance.

Anyway, even after all my requests for more information; the veggie and tofu with white rice tossed in a sesame sauce was too spicy for me. Fortunately, (Bill always comes to the rescue; well, usually always!) gave up his half of our chicken lettuce wraps to me. And that was a delightfully delicious dish; great flavor and lots of chicken. I would for sure order that again.

BUSHI'S - TUCSON, AZ

Wonderful Japanese restaurant. Its never crowded, has lots of private booths (with high backs), food is excellent and the service is geisha superb. Its located in the Sprouts strip mall on Speedway and Swan.

I ordered vegetable tempura. Very good combo of broccoli, sweet potatoes, zucchini, and onion. The tempura also came with edemame beans, miso soup, a salad and rice. All for just $10. Bill got his usual; salmon teriyaki.

I had a bite of Molly's yakisoba and it was very tasty and they used thin noodles not the thick rope-like noodles. I'm going to order that the next time we come here.

FOXCATCHER

Very interesting and well-acted movie about multi-millionaire John du Pont (a deeply dysfunctional insecure mama's boy who was always trying to get her approval which never came) and his relationship with the Schultz brothers, Mark (Channing Tatum) and Dave (Mark Ruffalo). They were Olympic gold medal wrestlers who were training for another go at a medal in the 1988 Olympics.

The brother's relationship was also dysfunctional. They were on their own from a young age and developed quite a parasitic union with Mark also being insecure and lacking any social skills (just like du Pont) and relying heavily on his brother for his psychological needs and approval.

I guess Mark who wrote a book about the relationship with du Pont initially cooperated with the making of the film and then in a very immature kindergarten "you've got my pail" way lashed out at the director for portraying him as a dumbbell and hinting that there was a homoerotic component to his interaction with du Pont.

I DO think there was that sexual aspect but it didn't come from Mark but from du Pont's need to excel at something; to lead a team (he said his nickname was Golden Eagle), to garner power and praise and to get his mother's love. (a pathetic scene in the movie was du Pont sponsoring a senior wrestling match and then paying off his opponents so he could win).

Steve Carell played du Pont and he was really good.

For those of you who don't know what happened (the movie is based on a true story), i won't reveal it here.

I gave the entire production and acting and music and photography a 7.5 but both Bill and I didn't really like any of the characters; especially du Pont. And Bill said he really holds in contempt people who use money to 'buy' other people which is what du Pont did to get Mark and then Dave to join his Foxcatcher team and to be considered the coach as they train for the Olympics.

POLISH COTTAGE - TUCSON, AZ

We haven't eaten here in quite awhile and the dinner we had was much better than I remembered it being on our last visit.

We had a great table. Because the place isn't that big, a lot of the tables are "tater tots" - right in the middle of traffic lanes or close to the next table.

bill and I shared Hunter's Stew (a wonderful mixture of sausage and sauerkraut and tender beef and cut up potatoes) and pierogi; 4 mushroom and 4 potato. The pierogi was accompanied with sour cream and caramelized onions. The stew came with a Kaiser roll which was as old and stale and crusty as i remember it from our previous eatings here.

The pierogi was a little over cooked around the edges so it provided a nice firm 'handle' for the little dumplings while dipping in the sour cream; a little too hard to  chew on.

and we had left-overs for lunch.

The decor must resemble a Polish kitchen but if you asked me, I couldn't tell you what sort of decorations they had or even the color of the walls. The service was good. The entrees (its all a la carte) range from $12 to $18. Restaurant is located on Broadway between Columbus and Swan.