TRANCE

I am never seeing another movie with James McAvoy. He's not a good actor and his entire persona is that of a squishy, too soft, pubertal teenager. Even that wonderful movie about Idi Amin starring Forest Whittaker was ruined by McAvoy's presence.

I rated this 0.5 of a star or maybe a smidgen of coal. Bill gave it a 5 because it was "good enough" to get him out of his funk over an investment which was tanking.

McAvoy is an auctioneer who was involved in the theft of a picture but he was hit on the head during the robbery and forgot where he hid it. So Vincent Cassel (whose talents were totally wasted in this garbage of a film) hired a hypnotist to help McAvoy remember the hiding place. This set-up of the story was the only part that was mildly interesting. After this, the film devolved into memories versus reality and a lot of swirling colors to depict hypnotic states and way too loud and ponderous music and an ever increasing sense of ennui and lethargy on my part as my slight interest in where the artwork was hidden died a trancelike death.

And the ending was horrid; even worse than what went before. It was devoid of any rationality.

RELISH KITCHEN & WINE BAR - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant is located in the old Create Cafe space on E. Camp Lowell and Swan. They still have a nice front patio area but the inside has been 'dehumanized' with a lot of metal and grey's and shiny black surfaces. It wasn't crowded at all; in fact, i think there were just 3 other tables of diners but if it was filled with people, i think it would be noisy because of the tile floors and the metal chairs. There were no booths.

The menu was fairly small with some entrees being available in 1/2 portions. The food was good but nothing really special. I'd go back here again in a social double-date situation but its not going to be on our list of just-bill-and-i dinner places.

We shared  relish salad which was tasty; lots of spring mix and veggies and some marinated onion rings. No bread was served which struck me as unusual. then we also split 2 different sandwiches; a pulled pork and a chicken-avocado club. Both sandwiches came with a vinegary coleslaw which was good; the waitress kept referring to it as a kraut slaw. the bread was way too thick on both sandwiches. I think their menu said it was brioche which in my opinion is breakfast bread toasted with butter and jelly not to be used to anchor a sandwich filling.

The pork was marinated in this sweet sauce which was flavorful but too sweet and the chicken sandwich was sort of tasteless and i think one of the reasons could have been the thickness of the bread which just overpowered the entree.

The music coming from the partitioned with a couch wine bar area was way too loud; at a volume more consistent with a dance hall or sports bar.

SMASHBURGER - TUCSON, AZ

we love this restaurant. The hamburgers are large and always juicy and have great flavor. The toppings are super fresh. I always get a classic which has some "secret" sauce (always a variation of thousand island dressing), lettuce, tomato, pickles (the kosher dill slices) and red onion. Absolutely wonderful.

And the fries we get are their smash fries which are shoestring size and crispy and tossed with olive oil and fresh rosemary. Doubly wonderful. The fry portion is a good size, too.

I've never gotten and probably will not get anything except a burger but i have ordered their sweet potato fries and i wasn't impressed. They also have milkshakes made from Haagen Daz ice cream which we will treat ourselves to in the near future.

And another plus is that our 2 burgers and large order of fries with tax is always just about $10. This is because after every visit i fill out a short online survey and this gives me a code which entitles me to a free order of fries on our next visit.

Super wonderful.

Its located in the Crossroads shopping center on Grant and Swan.