Have you been waiting for the next installment in the Before Sunrise-After Sunset series?? Well, if you have, your wait is over. The new Julie Delpy-Ethan Hawke movie called Before Midnight has arrived. Continue reading “Before Midnight – Movie Review”
Amour . A tough movie that tackles the subject of aging. It’s French. It’s about a loving elderly couple faced with what happens when one suffers a stroke and the downward decline that ensues. It’s as much about the person who’s failing as it is about the caretaker. After all, no one ever thinks about what the caretaker goes through. This movie handles it. It’s an intelligent, thoughtful, heartbreaking piece of work worthy of the awards it has already received. The leading actress, Emmanuelle Riva, nominated for an Oscar (and deserving of it), was in the famous movie Hiroshima, Mon Amour and the actor Jean-Louis Trintignant was in another famous French movie, A Man and a Woman. Isabelle Huppert plays their emotionally barely there and hardly interested daughter.
Why aren’t there any movies about the subject of aging? There are lots of us baby boomers out there dealing with our own mortality or dealing with aging parents. There are movies about being 40, action hero movies, lots of stupid movies for 13 year olds, but no intelligent movies that deal with the subject of aging and the end of life. Granted it’s not an easy subject and I suppose people don’t want to face it or be reminded that it will happen, especially when the reason they’re going to the movies is to be entertained.
Do yourself a favor, go see Amour before it leaves; and then, go see a stupid movie!
After the movie we needed wine and some good food. So with our friends G and B we headed over to Abigail’s. I’ve reviewed Abigail’s in the past. It’s on Third Street in Cambridge where there’s a lot going on. We immediately ordered wine, which we desperately needed and took a look at the menu. We had so much on the table we couldn’t fit anything else on it if we tried. As with our last visit, we loved the restaurant.
See you at the bar…..
OK, not even a brush, but a brush by. Edward Burns, actor, director and producer. I love his movies; they are small independent films, some better than others, his best being his first, The Brothers McMullen. Anyway, he’s heading up the cast of a new movie about Derek Sanderson. Remember him? Highest paid hockey player in the NFL in the 70’s; bad boy who made a dive bomb and finally lost it all. But now he’s back with an autobiography and a movie called “Turk”. Continue reading “My Brush with Celebrity”
Say New York and what comes to mind? For me it’s a few things. Broadway, shopping, museums, people, uptown, downtown, and….. FOOD!!
See that hot pastrami sandwich. That’s just half of the sandwich. We arrived in New York and the first thing we did was ask where the nearest deli was. New York is synonymous with the word deli. Even though we’re all eating healthier now, there’s nothing better that a hot pastrami on fresh rye, some good half sours and slaw and for Roy a Cel-Ray or Dr. Brown’s cream soda.
A movie and dinner. A perfect way to spend Christmas Eve with L and M.
The movie – Rust and Bone. A Belgian-French film. It’s a complex love story, tough but riveting. It left us sitting in our seats for a few minutes because we had to digest what we’d just seen. It’s not a kid’s movie. Marion Cotillard plays a woman who trains killer whales and is involved in an accident at a marineland in Antibes, France in which she loses both legs. She has to learn how to deal with her new reality. Enter a man she has previously met in a bar who’s a kick-boxer and struggling to find work and support a son. Together they seem to find a common ground and without giving anything away, this is the basic story. It is directed by Jacques Audiard who also directed The Prophet, another complex movie that if you haven’t seen, you should. Continue reading “Christmas Eve 2012”
Before I get to the restaurant review, I’m going to give you a movie review. Go see Searching for Sugar Man. It’s a documentary about a musician from Detroit in the early ’70’s whose name is Rodriguez, poised to be the next big thing a la Bob Dylan, putting out beautiful music but he never did become the next big thing. Instead, he disappeared and became the biggest rock ‘n roll star in South Africa without his even knowing it. A lot of legend surrounded him and I won’t give anything away but can tell you, that you’ll be applauding at the end of the movie, I promise. Two thumbs up from 2 at the bar!
East by Northeast is a tiny storefront restaurant in the Inman Square neighborhood of Cambridge, MA. It’s got all the hype, it’s on everyone’s “Best Of” list and it was noted in the New York Times “36 hours in Cambridge” article. All for good reason. It’s putting out big flavors. It’s Chinese fusion; everything is locally sourced. And, there’s no white rice so don’t ask for it! It’s tapas-like, small plates meant to be shared. Everything is made from scratch and that includes the most delicious noodles. On our table were:
Does that sound good? It was! The food is delicious, the sauces are rich and it’s not terribly expensive. But be prepared, if the restaurant is crowded, it’s really, really loud. At the table with us our pals B and G and the four of us loved the restaurant (and the movie!)
We topped the evening off with a walk down the street for ice cream from Christina’s which has some of the best ice cream around and that’s saying a lot for a city that takes it’s ice cream seriously. We begged for them to please let us in because they were just closing up. Lucky us, they did open their doors and we finished off the evening in ice cream heaven!
I’m a little late in blogging this week. That doesn’t mean we didn’t eat well last weekend. Quite the opposite! Two nights of eating out and two good restaurants.
Meeting friends on Friday night, West on Centre in West Roxbury was the perfect midway point. One side of the restaurant is a large open dining space, with a freestanding bar in front of the kitchen which is enclosed in glass so you can see what’s going on. The other side of the restaurant is a busy bar scene! And, Centre Street itself has become a restaurant row. Continue reading “A Good Eating Weekend…and more!”
Yesterday afternoon we saw Jiro Dreams of Sushi, a documentary about Jiro Ono the owner of Sukiyabashi a sushi only restaurant universally regarded as the best sushi restaurant in the world. The restaurant, inconspicuously located in a Tokyo subway station, has only 10 seats and a dinner there costs a minimum of $350 per person. People come from around the globe and call months in advance for reservations. Jiro who is 85 years old has no signs of slowing down. It was a fascinating movie and we will never look at sushi in the same way. Continue reading “A Movie and Abigail’s”
