Opine Away

Nah….

Weak story, mediocre acting, too unclear action scenes,  Blade Runner wannabe city scenes, some light Parkour action, nothing really hits the target.

Vin Diesel needs a strong movie to shine; he can’t hold a movie on his own. I’m not saying anything bad about him, he’s gone a long way from being a bouncer in NYC to what he is, and had some great films as XXX, Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick, even Find Me Guilty, but they all supported him with a good story – the ones that didn’t, like The Pacifier, even The Fast and the Furious (don’t jump on me, fans) were showing that without a good story it doesn’t hold well with Vin.

In this movie, even my favorite Michelle Yeoh couldn’t shine…  The action scenes are shot in an “artistic” way that makes it very difficult to follow, and both Michelle and Vin are kinda wasted because of it… they have a group of guys that I’m sure are good at Parkour (the athletic street running we see lately at movies as James Bond Casino Royal and Die Hard 4) but their jumping around is very unclear, instead of giving us some nice group Parkour action. Gérard Depardieu’s part is so small that there’s no need to even mention it…

So it missed the target, all the way through the ending which I didn’t like either, and some of the scenes that were supposed to be serious moments drew laughter from the audience and I tend to agree – it was a little pretentious for that package to try and bring depth to the story…

Sorry Vin, and really sorry Michelle, I like you guys but this one just didn’t cut it.

L.

Fun and quick one. I made this one up for the kids one day a long time ago  just for fun, and they really liked it, so I guess  I can share…

Ingredients

Chicken  breast – for this I usually use the frozen chicken tenderloins from Costco (well, when I originally made them it was called Price Club….), but it can be made from any chicken breast. Cut to cubes about 1” in size, or whatever floats you boat…

Garlic – 2 cloves, sliced

Olive oil

Ketchup

Dry oregano (in the spices section if you need an explanation…). I’m not sure why I used oregano (probably whatever was in front of me), but it came out good…. You can modify of course, use dry basil, or pizza dry mixed herbs.

Black pepper to taste.  If spicy is good, you can use a little hot red pepper (powder) as Cayenne or similar.

Preparation

Fry the garlic a little in a pan with the olive oil (30 seconds, no more cuase it gets bitter) to get the flavor into the oil, add the chicken and fry until it starts to get white on the outside (real quick). Add some Ketchup, Dry Oregano, black/red pepper to taste, stir on a small flame for a couple of minutes and serve.

Serving

Now that’s up to you.  It can be good with just bread or garlic bread, rice, pasta…. You should know what your kids like…or you… slice some tomatos and cucambers on the side.

L.

 I like Jason Statham… you know, Transporter, Crank, Snatch, Lock Stock… yeah, he’s cool.

The movie starts with what gave me the feeling this is going to be bad… like a cheap bad acting movie… but it becomes a surprisingly entertaining movie.

Good action, maybe a little confusing at times, cool characters, Jason I already mentioned, Ian McShane definitely building on his HOB’s Deadwood coolness, Natalie  Martinez is hot in a Latino-convict-rough-bimboish way….Joan Allen is doing her job, not much to claim fame there.

Funny lines, rough action, a few maybe a little too gory scenes, Jason takes off his shirt a few time for you girls (OK, I was impressed too, the man is built nice…) , coolness prevails, bad gets what it was asking for (no spoilers, it’s not a movie that surprise you much)…

One thing that bothered me (has nothing to do with the movie), as it happens many times, is that there was a mother that brought her son to this movie. He was no more than 10 years old. Come on… this movie is rated R, but also there is no question is you read anything or saw any preview that this movie is violent to the extreme.  He was also 60 pounds overweight. Just great parenting.

So, fun movie, violent so don’t say I didn’t say so, go and see…

L.

Well, I’m not Creole… but like spicy food…

The story starts with me fishing with the kids at Lake Hopatcong (great place). We’ve been there before, and last time I made seafood pasta with the fish we got (maybe I’ll write about it sometime…). This time, the last fish of the day was a small catfish my son got, so I got the idea to make catfish Jambalaya.

I fileted all the fish we caught (mixed, including the catfish) and got some shrimp. Shrimp were peeled with only tale on (uncooked of course), and fish pieces cut small, probably 2” in size, maybe less. Play with it - no rules…

You can use any seafood. Catfish, white fish, shrimp, clams, mussels, whatever. Clams and mussels cook before adding…

Ingredients:

Seafood – as described above. I used mixed fish including catfish cut to 1-2” pieces and shrimp. Pound to two of fish, 20 shrimp, depending on how many people and if you want leftovers…

Vegetables – two large onions, 3-4 celery sticks, red bell peppers, all diced. I also added mushrooms (cut to ½” pieces), carrots (handful of carrot “strings” from a precut bag) and 3 small tomatoes, diced.

Garlic – 4-5 cloves , sliced.

Bacon – 4-5 strips cut to small pieces (1/2”x1/2”).

Butter – half a stick.

Spices – Cayenne pepper, Smoked Habanero (you can find it at www.davesgourmet.com ), Black Pepper, a little sage and thyme, salt, flat tablespoon chicken soup powder, flat tablespoon onion soup powder (Israeli brands soup powders are a good choice for that, get in Israeli stores or www.parkeastkosher.com ).

Cooked rice to serve it on.

Scallion, chopped, to add on top when serving.

Preparation:

I used a deep large Teflon heavy pan – chose your weapons as you like… Fry the bacon pieces until starts to get crispy, then pull them out leaving the fat behind. Add the butter,  and when melted add the onions and sauté them (well, actually fry them…) a little until starts softening, then add celery and bell pepper, carrots and mushrooms (and whatever vegetables you’d like to add, up to you…). Sauté it for a few minutes until starts to looks it’s cooking. Add Garlic.

Add spices and soup powders and tomatoes  and mix for another minute or two.  Push to the sides making a free spaces in the middle and put in the fish pieces, fry until cooked a little, move aside, add shrimp and fry until starts to get pink, put back the bacon pieces, mix gently all together. Add about two cups of water and mix gently. Let cook a little until the liquid looks a little thick. Cover and cook for a few more minutes.

Serving

Put rice layer on the dish. Put some Jambalaya on top. Put some cut scallions on top. Eat.

I love cooking and love eating good food. I’m not pretending to be an expert (at anything) but I’m getting good feedback and repeat “customers” (well, free helps too…).

I’m going to write here whatever recipes come to mind, or I make. I’m not accurate with anything I cook – it’s a matter of what I have at home, what seems right and taste good – no real rules, measurements or strict ingredients. If you need cooking instructions that are accurate and you can’t deviate from the written instructions, you’ll probably have a little hard time with it… but I’ll try to always give alternatives, hints and tips about stuff… if you’re not enjoying cooking, and not enjoying experimenting with cooking,  please don’t bother.

L.

Eh…

This is the third Mummy movie. The first one was great and fun to watch. The second was becoming redundant. For the third, they worked hard to make it different, and they actually did a good job in both preserving the theme and refreshing the content… but…

To me, everything felt off – Jet Lee’s fighting was not great (did he gain weight? Hmmm…), Brendan Fraser was nothing more than his usual nitwit (but of course they made sure he takes off his shirt and shows us why he was George of the Jungle…), the rest were just as flat… except of course to Michelle Yeoh, who brings class to any movie, even the worst kung-fu ones she was in … she just looks and radiates that… (yeah, I think she’s cool if you missed that).

The movie’s dialogs are pretty lame, some scenes seems detached from the previous one, but with all that, it is a still a fun movie to watch, with changing locations and a real adventure, some scary-for-kids (in the right amount) scenes that will keep them locked to the screen, good looking animated creatures and some reasonable fighting and action scenes… probably with better editing and improvement on dialogs could’ve been a much better movie…

So, go and see it as a fun movie to see…. (e.g. Don’t look for the deep meaning of life and immortality and its implications of living in a modern society in a Mummy movie with Brandon Fraser…).

Yes, just go and have fun…

L.

Go for dessert or to sit and chat over coffee….

http://www.cafelalo.com/

201 W 83rd St

New York, NY 10024

(212) 496-6031

Map

Lalo is a noisy little café with a huge selection of desserts, good coffee, nice selection of breakfast and brunch items, full bar and a great atmosphere…

Don’t expect to have lunch or dinner here (no meat on the menu)… this is a place to have dessert or eat a breakfast/lunch, go before or after a show or for dessert after dinner for sitting and chatting, or when you just crave for a dessert…

Opine Away rating of Café Lalo:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.

Great trailer – not so much the movie… (and the name is Tropic Thunder, not Tropical Thunder…)

Click For Trailer

So here’s the skinny on this one. Robert Downey Jr is funny as you can see in the trailer. Tom Cruise’s character is funny mostly because it’s so not Cruise, and once I saw him under all the makeup, I was a little thrown off because his cockiness showed (“I’m so hilarious you’ll all laugh and say I was the star of the movie” in his eyes). Ben Stiller is being Ben Stiller and if you like him in other movies, you’ll like him here. Same goes to Jack Black… Some jokes are funny, many many others are not…

I don’t argue with its first week success ($40m or so first week are tough to argue with…), but I believe it will crash soon, as it runs out of people who rushed to see it because of the very very funny trailer, and be replaced by people not going because they heard from their friends….

What I don’t get is how all critics raved about it. I’d say that the main reason is because they are kissing all the stars’ butts – you can’t write a bad review about a movie with such an overwhelming critical mass of mega stars if it’s not cutting it? Chickens. The funny thing is that I didn’t see any of them smart reviewers writing a bad review just to look different…. Mega chickens…

My bottom line is that you shouldn’t go see it unless you’re a huge Stiller or Black fan. RDJ’s acting can be seen in the trailer, which captures the main takes… the trailer even has a scene that’s not in the movie with Stiller…

I’d use the PR guys that did the job for this movie if I was doing one and had the budget… it is amazing how they got it to make so much money in the first week/weekend (two days to go as I write this, so a full week is assumed). As my sister like to say “it’s all marketing”.

L.

A movie theater full of Elvis Costellos.

I’m not that old, but I did see the old version as a kid, even though it was considered an old movie when I did (hehehe – confusing you with my real age now?). Has nothing to do with this one.

This movie is all about the 3D. And I must say, the 3D looks great.  It’s a great effect, and fun to watch, and even better since we all look like Elvis Costello with these glasses on:

Brendan Fraser looks his Brendan Frasery as always. His best casting was for George of the Jungle, hitting the trees was exactly what he looks like he’ll do, and I’ll keep it at that. I do admit I really liked his role in Blast from the Past, but I can blame Christopher Walken’s influence on that…

Josh Hutcherson is doing a good job (which his role in Bridge to Terabithia will always make me sad when thinking of it), Anita Briem (who? Exactly) is OK…

I find it a far cry from Jules Verne’s spirit of the story if you are looking for it…

This is a fun movie to watch, action/adventure with good scenes, but I’d say that if it wasn’t in 3D, it would have been a disappointing movie, too flat and kind of predictable… The 3D takes it the one step over the threshold of recommendation… so go see it in the theatre… it is not going to fly with home DVD  in 2D or low level 3D (color glasses) at home, so it’s either now or never…

L.

The picture is not a mirror image, that’s the way the sign is…

http://www.nohostar.com/

330 Lafayette St
New York, NY 10012

(212) 925-0070

 Map

The NOHO Star is good food, good service, nice atmosphere, somewhat diner style. We had brunch, steak and egg, served with grits, all were good, fresh OJ was good, coffee was surprisingly good, side bread that we asked for was pretty terrible, soup was good.

Excellent to sit and chat, not too noisy, acoustics are reasonable, no pressure to go away….

Great brunch place….

Opine Away rating of The NOHO Star:

Rating index:  0 – Don’t bother. “-“ - irrelevant.  1 to 10, 10 is best. Price $ to $$$$$

L.