Vantage Point and Ole' Ole'

We knew VANATGE POINT was an action flick, and so we weren't expecting much from it otherwise. Part of the way through the movie, however, we found ourselves being pleased by how cleverly the story was being told. It was like riding an amusement park ride over and over again except that it was still not predictable on the fourth ride. This movie kept me in my seat when I normally might have visited the snack bar.

The cast was attractive, the acting was convincing, the action was intense, the camera work was interestingly unusual, the plot line was creative enough -- but at some point late in the show the whole thing "jumped-the-shark."

Without revealing too much about the storyline I will say that at about the halfway mark in the show I thought the subtly stated message of the movie was going to be "things are not always as they appear." But by the end, I felt like I was being force-fed the message that "John Wayne is not dead." One man with a gun, a car, and enough righteous anger can overcome the laws of physics and physiology as applied to car crashes, foot pursuit, gunfights, and even time. One man is all that is needed to conquer evil (no matter how sophisticated and well-prepared are the bad guys). And if good, honest, well-meaning Americans were to assist in anyway possible, go the extra mile, and help until it might hurt, they will find that everything works out well in the end and they will be unscathed and happy.

After eating too much popcorn at the movie, we both had salads at OLE' OLE' and found that to be the perfect amount. I highly recommend their Cobb Salad for the excellent taste and more than adequate volume. Audrey had a Ceasar Salad that was nothing more than a bowl of lettuce - sufficient for her that night, but nothing special.

DVDs Briefly

Even Money: three plot-lines intersect as people find themselves involved in gambling problems. Small twist at the end is mildly interesting. Cast is far better than the movie. No real sympathy for any of the characters. Maybe it was a good book, not such a great movie. Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Ray Liota, Tim Roth. Don't bother to rent it.

Rescue Dawn: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn: navy pilot shot down, pow, jungle survival, eventual rescue. Not bad, not great. Not much personality. Maybe rent it.

The Invisible: highly improbable story of high school classes at odds, supernatural elements are interesting, transformation of lead antagonist from thug to sexy beauty feels unbelievable, no real sympathy for the characters involved. Don't bother to rent it.

Next: another stupid movie concept, Nicolas Cage as hero of the most improbable plot line imaginable. Has some mildly interesting action sequences, but the basic premise is so shabby so as to make this movie pretty silly. Maybe rent it if you need a movie playing in the background.

Hairspray: Singing, dancing, chunky girls, John Travolta in drag, 60s hair-styles, Christopher Walken dancing. Everyone else loves this movie. My daughter watched it over and over. I couldn't sit through the whole thing. Rent it for other people to watch -- you will probably love it, too. I didn't.

Deck the Halls: Christmas movie with Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito. The ideas in this movie are funnier than the movie itself. The humor seemed forced and the plot highly contrived. Rent it to watch at Christmas time if you need to fill your empty house with the sound of something but you don't wanna be tied to the screen watching it.

Civic Duty: The star is fun to watch, the plot is creatively simple, kinda represents the paranoid mindset of that might have existed in the minds of some people in the time immediately post-911 WTC attacks. The movie is well done, with a minimal plot that is heavy on character exploration. The star is a study of a man under stress, much like Bruce Dern would have portrayed in the past. Rent this DVD. Get the popcorn and diet coke ready ahead of time.

Ole' Ole' and There Will Be Blood

We had a late Friday lunch (we like to meet-up on Fridays) at OLE' OLE' and ordered our typical "Fajitas for Two". AUDREY ordered steak and STEVE got chicken. As always, the food arrived fast and hot and the flavor was just right for our Gringo palates. It would have been worth the trip just to have the chips and salsa that was brought to our table without asking and free of charge. The salsa was not hot but had a deliciously tangy bite that made it hard to not eat the whole bowl very quickly.

The food was not the only pleasant experience at that restaurant. The service was friendly and efficient. I think the restaurant is family owned and there has been a low turnover rate of servers. We have seen the same servers at work there for years and they know their job well. We highly recommend this restaurant as a very relaxing, casual dining experience. Ole' Ole' is located on the south side of Broward Blvd, just west of Sears in the Broward Mall.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD was critically acclaimed (Daniel Day Lewis is being highly touted) and promised to be a better pick than the current flurry of mindless chick-flix. STEVE would agree that it fulfilled its promise and was an interesting movie. The action was intense and interesting and well-depicted. The acting seemed first-rate. However, he wished that the story had been a little more complete with a fuller depiction of the forces that were, at that time, shaping the future of America. He would have liked to have learned more about Standard Oil and the man behind that burgeoning empire. He was confused by the story, left wondering if it is just the simple story of one man's life and the improbable twists and turns that that life took, or if the film was some sort of allegory for bigger and more meaningful ideas.

Maybe it is trying to depict that crude oil is the "life-blood" of America, and that, for some people, money is of more value than family. Maybe it is trying to show that religion, and/or other service industries, are leeches to the economy and are at the mercy of the real money-makers who generate the infusion of cash upon which they feed. Whatever the intended meaning, it was unsatisfyingly obscure.

AUDREY was a good sport and tolerated the movie (Steve's choice) without complaint. She did no have much to say about it, though, and is still not quite certain what her review will be. She said the movie left her baffled, but that she liked it enough to think about it several times since seeing it.

J Alexanders and P.S. I Love You

ALEXANDER'S: Audrey enjoyed the soup (chicken pasta) and salad (Alex's house) combo while Steve ordered the Cypress Salad. The soup and salad is often just the right amount of food for Audrey, and is one of her favorite items to order. Steve was satisfied with the Cypress Salad, but was less happy with it than other items on the menu.

P.S. I LOVE YOU is a cute "chick flick" that stars Hilary Swank and some other good actors in a story of love and loss and moving on with life. AUDREY and STEVE both admire Swank's acting and enjoyed the movie well enough, but thought that it was flawed. The character played by Harry Connick Jr. was not developed well enough for us to care about him, and the ending of the movie seemed contrived. Steve and Audrey would recommend the show to others, but not enthusiastically, and might suggest waiting to see it on DVD.

Carrabba's and I Am Legend

At CARRABBA'S ITALIAN GRILL we shared a Margarita Pizza, which we found to be both plenty to share and satisfying to our tastes. Audrey also ordered the fired Mozzarella cheese sticks and Steve had a house salad. Overall, the food quality was quite good and the atmosphere was very pleasant. We had chosen to sit at an outside table, adjacent to a parking lot with a view of a busy road beyond. While the sights were not the best, the weather on that night was so pleasant that it more than compensated.

I AM LEGEND was a great show the we both enjoyed and would recommend to others. AUDREY found the action to be a bit alarming and the suspense to be overly intense, and she thinks that she would enjoy it more at a second viewing where she could relax (having already known the outcome). She said that the movie was well made and that Will Smith's performance was great. STEVE enjoyed the surprises and the action and the high production values. He felt that the treatment of the subject was a bit brief and would have liked to have seen a broader depiction of what it would be like for the last living person to explore an unpopulated New York City. Overall, we both liked the movie and are likely to buy the DVD for our personal collection.

Il Mulinos and The Golden Compass

IL MULINO (http://ilmulinofl.com) is one of the first full-service restaurants that we discovered when we moved to Florida seventeen years ago, so it was easy to commemorate our 23rd wedding anniversary while dining there.

Audrey ordered PENNE CONTADINA: Fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, onions & fresh mozzarella and Steve had FILETTO Beef tenderloin, mushrooms & mozzarella, side of rigatoni in a Porcini mushroom cream sauce & sausage. The service was efficient, if a bit brisk. The food was tasty and plentiful. One small complaint: the garlic rolls were so spicy hot that they were almost inedible.

For us, the occasion so overshadowed the meal that a good experience was guaranteed. A more objective evaluation of our food would rank it as somewhat less than we had hoped for, however.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS is a movie made from a book that AUDREY had read, so she was eager to see it. She said that the movie stayed true to the book and that she found them both entertaining. "I liked the book -- I did not love the book" she said. She was grateful that the movie sanitized the story, somewhat, by removing objectionable material dealing with children suffering at the hands of adults. Audrey is a Nicole Kidman fan and was impressed by her performance.

STEVE enjoyed the high quality of the special effects and battle-action, but the storyline in the middle scenes was not enough to overcome my sleep-deprivation. Even though my wife later informed me of the important plot-twist that I had missed during a brief nap, I found the movie much less interesting than The Lord of the Rings and Narnia. This show seemed to me to be a mixture of those two with some Harry Potter thrown in. While I did not hate The Golden Compass, I am not likely to return to the inevitable sequel.

J Alexanders and George and the Dragon (dvd)

J ALEXANDER'S (one of our favoriate restaurants, see 20 Oct 07 post): Audrey ordered the Chicken Salad sandwich (another favorite of hers) and Steve ordered the Grilled Chicken Salad. Because it is a salad it might sound small or not filling. But the truth is that it is a salad that is large in volume and large in taste, as it comes piled high and filled with many many wonderful ingredients such as thinly sliced chicken breast, feta cheese, olives, tomatoes, tortilla strips with fresh herb vinaigrette dressing. [J Alexander's menu can be seen at the following websight: http://www.jalexanders.com/locations/menu/plantation.pdf]

GEORGE AND THE DRAGON: We didn't really see anything in the theaters that we wanted to watch (mostly violent movies, rated R, or otherwise seemingly uninteresting) so we rented a video. George and the Dragon is rated PG and the star (James Purefoy) is a very likable, if relatively unknown, actor that you may recognize as the disguised Prince Edward in A Knight's Tale. This dvd selection proved to be a great family movie that we could easily watch with our 14 and 7 year old daughters. The plot is a clever twist on the old familiar theme of St George slaying a dragon. There is some implied violence but it is all very sanitized in the depiction. There is no vulgar language or immodest/immoral dressing or behavior. The show is filled with a fair amount of humor that will be pleasing to most all ages.

So the movie is not the best movie and the acting is not the finest acting that you will ever see, but it is a great alternative to mind-numbing and spirit-sapping "action" or "horror" flicks that are currently in the theaters.