Movie review: Spectre

Spectre has a difficult act to follow (besides being spelled the odd British way).  Skyfall (the previous movie) was generally recognized as one of the best James Bond movies, certainly of recent vintage.  Spectre is a solid but not spectacular addition to the Bond series.  The plot is interesting in the sense that you see a little bit more of Bond’s past and see the emergence of Blofeld and Spectre unfold (for those who have seen the older Bond movies).  Daniel Craig is his usual suave and professional self as James Bond.  Andrew Scott (known to “Sherlock” fans as Moriarty) makes an appearance, and Ralph Fiennes reprises his role as the new M.  Oh, and my favorite, the newish Q, also makes an appearance and has a larger role than Q does most of the time.
Bond returns to driving an Aston-Martin, as he should (product placement notwithstanding).  And libertarians the world over should rejoice at the movie’s theme of over-reaching surveillance by world governments and the loss of privacy, freedom, and individual liberties.
That being said, it was a good movie—one well worth the time to watch.  The family gives it two thumbs up!

Movie review: Mission Impossible Rogue Nation

The upside (if you can call it that) of being snowed in with 30 inches of snow is that you can gather for family movie night every night of Snowzilla (as long as school is cancelled the next day, of course).  We resumed Snowzilla movie watching with Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation.  I am generally a fan of the franchise, even though it’s not anything like the television series, which I loved growing up.  I am also a huge fan of Jeremy Renner but a less than huge fan of Tom Cruise, whom I tolerate because the movies have been pretty entertaining.
The best thing I can say about this movie is that it is highly mediocre.  (Actually, the best thing I can say about this movie is that Ving Rhames makes a return for (a little bit) longer than 5 minutes.)  I do wonder whether Tom Cruise was so worried that Jeremy Renner might upstage him (which he came close to doing in the last movie) that the writers carefully crafted a plot that allowed Jeremy Renner to do nothing but play the ineffective bureaucrat with no action scenes to be had.  Alex Baldwin plays a jacka— CIA director, which is probably not a huge acting stretch for him.  And most attempts at comedic dialogue in the movie fall flat.
Otherwise, the movie is a grand tribute to Tom Cruise (did I mention I wasn’t a fan?) with a limited plot and unimpressive special effects.  I will say that the best scene in the movie was the one with the British Prime Minister and contained clever dialogue and ingenious plot twists.  Other than that, the movie was completely unimpressive in every way (but not horrible, just mediocre).

Movie review: The Martian

The book is on our to-be-read list, but 30 inches of impending snowfall seemed like a good excuse to watch this movie.  And a bit to my surprise, it was excellent!  Matt Damon obviously carries the movie, although there are strong supporting performances throughout by all the actors.  (It was especially nice to see Sean Bean in a role where you were reasonably certain he was not going to die.)  Who would have thought that such a geeky concept like success in growing potatoes in your own compost would be so compelling?  Somehow, in this movie, it is.
I also like the fact that [spoiler alert] there are no casualties in this movie.  I was certain there would be when a member of the astronaut crew mentioned his child’s impending 3rd birthday.  (In most movies, that is a sure sentence of death.)  This movie managed to be suspenseful and compelling without any explosions (to speak of) and no body count.  Hollywood should take note.  (Although I do like cartoonish violent movies.)
The family gave this movie an enthusiastic two thumbs up!
Now off to read the book…

Westside Story (Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia)

Westside Story is one of our favorite musicals, and we jumped at an opportunity to see it performed at a small, intimate theatre just outside of DC. It was well worth going to see. Putting aside the fact that we appeared to be the youngest attendees by a good 10+ years (and we are NOT young, as much as we’d like to think otherwise), it was a very enjoyable production.

Signature Theatre is an intimate theatre (it seats around 300), so there is no such thing as a bad seat.

Westside Story, like all musicals, has some challenges with respect to casting. You need two strong female leads, a strong male lead with some strong secondary male voices, and the ensemble needs to know how to both sing and dance. Given the size of the stage at Signature, my guess is that the choreography was also a bit challenging.

The leads, Tony and Maria, were excellent in their singing. Anita was also strong in both singing and dancing. The rest of the cast also was excellent, although I thought their dancing was slightly stronger than their singing. (I also thought about the fact that the female dancers did everything the male dancers did, only in heels. Additional comments omitted.)

The only criticism we had was at the end, during the emotional climax of the story. The scene when Maria reacts to Tony’s death and the conflict between the Jets and Sharks was painful to watch. And not painful as it should be when watching a heart-wrenching emotional moment kind of painful either. Painful in that it lasted too long and was a little off-kilter for whatever reason.

Nonetheless, it was a production that overall was well done and well worth watching.

Note: I would have put in a spoiler alert, but since the first performance of Westside Story was in 1957, I didn’t think it was necessary.

 

Restaurant review: Kinship (Washington, DC)

Kinship is a newly opened restaurant in Washington, DC. The chef-owner is Eric Ziebold (formerly of French Laundry and CityZen) and his wife, Celia Laurent. We have been huge fans of Eric’s cooking since his CityZen days and have been looking forward to his opening up his own restaurant for months.

The menu is organized a little differently than most restaurant menus. There are four main categories: Craft, History, Ingredients, and Indulgence. Under these categories, the first two entries are generally appetizer-sized, the next two entries are entrée-sized, and the last entry is dessert. (I have heard complaints from some diners about this, but I’m not sure how you would read “Bahibe Chocolate Tart” and assume it’s anything but a dessert.) I also love menus that include desserts so that I can decide whether to save a lot of or a little room for the course. (Notice that I did not say save no room.) 🙂

There is a fifth category called “For the Table.” Hopefully, this category is self-explanatory, as it consists of dishes ample enough for the entire table to share.

Our group started off with the following appetizers (and there were thumbs up from all the diners):

Oeuf à la Brick au Thon (feuille de brick fried egg, tuna confit, and sweet pepper marmalade)

oeuf a la brick au thon

oeuf a la brick au thon

Aoyagi Clams (yuzu, shitake tempura, baby bok choy, and garlic fried rice)

aoyagi clams

aoyagi clams

Blue Fin Toro Sashimi (sweet, sour, salty,and spicy flavors); and

blue fin toro sashimi

blue fin toro sashimi

Path Valley Farms Sunchokes (clementine segments, toasted pepitas, and cilantro chimichurri)

path valley farms sunchokes

path valley farms sunchokes

Entrees included:

Seared Muscovy Duck (napa cabbage, peanuts, honeycrisp apples, and fermented black beans)

seared muscovy duck

seared muscovy duck

Salt Crusted Dorade (with roasted cauliflower, raisins, honey-saffron sauce, and orzo) from the “For the Table” menu; and

salt crusted dorade

salt crusted dorade

orzo

orzo

Elysian Fields Farm Lamb (sweet pepper stew and Anson Mills grits), also from the “For the Table” menu

elysian fields farm lamb

elysian fields farm lamb

grits

grits

Desserts (with no photos) were:

Sticky Toffee Pudding (with Meyer lemon marmalade, fig membrillo butterscotch, and Earl Grey ice cream); and

Valrhona Guanaja Custard Cake (with pecan nduja, espelette caramel, pralines ‘n’ cream ice cream).  (This was wonderfully decadent, and I’m not even that fond of chocolate!)

The food was fabulous (as expected with Eric at the helm). Service was very good, but the timing of the kitchen is still a bit off. We had a lengthy wait between the time we placed our order and the time the appetizers came out. In addition, if you want the Kinship Roast Chicken, it’s an hour wait, so if you know you want it, then place the order when you sit down. There is also a wait for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Souffle so order it with the main meal if it’s your dessert of choice. That being said, we expect these kinks to be ironed out with time.

The space is very interesting—it’s spare and minimalist. There are a couple of alcoves with tables, and these are definitely the best seats for both sound and comfort.

And, finally, a disclosure: we are very minor investors in Kinship.

Kinship is located at 1015 7th St, NW, Washington, DC 20001 (www.kinshipdc.com).

Book review: The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye

The Far PavilionsThe Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have long been a fan of M. M. Kaye’s books and had an opportunity to re-read this one, as it recently became available in e-book form. I had forgotten how beautiful a book it is. The author’s experience living in India gives the book a ring of authenticity. The book is a lengthy one and traces each main character’s back story before pulling all of the disparate threads together in one story. And what a story! The main character is Ash Pelhem-Martyn, who is pulled in two directions as a member of the British upper class who grew up thinking he was Indian. The author is knowledgeable about Indian life and customs and interweaves the romance with the British rule in India and Afghanistan. The novel has an epic narrative sweep without the sensationalism that often accompanies those types of novels, and the author’s prose is compelling and readable.
I rarely give 5 stars for a book, but I give that rating to this book without hesitation. If historical fiction is a genre you appreciate, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Read it now! 🙂

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