5 Word Movie Reviews

Here we go:

Stardust - fantasy plus comedy equals winner
Charlie Wilson's War - good movie, and hoffman rules
Simpson's Movie - decent funny 2 hour episode
Spiderman 3 - what? less dance more venom
Live Free or Die Hard - surprisingly kick ass, yippee kiyaye

I made a coconut soup last night. not quite the soup from noodles and co. i was going for, but oh well:

2 cups vegetable broth
1 can lite coconut milk
2/3 block of tofu cubed
1/4 of an onion chopped
1 cup nappa cabbage chopped
1 T soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp ginger
1 clove garlic minced
3-4 T lime juice (to taste)
1 tsp sriracha
cilantro
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 T curry powder (or to taste)
1/2 tomato sliced
rice noodles cooked, rinsed, and kept in drainer

Cook onion, garlic, and ginger for 2 minutes over medium heat. Add curry powder, coat. add the rest of the ingredients (except cilantro) and simmer for 15 minutes or so. Taste to make sure flavors combined, add anything that is missing.

Put noodles in the bottom of bowl and ladle soup over top. Put cilantro on top to garnish.

Enjoy!

Golden Compass for $12 in NYC

Alana and I spent the last week in NYC. There is so much vegetarian food it's impossible to hit it all. Our favorites were Red Bamboo and Cafe Lan. Red Bamboo has all of your favorites in mock form: cajun shrimp. bbq ribs, roasted chicken, fish sticks, the list goes on and on. The shrimp tasted pretty damn close (well if you've been a vegetarian for 11 years at least) and my ribs were smoky and meaty, if not the "same" as a real rib. Cafe Lan is a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant whose owners are Buddhist. The food here was out of this world. Their BBQ Tempeh was crisp and tender, and the Papaya salad is out of this world - Not to mention the fact that entrees will only run you $8-$10, which isn't too shabby for New York.

We saw the Golden Compass as well. The story was engrossing and it was well made, but the editing and story flow were rushed and choppy. Alas I haven't read the book, and I'm afraid that will increase the disappointment level. All in all it was entertaining, and seeing a giant polar bear mosh some bad guys rates right up there with top bad ass film moments of the year.

It was a Death Metal Coen Brothers Kind of Week

Alana and I went to the Faceless/Arsis/Enslaved show at the Bluebird Theater on Wednesday. All 3 bands were good. Faceless sound was a bit muddy to me, I couldn't make out the high end. They were talented, but it wasn't anything that got me excited. Arsis killed, I hadn't listened to much of them (and by much I mean a cursory glance at their Myspace page, oh I'm so ashamed). Let's just say I picked up "United in Regret" as soon as I could. Very talented musicians, good stage presence, and smoking riffs. Enslaved was dark, and surprisingly catchy but their stage setup was weird, their amps were pointed towards the center of the stage, which made it next to impossible to hear the 2nd guitar. All I could make out was a little bit of drums, lead guitar, and some vocals. That aside, they were really good, the cold weather outside was a perfect backdrop for their Nordic darkness.

Friday we caught No Country for Old Men at the Mayan. What a terrific film. It was exciting, tense, well written, well acted, and a thinker. You can't ask for much more than that. It's definitely one of my top movies this year behind The Santa Clause 3.

Starz Film Fest: Being Michael Madsen & Jump!

In finishing the round of movies we caught at the Starz Denver Film Festival we saw Being Michael Madsen and Jump!. BMM is a mockumentary about a paparazzi photographer who accuses Madsen of murdering an actress and Madsen subsequently hiring a documentary film crew to follow the Paparazzi photographer. The other film was Jump! about competitive jump roping.

BMM was a pretty funny movie, some of the acting was a bit stilted and there were quite a few floating heads, but all in all it was an entertaining watch. Most entertaining was the Q&A where the director talked about how much he hates documentaries. It made the movie all that more enjoyable.

Jump! follows the same formula as Mad Hot Ballroom and Spellbound, but with competitive jump roping. This is a feel good movie that would be fun to watch with the family, and a good way to introduce the kids to documentaries, but it wasn't anything earth shattering.

Thanksgiving was great, I made my Sweet Potato Chipotle Soup, Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ Caramelized Onions and Alana made smashed red potatoes with chili peppers and dry jack cheese (a recipe from Bon Appetit). We also had a Tofurky. It was all very delicious.

Here's the Brussels Sprouts Recipe, I know Brussels Sprouts are usually nasty, but these are really good, seriously:

~15 Brussels Sprouts sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
1 vidalia onion
2 T olive oil (for roasting brussels sprouts)
1 T butter + 1 T oil (for caramelizing onions)
1 T brown sugar
1 carrot sliced
salt & pepper

Heat an oven to 375 degrees. Toss Brussels Sprouts and Carrots in oil, salt and pepper. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray and pour sprouts and carrots onto it. Roast for 30-45 min. (Depending on how brown you want them.)

While Brussels Sprouts are roasting, Melt butter and combine with oil in a pan w/ a decent surface area over medium heat. After the onions start to soften and release their juices stir in the brown sugar. Leave onions in pan stirring occasionally until caramelized. Pull Brussels Sprouts when finished, salt again and combine in pan w/ onions once they are finished.

Starz Film Fest: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead & Forfeit

I saw Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead on Tuesday. For the most part this was a terrific movie - Phillip Seymour Hoffman is one of the great actors of our time. The story is a dark caper gone awry tragedy depress fest that is riveting until it becomes a blunt object beating you over the head with one horrific situation after another. Barring that it is a great work by Lumet.

Tonight we saw Forfeit by Andrew Shea. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this, the ballots I saw coming out yesterday mostly gave it 4's and 5's out of 5, but there were some 2's thrown in there as well. I gave this one a 5. This dark comedic thriller had the perfect blend of clever dialogue, a serpentine story line, good acting, and dark religious psychosis. Yes. Andrew Shea was humble during the Q&A session, and almost seemed in denial and dismissive about the praise he was being given from those in the audience. There is no US distribution yet, but hopefully there will be. Look for this one in a video store near you.

Vintage

Classic Star Wars toy commercial. The best is when the kid yells "RAAAHR!"

Recipe for Pumpkin Ravioli w/ Cremini Mushrooms tomorrow. Also, I'll have a full review of Sydney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Short review - good if you want to: see another fine Philip Seymour Hoffman performance, see Marisa Tomei's boobs, and be depressed.

Starz Film Fest: Juncture

I caught Juncture last night at the Starz/Denver Film Fest. James Seale seemed very proud and confident in his work when introducing the film and when he was doing the Q&A. I guess you have to stand by your product no matter what.

The plot was a simple person taking revenge on society affair, this time it was Anna (Kristine Blackport) an executive director of a children's foundation who is diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. In her final days Anna turns into child victim vigilante and sets out to get rid of child molesters, abusers, drunk drivers, and the like. Had I gone into this thinking of it more as a B movie and if I had the ability to overlook Blackport's shoddy acting this would have been more entertaining. However, it had the feel of a souped up tv production from high school and it never really left that state for me.

I'm curious about the selection of Blackport, especially since 6,000 actresses applied for the role. I guess they can't all be winners. On the plus side, the film was made almost entirely in Denver and featured local actors. Anne's brain freeze scenes where she sees the ghosts of her victims were also well directed, even if they were contrived. I tore the 2 on the ballot for this one - and that was a 2 of 5.

Hopefully I'll get into Sydney Lumet's new movie Before the Devil Knows You're Dead tonight. Also on the docket this week: Being Michael Madsen, Jump!, and Forfeit.