Hair of the Cat

Sisterhood of the Travelling Watch

Please don't see Tic/Mob Rules.  (The UK version is called Tic; for some reason they gave it a completely forgettable name for the US release.) I only watched it to see my Daniele Favilli.  Apparently director Kevin Parmer believes he's the next Guy Ritchie, with a little Tarantino tossed in for verbose measure.  Just a typical mob-revenge type film, except with too much dialogue and too many attempts at humour.  It's like Reservoir Dogs in the last scene except, you know, not good. 

Crossing fingers that Favilli's next English film is better, but I'm not holding my breath.

P.S. The "Travelling Watch" is in the film.  In fact there is a mild obsession with watches among many of the characters.

Miscellany

Good Eats & Bad Movie:

I briefly knew Halifax's local "celebrity chef," Ray Bear, when we were little kids.  He's had a couple ups and downs with his career over the past few years but things finally seem to be settling down for him.  His new restaurant is called Mix, and I went with some co-workers a couple of weeks ago for a goodbye lunch (not for me, I haven't gone anywhere).  Despite reading mostly negative reviews online I was pleasantly surprised by the decor, the attentive wait staff and the food.  Will definitely be returning.  If only they had more pasta on the menu ...

Mike and I went to Rocco's recently as well.  It's an upscale Italian restaurant in an awful neighbourhood, but they're worth the risk.  ;-)  We decided to try their pepper steak and it was very, very good.  Too much sauce but otherwise very good.  The mashed potato was pear-shaped and coated with some sort of crunchy flour batter.  Creative and tasty.  

Rented The Town last night, starring and directed by Ben Affleck.  What a yawner!  Out of a two-hour film I believe there are maybe 20 minutes where anything happens other than characters revealing depressing aspects of their lives.  Cry me a river.   It's about a bunch of bank robbers in Charlestown, MA (which is supposed to mean something I guess 'cause they harp on this fact) who take and release a hostage, and of course Ben falls for her and he wants out of the bank-robbing business but of course they won't let him leave and blah blah blah. 

I much prefer Matt Damon.

Inception & Grown-Ups

A couple of weeks ago Mike and I saw Inception and Grown-Ups. Inception was, of course, fabulous. Great actors, great writing, great effects, great story. We loved it. But Grown-Ups ...

Imagine you are a fashion designer (Salma Hayek) and your work is being showcased in Milan. Now imagine not attending your own show because your husband (Adam Sandler) and his friends from junior high are spending a weekend in a little cottage to remember their basketball coach from 30 years ago. Imagine discovering your husband had cancelled your trip before you'd even agreed to spend said weekend in a cottage with a bunch of bare acquaintances. Imagine being okay with it all after spending exactly 30 seconds on a dock listening to people make asinine confessions.

Imagine almost two hours of a "comedy" with no comedy. I dozed through the final "big" scene (another basketball game, of course). Mike loved it. He found something to laugh at, believe it or not.

So just see Inception.