More Noodles Than You Can Shake a Chopstick At
By bukkhead | August 7, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW: ‘ZAO’
Address: 2630 NE University Village Street
Cuisine: Pan-Asian
Every time I go to Zao, I get the same thing: the Shanghai Beef and Chicken. Is this a testament to how good it is? After all, I’m the sort who likes to move around the menu. trying new things. Or, to be more specific, I like to try new versions of things. The only time I find myself ordering the same thing again and again is when I am in a chain restaurant. Read the rest of this entry »
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Will the Real Jason Please Stand Up
By bukkhead | August 6, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE BOURNE IDENTITY’
Written by Tony Gilroy. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum
Directed by Doug Liman
Rated PG-13
119 mins.
When the Damon and the Affleck popped up with their (yawn) Academy Award-winning screenplay for Goodwill Hunting, I was not impressed. You can call it jealousy, if you want, or sour grapes. I mean, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and one of ‘em’s got an uncle or something in the biz who opened the doors. My uncle is an electrician. Then again, I’ve never written a screenplay.
But over the years, the Damon has been eroding my disdain. The Affleck sometimes too, Dogma notwithstanding (I passed—I’m still not a fan of Kevin Smith). To use a trite metaphor, The Bourne Identity is sort of the crowning jewel in this reluctant respect. How can I like the movie and dislike the actor? Read the rest of this entry »
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Bourne Again Action
By bukkhead | August 5, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE BOURNE SUPREMACY’
Written by Tony Gilroy. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Rated PG-13
108 mins.
There’s one thing I don’t like about The Bourne Supremacy, and only one, and I’m going to go ahead and tell you what it is, even though it’s a bit of a spoiler. But it happens early enough in the movie, and there’s probably trailers out there that reveal as much. I don’t like that Franke Potente is only in the first few minutes of the movie.
I admit, though, that it’s not because she is an amazing, powerful actress. She is these things, but not in the Bourne movies. She’s beautiful, which is enough for me, but the role doesn’t really require any kind of deep digging. It does require more than just a pretty face though, so I and the world are glad that they didn’t stick the flavor-of-the-month in there. Then we would have been glad she leaves this second film so early. Instead, the audience feels a bit of the anguish and loss that Jason Bourne feels through the rest of the movie. It makes us think, “Yeah, Jason, take it to ‘em, the bastards deserve it.” Read the rest of this entry »
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Bourne Three, Bad Guys Zero
By bukkhead | August 4, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM’
Written by Tony Gilroy and Scott Z. Burns. Based on the novel by Robert Ludlum
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Rated PG-13
111 mins.
The Bourne Ultimatum overlaps with the end of the Bourne Supremacy, so it might as well be the same film. Same director, same story, with everything from the first movie brought in as well. This is not an idle comparison: it would behoove the interested viewer to watch all three films close together, as there are elements, artifacts, even pieces of dialogue, brought in from the first movie and incorporated into the third. Read the rest of this entry »
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A Year In the Life of a Boy
By bukkhead | August 3, 2007
BOOK REVIEW: ‘BLACK SWAN GREEN’
by David Mitchell
294 pages
Published by Random House.
I came across David Mitchell when I was browsing a bookstore and picked up Cloud Atlas. I don’t know why I end up drawn to British writers, or why I’m so motivated by the Booker Prize nominees. One assumes a sameness in Geoff Nicholson, or Tibor Fischer, but assure you there is not one. Perhaps they have a different editorial policy in Britain, or maybe they promote new writers differently than in America. Seems like over here, a new young writer has to be telling us how he wants to sleep with, kill, or mourn his mother. That’s a broad-stroke description, I know, but then again, find me a hot new writer who doesn’t write about mom. Please.
I finished Black Swan Green a while ago, but I’ve been struggling with what to say. “It’s a good book,” just doesn’t seem to cut it. It follows one year, to the day, in the life a boy living in semi-rural England, in the eighties. But Mitchell eschews nostalgia, so don’t turn to this to re-capture your own youth. Then again, the eighties in semi-rural England were probably different than the eighties here in America, so maybe it’s chock full of nostalgia and I just don’t know it. Read the rest of this entry »
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Grapes of Sloth
By bukkhead | August 2, 2007
PRODUCT REVIEW: ‘SMIRNOFF TWISTED V WILD GRAPE’
The Smirnoff Company, Norwalk, CT
20 oz, 3.5% ABV
Context is everything. If I say “I started drinking when I was 29,” it sounds like I am confessing to when the alcoholism began. But no, I mean I was a teetotaler until age 29. It was not for any moral issue, unless you want to get really deep into the meaning of morality. That seems a bit pointless for a review of grape-flavored malt beverage. No, for me, it was about identity. Not drinking kept me apart from everyone else. And then, without going into any details, I discovered that being apart from others was not necessarily always a good thing. So I started drinking.
But all of that means I never really developed a taste for it. I mean, I enjoy a good drunk now and again, though I’m pretty sure I’m a few orders of magnitude behind my peers in numbers of inebriated experiences. And hangovers—I can count how many I’ve had on one hand, and still have room left to hitch a ride home. But hard alcohol, even beer and wine, I don’t know that I enjoy their flavors. I’m told drinking’s not always for flavor. Pshaw. Try a Smirnoff Grape. Read the rest of this entry »
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The End, Thank God, of an Era
By bukkhead | July 30, 2007
BOOK REVIEW: ‘HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS’
by J.K. Rowling
759 pages
Published by Scholastic, Inc.
This is going to be tough. You already know about Harry potter, so I can’t waste a portion of these 500 words on telling you who he is and where he’s from. And since The Deathly Hallows is one of the most anticipated books, ever, I can’t very well reveal the plot. I mean, in movie reviews, I can give you a brief description of what’s happening, not unlike what you’d glean from a trailer… but folks were writing in to the Seattle Post-Intelligencier, saying that since their reviewer describing the book as having a “satisfying” ending, they gave it all away. Just with that one word. Well, here, let me verge on giving it away and tell you it was not “satisfying” at all. Read the rest of this entry »
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Can I Change My Order, Please?
By bukkhead | July 27, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX’
Written by Michael Goldenberg, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
Directed by David Yates
Rated PG-13
138 mins.
I’ve been putting off this review because I just don’t know what to say. And I’m pretty sure no matter what I say, it’s not going to change anyone’s mind. Not that changing minds is what reviews are all about. But if ever there was an apolitical use for the phrase “preaching to the choir,” this is it. Harry Potter, like it or not, has become an institution. 10 years now, and thought the last book’s been written and read, there’s still two films to go, which might take another 5 years or so. There are kids who grew up with stuff. Discussing Harry Potter is more a discussion of the self. Read the rest of this entry »
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Suffer, Little Children
By bukkhead | July 22, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘JESUS CAMP’
Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
Rated PG-13
84 mins.
It’s tough to mention documentaries in general without mentioning Michael Moore. Fine. There’s two types of documentaries—those that just “document” something and let you take away your own opinion, and those with a heavy editorial slant. Moore makes the latter. Jesus Camp is the former. What I’d like to do is provide a review that itself does not have much an editorial slant. That’s going to be difficult. Read the rest of this entry »
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The “Oh No” in Orgasm
By bukkhead | July 20, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE OH IN OHIO’
Written by Adam Wierzbianski.
Directed by Billy Kent
Rated R
88 mins.
Someone should go take all of these female orgasm movies and divide them into two groups, the pro-Freud and the anti-Freud. And then divide those into two groups each: the good and the insulting (because bad movies aren’t just bad, they’re cruel). And then we can choose only to watch the good pro-Freud movies, since we can use that alternate perspective to break us out of our comfort zone. The Oh in Ohio is worst of the lot, a bad pro-Freud movie, and as a service to you, I’m warning you away now, so you don’t have to waste your time like I did. Read the rest of this entry »
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