Monthly Archives: May 2016
Today Had a Nice Finish
The forecast was warm with bold sun rays and accents of streaky clouds and a lingering oaky aroma that provided just the perfect environment to take everything in with deep, sustained breathing. For lunch, I ate an English muffin with bright strokes of palatable butter. This meal proved to be a great pairing for the day.
In case you didn’t know, May 25th is National Wine Day!
(The one day I don’t eat anything with cheese…)
Whether you’re a fan of red wines or white wines (or both), these intoxicating beverages are a sophisticated escape with no discernible downside. First, there’s no real rush to finish. The last sip is as good as the first, if not better. Second, the ingredients in great wines are varied, intricate and pleasantly surprising, coalescing into a superb finish.
Then, of course, there are the two ends of the wine tasting spectrum: The beginner and the expert. Discussing wine on a molecular level with a group of people (now it’s a party!), at least since 2004, usually leads to at least one reference to the movie Sideways. The dark comedy starring Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti, and co-starring northern California’s wine country, centers on two best friends on a bachelor weekend of sorts.
Jack (Thomas Haden Church) and Miles (Paul Giamatti) are a classic case of a wine beginner and a wine connoisseur.
We’ve all been here, as either Jack or Miles.
Well, as Jack.
Judge all you want Miles, but I’d try a piece of Merlot chewing gum.
The Bachelorette’s First Rose Ceremony
A real-life guest will be arriving next March.
Beauty and the Beast is one of the best Disney animations. The 1991 classic, stacked in the back of your closet in its endearingly boxy VHS case, helped to define a golden decade of Disney films. The magical nature of the story, characters and settings in the nearly 25 year-old animation has always begged a more realistic take be imagined and built.
Get ready for the ball, in three-dimensions.
In only one day, the teaser trailer for this live-action movie has received just shy of 8 million views with overwhelmingly positive reactions. Will the film succeed at the box office and with movie fans? Very likely. Take a look at the cast:
- Emma Watson (Belle)
- Dan Stevens (Beast)
- Luke Evans (Gaston)
- Ewan McGregor (Lumiere)
- Ian McKellen (Cogsworth)
- Josh Gad (Le Fou)
- Stanley Tucci (Forte)
- Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts)
- Kevin Kline (Maurice)
Will the live-action surpass the original animation? Not likely. However, the teaser trailer and casting decisions (especially Emma Watson as Belle) seem to be influenced by a bit of vintage ’90s Disney magic. In the very little we’ve seen and know, fans of the 1991 favorite will probably feel wonderfully nostalgic in the best ways come next March.
Emma Watson will once again cast a mesmerizing spell on audiences from a mysteriously grand castle.
Except this time, she’ll cause jaws to drop in that famous yellow dress.
Happy Monday!
It’s not Midnight in Paris, but 2 a.m. at a Jazz club in LA.
Woody Allen has written another movie set in a magnificent locale during a wonderfully nostalgic era. This time, the famed writer/director takes us to Los Angeles circa the 1930s. There’s a young, curious and neurotic lead character played by Jesse Eisenberg (aka – the Woody Allen character) who is introduced to the Hollywood scene at the beginning of its golden age, tempted by everything and everyone around him.
Conversationally, Café Society is quintessential Woody Allen.
While difficult to decipher in the trailer, there seems to be at least some degree of hope for the film’s actors and actresses being able to laugh at themselves and not take the dialogue as seriously as one easily can get when reading a script by Mr. Allen. For such a golden time in film history, it would be a shame to make a movie with more of a humorless statement with only celebratory accents than a Gatsby-like party with a great twist (or two) at the end.
Ironically, the brief scene in the trailer when a person is tossed into a hole being filled with cement, followed by the line, “You ask politely, people listen” gives me hope for the latter.
Café Society arrives in theaters on July 15, 2016.
Have a Great Week (sans cement)!
Believable&Unbelievable
When life gets stressful at the end of the workweek, the secret is to look up.
And then up again.
Rewriting the laws of gravity, perspective and reality, Coldplay released their latest music video that may be unlike anything you’ve seen before. At the precise moment you think you know what you’re looking at, Chris Martin and Co. throw you a curve ball…that turns out not to be a curve ball at all.
Ladies and gentlemen, take a visual journey with “Up&Up.”
Is it just me, or is there a Forrest Gump quality in this music video? There’s a subtle feeling of experiencing major historical moments and visiting picturesque locations with an extraordinary, larger-than-life presence.
In that case, here’s to hoping someone hands you a box of chocolates this weekend.
Or whatever it transforms into.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 