This past weekend, I was able to watch one of my most anticipated movies of the year: X-Men 3: The Last Stand. After much fanfare and build-up, I was expecting a spectacular blockbuster movie with great effects, character development, and emotional connection. What I was treated to was a frenetic action eye-candy that attempted to do too much in too little time. How disappointing.
The departure of Bryan Singer as director is deeply felt in this movie. Brett Ratner was unable to capture the magic and emotion of the first two X-Men movies. The brooding thoughtfulness and meticulous character development was the draw to the first two movies. The third introduces too many characters and plotlines and doesn’t devote enough screen time in order to make them effective. It was like watching several sequels thrown into one movie; any one of which would have made a spectacular flick.
The Dark Phoenix thread… after being built up so well during X2, this plot just fell flat. The mutant cure thread… contrived, but necessary. What about the Sentinels? What about Apocalypse? Why not choose these as viable plotlines?
It was great to see many of the X-Men make an appearance. Kelsey Grammar as the Beast: excellent choice. At first, I was skeptical, but it worked. Colossus was a great addition. It would’ve been nice to have Nightcrawler return; however in this movie, it would’ve just been one more screen distraction. Famke Janssen did a great job as Jean Grey as well. And no more brooding Wolverine in this film… we are greeted with Hugh Jackman portraying a very “John Wayne”-ish Wolverine.
The effects weren’t the best in the world. I honestly felt that they didn’t top those found in X2. Among the best, the opening sequence with Professor X and Magneto and the Golden Gate bridge sequence.
Bottom line: decent popcorn flick. This film paid decent lip-service to the X-Men fanboys, but overall it fell flat. I’ll give it 5 of 10 stars.
I would like to tell you about an experience I had last night. Last night, I took Brandy out on a shopping date at The Summit. For those of you who are not familiar with The Summit, it is a upper-scale lifestyle center (read: outdoor mall). Scattered throughout the well-manicured landscape are several swank retail establishments and restaurants. Among those, we discovered a jewel.
I’ve heard of this place before, and even visited once before, but did not realize the full potential of the boutique until last night. I am speaking about The Grape. We came across the storefront, and deided to stop in.
The Grape is all about wine, but not in the snooty uppity way. They specialize in making wine accessible to the common man, like me. The wine selection is not the most expansive in the world, but what the offer is of the highest calibur. And their focus: finding the wines that appeal to your tastes.
The approach is simple. Each type of wine is assigned a number: your grape number. On their chart, they have 10 grape numbers; each number given a general description of taste. Based on your tastes, you select a number, and then you can choose one of the many different wines in that category. I must admit, it seems simple, but effective. I haven’t selected a wine I haven’t liked yet (and I sampled over 10 different types last night).
Ah, the sampling. Located in the rear of the store is a Wine Bar where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine and relax with some of the gourmet food, served tapas style. The staff at The Grape is very approachable, knowledgable about wine, and highly entertaining. What’s more is the fact that the guide you with appropriate wine-pairings with your meal, as to provide with the most pleasurable experience possible. And yes, I say experience. To top of the night, a jazz duo was playing out on the patio. One last note, as far a price is concerned, everything (from wine to food) is very reasonably priced. Amazing…
If you are in the area, or if there is a Grape near you, I’d highly recommend this establishment to anyone.
For more information, visit their web site at: http://www.yourgrape.com.
For those of you who enjoy the occasional frosty brew, I’d like to encourage you to check out the following site: http://www.freethehops.org.
This site is dedicated to expanding the variety of beer allowed within the great state of Alabama. It is promoting the sale and import of gourmet beers. I, for one, would love for such an expansion as it may allow for me to readily purchase my favorite beer, Fat Tire.
As it stands, Alabama does not allow beer to sold in containers over a certain size: pints, I believe. Nor does it allow for beers containing more than 6% alcohol content.
I am not advocating the drinking of highly potent brew, just for the sake of it being more potent. This restriction is limiting the availability of a wider selection of gourmet beer. Let’s face it, all beer does not taste the same… and quite frankly, a good bit of it tastes horrid. The good ol’ fashioned brews just can’t hold a candle to beverages lovingly made by microbreweries located around the country.
I encourage you to at least read over what they have to say at FreeTheHops.org. If you agree, then support them by contacting your representatives in Montgomery.
Last night I had the pleasure of watching Mel Brooks’ film adaptation of his Broadway musical “The Producers.” I will start by saying that I have not see the original film starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, nor the Broadway play, so I cannot make the proper correlations.
As this particular film stands, I enjoyed it. It reminded me of movie musicals that used to be so very popular long ago. As such, it felt has though they took a broadway musical and captured it on film, which is a double-edged sword. They appeared to stay true to the musical; however, it may not be the best translation to film.
Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane did a fantastic job in their roles as the producers of “Springtime for Hitler.” However, Will Ferrell stole the show as the playwright Libskind. Absolutely hysterical.
Clocking in at a little over 2 hours, the movie started to feel a little long-winded. It was entertaining through and through.
I’d give this movie a 7/10 stars.
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Los pollos se han escapados.
“When in doubt, comment out.”
Adam Pate, 2006
My question to my avid readers is this: If you were to purchase coconut milk from your local grocery store, what would be your preferred method of purchase?
Personally, I’d love to buy my coconut milk straight from the coconut… you know, like “fresh squeezed Orange Juice” only slightly different. It’d be like “fresh shucked coconut milk”. I guess I might be a little wary of approaching the guy wielding a machete in the produce section… even if he promised to only use it on the coconuts, I’d still be kinda freaked out.
I guess I will just buy the canned coconut milk…
Friday, May 12, 2006, I had the pleasure of participating in the Bowling for Kid’s Sake charity bowling event benefiting the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Alabama. While our team did not perform exceptionally well at the bowling, with me earning the auspicious ranking of “Worst Bowler”, we did raise over $500 for a good cause. And by we, I mean, the other people on the team. My role was that of “moral support.” Â
Edit: I’ll go ahead and admit that my high score was in the high-60’s… blah…
 