Tag: portobellos

Pizza, Salad, 4 Movies and the Oscars

Last weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Shallots
  • Jalapeños
  • Portobellos

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For me, a spinach salad.

(Recent) Movies:

Hidden Figures

Gold

Fanny’s Journey

Lion

The OSCARS are coming!

Not surprisingly, La La Land has received lots of nominations. Although I enjoyed it, I don’t think it should be awarded Best Picture (but I expect that it will). There was much about that movie to like, but the story just didn’t do it for me. It was the ending that killed it – not to mention some aspects of the plot. A recent Wall Street Journal article sums up my feelings almost exactly (note: spoilers!)

I saw the four films listed above after seeing La La Land. Each are based on true stories, and I loved all of them except Gold (and I liked that a lot). What I didn’t like about Gold: the way Matthew McConaughey looked (he gained weight for the role), and the fact that I found the film too long.

The other 3 movies were fantastic, in my opinion.

Fanny’s Journey was in French with English subtitles (I saw it during the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival), so you may not know about it. I highly recommend it. Hidden Figures and Lion were very, very good, and I think each should win some awards. My pick for Best Picture? It’s a toss up between the two.

We’ll see what the Academy decides, tomorrow night.

 

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Eye in the Sky

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Pineapple
  • Portobellos
  • Red Onions

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Movie:

Eye in the Sky

I wanted a vegetarian pizza, and so this is what we chose. It was très bon.

As for the film…well, he picked it. I wanted to see Everybody Wants Some!! but he convinced me that it would be out for at least a few weeks, so we can see it next time, whereas as Eye in the Sky may be getting close to the end of its run.

(He later mentioned wanting to see The Jungle Book sometime too, which totally surprised me.)

Anyway, take Helen Mirren (wonderful), add a war movie of sorts (think: drone strike), add a little girl who just wants to sell bread (unfortunately, near the target), and…well, you get the idea. Oh, and throw in the British and Americans arguing about it.

I can’t say I loved it, but I did enjoy watching it, for the most part. A bonus for me was that Aaron Paul (who played Jesse in Breaking Bad) was in this movie. Jesse was my favorite character in BB, and in this, he almost seemed like he was still Jesse (in a good way). Two other notables: Alan Rickman, and Jeremy North. The latter was in a movie I LOVE called The Winslow Boy (think: England in the early 20th century – he was great in it).

I’m looking forward to something a little less serious and intense when we go see Everybody Wants Some!! ….The title alone has hooked me (!!)

 

 

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Pizza and a Movie: 45 Years

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Poblano Peppers
  • Portobellos
  • Corn

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Movie:

45 Years

The pizza was vegetarian, and it was good. The movie was terrible.

When we walked out of the theater, I said to my husband, “I’d give it a D.” Another couple who was nearby heard me, and the woman said she’d give it an F.

I hate to be negative about movies or books – after all, someone wrote it, produced it, and believed in it. As an author, I don’t want to criticize someone else’s work. Maybe I’m just not sophisticated enough for this film, but in my opinion, it was not very good.

Two reviews I read (afterward) say it better than I can:

“Is it extraordinarily well acted? Yes, but it’s the emotional equivalent of slamming your hand in a door for 90 minutes. Glacierly paced.”

and

“Hugely disappointing, dreadfully slow moving and boring. Honestly one of the worst movies I’ve seen in years.”

Perhaps the plot (or lack of it) bothered me even more because:

  1. I’ve been married for 34 years, and found myself wondering if my husband and I would be like this couple in 11 short years (please, no).
  2. We had a big party for our 25th anniversary, a year after his parents’ (and 5 years after my parents’) 50th. It was a wonderful night and very memorable, and it made up for the fact that we couldn’t afford anything other than cake and cocktails at our wedding’s backyard reception (no dinner, no dancing, and I don’t remember the few toasts).

In short, this was a sad movie, with few redeeming qualities.

As for the pizza, we agreed ahead of time on poblano peppers and corn. I wanted something red (but not meat), and he suggested sliced tomatoes. “They’re two squishy,” I said, so we picked portobellos. It was yummy, and I enjoyed the evening with my husband.

 

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Pizza and a Movie: The Intern

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Capers
  • Italian Sausage
  • Portobellos

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Movie:

The Intern

Before choosing this movie, I looked over some of the reviews. Some people liked it, and some didn’t think it was that great. But when I read a little about the story, and saw that someone said it was a funny, enjoyable film and “even my husband liked it,” I knew we had to go.

We both liked this movie, and we laughed out loud a lot. No silliness or crude humor here – just wit, funny situations, and poignant moments. It was an entertaining film, and you really can’t go wrong with Robert De Niro, at any age.

The “intern” – De Niro – is determined to learn (and keep up with) technology and other changes in today’s working world. My husband and I related to more than a few things about his character, “Ben Whittaker.” One was the number of throw pillows on his bed (“I was married for a really long time,” he said). Another was the age that Ben and his wife had met. My husband and I met at the same age.

Which brings me to the pizza we ordered. My husband wanted to choose capers as one of the toppings. “We’ve only had them once, since I’ve been keeping track,” he said.

“Okay,” I said, then selected the other two toppings, to which he quickly agreed. Then I brought up a subject we’ve discussed countless times: the things we never did, had, or experienced when we were growing up.

“I don’t think I ever had capers when I was a kid,” I said. “In fact, I know I didn’t.”

“Me, neither,” he said.

“Did anybody? I mean, could you order them on a pizza back then?”

“Probably not,” he said. Then, being the chef in the family, he added, “I don’t think I had them until I ordered Chicken Picata at an Italian restaurant. And that was after we were married.”

“That was another thing we never had, growing up,” I said.

Then we chatted about some of the many things we didn’t have (because they didn’t exist), yet never missed. Cell phones. Smartphones. Answering machines. Voicemail. Computers. The Internet. Email. Texting. Google. GPS. Social Media.  Internships.

Like Ben in The Intern, we did have other things that today’s young adults neither miss nor want. Rotary phones. Phone Booths. Phone BOOKS. * Ashtrays. Encyclopedias. Handwritten letters, sent in the mail. Paper maps. Typewriters.

Because, when you meet as young as we did – and stay together as long as we have – you see a lot of changes.

* something Ben has lots of experience with in the film

 

 

 

 

 

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Pizza and a Movie: Me & Earl & the Dying Girl

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Fresh Garlic
  • Portobellos
  • Spinach

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Movie:

Me & Earl & the Dying Girl

This one was another vegetarian pizza, and all topping selections were my husband’s.

Initially, I balked at the choice of garlic, and even offered to switch it for jalapeños (on only half the pizza, though). But I like garlic, it’s healthy, and with all the other ingredients on the pizza, I knew it wouldn’t be overpowering. Besides, he didn’t agree to switch.

The pizza was very good, and someday, I’ll agree to jalapeños – just not yet.

Now for the movie. Poignant, witty, cleverly done, well cast, and well acted…and, in the words of one reviewer, “rips your heart out.” Shades of the films The Fault in our Stars and 50/50. The awkwardness of high school faces cancer (the “dying girl” has leukemia) – and the result is both relatable and difficult to imagine.

However – as a mom (and a caregiver), not as the patient – I could relate to the film more than I couldn’t. My son was in college, so a little older than the dying girl, when he was diagnosed with cancer. In my latest book, ALL THE ABOVE, I tell his story from my perspective.

The movie brought one particular passage in that book to my mind:

“My thoughts traveled back to when I was nineteen and in college, a time when my biggest concerns were writing papers, studying for exams, and meeting boys. If I had been told one day that I had a brain tumor, my whole world would have crashed and collapsed. 

I would have cried for days, if not weeks. Like Jack, I would have mourned the loss of my summer, the plans I had looked forward to. [But unlike Jack,] I would have felt very sorry for myself. I would have wanted to stay in my room and hide.

I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the crushing blows that just seemed to keep on coming for Jack.” 

Unlike pizza topping choices, you can’t even try to bargain about cancer, notwithstanding that bargaining is one of the stages of your grief.

But you can hold onto hope.

me, Jack 11-6

Me and Jack in Fall 2010. His hair was just starting to grow back after radiation treatment.

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Pizza and a Movie: Aloha

This weekend’s Pizza Toppings at Corner Pizza:

  • Ham
  • Pineapple
  • Portobellos

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Movie:

Aloha

I’m not fond of cold pineapple (unless I’m eating it in Hawaii), but there’s something about warm pineapple…

This week, my husband selected all the toppings, one of them possibly inspired by the movie we had chosen to go see. My first choice was Mad Max: Fury Road, but the start time of Aloha was preferable to both of us, and we like the film’s actors.

Bad decision.

Because, even though we agreed we were more in the mood for something light (and I’ve always been more of a Mad Max -er than my husband), well, we didn’t really like Aloha.

The story was scattered, haphazard, and even somewhat boring. If you’re looking for a beach resort in it, you won’t find it. There was a great dancing scene (too short) and my favorite scene in the film was towards the end: a pantomime between Bradley Cooper and John Krasinski (sort of like the movie The Artist, but very funny – and I love John Krasinski!). I laughed out loud during that scene, and so did most of the other people in the theater.

But it didn’t make up for the rest of the film.

Oh, well. Good friends of ours are currently vacationing in Hawaii, so it just seemed to fit. I suspect they aren’t eating pizza, but I hope they’re enjoying the sweet, juicy pineapple!

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