Reviewing Whatever

Hanami Japanese Restaurant
525 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10011

You should know
Janny and I were wandering around the Village looking for inspiration to strike. We happened upon the restaurant, and the premises looked reputable and the prices were right.

We like sushi.

So?
We both got the Sushi Deluxe meal, which comes with ten pieces of sushi and 1 California roll ($16.25). She got the salad; I got the miso soup. Sushi Deluxe meals, according to Janny, are the best way to judge an American sushi place.

The portions were generous for the price, and the sushi itself was excellent. We got a great variety with the perfect amount of flavor. The service was great,too. No complaints: good food at a good price equals a good restaurant.

Rating
Check it out
Next time you’re in the Village with a craving for sushi, check this place out. I think you’ll be pleased.

The rest of the Internet
...There's not much out there.

Man of the Year, 2006
Big-screen

You should know
There are certain actor/comedians that I only like in small doses, if at all. Adam Sandler is best when he isn’t writing the script. Will Ferrell is more tolerable when he’s the straight man. And Robin Williams is most enjoyable when he stays in character, and when that character is not Robin Williams.

So?
There are nitpicks. Oh, there are nitpicks. Some of them are spoilers, so they can wait.

Williams essentially plays Jon Stewart, which would be great in a universe where Jon Stewart doesn’t exist. But he does; William’s Dobbs cites Stewart more than once, in fact. If we’re supposed to believe that Dobbs is different and edgy, we shouldn’t be asked to accept that another player exactly like him already exists.

And, as I’m sure you’ve heard, the movie can’t seem to decide what genre it is. Comedy? Sure! Thriller? Why not? Romance? Well, you can’t have a movie without a romance.

And I really think it’s possible to have a movie hit on all three. But this isn’t that movie. It feels like three movies that intersect.

Still, Williams was restrained to the point of appearing like a real person, and Laura Linney was just deranged enough that the writers could have squeezed out yet another subplot, had they so chosen. I’m glad they didn’t, but still.

Now, if you’re a spoiler-phobe, start running. The rest of you, I’ll address shortly.
























We clear? Excellent.

Christopher Walken’s opening and closing monologues felt forced. I wanted to see Dobbs’s show, not hear one of his friends say how great it was – and while I think I get why he was giving the monologues (here’s a hint: consider the movie’s title), it wasn’t all that clear.

Also, let me address the computer glitch around which the plot turns. This is something that really bothered me, to the point of seriously taking me out of the action.

The computerized voting system ranks the winners in alphabetical order by the double letters in a candidate’s name. So in the states where Dobbs runs, he wins. In the other states, President Kellogg beats Senator Mills.

But line up Dobbs (2 B’s), Kellogg (2 L’s trumped by 2 G’s) and Mills (2 L’s), and… they’re in normal alphabetical order. All the writers had to do was make the Republican candidate Senator Hill, instead, and you’ve maintained your sneaky alphabetizing, but eliminated the troublesome standard alphabetizing.

Yes, I’m a geek for letting this bother me, but remember: there are far bigger geeks than I out there. If it bothers me, it’ll bother others. Perhaps badly.

On the plus side, the way they addressed the proper end result of the election was satisfactory. It was neither a dream come true nor a disaster. I can accept that.

Rating
Oh, why not?
Nitpicks aside, it didn’t suck. It wasn’t bad by any stretch. I’d rather not have paid $10.25 for my ticket, but if you can get student or matinee rates, or you’re looking for something decent to rent in a few months, check it out.

The rest of the internet
The IMDb page.
Bad reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.
A review at The Daily Skiff

I realized that since I'm going to be citing other people, I really should have a guide to the people who show up in my blog, and any previous informtion I've posted about them, so that if I reference them again, you can see exactly who they are.

So:

Mom -- My mother is a homemaker and the mother of two. She, along with my father, watched The West Wing early on, and it was thanks to them that I got into the show. She watched the finale with me and weighed in on it.

Dad -- My father is an engineer and the father of two. He also watched The West Wing early on, and watched the finale with me.

Chris -- My husband (as of 9/26/09) is a lawyer and a Long Island native; we met in college, where he double-majored in economics and political science.  Note well: he hates spoilers. Chris blogs about the NFC East. 

Dan -- "Grade school best friend. Enjoyes his comic books and playing the occasional game of heroclix. Yes he knows that he's playing with little men. Shut up. Works as a police dispatcher and loves movies. Knows far too much about useless trivia." Heh. He wrote that himself.

Brian -- My close friend and Chris's went to undergrad with us, where he majored in Political Science. Brian adds: "Currently he works for a local bank's corporate security department and attends graduate school at LaSalle. He is also involved in Classic BattleTech (and is a staunch supporter of House Davion)."

Paul -- Another friend from undergrad, who majored in International Relations. Paul is the friend who accompanied Chris and me to Canada; I only recently got permission to cite his name.

Janny -- I first met Janny online, and we began hanging out when I moved to New York. We attended shows together, and occassionally got sushi together.

Dave -- My brother, a recent college grad with an engineering degree.  He has a blog of his own here (warning: not safe for work...).

Michelle -- Dave's fiancee.  She's a vegetarian, so if we're eating together I'll be commenting on veggie options.