The Desolation of Smaug on Henry Street
By Steve Herte
The
Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (MGM, 2013) –
Director: Peter Jackson. Writers: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter
Jackson, & Guillermo del Toro (s/p), J.R.R. Tolkien (story).
Cast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Stephen Fry,
Ken Stott, Graham McTavish, Orlando Bloom, Mikael Persbrandt,
Evangeline Lilly, William Kircher, Luke Evans, & Lee Pace. Color,
161 minutes.
After
waiting a year (since last Christmas) and having slogged through the
three-hour and two-minute The Hobbit – An Unexpected
Journey only to see in horror that the tale was unfinished,
we now are treated to the slightly shorter (two hours, forty-one
minutes) second installation. Yes, the tale of the Halfling is still
not finished. Hopefully the story will end Christmas of 2014.
Granted,
the scenery is breath taking, the stage sets are Herculean in scope
and Baroque in complexity, the costumes and make-up are spectacular
and the acting sterling, but both movies could easily have been made
in less than two hours. Several scenes were excessively long
(including some of the action scenes); there were many moments of
“realization” that degenerated into tableaux. Director Peter
Jackson has taken a book, originally less than a third the length of
the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and stretched it into an
equally long feature.
If
you remember, the first chapter ended with Gandalf (McKellen), Bilbo
Baggins (Freeman), Thorin “Oakenshield” (Armitage) and his troop
of dwarves being rescued from the Orcs by the Eagle King and his
fellows.
Now
the intrepid group is still fleeing the Orcs by first staying at the
home of Beorn (Persbrandt), a “skin-changer” who is part-time a
very tall, strong man and the rest an enormous, vicious bear. Beorn
doesn’t like dwarves but he helps them because he hates Orcs more.
He loans them horses to get them to their next peril, Mirkwood
Forest, where Gandalf leaves the group on a separate quest to Dol
Guldur. He advises them to stay on the path. Well, guess what? Only a
little ways into the forest and they lose the path and are quickly
ambushed by huge spiders that wrap them up in silk and hang them from
their webs. Thanks to Bilbo, they are cut down and, with the help of
Legolas (Bloom) and Tauriel (Lilly) – two of the forest elves –
the troop are taken to Thranduil, King of the Forest Elves (Pace) who
offers Thorin a deal. Thorin turns it down and all of his dwarves are
locked up. Again, thanks to Bilbo (and the Ring of Power – which
makes him invisible when he dons it) they are once again set free in
empty barrels to ride the rapids flowing to the lake (one of the many
over-long scenes), all the time being harried by Orcs and dodging
Elfin arrows. At this point it might be good to note that Tauriel was
not in the original book, but she makes a nice compliment to Legolas
and a possible (not in a million years) love interest for him.
The
river takes them to meet Bard (Evans), a barge merchant from Lake
Town and they barter their way to his home. They discover that Bard’s
father was the only person who almost killed the dragon Smaug with a
black arrow, but merely dislodged a scale covering a vulnerable spot.
Thorin convinces the greedy Master of Laketown (Fry) to back their
quest and loan them a barge for the next step of the journey to
Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. Again, if it weren’t for Bilbo, the
dwarves would not have figured out how to climb up to the “secret
door” in the mountain and . . . figure out the true meaning of the
riddle of the key to open it. Now it’s up to the poor Hobbit to
sneak into the main chamber of Erebor, which is filled wall-to-wall
with mountains of gold and jewels to seek out the “Arkenstone”
and not wake up the Dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch)
buried underneath. After another excessively long (but impressive,
computer graphic-wise) scene, the chase is on, the dwarves try to
destroy Smaug and fail (it only makes him angrier), Smaug flies off
to destroy Lake Town and the second movie ends.
Don’t
get me wrong. This is an excellent film with superb special effects.
The story is engaging, even with the imaginative addenda. The pace is
good and action scenes mind-boggling. I just wish I could have been
present for the final editing.
Rating:
4 out of 5 Martini glasses.
Henry’s
End
44
Henry Street (near Cranberry Street), Brooklyn, NY
Sometimes
you want to go where everybody knows your name. These words from the
theme song to “Cheers” ring clearly for me at this, my favorite
restaurant of all time. Though not a New Year’s resolution, I’ve
made it a best practice to start every year of dining with this one.
Why? It’s not a grand café, it’s not fancy in the least, it’s
almost off the beaten track, and many say it’s noisy. I go there
again and again and invite friends there because it’s warm and
friendly, cozy and comforting, and my own secret palace of
palate-pleasing food prepared perfectly (I would recommend anything
on the menu to anyone) with an excellent selection of wines you will
see nowhere else. This, in addition to getting a warm welcome from
Chef/Proprietor Mark Lahm at the door and later getting a hug from
Bonnie, whom I dubbed “the most exciting waitress in the world”
(forget it guys, she’s married). No matter what dish you choose
from the menu, Bonnie will make you want it more with a growled, “Oh
yeah!”
Timing
is everything at Henry’s End. They open at 5:30 pm (5:00 pm on
Sundays) and don’t take reservations for parties under three
people. Another important consideration is the Brooklyn Heights
regulars who love and frequent Henry’s End. This year will mark 30
years of continuous existence and I’m hoping Mark plans something
special (and of course notifies me).
My
favorite table by the back window was available and already the
intoxicating cooking aromas were filling my head from the open
kitchen. Mark knows how I like my martini and prepared it and Bonnie
brought it – always perfect. I took my time over the menu, knowing
most of the dishes, but aiming for the “Game Menu” which usually
starts in the fall and continues through the winter. Slightly
disappointed that this year kangaroo was not included I decided on a
three-course meal with selected wines by the glass (or bottle) from
the whiteboards hanging near the ceiling at focal points in the
restaurant.
Another
waiter (and also a familiar friend) brought the water and breadbasket
full of crusty, fluffy slices and sesame-seed studded bread sticks.
Bonnie appeared next and I gave her my order.
The first course, the
Seared Foie Gras – a lovely, delicate goose liver drizzled with a
dark, slightly vinegar-y sauce and paired with sliced, poached pear –
was a truly erotic beginning. My second martini lasted this long and
I switched to a glass of the Shinn Estate Red Blend, technically a
Merlot from the North Fork of Long Island. Merlots are not my
favorite but, trusting Mark’s tastes, I knew this one would be good
and it was.
My
second course, the New Orleans Turtle Soup, a dish I have every year
for some reason never arrived and I didn’t notice it until I got
home. Usually it’s rich turtle broth, slightly spicy with intense
flavor from tomato and spinach and accompanied by sherry to add at
the customer’s discretion. Oh well, next time.
The
main course arrived next – Mixed Game Grill, consisting of wild
boar belly topped with pistachio pomegranate relish, rabbit sausage
redolent of rosemary, and an herb crusted Elk chop with a lake of
rich brown sauce. All three meats were perfectly cooked, tender and
juicy and provided a smorgasbord of exotic flavors. The side dish,
halved Brussels sprouts with grilled lardoons, added a smoky green
accent to the meal. The 2008 Ridge Zinfandel from Ponzo vineyards
made a great entrée even better.
The
meal was so good, in fact, that the dessert paled in comparison. Two
bites and I’m finished. It was a fluffy mound of sweet
coconut-coated confection that proved to be too much for me. Maybe it
was better that I didn’t have the turtle soup? I was comfortable.
All that was left was pay the check, thank everybody for a wonderful
time, and head back to Queens.
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