Dinner and a Movie
The Amazing Giorgio
The Amazing Giorgio
By Steve Herte
This
has been a week of surprises. On Tuesday at karaoke I never would
have suspected that the host would let me sing Led Zeppelin’s
“Stairway to Heaven,” but he did. I’m trying to knit a baby
blanket for the upcoming child of my goddaughter and the instructions
are so vague I’ve ripped it out twice already. At work, I received
the second list of volunteer names from our major partner and they
actually admitted to listing two duplicate names (in the past they
actually did have two volunteers with exactly the same name, so I had
to question them). My financial adviser, whom I’ve known for less
than a year, notified me he’s changing companies but sent the
notices to my brother instead. My quartet has (so far) agreed on
another reunion on May 23rd, yippee! The Post Office notified me
via email that they could not deliver a package on Wednesday but they
waited until Saturday to tell me and it’s probably the plants and
seeds I ordered. I hope they’re OK by today when I can pick them
up. And, of course, Friday always has surprises (usually the
restaurant) and this time was no different. Enjoy!
The
Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Marvel
Enterprises/Columbia, 2014) - Director: Marc Webb. Writers: Alec
Kurtzman, Roberto Orci & Jeff Pinkner (s/p). Alec Kurtzman,
Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner, & James Vanderbilt (story). Stan Lee
& Steve Ditko (comic book). Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone,
Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Paul Giamatti,
Sally Field, Embeth Davidtz, Campbell Scott, Max Charles. Color and
3D, 142 minutes.
After
five Spider-man movies (Spider-Man in 2002, Spider-Man
2 in 2004, Spider-Man 3 in 2007, and The
Amazing Spider-Man in 2012) is anyone as confused as I am?
When I was reading Marvel comic books way back when, Peter Parker was
Spider-Man and May Jane (M.J. to Peter) was his high school
sweetheart. This worked in the first three movies until M.J. suddenly
wasn’t a redhead anymore. (Sure, throw the comic book character out
with the hair-dye.)
Now
we have Gwen Stacy (Stone) as his high school sweetheart, a vivacious
blonde and M.J. is out of the picture. I was trying to categorize
this latest edition as a prequel-sequel but it doesn’t work that
way. The story inter-links with the first three movies as far as time
frame goes. And this movie makes it more complex by going back and
forth in time.
It
starts with Peter as a child (Charles) and his parents Richard and
Mary (Scott and Daviditz) are leaving for parts unknown on a private
jet. The jet is high-jacked while Richard is trying to upload a
program called simply “Roosevelt,” and there is a scuffle
resulting in Mary being shot and Richard depressurizing the plane to
get their attacker swept out in the suction, which works. He
successfully uploads the program but, with the pilot dead and the
plane disabled, they crash.
The
scene switches to New York City and Aleksei, a bald terrorist with a
Russian accent (Giamatti), is driving an impossibly armored truck
through the streets followed by a flotilla of police cars. He and his
men have stolen a shipment of plutonium (don’t ask me where they
got it, this is fiction) and are now careening this way, smashing
vehicles and anything else in the way with Spider-Man (Garfield) hot
on their heels. Thank goodness there is a computerized voice (which
they ignore) that informs them of the high radioactivity of plutonium
and the possibility of it exploding (I thought that applied to
nitroglycerin, but this is fiction). Nevertheless, they and
Spider-Man handle these bright yellow glowing flasks as if they were
volatile lemonade and Spidey eventually snags them all just in time
to make his high school graduation ceremony. He arrives on stage as
his name is called, accepts his diploma and plants a big kiss on
Gwen, the valedictorian.
Peter
remembers the promise he made to Gwen’s deceased father in the
previous movie (2012) that he would “stay away from her” and
visualizes him staring at her at various points in the film. This
doesn’t make their relationship any easier.
About
midway in the plutonium chase, Spider-Man saves Max Dillon (Foxx)
from being killed by a flying vehicle, snatches up the armload of
blueprints he was carrying and makes a major impression on the man
telling him he “needs” him to be his eyes and ears. Max is
star-struck, especially because it’s his birthday and no one at
Oscorp where he works even notices him. But Spider-Man “NEEDS”
him. Back at the office he endures the ultimate mortification when
everyone goes home and he has to repair an electrical break on a high
floor. Even the men at the control box ignore him when he asks them
to turn off the power. At first it looks like he succeeds in his
mission when a huge jolt of electricity zaps him and he falls several
stories into a tank of electric eels (frankly, they look like morays
but again, this is fiction) who bite him repeatedly until the tank
breaks.
Remarkably,
after a while of lying in a morgue he reanimates and discovers his
new ability to control electricity and causes havoc in Times Square
where Spider-Man tries to calm him down. But a trigger-happy
policeman causes Max to believe that Spider-Man has let him down and
lied to him (joining the hordes of other people) and while in stasis
at Oscorp he develops into “Electro.”
Time
for another back-story: Harry Osborn (DeHaan), son of Norman Osborn
(the original Green Goblin), returns to take over Oscorp and manages
to alienate the entire board of directors. On his deathbed, Norman
gives Harry a small device that Harry considers useless and he learns
from his father that he has a genetic disease as his inheritance that
will kill him. Knowing a little about Richard Parker’s experiments
and being good friends with Peter, Harry decides that an infusion of
Spider-Man’s blood could cure this disease. When Spider-Man refuses
to donate his blood, he makes another enemy out of a friend. Harry is
ousted by the board and in revenge, finds Electro and makes a deal
with him. Electro gets the entire “grid” (which he turns out to
be the designer of, by the way) if he gets Harry access to the secret
laboratory under the Oscorp building where, he has learned, the venom
from the original spiders that bit Peter is kept. He forces Donald
Menken (Feore) to inject him and becomes (you guessed it) another
Green Goblin.
Are
you confused yet? The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has much
going in its favor. The special effects are eye-popping, with the 3D
adding the plunges the audience takes with Spider-Man off the tops of
skyscrapers, and the soundtrack is exciting and follows the action
perfectly. It’s a visually beautiful movie and the slow-motion
scenes do not detract from the action. I can even forgive the science
errors. Stone is ravishing, a wonderful character. Garfield is
growing into his role. By the end of the picture, he’s the
wisecracking Spider-Man we all know and love but it seems to take so
long (2 hours and 22 minutes) for him to get there. Some of his
dialogues are so full of hems and haws I wanted to call “Cut!”
Field is an excellent actress but she is miscast as Aunt May (or
maybe just mis-made-up). Despite her maturity, she doesn’t fit the
gray-haired (and she’s not in this film) hair-in-a-bun old lady
that Aunt May was in the comic books.
Humor was used well in the
movie, especially in the battle scene between Spider-Man and Electro
at the power station. There are several upright structures Spider-Man
bounces off and each one produces a musical tone creating the song
“Itsy-Bitsy Spider” to which we hear Spider-Man shout, “I hate
that song!” As for family entertainment, don’t bring babies and
don’t bring children easily influenced by violence. There’s
minimal blood and no overt sex, but a lot of banging around, so
parents, you be the judge.
Rating:
3 out of 5 Martini glasses.
Giorgio’s
of Gramercy
27
East 21st Street (between Broadway and
5th Ave.), New York
Did
I ever mention how many Italian restaurants there are in New York
City, even if we're not counting “Little Italy?” According to my
database, this was my 355th and I’m nowhere near
the end. And as far as Tony’s DiNapoli’s claim to being “New
York’s Best Italian” is concerned, Giorgio’s adds to the
multitude of “much better” Italian restaurants.
Outside,
the entrance is flanked by two faux Doric columns and shaded by a
modest black awning with white lettering and graced by a small potted
garden. Inside, the elegant glittering crystal chandeliers light your
way past the small bar to the dining area bisected by a glowing faux
marble counter surmounted by an enormous vase of cherry blossoms. The
deep-blood-red walls sport abstract art and traditional jazz plays
moderately on the speakers. One would almost expect Frank Sinatra to
appear from the back and ask, “How you doin’, pal?”
I
had to wait a little while for my table to be prepared while I spoke
briefly to the Mâitre D’ and the (I didn’t know it then) Wine
Director James, who would become my server for the evening. I was led
to a table next to the glowing counter under the cherry blossom
extravaganza on a comfortable but slightly forward-slanted banquette
with a big pillow for my back. Fine enough, and it’s a good vantage
point.
The
Mâitre D’ brought the menu, cocktail list and wine list – all
neatly bound in leather – and took my water preference. When he
came back with the pitcher I was ready for a cocktail because the
Detroit Red bounced off the page at me. The jalapeno-spiced
15-year-aged rye potion arrived in a pleasing egg-shaped tumbler with
a black straw protruding and a wedge of lime perched on the edge. Two
shades darker than the sanguinary walls it was a tongue-tingling
sinfully delicious draft.
The
menu is very straightforward with categories of Appetizers, Soup and
Salad, Pasta, Seafood Entrees, Meat Entrees, Sides and Desserts.
James appeared and asked to explain certain specials and other items
on the menu. His descriptions and enthusiasm about the dishes made my
decision a difficult one indeed. I asked him if it would be too much
if I chose an appetizer, soup, half order of pasta (the Pappardelle
with veal sounded particularly good) and a main course and he simply
said yes and I should eliminate either the soup or the pasta. Wow!
This became the first time I have ever dined at an Italian restaurant
and did not have pasta.
He
asked if liked oysters and described the most outrageous (and
enticing) recipe I’ve ever heard, stating if I didn’t like it, he
would pay for it. I ordered the Roasted Oysters on the half shell.
These six wonders of the deep were lightly roasted in their liquor
with black truffle butter and onions needing no special sauce to
improve them and resting on a small mound of fluffy mashed potatoes.
They were like seafood candy and the mashed potatoes acted as a
palate cleanser between oysters. There was soon nothing left but the
shells. James was pleased. He then saw me reading the wine list and
told me proudly that he has tried every wine on the list and I should
give him a price range and he would fit the wine to my meal. I gave
him a choice of five – two French, two American and one Spanish
varietal. He brought the 2006 Bohórquez Reserva
Tempranillo/Cabernet/Merlot varietal from Bibera Del Duero, Spain.
The tart Spanish Tempranillo flavor was smoothed out by the Cabernet
and Merlot grapes from the Bordeaux region of France and made a
lovely, rich, deep red, velvety wine, perfect for my dinner.
The
second course was the Tuscan Soup – the soup of the day – a
hearty, creamy vegetable soup with escarole, carrots, delicate
(almost translucent) cubed potatoes and crumbled sausage meat. It was
difficult to eat this soup slowly and savor every spoonful, but I did
it. I was already praising the chef on his masterly use of the lowly
potato when the main course arrived.
The
Seared Duck Breast was sliced and fanned out on a plate with a mound
of vegetable spaghetti mixed with Enoki mushrooms and bacon serving
as the pivot point of the fan. The pomegranate sauce oozed to one
side of the tender meat. It was a lovely combination of flavors, the
earthy bacon and mushrooms, the slightly gamey duck and the tartly
sweet pomegranate moderated by the turnip-like green of the spaghetti
squash. I was delighted and tried to not go into a feeding frenzy.
The sliced sesame baguette helped get every drop of that sauce.
When
I told James that I’ve had Baked Alaska in the restaurant where it
was invented he advised me against choosing it as a dessert. Instead,
I had the S’More Bread Pudding in a chocolate-marshmallow, caramel
sauce, with vanilla gelato and accompanying graham cracker. It was as
much fun to eat as it was to look at, with little crunchy chocolate
balls strewn on the drizzled caramel. A nice double espresso later
and I was happy and finished.
Giorgio’s
of Gramercy has been around for a long time. The nearest I can figure
the date of opening is somewhere in the sixties and thanks to Chef
Craig Stafford the cuisine has been honed to an art form. James asked
if I would be back and I said of course! I still haven’t had the
pasta!
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