Dinner and a Movie
Chappie Goes Publick
Chappie Goes Publick
By
Steve Herte
Sometimes
it’s best to let sleeping memories lie, as it were.
I
mentioned in my column last week that I was going to attend the
Spring Gem Show in New York. When Helene and I first attended the
show years ago, it was in the cavernous Armory on Lexington Avenue,
holding a literal sea of clubs, companies and collectors offering any
and every sort of stone known, loose or in various fittings. It took
us hours to explore the entire space and we usually came home with
something special, a replacement stone for a ring or a malachite
lion. Since then, the show has shrunk substantially, and this year it
was held in a small ballroom at the Holiday Inn on 57th Street.
One
by one the various purveyors of precious and semi-precious gems have
dropped out. Combined with the accompanying increase in price of space, so many vendors have dropped out that it's no longer a “show;” it’s a high-priced marketplace. I saw a less than
half-carat emerald with a sickly green color going for $400. As I
left, disappointed, I realized that another piece of the city that I
have so loved and which has brought me much joy over the years has
disappeared.
But,
as the Bee Gees sang, “Nobody gets too much Heaven no more…”
it bring us to Friday. Even sentient robots can experience Hell and
sometimes anticipating something bad results in something good.
Enjoy!
Chappie (Columbia,
2015) – Director: Neill
Blomkamp. Writers: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell. Cast: Sharito
Copley, Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Ninja, Yo-Landi Visser, Jose Pablo
Cantillo, Sigourney Weaver, Brandon Auret, Johnny Selema, Maurice
Carpede, Jason Cope, & Anderson Cooper. Color, 120 minutes.
This
is a sad, disturbing movie, a tragedy, and not exactly a travelogue
come-on for Johannesburg, South Africa. It brought back thoughts
of District 9 and apartheid (not racially, but
economically).
Brilliant
computer scientist Deon Wilson (Patel) develops a robot police force,
which is gratefully adopted by the police department of Johannesburg
(the first city to do so). Crime is reduced radically. Vincent Moore
(Jackman), a fellow co-worker develops a major assault robot called
“The Moose” capable of fending off an army or an aerial attack
but their boss, Michelle Bradley (Weaver) and the police department
puts the kibosh on it, making Vincent dangerously jealous of Deon.
Violent
gangs at war with each other populate an enormous area of poverty on
the outskirts of the city. Ninja (Ninja), Amerika (Cantillo) and
Yolandi (Visser) owe a large amount of money to the muscular and
ruthless gang leader Hippo (Auret). They know of the robot designer
and hatch a plot to get the “remote” (so they think) to turn off
the robot police force and allow them to steal enough cars to pay
back Hippo.
Deon
wants to create Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is on the verge of a
break-through, but when he presents his idea to Michelle, she turns
it down. He decides to swipe a robot scheduled for recycling (its
battery has been inextricably wedged into its body by the force of a
grenade-launcher wielded by Hippo on its last raid), change out the
all-important – and only – “guard
key,” which prevents any outside hacking into the computer program,
and finish his experiments on it. After loading the robot and
equipment into his van he’s no sooner on his way than Ninja and his
gang hijack him.
Deon
is forced to work at the deserted warehouse hideout for the
three-person gang and successfully loads his program –
strangely Star Trek named “Genesis” –
into the robot. When the robot powers up it responds and cowers like
a newborn child. It has to be taught to speak, how to act, how to
read and think. Yolandi calls him a “Happy Chappie,” and from
that he gets his name, despite the protests of Deon.
Ninja
won’t let Deon stay and teach Chappie. The three hoodlums teach the
robot how bad life is, and that he must learn to fight and use
weapons to survive. Ninja becomes Daddy and Yolandi, her motherly
instinct surfacing by Chappie’s helplessness, becomes Mommy to
Chappie while Deon is just the “Maker.” Chappie’s skills grow
exponentially while in their questionable care.
Vincent
figures out that Deon took the guard key and follows him to the lair,
where he learns of Chappie and his new capabilities. He uses another
program to remotely take all the police robots off-line (including
Chappie) and when Deon brings Chappie into the home office Vince gets
the guard key back by force.
As
soon as the robot police force crumbles, so does the social order of
Johannesburg, and crime goes rampant in the streets. Vincent tells
the Michelle that Deon is to blame and they need to activate the
Moose to get control back. He uses news videos of Chappie stealing
with Ninja and his gang to bolster his case, and she finally agrees.
Using his monstrous robot he goes on a remote killing spree (he only
has to wear a helmet to control the monstrosity) at the deserted
warehouse where Hippo and his cronies are already confronting Ninja
and his group along with Chappie and Deon.
Chappie is
a tragedy in the classic sense as the Deon’s situation is going
very well at the beginning. His robots are a big success and he’s
lionized for it. But the trend goes down as the movie progresses. His
dream of creating a conscious robot succeeds, but only after both he
and Chappie are kidnapped by the underworld. He sees his creation
being gradually perverted and tries repeatedly to intervene, but it
seems hopeless, especially when he sees news footage of Chappie
participating in a heist.
Let
me emphasize that this is not a movie for children. It’s extremely
violent, gory and (when you can understand the Afrikaans accents)
vulgar. There is a scene where slow motion photography make the
gunning down of one of the characters seem like the last scene
in Bonnie and Clyde complete with blood spatter. You
actually see the bullets pass through the body. A great special
effect, but not one I wanted to see. Speaking of great special
effects, the character Chappie (voiced by Copley) though computer
generated, looks completely real and moves convincingly and smoothly.
The
hairdressing department went hog wild with this film. Yolandi’s
hair looks as if it was glued on from a Barbie prototype, and Hippo’s
do is a horrendous combination of Buckwheat and a mullet.
Dev
Patel gives us a new dimension to his acting abilities. His usual
ebullience is there, but he registers shock, sadness and amazement as
well. And ... he performs the scene every actor wants to perform
eventually and does it well. Frequent moviegoers know what I mean.
Sigourney Weaver is great as the corporation head who thinks only of
profits over practical applications, and Hugh Jackman does a
believable performance as a bully.
One
cannot help but feel empathy for the hapless Chappie, who realizes
that everyone has lied to him (including his maker, who didn’t tell
him his battery could not be replaced and that he would “die”
when it did). But, stay until the end. There’s an unexpected twist
and the threat of a sequel.
Rating:
3½ out of 5 Martini glasses.
Church
Publick
82
Reade Street (at Church Street), New
York
I
must admit to being somewhat reluctant to visit this restaurant
knowing that a little over two years ago it was a Blimpie’s
sandwich shop, not exactly haute cuisine. But, with rain
coming on in the evening I decided that this would be the time to try
it, as its location was convenient to both the movie theater and the
subway.
The
entrance on Reade Street opens into a noisy bar with a tiny Captain’s
Station to the left of the door. People are chatting and drinking and
occupying every seat at the bar and the tables surrounding it. I
wondered if I would have a table. A gentleman who reminded me of the
late Ray Walston as he looked on My Favorite Martian greeted
me and, after a double-take at the computer screen, led me upstairs
to a small balcony and gave me a choice of two tables. I chose the
one at the end of the hall with a great view of the activity below.
The Plexiglas walls surrounding the balcony helped shut out most of
the noise.
When
my server arrived I already had the menu, the wine and drink list and
a glass of water. After determining that they did not have any gins I
liked I asked about specialty cocktails. She indicated the page in
the menu and right away I chose a drink called “Lose The Tie” –
Dorothy Parker gin, Lillet, and Grand Marnier with an Absinthe swirl.
It looked like a Margarita and tasted like an Orange Blossom, very
nice.
The
menu features appetizers, salads, sandwiches, entrées and
market/garden sides. There were several choices I found appealing and
when I chose two appetizers, an entrée and two sides my server
didn’t bat an eye.
As
with my cocktail, the first wine on the list caught my attention as
the perfect accompaniment to all the dishes I selected. It was a 2012
Christian Simon Chablis – a crisp, bright and slightly dry wine,
refreshing.
The
two appetizers arrived first, the baked soft pretzel – cheddar and
parmesan, jalapeno with a ramekin of house-made mustard. It satisfied
one of my recent cravings this week perfectly and substituted for
bread as I enjoyed fried green tomatoes with diced roma tomatoes and
red onions over baby spinach in a horseradish aioli. Between the two
dishes I got the alternative tangs from the mustard and the
horseradish while tasting the salty sweetness of the pretzel and the
mild acidity of the tomatoes. Though not the best versions I've had
of either dish, they were both comforting.
The
main course and sides arrived a little early but I managed to fit
what was left of the appetizers onto the entrée dish. The beer
battered fish and chips with cole slaw and house-made tartar sauce
were fluffy and crisply coated. Even though my server proffered
vinegar for the fries and brought a ramekin of catsup, they didn’t
need either. They were lightly salted, browned and crisp, perfect.
The sautéed spinach with garlic was a beautiful green and had a
respectable garlic flavor while retaining a slight crunch but they
were out-done by the crispy Brussels sprouts. The halved sprouts were
tender with a crispy crunch outside and the individual leaves were
sheer delight.
I
was having a great time and, despite all the food, was ready for
dessert. The “La Bomba” – chocolate and vanilla ice cream with
a chocolate shell, cut in half, drizzled with chocolate syrup and
garnished with a Maraschino cherry – was a decadent but wonderful
ending to an unexpectedly great meal. Add one double espresso and all
was right with the world. As Captain Obvious would say, Church
Publick is an enormous improvement over Blimpie’s. When Lent is
over I look forward to trying the meat dishes.
No comments:
Post a Comment