Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Ant-Man and the Wasp

Dinner and a Movie

By Steve Herte

Ant-Man and the Wasp (Marvel/Disney, 2018) – Director: Peyton Reed. Writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers. Stars: Paul Rudd, Michael Pena. Color, Rated PG-13, 118 minutes.

You don’t have to have seen all the Marvel comics movies thus far to understand the premise behind this one (they explain it very well with a flashback), but it helps. The special effects of going from minuscule to big in seconds are eye-popping to dizzying and sometimes very funny.

Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) has been building a quantum entry tunnel so that Hope Van Dyne/Wasp II (Evangeline Lilly) can be reunited with her mother and he can be with the love of his life. But they need a way to track Hope and Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) supposedly destroyed the Ant-Man suit that had it. Hope installed a memory in Scott’s brain to help them find her. They also need a high-tech piece of equipment to make the tunnel work and go to cyber gangster Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) to procure it. Sonny’s no dope. He figures out what they’re building and wants in on the action with a little Hope on the side.


But as a result of the destruction from the civil war movie and violation of an international accord, Scott has had to be wearing a tracking ankle bracelet that goes off if he sets foot outside the fence around his house. FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) and his team are ready and eager to put him back behind bars as soon as that happens. The two years are almost up and Scott has remained faithful to his location.

Hope smuggles Scott out of his house and replaces him with a man-sized ant programmed to follow his daily routine (including playing a cyber drum set to his favorite rock songs). In the process, they meet Ava Starr/The Ghost (Hannah John Kamen), who was involved in a quantum accident as a child and consequently phases in and out of reality and can walk through walls, but is in constant pain.

As if this movie didn’t have enough comic relief, Scott’s best friend Luis (Michael Peῆa) has a business that’s going broke and he and his hilarious coworkers Dave (Tip ‘T. I.’ Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian) wind up involved in this three-way plot while driving around in a garishly painted van whose horn plays “La Cucaracha.”

Scott’s daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) worships her Dad and has a part-time relationship with him due to the prison thing resulting in a divorce. Ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and boyfriend Paxton (Bobby Cannavale) share her with Scott. But she just wants everything to alright again. Does that make four subplots or three? I lost count. It’s just a fun movie. Every time it starts to get too serious, something funny happens to lighten it up.

At one hour and 58 minutes, the film is a bit too long, and I did have to shift in my seat. But that was not because of dead space. I kept getting jolted forward in my seat by the 4DX machinery and had to reposition myself after every battle and crash. I thoroughly enjoyed the performances of all the actors and was especially surprised to see Laurence Fishburne play a younger version of Dr. Bill. And…this can’t be said too often with today’s movies, stay through the credits. There’s a scene dropping a big hint to the next sequel.


Scampi
30 West 18th Street, New York

When I hear that a restaurant is “Northern Italian” I expect white sauces and unusual dishes. When a place describes itself as “Southern Italian,” I think of rich tomato sauces and cheesy meatballs. In fact, I think of most of the eateries in Little Italy. Scampi’s website acclaims it as southern, but put all your Mama Leoni prejudices aside. I once discovered that if a restaurant menu describes the dishes minimally, you’re in for a treat.

The menu itself is a single card with four major columns: Crudo, Vegetable, Grilled and Pasta. But first, a cocktail. There were several interesting potions listed and I chose the Allora – gin, cucumber, lime, Thai chili, Dolin Blanc and aromatic salt. The thin, lengthwise slice of cucumber was impaled on a long wood toothpick in an overlapping fashion. It looked more like a piece of ribbon candy suspended over the slightly tart, slightly spicy pale green drink. I liked it.

Most of the wines were seriously overpriced and I almost laughed at a $4,000 Barolo. But the reverse side of the food menu had more choices at reasonable prices. I close the 2015 Salvo Foti “Vigna di Milo” Etna Bianco Superiore, an Italian white with spicy, herbal Greek overtones. It accented all my dishes nicely.


My first dish was from the “Crudo” column. I haven’t had mackerel since I went to a Greek place called Ithaka. There, they served the fish whole with olive oil and capers. This Mackerel was de-skinned and de-boned and cut into tender, juicy, bite-sized cubes over a tomato and eggplant caponata, mixed with pine nuts and basil. It was definitely ambrosia and I told Parker so. He commented that it was a favorite of his too.

Under the category “Vegetable” I chose the Endive. Leaves of endive sprinkled with Bagna Cauda Parmesan, fried capers and breadcrumbs. The fried capers were a great idea. The leaves were crunchy, the breadcrumbs were crunchy and there was always the surprise crunch from the capers amongst the cheese. Another fantastic dish.

I then saw a pasta dish that easily fed two people. I ordered the Mezzaluna (half-moon) – braised pork ravioli, Pomodoro sauce and Pecorino Romano cheese. This was what I expected from Southern Italy cuisine: rich, tomato-y, al dente, and dreamy. With a little fresh black pepper, it was heaven. It did not surprise me that my wine was still doing a beautiful job of accenting the meal.

This was one of those rare occasions when the first thing on the dessert menu would be my choice. The Torta – olive oil cake, Mascarpone cheese, Harry’s berries, and strawberry swirl gelato was perfect. Olive oil cake sounds heavy but it was light, everything was light, refreshing and sweet.

My usual double espresso came next and I looked at the after dinner drink list which contained several amaros I’ve never tasted. I chose the Luxardo Amaro Abano, a dark, slightly bitter digestive with flavors of cinnamon, cardamom and bitter orange peels. I could feel it settling all my other courses as I sipped it. Only open since December 2017, I wished them all a long stay in New York.

For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click here.

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