Dinner
and a Movie
By
Steve Herte
Independence
Day: Resurgence (20th Century Fox, 2016) –
Director: Roland Emmerich. Writers: Nicolas Wright, James A. Woods,
Dean Devlin, & Roland Emmerich (story & s/p). James
Vanderbilt (s/p). Dean Devlin, & Roland Emmerich (characters).
Stars: Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Jessie T. Usher, Bill Pullman,
Maika Monroe, Sela Ward, William Fichtner, Judd Hirsch, Brent Spiner,
Patrick St. Esprit, Vivica A. Fox, Angelababy, Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Nicholas Wright, & DeObia Oparei. Color, 3D, Rated PG-13, 120
minutes.
“We
had 20 years to prepare – so did they.” So goes the catch phrase
in the trailers of this unnecessary sequel. Yeah, we used the time to
integrate alien technology into our construction, transportation and
weapons systems. Now we have anti-gravity fighter planes, a ring of
anti-alien ray guns in orbit around Earth, and a monster ray cannon
on our moon base as well as a base on Saturn’s moon Rhea. And yes,
the first movie was released in 1996. But where did the aliens come
from and why were they here? We needed this film to explain that.
Dylan
Hiller (Usher), son of the deceased Stephen Hiller (Will Smith), is
being celebrated at the White House by President Elizabeth Lanford
(Ward). We see a portrait of his father on the wall behind him as he
enters the reception area. He’s been selected to lead an elite
squadron of fighter pilots and thus, the world defense team.
Meanwhile,
in Africa, the only alien ship to have landed in 1996 and thought to
be out of commission, lights up. Earth Space Defense Director David
Levinson (Goldblum) meets with Dr. Catherine Marceaux (Gainsbourg)
and the formidable warlord Dikembe Umbutu (Oparei) to investigate.
The ship was once a drilling operation (no one knew why) and is now
sending out a distress call. Umbutu shares a headache with anyone who
got too close to the aliens in the first movie.
Former
President Thomas Whitmore (Pullman) wakes up from a hideous nightmare
in the opening scene of being face to face with an alien. Dr. Brakish
Okun (Spiner) is sprung from his 20-year coma by a similar nightmare.
They, along with the warlord, all see the same symbol – a circle
with a straight line bisecting it from the left. Umbutu can read the
alien language, Whitmore translates the symbol as fear, and Okun
draws a sphere from his vision.
On
the moon, Jake Morrison (Hemsworth), former comrade-in-arms of Dylan,
is still a space jockey, piloting a space tug to put the final
enormous piece in place and completing the defense ray gun at the
base. At first, it’s off center and starts to topple. But he
recklessly uses his hyper-drive to muscle it back into its socket.
Han Solo would be proud.
But
a communication is received that something really large is tugging on
the rings of Saturn and that the base on Rhea is already gone. A
titanic sphere emerges from a wormhole over the moon and hovers
benignly over the base, as if watching it.
Panic
strikes the leaders of the world and the new weapon is used to shoot
it down. It was friendly, however. Jake ferries David to the moon
and, using the tug, retrieves a piece of the sphere for dissection at
ESD Headquarters in Area 51, Nevada. Another ship, this one
unfriendly and 3,000 miles wide, starts creating havoc on the moon.
The debris field it leaves after demolishing the new weapon is
carried along with it as it heads for Earth. The theory proposed was
that it was so large, it warped the fabric of space to acquire its
own gravity. As it heads for a landing, it sucks up buildings, planes
cars and people in Malaysia on its approach to the Atlantic.
Such
a landing causes a tsunami on America's east coast where it just so
happens Julius Levinson (Hirsch), David’s dad, is out on his boat.
It dumps all the debris into the Thames (including the Petronas
Towers) in London. It straddles the Atlantic and proceeds to drill
the mid-Atlantic ridge to remove the Earth’s molten core.
Jeff
Goldblum, ever the voice of gloom and doom posits, “If they remove
our molten core, we’ll lose our magnetic field and the solar wind
will wipe out all life on Earth.” That is the one piece of science
that is believable in this film. But he also gets a lot of the funny
lines, making one wonder if this movie is secretly a comedy.
Brent
Spiner is hilarious and has put on some weight as he uses alien
technology to cut open the portion of the sphere and communicate with
the virtually intelligent white sphere within. At least we learn that
the sphere people and the aliens have been at war for a long time and
the sphere promises greater technology for ensuring its safety (it’s
the last of its kind, of course).
I
chuckled several times at the absurdity of this sequel, especially
when we learn that Cheyenne Mountain was destroyed, along with the
current president and all of her cabinet, with General Joshua Adams
(Fichtner) being sworn in. It was good to see Robert Loggia again,
playing General William Grey in his last movie role (he died in
December 2015). And, if the white sphere is correct, there will be
another sequel (hopefully in 20 years).
Rating:
2½ out of 5 Martini glasses.
Florian
Café
225
Park Ave. South, New York
Of
the 24,000 restaurants graded by the Department of Health in New York
City, the third largest ethnic group is Italian at 1,035 (4%).
American and Chinese form the bulk of this number. When I choose a
restaurant, I space the Italians with other cuisines to keep the
variety, though I could easily eat Italian every day of the week
without regret. Florian Café is my 361st Italian.
Though
only having opened in February 2015, this charming, friendly place
brings the atmosphere of a 300-year-old trattoria in Venice. Bright
red signs with the name in bold white letters are prominently posted
on the scaffolding enveloping the restaurant. The entrance is a
revolving door framed by backlit photos of wine and liquor bottles
and topped by the name in bright white capital letters.
Inside,
a high ceiling is supported by arches painted to appear as if
constructed of two-tone stone blocks, with a spacious informal dining
area opens to the right and a 12-seat bar is to the left flanked by
four two-customer booths. In the middle of the bar, one cannot miss
the bronze statue of a naked woman uncorking a wine bottle held
between her knees. In back is a gorgeous, formal room dominated by a
glorious crystal chandelier orbited by brass rings.
The
Captain’s Station is a few steps into the restaurant from the door
and the young lady there led me to the second to the last booth,
where I chose to sit facing that fabulous emerald room. My server,
David, appeared and I ordered a Beefeater martini. It was perfect,
with three Spanish olives skewered on a stick suspended over it.
My
first course was the Short Rib Meatballs in Sunday gravy: two
delicious meatballs sprinkled with grated cheese in just about the
richest red sauce imaginable – chock full of every Italian
ingredient from garlic and basil to wine and cheese.
At
this point, I had David bring the wine, a 2012 “Dei” Vino Nobile
Di Montepulciano, an amazing full-bodied red that can stand up to the
strongest flavors in an Italian meal and still delight the senses. My
second course was Pappardelle: broad, flat and long noodles served
simply in eggplant parmigiana sauce and garnished with sprigs of
fresh basil. I had David grind fresh pepper and fresh cheese over the
top. Made in-house, the pasta was al dente and delicious. The baby
eggplant scattered throughout the sauce added a sweet/tart flavor to
the experience.
Fridays
in the Lenten season are usually my fish days but the next dish just
had to be chosen. The Red Snapper Livornese, completely invisible
under braised tomatoes, olives and capers and another lovely tomato
sauce. And, to my surprise, no bones, Just delicious flaky fish
smothered in savory ingredients (and more basil garnish, of course).
While
I finished my wine, I looked around and saw a most unusual thing
behind the bar (besides the naked lady) – a chalk board listing
various bodily ailments, the kind of wine to take to cure them, and
how many glasses, all in Italian. For instance, it takes four glasses
of Barolo to cure anemia. I loved it.
For
dessert, David suggested “Limoncello Pie.” How do I describe it?
It was like a strong lemon mousse pie but the upper crust was like
the glaze on a crème brulée. To go with it, I ordered a double
espresso and a lovely glass of Barolo grappa. The charm of Florian
Café is only equaled by its reasonable prices for both food and
wine. Of course, if you want to go overboard, that’s available as
well. As for myself, I’ll be back. Maybe for lunch someday.
For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click here.
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