Dinner
and a Movie
By
Steve Herte
The
Lego Batman Movie (WB, 2017) – Director:
Chris McKay. Writers: Seth Grahame-Smith s/p, story), Chris McKenna,
Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, John Whittington (s/p). Bob Kane, Bill
Finger (creators of Batman). Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster (creators of
Superman). Voices: Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Hector
Elizondo, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis, & Channing Tatum.
Animated, Color, Rated PG, 104 minutes.
The strong points of
this silly spoof are the outrageous computer animation, the
remarkably complex sets composed of Lego bricks, the funny (though
juvenile) comic lines and the cast itself. No wonder they had an $80
million budget.
The story is simple.
Batman/Bruce Wayne (Arnett), though he saves Gotham City over and
over, is a lone vigilante and he likes it that way. Barbara
Gordon/Batgirl (Dawson) takes over as Police Commissioner from her
Dad, Jim Gordon (Elizondo). She wants to eliminate crime, not just
fight it over and over and have Batman work with the Gotham City
police. Alfred Pennyworth (Fiennes), who virtually raised Bruce
Wayne, thinks it’s time for him to experience family and raise
Robin/Dick Grayson (Cera), an orphan Bruce unwittingly adopted at a
Gotham City gala as his own.
Meanwhile, the Joker
(Galifianakis) believes there’s a special hate/love/need
relationship between himself and Batman, and is willing to surrender
his army of villains to get Batman to admit it (which he doesn’t),
and all are sent to Arkham Asylum. This makes Batman unnecessary. But
he’s sure Joker is plotting something and, after watching a
television interview of Superman (Tatum), he decides that the only
place that the Joker could be genuinely contained is in the Phantom
Zone, where Superman sent General Zod. Realizing that he cannot
directly steal the device that can accomplish this feat from
Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, he trains Robin and directs him
through all the gyrations needed to get it. In the process, however,
Batman stumbles into a party where every super hero but himself was
invited. Awkward.
With the device,
Batman sends Joker to the Phantom Zone. Barbara locks him and Robin
up for the deed, noting that he might just have done what the Joker
wanted him to do. She’s right. Joker amasses a super army of
villains including King Kong (Seth Green), Sauron (Jemaine Clement)
from Lord of the Rings, Medusa, the Wicked Witch of the
West and her Winged Monkeys, the bad Gremlins, a Velociraptor
from Jurassic Park, the Kraken Sea Monster from Clash
of the Titans, Lord Voldemort (Eddie Izzard) from Harry
Potter, the Daleks from Dr. Who, Swamp Creature,
Agent Smith from The Matrix, the Shark from Jaws,
and a T-Rex. To battle this juggernaut, Batman is forced to ally with
Barbara, Robin and Alfred and recruits all of Joker’s former
villain army to help. Did I mention how large the cast was? This
included Harley Quinn (Jenny Slate), Scarecrow (Jason Mantzoukas),
the Riddler (Conan O’Brien), Bane (Doug Benson), Two-Face (Billy
Dee Williams), Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Clayface (Kate Micucci),
Poison Ivy (Riki Lindhome) in speaking roles and a host of others. My
personal favorite was Condiment King, who had ketchup in one hand and
mustard in the other.
Joker’s plan is to
bomb the Gotham City Power Company and destroy the city.
Conveniently, a commentator comes on a television screen before he
leaves for the Phantom Zone to tell him exactly how to do it. If you
realize that this is basically a Lego Gotham City, then it must have
been built by some extremely imaginative child and must sit on a
table in someone’s basement. Hence the commentator’s statement
that the city is built on a single slab with nothing underneath it
and a crack in the center would cause the entirety of Gotham to fall
into an abyss. Unlike the first Lego movie, no mention of “the man
upstairs” is made. But we can guess from this revelation.
Among the huge cast
we also hear Susan Bennett, credited as “Siri,” the Bat Computer,
Phyllis the Phantom Zone Gatekeeper (Ellie Kemper), a single Lego
block with lights for connecting knobs, Green Lantern (Jonah Hill),
the Flash (Adam Devine), and surprisingly, Mariah Carey as Mayor
McCaskill.
I mentioned the
funny lines. Two quotes stand out for me:
Alfred: “Sir,
I have seen you go through similar phases in 2016 and 2012 and 2008
and 2005 and 1997 and 1992 and 1989 and that weird one in 1966. (The
many iterations of Batman in the movies and on television. The last
one with Adam West playing the part and doing a strange dance.)
Batman: “I
have aged phenomenally!”
And:
Dick Grayson: “My
name is Richard Grayson. The other kids call me Dick.”
Bruce
Wayne: “Well children can be cruel.”
The soundtrack uses
older pop songs to accentuate the comedy, such as playing “(I Just)
Died in Your Arms” by Cutting Crew when Bruce sees Barbara for the
first time, and again when Batman sees her. Other tunes heard
including “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, “Fly Robin
Fly” by Silver Convention, “Wake Me Up, Before You Go-Go” by
Wham!, “The Batman Theme” by Neal Hefti, and the classical
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johan Sebastian Bach.
The kids will love
this film. It’s geared mainly to them, naturally. Adults will find
some content appealing but the majority is just, as I mentioned,
silly. A surprise for me was that it actually did something I abhor
and got away with it because it worked. A narration at the outset of
the film and at the end. We hear Batman say, “Every great movie
begins with a black screen and some scary music and large imposing
logos. Hmm, Warner Bras (sic).” And then, “Every good movie ends
with a white screen.” I was impressed. But I still don’t think it
was as good as the first Lego Movie (2015).
Rating: 3 out of
5 Martini glasses.
Trademark Taste &
Grind
38 W. 36th St.,
New York
Every once in a
while the call of “comfort food” must be answered. It’s the
food we know how to eat without any special implements, the food that
isn’t going to turn our mouths into blast furnaces or screw our
faces up in disgust looking at it. It’s the food that says, “I’m
home.” Trademark Taste & Grind takes “comfort food” to a
new level.
Inside, there is a
small, but cozy, tiled boutique coffee bar (the “Grind” part of
the name) where artisan coffee from Greenpoint, Brooklyn – among
others – is served. Suddenly I’m in the main dining area
dominated by a rectangular bar in the center of the room (the “Taste”
part). A wall covered with photos leads to the hotel proper, which I
later found out is called the Le Soliel, a boutique luxury hotel and
another one I’ve never heard of.
My server, Debbie,
introduced herself and gave me some time to look over the drinks and
food menus. Once my eyes adjusted to the lighting I ordered the
Benito Juarez – mescal, calvados, dry vermouth, Benedictine,
Peychaud’s bitters, and a lemon zest garnish – a serious cocktail
and not for the faint of heart. Deceptively pretty in its rusty
orange clarity, it packs a mean punch and sipping is mandatory.
First up was the
kabocha squash (a Japanese gourd) soup with sausage, kale, white
beans, carrots and potatoes – a nice hearty soup and perfect for a
cold winter night. With all the ingredients I was hard pressed to
identify the kabocha. I asked if it was the one ingredient the
dissolved in my mouth before I could taste it and was told I was
correct.
The next dish was
the crispy Scotch olives. Stuffed with cheese, wrapped in prosciutto,
breaded and deep fried, served over a yoghurt-feta sauce, they were
truly addictive. The many ingredients overpowered the flavor of the
olives but also combined to create a composite that was chewy in
texture, crispy and crunchy on the outside, slightly salty and
savory, all at the same time.
Before my main
course I ordered the 2013 H3 (Horse Heaven Hills) Les Chevaux, a
Bordeaux blend of Merlot, Syrah, Viognier and Cabernet Franc from
Columbia Crest, Washington State. Its fruity nose and deep fruit
flavor made it a lovely medium-bodied red apropos to my every dish.
It especially went
well with my main course, the 16-ounce pork porterhouse with apple
maple mustard glaze. I’d never had a pork porterhouse T and after
my first taste I was in love. It tasted like a bacon-steak! I’ll
admit it was a little overdone, but the flavor was undeniable. I
ordered a side dish with it, a quinoa tabbouleh that took a classic
Middle Eastern staple and brought it into the 21st century –
warm parsley salad with quinoa and chopped tomatoes. But it was
great. It didn’t compete with the pork.
When out came to
dessert, I passed up the death by chocolate for the big banana,
served in a Mason jar. It’s a rich banana pudding with a toasted
marshmallow fluff topping and a brown butter wafer. The menu states
that it serves two, but I finished it anyway. And…one last shot at
luxury, not just espresso (the grind part), but an espresso martini.
It was so good I wondered why I stopped drinking coffee in the
morning.
As I was leaving, I
saw the third and fourth walls and took a picture of one. Arrayed on
it were plates, each with a single letter spelling out the sentence,
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
– Henry David Thoreau. I look at Trademark and see many new dining
adventures in the future.
For the Dinner and a Movie archive, click here.
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