Here's something you might be interested in.
I couldn't believe how long it took me to hit Corvette Diner since it moved from Hillcrest to Liberty Station in Point Loma.
I always see it there when I go to Wine Steals across the street (our new favorite place).
But my addiction to their chili cheese fries grew too strong, and before going to see the latest Tarantino movie, my girlfriend and I made the trek over there.
And while sitting at the table, I officially became one of those grouchy old guys that utters phrases like "This place used to be better before..."
They have much more space, yet they use it poorly. It's not nearly as cool looking as the previous location.
They had a 60s themed room we sat in, which I guess could've been cool. The Yellow Submarine painted on the wall was neat. But the black light posters taped randomly on the ceiling...well, it looked like my stoner friends rooms from 1978. Why not paint the ceiling in crazy psychedlic colors, paisleys, etc.
And the wait staff was horrible. We didn't get what we ordered, had to wait for utensils, drinks, but the weirdest thing was...they changed the things they help make the diner popular.
No crazy, wacky waiters. Maybe being in Hillcrest, they were able to tap into some of those drama types that lived there and worked these jobs on the side or while going to school. But they were a lot more fun. Now it's kids working part-time while attending Point Loma Nazarene.
No Bazooka gum thrown at you at the end of your meal, or even brought to your table.
And the chili cheese fries are a lot smaller, and made with criss-cut fries (which work well for the Irish nachos at Callahan's pub, but not as much here).
After correcting the bill for items we never got, and paying it (with my girlfriend insisting on us still leaving a decent tip), we headed to the film Inglorious Basterds. The movie is getting praise from most critics.
I'm hit-and-miss with QT, as I enjoyed the films he wrote (Natural Born Killers, True Romance), but disliked the scenes he wrote for a few other films (Four Rooms, Crimson Tide).
I loved Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, but found Reservoir Dogs to be a tad overrated. From Dusk to Dawn was awful.
He has more films, but I can't think of them right now.
This movie started so promising. The opening segment was simply great filmmaking. Funny, intense, well photographed.
The Nazi that shows up at the dairy farm deserves an Oscar nomination.
Then it just goes down hill after.
QT is like a kid in a candy store. He just wants to throw every movie reference or idea he can, in a film. And that can be fun. But it has to work with the picture.
In Pulp Fiction, the characters all seemed to have interesting conversations. It might've been about movies, affairs, legalizing drugs, robbery, boxing, etc.
If you have a period piece, you can't just throw all kinds of bizarre things in it. First off, who cares about all these German and French filmmakers he's talking about? I can appreciate that QT loves these guys so much, but it doesn't mean we need to hear (or, read) characters going on and on about them. It's like he's in love with his own cinematic references. Not to mention, in a period piece, it throws you off when you're using phrases and terms that probably weren't around then ("Mexican standoff" comes to mind).
The spaghetti western music was goofy. It's strange, because sometimes a rap song will use a sample from a popular rock song, and it works. Other times, it doesn't. And someone has to step in and tell the person this. I wish someone would've told P.T. Anderson the same thing with the music in "There Will Be Blood."
And what was with the David Bowie song thrown in there?
And the Jewish characters weren't interesting. Neither were their nicknames (Eli Roth, the director, as the "Bear Jew"). And his baseball bat scene with a Nazis head, was poorly done.
Now, DeNiro used a bat well as Al Capone. Duvall, in his written/directed/acted in piece The Apolostle, had a powerful bat scene. And Nicholson did a mock baseball broadcast in Cuckoos Nest very well, as did Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. But the combination with this character was just lame.
The trailer I saw for the latest Coen Brothers picture right before, showed how you can make something powerful. It had a car accident. They use a lot of car crashes in their films and they always work wonderfully. You hear the glass break, the metal bend, and blood splatter. But no cheesy explosions.
Yet Tarantino does these graphic scenes, and it's like they're there simply to shock us (which I'm sure he'd gladly admit).
And what is with the close-up of the struddle that's being eaten? Am I watching Julia/Julie? Maybe if he had an edit going from the close-up he did of a scalped head, to a close-up of red Jell-o being eaten...
BJ Novac continues QTs tradition of putting comedians in his movies. It's always a bit distracting. I'm watching the young intern from The Office, talking to Brad Pitt as he scalps someone. That's just odd.
Kind of as odd as seeing Kathy Griffin during a shoot out in Pulp Fiction, followed by Pat from Saturday Night Live.
And this thing was two and a half hours long. If a movie is that long, I better be enjoying every minute of it; not just the sporadic scenes in this that I found interesting.
The best thing about this movie was listening to the actors talk about making it on various shows (although I'd give anything for just one host to ask Brad Pitt why he went through the entire movie looking like he was constipated).
And I guess my real beef is that people continue to call QT a genius. When in fact, he's a very sloppy filmmaker, that often has mixed results.
I couldn't believe how long it took me to hit Corvette Diner since it moved from Hillcrest to Liberty Station in Point Loma.
I always see it there when I go to Wine Steals across the street (our new favorite place).
But my addiction to their chili cheese fries grew too strong, and before going to see the latest Tarantino movie, my girlfriend and I made the trek over there.
And while sitting at the table, I officially became one of those grouchy old guys that utters phrases like "This place used to be better before..."
They have much more space, yet they use it poorly. It's not nearly as cool looking as the previous location.
They had a 60s themed room we sat in, which I guess could've been cool. The Yellow Submarine painted on the wall was neat. But the black light posters taped randomly on the ceiling...well, it looked like my stoner friends rooms from 1978. Why not paint the ceiling in crazy psychedlic colors, paisleys, etc.
And the wait staff was horrible. We didn't get what we ordered, had to wait for utensils, drinks, but the weirdest thing was...they changed the things they help make the diner popular.
No crazy, wacky waiters. Maybe being in Hillcrest, they were able to tap into some of those drama types that lived there and worked these jobs on the side or while going to school. But they were a lot more fun. Now it's kids working part-time while attending Point Loma Nazarene.
No Bazooka gum thrown at you at the end of your meal, or even brought to your table.
And the chili cheese fries are a lot smaller, and made with criss-cut fries (which work well for the Irish nachos at Callahan's pub, but not as much here).
After correcting the bill for items we never got, and paying it (with my girlfriend insisting on us still leaving a decent tip), we headed to the film Inglorious Basterds. The movie is getting praise from most critics.
I'm hit-and-miss with QT, as I enjoyed the films he wrote (Natural Born Killers, True Romance), but disliked the scenes he wrote for a few other films (Four Rooms, Crimson Tide).
I loved Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, but found Reservoir Dogs to be a tad overrated. From Dusk to Dawn was awful.
He has more films, but I can't think of them right now.
This movie started so promising. The opening segment was simply great filmmaking. Funny, intense, well photographed.
The Nazi that shows up at the dairy farm deserves an Oscar nomination.
Then it just goes down hill after.
QT is like a kid in a candy store. He just wants to throw every movie reference or idea he can, in a film. And that can be fun. But it has to work with the picture.
In Pulp Fiction, the characters all seemed to have interesting conversations. It might've been about movies, affairs, legalizing drugs, robbery, boxing, etc.
If you have a period piece, you can't just throw all kinds of bizarre things in it. First off, who cares about all these German and French filmmakers he's talking about? I can appreciate that QT loves these guys so much, but it doesn't mean we need to hear (or, read) characters going on and on about them. It's like he's in love with his own cinematic references. Not to mention, in a period piece, it throws you off when you're using phrases and terms that probably weren't around then ("Mexican standoff" comes to mind).
The spaghetti western music was goofy. It's strange, because sometimes a rap song will use a sample from a popular rock song, and it works. Other times, it doesn't. And someone has to step in and tell the person this. I wish someone would've told P.T. Anderson the same thing with the music in "There Will Be Blood."
And what was with the David Bowie song thrown in there?
And the Jewish characters weren't interesting. Neither were their nicknames (Eli Roth, the director, as the "Bear Jew"). And his baseball bat scene with a Nazis head, was poorly done.
Now, DeNiro used a bat well as Al Capone. Duvall, in his written/directed/acted in piece The Apolostle, had a powerful bat scene. And Nicholson did a mock baseball broadcast in Cuckoos Nest very well, as did Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. But the combination with this character was just lame.
The trailer I saw for the latest Coen Brothers picture right before, showed how you can make something powerful. It had a car accident. They use a lot of car crashes in their films and they always work wonderfully. You hear the glass break, the metal bend, and blood splatter. But no cheesy explosions.
Yet Tarantino does these graphic scenes, and it's like they're there simply to shock us (which I'm sure he'd gladly admit).
And what is with the close-up of the struddle that's being eaten? Am I watching Julia/Julie? Maybe if he had an edit going from the close-up he did of a scalped head, to a close-up of red Jell-o being eaten...
BJ Novac continues QTs tradition of putting comedians in his movies. It's always a bit distracting. I'm watching the young intern from The Office, talking to Brad Pitt as he scalps someone. That's just odd.
Kind of as odd as seeing Kathy Griffin during a shoot out in Pulp Fiction, followed by Pat from Saturday Night Live.
And this thing was two and a half hours long. If a movie is that long, I better be enjoying every minute of it; not just the sporadic scenes in this that I found interesting.
The best thing about this movie was listening to the actors talk about making it on various shows (although I'd give anything for just one host to ask Brad Pitt why he went through the entire movie looking like he was constipated).
And I guess my real beef is that people continue to call QT a genius. When in fact, he's a very sloppy filmmaker, that often has mixed results.