Children of Men

An interesting movie from a "hot" director. It was quite dark, but enjoyable to watch. I didn't pay that much attention to the movie, though; Ming was watching it while I was doing other things.

Tales of the Alhambra

I started reading this book after we visited the Alhambra itself. I generally don't favor this type of writing, which is why it took me so long to finish. But it was enjoyable storytelling! The edition I read had a lot of engravings of scenes from the Alhambra, and it was nice to recognize many of them from our vacation.

The Package

A pretty complicated and unbelievable story about an attempted assassination, but it's still fun watching Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones when they were younger.

Sunday in the Park with George

We saw the revival of Sunday in the Park with George, and it was wonderful! A truly moving musical/performance: I'm not sure that I can distinguish between the quality of the music/book and the performers, which were both very high. The lead actor and actress were stunningly virtuosic, and the staging was impressive. The only minor negative was that the pit "orchestra" (just a few musicians) were too loudly miked.

Chronicles of Narnia

Prince Caspian is an entertaining movie, although it isn't really that good. The story doesn't really move at times (they have a lot of long scenery shots that are just boring). When the story does happen, a lot of it is set during long battles during which no blood flows, either. Despite these weaknesses, I did enjoy this very long movie (approaching 2.5 hours!).

Met lecture on fashion/superheroes

Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy

This lecture was nice and concise. The exhibit is fun to see, with one of the Iron Man suits from the movie that came out recently. They also had the Catwoman suit that Michelle Pfeiffer wore. I had never realized that "high fashion" had such weird outfits!

The Odessa File

Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones during the cold war. Fun thriller with a plot full of holes. Entertaining enough, but not highly recommended.

El Quinto Pino

Yum, we found this great tapas bar: and it literally is a bar. No table seating, all bar seating. Fantastic food, especially the eggplant with honey! That dish is a must-have.

Get Carter

We watched the original "Get Carter" on DVD. Michael Caine is so much fun to watch; and this very dark movie was interesting. We haven't seen the remake (and probably won't get around to it), but I tend to prefer older movies anyway: and I cannot imagine that Sylvester Stallone could do as good a job as Michael Caine.

The commentary is interesting (we watched a little of it). In an early scene in the movie, one minor character sits with Michael Caine in a train compartment; I won't spoil the movie by saying who that character is.

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar

I've always loved dumplings, and we finally got around to trying this restaurant (which is almost around the corner from us). This little restaurant isn't cheap, but the dumplings are excellent. Interesting concept!

El Quijote

We ate lunch at this Spanish restaurant. Since I was really hungry, it was hard to be that objective about the food quality. The stuffed scallop was really good, though! The chorizo tasted good, but wasn't the best I've had; the shrimp was excellent, as were the olives and manchego. Worth a visit, although not cheap.

Iron Man

We've entered the age of the comic-book hero. The second-tier heroes are getting their own movies! Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark was inspired casting: the movie is a lot of fun, if slow-paced for an "action" movie. Jeff Bridges was excellent as well.

All around, a good way to kick off the summer movie season!