stoobushblog

It's Been Awhile

One month and a week, only 3 movies. Sorry folks, but I've been otherwise occupied with trips to Toronto and other such treats. BTW, should you visit the home of the CN Tower, be sure to stop at:

Yung Sing Pastry Shop, 22 Baldwin Street. Great chinese buns (meat and veggie) at insanely cheap prices.
Amato Pizza, 534 Queen St. West. There are several locations for this top-notch pizza.
Far Niente, 187 Bay St. Pricey, but tasty. Have the seafood linguini and the chocolate souffle.

Also, should the rate be right, stay at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel. Ask for an upgrade to a club-level room; should they be plentiful, you may get lucky. The pool and hot tub are top-notch.

Finally, if you're really lucky (like me and Barbie), you show up when there's a Barenaked Ladies concert scheduled. Go. They're especially good in front of their hometown crowd.

Ok, on to those three movies (admittedly, with briefer-than-usual treatment):

28 Days Later: 3.25 Stars. I expected this to be more like a Brit take on the modern horror flick, but it turned out to be more of a voyage into the horrors that man is capable of. Great acting; great suspense; fair story arc...it kind of loses its focus towards the end and gets a bit silly (yes, even for the genre). Still, a very good film.

Finding Nemo: 3.5 Stars. Nemo suffers from the bar set so astronomically high by Pixar. If I'd seen this without having seen the Toy Storys and Monsters Inc, it'd probably have been a four-star effort. That said, I can't rate it higher than either of those two films. It's Bug's Life-level, which is nothing to be ashamed of. Astonishing animation, great voice-acting, and a compelling story makes this one heck of a film. Go and see it.

The Italian Job: 3 stars. I'm penalizing this movie at least a quarter-point, possibly half, because the trailer showed me the finale. Regardless, this was a fine action-caper film with solid acting and good effects. We need more heist flicks.