Review: Aquaman

Just got back from seeing AQUAMAN. Here's my non-spoilery review:

There's something to be said about a movie that not only acknowledges the absurdity of its premise but truly embraces and owns it. Aquaman is such a film. The (boring) hero powers... the fantasy/sci-fi pastiche... the earnest acting... the cheesy action-movie one liners... the arrow-straight plot... none of its individual parts would likely stand on their own. But mixed together, they form a delightful, action-packed fantasy romp that makes this viewer almost want to rewatch Justice League.

Aquaman has always stood to the side of the other core members of the Justice League as the weirder, less-cool Hero. He swims fast and talks to fish! The powers are uninteresting, and so everything has to be pulled from the characterization of the hero. Thankfully, Jason Momoa's screen presence is as big as his muscles. He reminds me of Chris Hemworth's appearance in the first Thor--unpolished but brimming with charisma.

The supporting cast is equally strong. Amber Heard makes a wonderful deuteragonist as the fiery, independent Mera, and she has plenty of chemistry with Momoa. Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II give earnest energy to their cardboard villains. Willem Defoe, Dolph Lundgren, and Nicole Kidman round out the supporting cast with performances filled with sincerity that the script doesn't earn on its own.

Aquaman isn't flawless. It suffers from many of the typical pitfalls of an origin superhero film: a slow start and cardboard villains. There's a great deal of world building that has to be slogged through, but once those pieces are mostly finished, the film takes off and never stops. The pacing of the film covers for the straight forward plot and the cast rounds out the edges of some of the sillier moments.

Much of the credit must be given to James Wan's vision of the alien, underwater world that the film mostly takes place in. Unlike the Superman films of the DC Cinematic Universe, James Wan fills Aquaman with a rainbow of colors and gorgeous CGI scenery. Gorgeous CGI mayhem is somewhat expected at this point in super hero films, but Aquaman doesn't disappoint and raises the bar at many times throughout. The action scenes are exciting and well-choreographed.

Aquaman is great fun. Anyone who enjoys the super hero genre (or shirtless Jason Momoa) should see this one on the big screen.

3*/4*

Review: Fantastic Beasts - The Crimes of Grindewald

Just got back from seeing Fantastic Beasts - The Crimes of Grindewald. Here's my non-spoilery review.

Fantastic Beasts 2 is a frustrating film. On the one hand, it's expertly cast, it's filled with wonderful set pieces, and it features the still-breathtaking imagination of J.K. Rowling. On the other hand, it's slow and plodding and feels very much like setup for the rest of the Fantastic Beasts series. The plot is not dictated by the actions of the characters but by the necessity of the narrative. The story requires certain characters to arrive in certain places at certain times, which requires some hand waving on character motivation.

For such a slow film, it also ends quite abruptly. The climax of the film is exciting, but leaves you with a sense of incompletion. And, as said prior, this is very much the setup for the rest of the series. Despite the slow pacing of the film, it also feels overly stuffed with content. It introduces several new characters--many of whom appear poised to play important roles in the rest of the saga. The whole movie could have taken another two hours to give each character their arc, but that would leave us with a 4+ hour movie. 

Still, it's not all bad. Once again, J.K. Rowling's imagination takes center stage with new magical creatures, new interesting magic, and peeks at this strange, wonderful world that has captured much of the world. It's also filled with important mythology for the Harry Potter world, and I'm sure many Harry Potter fans will enjoy it based on its importance to the overall narrative. (I certainly did).

But imagination and mythology do not cover up for the film's fundamental flaws, and I suspect that Fantastic Beasts 2 will only be considered in the context of the broader story. I strongly recommend this for anyone who loves the world of Harry Potter, but there's not much there for anyone else.

2*/4*

Sushi #6, #7

A Saturday trip to Coastal Seafoods for 1/2 pound of ahi tuna and 1/2 pound of salmon 

#6: 03 November 2018

This night was all about the tuna. The problem with 1/2 pound cuts is that the ahi block wasn't as thick as I'd like for making nigiri. I had two good nigiri cuts, some nice sashimi, and the rest was chopped up into tuna cubes for rolls.

The tuna nigiri came out nice. Really good cuts. 

The first roll was tuna, cucumber, and green onion. We were going to add some spicy mayo, but we ended up accidentally wrecking the squeeze bottle.

This was a simple tuna roll 

#7: 05 November 2018

Tonight was all about the salmon. The 1/2 pound of salmon was actually pretty decently sized for cutting into sushi. I got four nice pieces for sashimi, four nigiri cuts, and the rest was cubed up for a salmon roll. I also saved the skin for one final treat.

The nigiri pieces were still a little small, but they worked well enough and were quite tasty to boot.

This was my very poor attempt at a spicy tuna roll. The spicy mayo was tasty enough, but getting it to look nice on the rolls was much harder than it looks.

As a way to finish off the night, I made a little chirashi bowl with fried salmon skin, green onions, and eel sauce! It was a nice way to finish off the extra rice.

Sushi #4, #5

I finished off the two pounds of salmon I had picked up at Coastal Seafoods with two more nights of sushi!

#4: 28 October 2018

We started the night by cutting out the salmon into several pieces some nice sashimi and nagiri. Then we made three rolls. The first roll was salmon, avocado, and cucumber (a salmon California roll). The second roll was just salmon and cucumber. The third was imitation crab and cucumber (I had no avocado at that point to make it a 'true' California roll).

#5: 29 October 2018

This night saw the last of the salmon that I had created. I started with one cup of rice and chopped the rest of my salmon into what you see here. (Minus one piece of sashimi).

From the salmon cuts, I started with three pieces of salmon nigiri and two pieces of salmon sashimi.

To end the night, I made a roll with the diced salmon and some green onion bits. 

It's taken a while, but I'm finally starting to get the hang of actually cutting the fish into pieces that look nice for nigiri and sashimi.

Sushi #1, #2, #3

I recently took sushi classes at Coastal Seafoods in Minneapolis, MN. After said sushi classes, I finally started to purchase and make my own sushi. To date, I have done three rounds.

#1: 20 October 2018

Just nigiri--salmon nigiri and ahi tuna nigiri on Saturday, October 20th, 2018. I made a cup of rice but found that I had way too much left over.

#2: 23 October 2018

The second round of sushi was made with the leftover salmon from round 1. I went for roll making this time around. I also made significantly less rice--only 1/2 cup, which basically gave me enough for this roll. With the leftover salmon, I made baby nigiri.

#3: 27 October 2018

More rolls this time! Not pictured is the mess of a roll that had far too much rice. Pictured below is a salmon California roll (avocado and cucumber), a salmon roll, and some baby nigiri.

The wife was the one who rolled the California roll, which came out quite nicely. The follow up salmon roll was more lacking.