Friday, October 12, 2012

Casablanca and Me


I’ve decided to make the 1942 film Casablanca as my first reviewed movie here on Take The Cannoli. But first, a little back story on Casablanca and me.

Despite being released more than half a century ago, Casablanca is still being revered as one of Hollywood’s defining romantic films ever made. A score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes will attest to that. Evidently, it enters onto my list of ‘movies-I-will-watch-someday’. A list which includes the likes of Apocalypse Now and A Clockwork Orange.

It was in the summer of 2011 that I found myself in LA on vacation and despite staying in a hotel in Anaheim which would make a trip to Disneyland a mere 10-minute drive, I instead took the option of taking the 40 minute route to Universal Studios. And of course it was worth every minute and more. Fast forward to the end of the day and I was standing outside the park even though it was only 6 PM because it was closing time. Bummer, right? Yes, you’re tired from all the walking and waiting in line all day but also still buzzing from all the excitement you just had because the sun had only just set. You’re not getting back to the hotel just yet. You’re not twelve. The night is young. Thankfully, the folks at Universal realize this too, so they came up with City Walk. Defined as a three-block entertainment, dining and shopping promenade. Basically, an al fresco shopping mall. And truthfully, after a whole day of kid-friendly environment, a more adult setting with food and music was a welcome change. Not to mention a great place for a proper meal too.

Normally, I would love to try the Brazilian steakhouse for dinner but you know how it is, so we settled on Bubba Gump, where seafood is a given. Now here’s the interesting part (finally!). Since the place was packed (the whole City Walk was), you have to be on the waiting list. At other places the custom is you leave your name and the number of people in your party to the host for them to call out later when a table becomes available. But since we were at Universal Studios, instead of leaving your name, you get to leave the name of your favorite movie on the waiting list. Now, isn’t that cool?  Something so small yet have a way to significantly improve the dining experience.

Naturally, my inner ponce-ness emerged and the need to out-do the other patrons became my little personal objective. However, my task was made easy since they either had poor movie taste or just too starving to be bothered with coming up with a swanky movie. There were mentions of The Matrix, Shrek (probably inspired by the 4D attraction in the park earlier), Harry Potter and (it just had to happen) multiple Twilights.

As for myself, I didn’t give that much thought when I approached the host but somehow I blurted out the words “Casablanca, for two”. Funny, I wanted to say Jurassic Park. That would have definitely been the right choice at the steakhouse.

“One of my favorite movies” replied the host as he wrote down ‘Casablanca’ onto the waiting list and nodding approvingly.

Suddenly, I felt a little smug about myself.

And ever since that moment Casablanca has reserved a little place in my heart despite never having seen it. But I’m about too. This could really be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.


P/S: If any of you wondered, the dinner at Bubba Gump was satisfying enough. And we get to take home a flickering tall glass as souvenir. Very nifty.

Cannoli Are Delicious


“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli” – Peter Clemenza to Rocco who has killed Paulie in the car.

For the uninitiated, that is the proper quote from the 1972 film The Godfather. A film many agree to be among if not the finest film of all time.

I must admit deciding on a movie blog title is a brain-wrecking experience. You want it to be catchy yet relevant. So I decided for it to be a quote from a film. Problem was quotes are often quite long. Some stretch to a few sentences. My initial pick was ‘Rosebud’ from Citizen Kane. One word, very concise. However, I myself haven’t seen Citizen Kane. And while it is a critically acclaimed film, it does not bode well in terms of popularity and cool-ness. So, scratch that. Star Wars was beyond movies these days and LOTR was, no, just no.

I remembered “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” from The Godfather but, again, too long. Then, the ‘Cannoli’ quote sprang to mind. I could take the ‘Leave the gun’ part out and it is still an iconic even though less glamorous to the former quote. The fact that cannoli are cream-filled deep-fried pastry with bits of chocolates in them is just a bonus.

But of course, ‘takethecannoli’ domains were already taken and were dedicated to personal blogs discussing the trivial of life and has nothing to do with Mario Puzo’s work, which I consider to be borderline blasphemy.    

So I added 1972 at the front to commemorate the year the film was released.

Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to 1972takethecannoli.   

Movies Are Here!

We’ll be talking movies here. Mostly reviewing them because what is out there is pretty much shit. Movie reviews, that is. But I guess that also applies to some movies. Every time I read a review, they are either too short (newspapers), too long (blogs), too flashy (magazines) or downright emotional (Twitter). 

 Reviews here will judge a film on whether it achieves what it sets out to achieve. Not every film strives to win Best Picture. Some just want to be gore-fests. Some are just idiotically funny. But when they fail in that respect, that is when we have a problem. 

Cast and synopsis will be at bare minimum (there’s IMDB for that). Emphasis will be on why you should or should not spend the price of admission at your local cinema because that is our target audience. Why are you reading a review if you had already seen it?

There is a strong likelihood, however, that spoilers will crept up now and again. But they will be accompanied by the customary alert. 

Other times we’ll discuss trailers and entertainment news worth mentioning (upcoming Kate Hudson romantic comedies does not qualify). Occasionally, we’ll have a segment on TV because shows like Dexter and Breaking Bad are just class acts.

Before we begin, a piece about the blog title-