St. Louis Eats and Drinks With Joe and Ann Pollack

Anthonino's

We're happy to announce that we've begun doing some work for St. Louis Magazine's online edition. Their blog FEAST features our review of Anthonino's here. We'll continue to let you know when we have reviews there, which will not duplicate what we're doing there. 

The City of Your Final Destination

The movie-making team of Producer Ismael Merchant, Director James Ivory and Writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala made a name for themselves with literary films, slow-paced, intricate, character-driven stories set in glamorous locales, with fine acting, lovely settings and people who had interesting stories to tell. They triumphed with "A Room With a View," "Heat and Dust," "Jefferson in Paris," "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" and "Howards End," to name a handful.

Merchant died in 2005, and "The City of Your Final Destination" is an Ivory-Jhabvala effort. It's an interesting movie, with some fine acting (Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, Charlotte Gainsbourg) and glorious cinematography of a rich, aging home on a slightly seedy ranch and plantation in Uruguay by Javier Aguirresarobe, the man behind the camera for "Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona."

But the movie falls short, in several places. We start with a young college professor, Omar Razaghi (Omar Metwally) who wants to write a biography of Jules Gund, a not-very-well-known writer. When Gund's family refuses to turn over his papers and files, and says they will not be interviewed, Razaghi is ready to give up and kiss tenure good-bye, but finally yields to his girl friend's badgering and heads for Uruguay. He is afraid to go back to the girl friend, and the family is too polite and well-bred to throw him out, so he stays. Over time, and among family bickering, Razaghi begins to change some minds among the mass of peculiar people that give the word "family" some new meanings.

We have Gund's widow, Caroline (the always outstanding Laura Linney) and his girl friend, Arden (Charlotte Gainsbourg, with too little to do), and her daughter, Portia (Ambar Mallman). There's also Gund's brother, Adam (Anthony Hopkins, in very good form), and his long time lover and companion, Pete (Hiroyuki Sanado). They all live on the estate, they don't like each other very much and they don't trust each other at all.

And eventually, Deidre, the girl friend (Alexandra Maria Lara) also shows up. She's pushy and rude and unpleasant, a big pain in the posterior.

Meanwhile, Adam allows as how he'll change his vote in the family argument about helping our scholar, but he tries to engage him in a smuggling operation in exchange. Arden flirts with Omar, but they just don't seem energetic to have an affair. Deidre tromps around like an ugly American. Caroline tries to figure out how to exchange Uruguay for New York.

Things just move along, slowly, in summer heat that enervates everyone. There seems no reason why a scholar, even a half-baked one like Omar, should be so interested in a half-baked writer like George Gund, or why his university seems so eager for him to write this book.

The dialogue is not up to Jhabvala's past writing, and without a producer of Merchant's skill to hammer on the other sides of the movie-making triangle, everything goes out of sync and the viewer probably will run out of patience.

"The City of Your Final Destination" opens today at the Plaza Frontenac

-Joe

Ondine

It's a crying shame that fantasy and folklore cannot carry an entire film. The multi-talented Neil Jordan has written and directed "Ondine," a lovely, romantic movie about an Irish fisherman who catches a selkie in his nets one day. A selkie, by the way, is a creature similar to a mermaid who does not have a tail but who wears a sealskin. Like mermaids, I guess, she always is beautiful and good. And she sings in a strange language. And she's a really good swimmer.

Anyway, Colin Farrell captures Alicja Bachleda somewhere in the Irish Sea. To be truthful, however, it must be revealed that they already have captured one another and are full-time companions offscreen. She convinces him not to give her up to the authorities and he hides her in his mother's house, a ready-made photo studio for the superb cinematographer Christopher Doyle. She also spends a lot of time fishing with him. When she sings, fish jump into his nets. When she comes out of the water, wearing a tight translucent blouse, Farrell jumps into her arms.

Unfortunately, the lovely fantasy cannot last. Farrell, named Syracuse after the Sicilian city of ancient times, also has a drinking problem which causes his friends and drinking buddies to call him Circus. He has a daughter who is seriously ill, so the modern tear-jerker and high drama soon calls us back to earth. But the aura of the fantasy and the legend of beautiful sea-creatures remains.

"Ondine" opens today at the Plaza Frontenac

-Joe

Reel Injun

The word play in the title of the documentary film, "Reel Injun" is rather easy to decipher--it's about the treatment of American Indians in movies made by American filmmakers. Directed by Neil Diamond (a Cree Indian, not a singer), it covers a lot of familiar ground, but seems to show some optimism for better treatment, and better stories, in the future.

Loaded with some good clips from old movies, we see such Indians as Burt Lancaster, Elvis Presley, Burt Reynolds, Dustin Hoffman and Charles Bronson in action, and we hear Native Americans like Randall Means, Charlie Hill, Adam Beach and Chris Eyre talk about perception and persecution. There is humor and sadness, but saddest of all is a clip screened at a school on a reservation, with Indian children cheering for the cowboys. Triumph and pride are hand-in-hand as Sacheen Littlefeather refuses Marlon Brando's Oscar (for "The Godfather") because of Hollywood treatment of Indians.

Crazy Horse, the side hero of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, receiives several tributes, and Diamond looks to current movies, heroes and attitudes as signs of more intelligent and proper responses to another culture.

"Reel Injun" opens today at Webster University's Winifred Moore Auditorium.

-Joe

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

The movie opens with a shocking sequence. A woman, her mouth a mere slit, her face pasty and lined, is about to be made up. The name of the movie could easily be changed from "Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work," to "Joan Rivers: An Old Woman Being Re-Created By Being Worked On, a Piece at a Time," as a makeup artist labors over creating a person who looks 15-20 years younger than the 77 she admits to carrying.

Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg, experienced filmmakers, obviously approached Rivers without trembling. After making a film about atrocities in Darfur, an aging comic would not be be considered a threat, no matter how much bad language she uses. And she uses a lot.

Like so many comedians, Rivers is a driven, frightened woman, desperate to be amusing in any situation. For a time, she was a national sensation, appearing with Johnny Carson, the king, more than any other guest, and often serving as a fill-in host when he was away. Everything ended overnight when Rivers got her own show on another network. Carson, to his discredit, never spoke to her again. She claims he also was instrumental in keeping her off other NBC shows.

The filmmakers follow Rivers on the road, a series of interchangeable black limousines, interchangeable hotels, nightclubs and halls. Like most comics when they are not on television, she's amazingly blue in her subject matter and her language. She's a non-stop talker on almost any subject, her favorites being herself and her life. But her life seems to be a continuing series of limousines and dirty jokes.

The film is well-made, but it is like all the others about a singer, or a performer, or a politician. If you like him, her or them, you'll like the movie. If you don't, you won't, and there will be little to change your mind.

"Joan Rivers: a Piece of Work," opens today at the Plaza Frontenac

-Joe

Farmhaus

There's lots of buzz about Farmhaus these days, and it seems ready to become this summer's Hot Spot, with Kevin Willman, formerly of Edwardsville's Erato, manning the helm and doing things in his own slightly idiosyncratic way. For instance, he recently took off a few days to go fishing, and just closed rather than delegating the weight of running a new high-expectation operation. But he caught some fish, and had them on the menu.. So there's a pleasing looseness to some aspects of things. Not the food, however. Willman's freshness-oriented kitchen with a busily changing menu provides equal pleasure on this side of the river.

The décor, for example, is not exactly loose, but pleasantly relaxed. The dining room displays some great old photos, and a landscape print that looks straight out of the Fifties. Each table sports a Mason jar holding, on our visit, a single calla lily, a wonderfully pristine combination. The restaurant is well lit, and with a fair amount of noise from diners, but the ambiance is casual and friendly.

We approached the menu as a collection of small plates. Treating them as first courses or appetizers results in generous servings. As traditional entrees, they are smaller, both in size and price, than St. Louis is accustomed to. Our grouper plate, at $15, was the second most expensive item on the menu; the highest was a 9-ounce beef filet at $34. This approach allows for tasting many different things, always fun.

We were thrilled with the mushroom salad, made with roasted Ozark Forest mushrooms, goat's milk cheese, excellent bacon lardons, un-wimpy greens and a warm vinaigrette made with the bacon. The roasted pecans garnishing the plate added their woodsy notes. It's the sort of dish we'd want to order on every subsequent visit. Pickled shrimp are not common in Midwestern farmhouses, but are a Southern party standard. Willman seems to like to pickle things, and alongside the tender shrimp, still tasting of themselves and not of just their marinade, came other vegetables like onion slices and zucchini, even tasty enough for He Who Doesn't Do Zucchini.

The sweet potato nachos seem to be a permanent fixture on the constantly evolving menu. Those expecting Mexican-style nachos will be disappointed. For the rest of us, they're a most satisfying combination of textures and flavors (sweet potatoes fry up to blend crunchy and chewy, and they sparkle with more bacon, which is housemade, by the way). Sprinkled with blue cheese from a Wisconsin cooperative of small producers and drizzled with a catsup made from sweet red peppers that have been fire-roasted, the flavors dance.

A more conservative eater might go for, and sing about, the slices of cold and tender rare roast beef, served with a truffle foam and some of the lavash that comes with many of the salads, all sitting on what the menu called horseradish panna cotta. We didn't get any horseradish, but truffle oil and whipped cream? Cures most ills.

The grouper, described as slow roasted, still had a crisp skin, and wasn't overcooked. Spoon bread, another Southern delight seldom seen hereabouts. Delicious and tender braised greens dressed with a ham-red wine reduction rode alongside. And a slice of bacon-wrapped meatloaf was first rate, meaty rather than the sort that's a tribute to breadcrumbs. It was somewhat dense, accompanied by a nicely cheesy macaroni and cheese and some gently cooked sweet onions.

Another plate, labeled on the menu simply as "breakfast" showed off housemade maple sausage links and a buttery poached farm egg (and the flavor difference in such eggs is remarkable), which were both good, plus roasted pork belly and some fat corn blini, little pancakes that didn't need syrup. And those two were delightful. Definitely a keeper for those of us who love morning food.

A raspberry tart led pastry chef KT Fitzgerald's dessert list. It was simple, just a tasty tumble of red and black raspberries atop a creamy filling in a first-rate pastry crust. The pecan financier is an American take on a traditional French dessert made with ground almonds. It's very simple, tasting of honey and served with honey ice cream and a homemade graham cracker. The “cracker” is chewy rather than crisp, and rather thick, more of a cookie. A lemon pudding cake wasn't quite what the phrase evokes, but rather a square of moist cake, lightly lemony, with a scoop of basil ice cream alongside. Some grandmas made fried pies, and so does Fitzgerald, hers filled with strawberry and rhubarb, with some particularly good strawberry-creme fraiche ice cream.

The kitchen doesn't always get all of an order out at the same time, but that just seems to be part of the aura. But the servers are pleasant and alert, and on a busy weekend evening, Willman himself was occasionally seen serving a dish or busing a table

Folks also eat at the bar, which has its own room. There's fixed-price ($10) lunch service on weekdays, not from a menu but from a five-day rotation of blue plate specials, listed on the website. Farmhaus also is big on Twitter and Facebook, the latter including the daily menus. The wine list is limited, but inexpensive, with a couple of higher-end labels. The by-the-glass list could be longer, but we found some satisfactory choices.

We strongly recommend reservations, and patience in the process. We've twice had dinner-hour phone calls unanswered. Try lunchtime or mid-afternoon. Worth the effort, for sure.

Farmhaus

3257 Ivanhoe Ave.

314-647-3800

www.farmhausrestaurant.com

Lunch Mon.-Fri., Dinner Wed.-Sat.

Credit cards: Yes

Wheelchair access: No

Smoking: No

Entrees: $11-$34

 

Knight and Day

March may come in like a lion, but summer comes in like "Knight and Day," an utterly predictable action movie that opens today, with impossible things becoming everyday events. Cameron Diaz, who may be the first Kansas-based heroine since Judy Garland, runs an auto repair shop in Wichita and is restoring her father's treasured GTO as a wedding gift for her sister. She's on her way to the wedding (the car remains in Wichita; it will not fit in the overhead compartment) and has many problems getting on the plane. Tom Cruise intercedes, fiddling with her luggage, and she boards. Only a handful of other passengers are present, and Cruise is in the next seat. Surprise!

Shortly after takeoff, Cruise calmly kills everyone else on the plane, including the pilots, with his bare hands, and then shows he has the skill to land the plane in a cornfield.

Next thing we know, Diaz wakes up in her sister's house, makeup intact, ready for the wedding. And that's in just the first 20 minutes or so.

From there on, Cruise and Diaz are on a world-wide tour to Switzerland, Vienna and other romantic places, always with freshly cleaned and pressed clothes, while Cruise, who can do anything instantly and remain charming all the time, protects a super energy source from all the bad guys, a group that may or may not include the CIA, the FBI and many other alphabetical agencies from nations too numerous to mention.

James Mangold, who directed the first-rate "3:10 to Yuma" remake in 2007, keeps the action taking curves and hills like an out-of-control roller-coaster, and there's good work from Viola Davis and Peter Sarsgaard as police types, and from Paul Dano as the inventor of the device.

"Knight and Day" is close to being a comic book, but it's fast-moving and generally exciting enough to leap over the large and frequent plot holes. A fine summer movie; just make sure the theater is properly air-conditioned.

"Knight and Day" opens today at several theaters.

-Joe

Wicked

When a baseball team changes a pitcher, there are conferences at the mound, and signals to the bullpen, and warmup throws, and time for several commercials and even a beer or two. When a well-run theatrical company needs to make a change, the replacement slips onto the stage between numbers, and few in the audience realize it until an announcement is made.

As "Wicked," the high-powered, high-volume, high-spirited retake on the tales of the Wizard of Oz, opened at the Fox Theatre last night, Vicki Noon, co-starring as Elphaba, the green (as in color, not as inexperienced) witch, could not continue. Between "I'm Not That Girl," and the very next number, "One Short Day," Noon left the stage and was replaced by her standby, Anne Brummel. An announcement was made at intermission, observing Actors' Equity rules. Not many people had noticed. I didn't, though once I learned, along with the rest of the audience, I realized differences in the actresses' style and voices. Considering the speed of the switch, and her second-act performance, especially in "No Good Deed" ("goes unpunished," as legend says), it was quite an achievement for Brummel. The company did not announce a reason for Noon's departure, nor was there mention of her return.

The production is a delight to the eye, if an occasional pain in the ear. Eugene Lee's set, Susan Hilferty's costumes and--especially--Kenneth Posner's lights, are exciting. There's a dragon above the proscenium, its red eyes flashing from time to time. Several scenes have more green lights than a farm of Christmas trees, and there are acrobats and fliers among the cast. Natalie Daradich delights as Glinda, who arrives and departs, and just floats around, in her large bubble. Her Miss Goody Two Shoes approach was outstanding, and her occasional mangling of words hit the right comedic notes, a technique also used successfully by Marilyn Caskey as Madame Morrible, the school headmistress. Daradich's voice, however, did tend to slip into screech mode on occasion.

Don Amendolia, shown in a photo by Shari Hartbauer, is simply terrific as the Wizard, especially in "Wonderful," his duet with Brummel. A few soft shoe moves, and the skill and timing built over many years, make it an endearing performance. Chris Peluso was an effective Fiyero, a role originated on Broadway by St. Louisan Norbert Leo Butz, and David De Vries scored as Dr. Dillamond, one of the original scapegoats. Zach Hanna offered good work as Boq, the Munchkin.

Most of the familiar characters from the movie show up along the way, some with slight changes, and those familiar with the story (who isn't?) will note many similarities. The music is unmemorable, but serviceable enough, and there's a large enough amount of talent and energy on the stage to provide a good time for everyone.

"Wicked," at the Fox Theatre through July 11

-Joe

Winter's Bone

Shot on location in the sparse woods and sullen landscape of southwest Missouri, where a car and a washing machine, neither in working order, serve as front-yard ornaments, "Winter's Bone" is an excellent movie, with fine, on-the-money performances. It's pessimistic and depressing, discusses family loyalty that has turned to stupidity and lives in the sub-culture of methamphetamines.

Certainly not the stuff of comedy.

Based on Daniel Woodrell's excellent novel, Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini wrote a hard, taut, unflinching screenplay and Granik directed in a stylish and understated manner, using the barren, unfertile country as a metaphor and a backdrop for the lifestyle of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), her family and friends. The 17-year-old Ree has more than enough on her plate. Her mother is living in a world far away and is unavailable to help, so the responsibility for taking care of her run-down house and her two much younger siblings falls squarely on her shoulders.

Making matters worse is the fact that her father, one of the county's finest cookers of meth, has been arrested. As bail, he put up his house and land. Then he vanished, and while Sheriff Baskin (Garret Dillahunt) is kind and understanding, he plans on taking the house.

Ree goes looking for her bail-jumping father, but is shocked by the attitude of friends, neighbors, even relatives. They are following some archaic code of family loyalty, though the loyalty does not reach as far as Ree and the smaller children. In fact, in a scary scene, members of her family beat Ree to convince her to give up her search, and when she asks, "Are you going to kill me?" one of them responds that it had been discussed. Lawrence, a native of Kentucky, looks right and sounds right, offering a superior, attention-grabbing performance. John Hawkes, as her uncle, also is first-rate.

An interesting moment shows a distressed Ree, desperate to get out of her environment and perhaps make something of herself, meeting with an Army recruiter (the very good Tate Taylor) who advises her that this form of running away is not a good idea, that she seems to lack any understanding of what the Army is all about, to the point where she thinks she can take the siblings with her. He's kind, mature and understanding, and it makes one wish all Army recruiters were so sensitive.

"Winter's Bone" opens today at the Plaza Frontenac

-Joe

Solitary Man

Michael Douglas doesn't have all the rights to playing rotten guys, but he has most of them. His Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street" set a standard, and apparently just to keep in shape for the sequel, coming out later in the year, he stars in a very good movie, "Solitary Man." He is not as single-mindedly greedy as Gekko, but his portrayal of Ben Kalmen displays a man with a sleaze quotient somewhere north of genius, a sex drive to put rabbits to shame, and class and honesty that he obviously learned at the knee of Bernie Madoff.

Kalmen is an automobile dealer in the New York area who formerly billed himself as "the tri-state area's honest car salesman." When we meet him, criminal behavior in business, reprehensible behavior as a husband and selfish, dishonest behavior in every other part of his life, have left him a man just about out of options. His former wife, a sympathetic Susan Sarandon, holds him at arm's length. His girl friend (Mary-Louise Parker) has been shamed to the point where she does what she should have done years earlier. Imogen Poots, a teenager who gets her own revenge, has a splendid role, and plays it splendidly, as Parker's daughter.

The nice people are men, played warmly and sympathetically, if warily, by Danny DeVito and young Jesse Eisenberg, but then, they face little risk from the emphatically heterosexual Douglas. DeVito is a friend of long standing who understands Douglas, gives him a job in his college-town diner. That doesn't last very long because Parker's revenge comes with a reach that goes from New York to Cambridge, Mass. Eisenberg is a college student impressed by Douglas' breezy, confident, car-salesman manner, but he's smart enough to soon see through it. Eisenberg's girl friend is even smarter, realizing sooner what Douglas has in mind and shaming him badly. Unfortunately, men like Ben Kalmen never feel the shame.

As a good friend of mine says, "No one is completely useless. He can always be used as a bad example," and that's Douglas. As rotten as his behavior may be, he is a brilliant actor, and his Ben Kalmen is a gripping bad example. David Levien and Brian Koppelman are co-directors, working from Koppelman's screenplay, and they have done excellent work.

"Solitary Man" opens today at Plaza Frontenac.

-Joe