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Show ™ DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT F r i d a y , S e p t e m b e r 3 0 , 2005 What a classic GOOD EATS ON THE CHEAP Couple your movie with a great dinner at Mr. Z's beloved pastimes, but— Some things in life and we can just face it— just come in perfect oftentimes an indepenpairs. dent film is just better. You have your And arguably the best foods: strawberries Salt Lake City venue at and bananas, bagels which to see these films and cream cheese, is the Broadway Centre tomatoes and basil. Cinema. Then you have your But a movie, no mateveryday items, such ter how good, just isn't as shampoo and conJenni Koehler quite as perfect unless ditioner, shoes and Chronicle Food Critic it is accompanied by its socks, toupees and bosomest of buddies, obviousness. dinner. Which is why There are infinite Mr. Z's Cucina Italiana doublets like these Mr. Z's Cucina Ita is located right next in all facets of life. door to the Broadway! But there is one U1 E. Broadway (300 So Trust me, this is one area in which there 994-2002 tasty twosome. exist very few such U Discount: No indisputably classic Mr. Z's offers all Four out of five plates (food) pairs: activities. the traditional Italian favorites—spaghetti, Sure, you could • • • • lasagna, ravioli, gnocsay singing and Four out of five stars (ambiance) chi, calzones and tons dancing, or skiing ^^^^^^^» • • ^ ^ " of paninis—as well as and snowboarding—but how many people really a few less common dishes. engage in both of those activities at There's the penne con salsiccia the same time, or in immediate suc- alarrabbiata, composed of penne cession? pasta, Italian sausage, green peppers Not very many—which is why din- and a spicy tomato sauce. There's the ner and a movie emerges as such an polio alia puglia, a flavorful combination of farfalle (bowtie) pasta, pieces incontrovertible classic. There are places, meaning Jordan of chicken breast, garlic, onion, celCommons, that cater almost exclu- ery, tomatoes, basil, olives and capers sively to the desire to couple these in a chicken broth sauce. And there's Catching some Z's: Mr. Z's Italian eatery offers cinematic views and excellent cuisine the highly unusual polenta lasagna— polenta cakes cooked with spinach, escarole, fontfria, mushrooms and shallots, with parmigiana-reggiano cheese mixed in. A delicious lunch dish you'll have a hard time finding elsewhere is the smoky eggplant gyro, which is a pita loaded with succulently grilled egg- plant, red onion, tomato, squash, zucchini, spinach and the perfect amount of feta. This dish is like a string quartet: The vegetables all have distinctly different flavors, but they blend together in perfect harmony to create a meal resounding with mouthwatering flavor. But in the realm of classic Italian, All aboard Joss Whedon's 'Serenity' crew is back, and it doesn't miss a beat "Serenity" Universal Pictures Directed and written by Joss Whedon Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite, Sean Maker, Summer Glau and Chiwetel Ejiofor Rated PG-13/119 minutes Opens Sept. 30, 2005 Three-and-a-half out offour stars you can't go wrong with Mr. Z's fettuccini alfredo. Its mild, creamy sauce perfectly complements the ribbons of pasta, yielding a simply satisfying, but not overly glutting, meal. Mr. Z's garlic bread is absolutely excellent—the bread is soft yet See M R . Z'S Page 5 Satisfying great expectations Polanski's 'Oliver Twist9 delivers sumptuous visuals, superb performances "Oliver Twist" TriStar Pictures Directed by Roman Polanski Written by Ronald Harwood, based on the novel by Charles Dickens Starring: Ben Kingsley, Barney Clark, Leanne Rowe, Mark Strong, Jamie Foreman and Harry Eden Rated PG-13/130 minutes Opens Sept. 30, 2005 Three-and-a-half out offour stars •••* Chris Bellamy Chronicle Writer •••* One of the great injustices in television history was the FOX network's (who else?) swift cancellation of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" after just 14 episodes. A genre-bending mix of sci-fi and the Old West, "Firefly" was head and shoulders above other series of its kind, but in a variety of ways, FOX never gave it much of a shot (the network aired the Pilot episode halfway through the season, for example). But now, three years later, retribution comes in the form of "Serenity," thanks to a passionate following of rabid fans. The film picks up not long after the series left off. For those unfamiliar with the show, here's a quick primer: It's 500 years in the future, the Alliance (think "Star Wars") has won a war against the Independents—those who didn't want to live under imperialist rule. Capt. Malcolm "Mai" Reynolds was one of those Independents. Now, having lost the war, Mai runs a spaceship called Serenity and makes a living as a thief-forhire with the help of a crew of surprisingly three-dimensional characters. They include the muscle, Jayne (Adam Baldwin); the mechanic, Kaylee (Jewel Staite); the pilot, Wash (Alan Fudyk); and his wife, the captain's first mate, Zoe (Gina Torres). But that's simply the backdrop. The show's brief run centered largely on a pair of fugitives, Simon (Sean Maher), a doctor, and his sister, River (Summer Glau). The two are on the run from the Alliance after Simon rescued her from a facility where she was experimented on and turned into See SERENITY Page 5 Aaron Allen Chronicle Writer The question on the tips of most people's tongues is, why? Why revisit "Oliver Twist," a story that's been told on film and TV at least a dozen times? Furthermore, why would a filmmaker like Roman Polanski—Oscar-winning director of 2002's "The Pianist"—waste his talents on such a piddling enterprise? I have a confession to make: I have successfully avoided every "Oliver Twist" movie adaptation and have never read the Charles Dickens novel, either. Perhaps that's why Polanski took another stab at it—to reach out to Dickens virgins. Without anything with which to compare it, this newest revival of "Oliver Twist" is a pure delight, a sumptuous production of a rich story, full of stellar performances. Another reason Polanski might have been drawn to the story is his very personal tie to the orphaned Oliver. Separated from his parents in World War II, Polanski wandered war-torn Poland, surviving through luck and pluck, much like Oliver and Adrian Brody's impoverished musician in "The Pianist." With that in mind, "Oliver Twist" is the perfect choice for a director whose films revolve around helpless victims, persecuted by forces beyond their control. His mother dead, his father unknown, Oliver is shuffled from master to master. He's cruelly beaten, hardly fed and handled like garbage by the fat, insensitive men who run his orphanage like a sweatshop. Oliver escapes to London, where he falls in with a gang of child thieves led by the stooping, cackling Fagin (played by Ben Kingsley in full "gimme an Oscar because I'm slathered in ugly make-up" mode). The canvas is crowded with a plethora of supporting roles, including Jamie Foreman as the vicious Bill Sykes—perhaps "Psst. Hey, man. Is that Joss Whedon slathering himself in sweet amber honey?" Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin carry largej/veapons and deliver snappy one-liners In "Serenity." SeeTWlSTPage5 Movies Opening on 9/30/05 "Oliver Twist" The TV show that nobody watched has been adapted into a movie that nobody— outside of "Firefly" fans—will go see, (PG13) Directed by Roman Polanski "Into the Blue" "Please, sir. May I have some more?" Well, Directed by John Stockwelt little boy, if you mean more remakes and litPaul Walker and Jessica Alba sex it up in this erary adaptations, then feast upon this newest interpretation of Charles Dickens' classic. (PG- scuba diving, treasure hunting, abs-glorifying thriller. They almost called it "Into the Bargain 13) Bin." (PG-13) "A History of Violence" Directed by David Cronenberg Watch Viggo Mortensen blast out of his mildmannered shell when robbers try to hold up his peaceful diner. Viggo MAD! Viggo want be taken seriously as actor! RRRAAAARR] (R) "Serenity" Directed by Joss Whedon "The Greatest Game Ever Played" "Grizzly Man" "Weekend" Directed by Jean-Luc Godard And you thought your weekends were bad. In this "grizzly" documentary (ah, puns!), a U n -^rffltfSfttil your entire existence begins to crumble into a mess of murder, man who surely must be sane lives with grizcannibalism and traffic jams, zly bears for years until they eat him. "Hey, Booboo—to hell with these pick-a-nick bas- count yourself lucky that it was only rain that kets. Watch me pick-a-my-teeth with the ruined your retreat. bones of Ranger Bob!" (R) Catch this flick on Sunday night at 7 p.m. in the OSH's Walden P. Read Auditorium. Admission and parking are free. (Not rated) Directed by Werner Herzog "Mirrormask" Directed by David McKean "Rosemary's Baby" Another world...another timc.in the age of Directed by Roman Polanski The greatest game ever played? And it's about wonders...there was a Great Conjunction when If you've ever eaten at Burger King, then you golf? What about John Stockton's sweet three- the Jim Henson Company came together and pointer back in '97 that sent the Utah Jazz to took another stab at the fantastic. Seek out know what it's like to have an angry demon in the NBA Finals? You know, the clip that local the Mirrormask, young Gelfling. And then get your belly. Oh, Mylantal Get impregnated with the spawn of Satan this weekend at the Tower. sports shows like to run over and over and over smashed with the Podlings. (PG) (R) again, ad nauseum? (PG) Compiled by Aaron Allen Directed by Bill Paxton |
