Dinner & A Movie

Went to dinner tonight at Flame at Rosedale Mall. It looked interesting from the outside and when you walk in you are greeted with flames shooting from an impressive grill area. They need a bit better exhaust system but overall it was an impressive feat of fire. Even on a Friday night I was able to be seated right away - which can possibly be a bad sign. However I attribute it also to the location of the restaurant in one of the most poorly designed parking lots known to man.

They have a lot of seating though so it could be that too. I think the restaurant is trying to be about meat cooked over flame. And it seems like a pretty decent place to maybe take a date (although it's a little loud) The drink menu looked fun and I tried an apple pork tenderloin which was delicious. It came with a side of mushy spinach and some rather lackluster cheesy hashbrowns (the cheese was quite hard to cut through and the potatoes weren't anything to rave about. ) All in all I give the place **1/2 stars out of five. (could use some help with the food and it was a tad smoky and loud)

Then went to Oakdale (because the AMC theater was way too crowded) to see the Dark Knight.

Overall a good movie, although I judge movies by whether I ever think to myself - boy when will this be over and I did think that once or twice. It would have been a fine movie all on it's own without developing the villian Harvey Dent/Two-Face Story line.

Christian Bale is a winner of my favorite Bruce Wayne character (although George Clooney I think is still my favorite batman) Something about his hoarse voice as the dark knight was a little odd.

As for the hoopla regarding Heath Ledger's portrayal - I think it was well-done. Creepy psychotic, at times humorous - and the greatest compliment to the make-up artists and Ledger himself is when a portrayal transports the character so far from the reality that you almost don't recognize him.

The movie was a tad dark and too violent to get a perfect score from me. I did rather enjoy the dark knight mobile turning into the dark night motorcycle.

I thought the rest of the cast was spot-on in their role and their portrayal. I'm a sucker for romance triangles so the whole Harvey/Rachel/Bruce Wayne storyline was well done, if not a little heartbreaking. Cain's portrayal of Alfred (who was always my favorite character in the tv series was also great.)

I'm not going to share my thoughts about the movie much more than this so as to not ruin it for others who may not have seen the movie yet. (Although boy - what's taking you so long - it's been out almost a whole day!)

**3/4 stars...it's good but I have some issues with the violence. The storyline was entertaining -it did have a bunch of really good lines and the joker was fascinatingly creepy. Some of the special effects were a bit lame and I appreciate the redesign of the dark knight suit (especially when the dark knight jumps off tall buildings - and one particular scene where he appears to be standing on top of one of the taller buildings in Tokyo is impressive)

I never read the comic books but I seem to recall that the dark knight comic book was darker than the batman series. It seems true to form that this movie should be darker than the others but honestly I wonder what exposing yourself to images this dark and disturbing does to the heart?

I may have to go to Mama Mia to counterbalance the effect.