Monday July 4, 4:02 p.m.
Whilst most of
America is (gonna be) enjoying
The Fourth of July, it's just a regular day here. However, it is a slightly cooler and drier Monday compared to the heat and humidity of last week which gladdens me no end.
Yesterday, after my session with The Jyuppies, I met up with The Movie Gang of Skippy, Movie Buddy, The Satyr and The Wedding Planner at
JR Shinjuku for what could be an epic month of movie-watching due to all the flicks that are coming out. We first had dinner at another Skippy recommendation called
The Gold Rush which is just a few doors down from
Studio Alta, one of the area's landmarks. The Gold Rush is a chain that serves variations on
the hamburg steak that is
de rigueur within the interesting culinary category of
yo-shoku or
Japanese-style Western food. The
Shinjuku branch is basically just a basement corridor with a few booths lining the place....quite cramped in there. I had
the Triple Rush of burger with cheese, burger with grated radish and burger with a bacon slice on top...all frying away on the hot plate. Luckily, I made do without lunch yesterday.
The main event was
"Super 8". It was a pleasant enough summer timewaster; definitely not on the level of
"E.T." although I'm one of the few people on the planet who couldn't even get through halfway through that movie (just too schmaltzy for me). There was definitely a feeling of camraderie between the two flicks although
"Super 8" was far less sentimental about the creature and its relationships with humans. Basically, the only recognizable face in the large cast was
Elle Fanning due to her more famous sister and the fact that Elle had been in the much-acclaimed
"Somewhere" directed by
Sofia Coppola. Overall, it came off as an intense kids' version of
"The Outer Limits"...no big twists, just a straight-on sci-fi adventure with the usual
Spielbergian touches of parent-child angst. I think I liked it a bit better than MB and The Satyr; they complained about the unevenness of the story.
Afterwards, the gang and I ended up downstairs at
The Brooklyn Parlor, my third visit to the place and my first at night. Yep, the atmosphere is nice and the prices are New York level. Had dessert there this time in the form of
Cherry Pie with a nice buttery crust and
a Coconut Latte.
Next Saturday, the option is already in to catch
"Thor" with another stayover at MB's.