Later, we went to dinner at District of Pi. I know a lot of people love their pizza, so I was excited to try it. I hate to say that I didn't really like it. (For those who are curious, the crust was the deal breaker for me. Our waitress warned us that because they put a layer of cornmeal on the bottom, the crust is different and might taste "crispy." But the crust really just felt gritty in your mouth...not really a pleasant chewing experience. It's a shame too because all the ingredients on top of the pizza were really good; I sort of wanted to scrape everything off the top and just eat that. For what it's worth, Peter thought it was pretty good, but I probably won't go back.)
And then Saturday night we finally watched The Great Gatsby. We almost went to see this movie in the theater, and now I'm glad we waited for the dvd. Baz Luhrmann's particular style of quick cuts, extreme close-ups, campy over-the-top acting, and playing around with the speed of the film, all the things that made Moulin Rouge great, just did not work here. The first 30 minutes were so manic I could hardly watch. Then the next hour or so slowed to a dull crawl. I even got my phone out twice to check twitter and instagram, which is something I never do during movies unless I'm extremely bored. But the biggest criticism I have is that all of that blazing chemistry and emotion you felt between characters in Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge was completely absent here. It's bizarre because all of these actors are good, and I thought Leonardio Dicaprio especially really tried, but there's just no chemistry. I won't even get into inaccuracies with the book because I think movies are a separate thing altogether and shouldn't really be expected to follow the book verbatim. I guess I'm glad we watched it if only because it means other better movies have now moved up the queue.
I didn't really expect this post to turn into a restaurant review or a movie review, but apparently I have opinions today. ;)
I have some photos to share from Sunday too, but I'll save them for another post. Also, you probably noticed the new header. I also changed around my about page and cleaned up the sidebar a bit. I hope to find time to do some more work to the layout soon. If anything looks wonky in your browsers, please let me know. xo, Mary
Love the antique furniture! And ice skating sounds like fun, but I'm sure I'd either break my wrist or ankle...not too coordinated in my "old" age...lol :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, LOVE your new banner!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in DC a couple of years ago with my mom, sister, and aunt, I was the only one who wanted to do the Gallery (which meant we didn't go and I thought all of them were insane). I've already told my husband that if/when we get out that way again, we're going.
Thanks for the spontaneous review of The Great Gatsby, too. I had been debating whether to watch it, but if it's not as good as his other movies then I'll just skip it!
I'm actually not a fan of the book The Great Gatsby.I thought it was boring in high school and then I tried to read it again when I heard about the movie and I got bored again.
ReplyDeleteI liked the soundtrack for this movie. I thought the movie was boring too but I couldn't tell if that was because of my dislike for the story or the movie. I also agree that I didn't think there was much of a connection between Leo Dicaprio and whats her face..
All things aside though..I still liked the way Leo Dicaprio looked in the movie.
It's unfortunate, how can you ruin a story like The Great Gatsby? I loved the book but have not watched the movie because I haven't been in the mood for disappointment...
ReplyDeleteI am yet to go to the National Gallery! My mother-in-law loves it, and insists in being the one who takes me there, so that we can run around marveling at the depictions of drapery and jewelry and personality—he was an art teacher & interior designer, and we can easily talk each other's head off in a setting like that :)