Journal Post for Wednesday, Feb 1st

A Birthday Meal To Remember Today a beautiful sunny day in the near 70’s, was Connie’s birthday and we decided to go to the Silverado Steakhouse, located inside the Southpoint Casino. One of our favorite steakhouses, we have actually been here several times. The Hand painted mural scenes and vintage photographs that line the walls above plush high backed booths provide an intimate meal in an elegant yet unpretentious setting. The main reason Connie chose to go here was to have their Lobster Bisque with Cognac. Not only is its presentation lovely, it is filled with enough lobster pieces that you are able to enjoy them right down to the last bite. We think it’s the best lobster bisque in Vegas. Next came a huge salad which was tossed tableside in an absolutely delicious house Vinaigrette. For the main course Connie had the “Filet Trio”; three Filet Mignon Medallions on toast points, each smothered with generous portions of Béarnaise, Roasted Garlic & Mushroom Sauces. I had the Shrimp Scampi which came with six of the largest shrimp I ever had served on a shrimp scampi dish. The large baked potatoes were split open and prepared tableside with a generous portion of sour cream, whipped butter and chives. Both meals were cooked to perfection and the portions were so large that neither of us could finish them. We had to skip some really tempting desserts and ask for a “doggy bag”.

Journal Entry for Monday, Jan 30th

Movie Review – Haywire

RELEASE: 2012; GENERE: Action/Adventure, Mystery/Suspense, Drama; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 33 mins; RATED: R; STARRING: Gina Carano; Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender; DIRECTED BY: Steven Soderbergh;
  
REVIEW: In this often confusing and complicated action movie where you never seem to know what is going on, former mixed-martial-arts fighter Gina Carano, does a great job of punching out most of the cast and subduing the remainder with her signature move, a headlock applied with two muscular legs that's designed to choke the life out of you. Dodging bullets and attacks, she crosses continents, providing a canvas for Soderbergh to showcase her athleticism and fight skills. It is what it is; an action movie filled with swift, devastating action, almost to the point of being overdone. We give it 2.5 Stars.

SYNOPSIS: Directed by Steven Soderbergh this movie has a talented cast that includes Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas, Michael Angarano; and MMA superstar Gina Carano. As Mallory Kane, Gina Carano plays a demanding lead role that has her performing many of her own high-adrenaline stunts. In the movie, Mallory Kane is a highly trained operative who works for a government security contractor in some of the most dangerous corners of the world. After successfully completing a mission to free a Chinese journalist that was held hostage, she is double crossed and left for dead by someone close to her in her own agency. After the failed attempt on her life, and now the target of skilled assassins who seem to know her every move, Mallory must find out who tried to kill her in order to stay alive.

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Jan 24th

Movie Review – Contraband Maybe it’s just the time of year, but there seems to be a lot more films worth seeing lately. The thing is that we both like Mark Wahlberg, and even though some of the reviews we read were just so-so, we decided to go see this movie anyway.

RELEASE: 2012; GENERE: Mystery, Suspense, Action, Adventure; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 49 mins; RATED: R; STARRING: Mark Wahlberg, Caleb Landry Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Foster; DIRECTED BY: Baltasar Kormákur;

REVIEW: The movie is based on a 2010 film from Iceland that bore the title, Reykjavik-Rotterdam. In spite of a worn out plot that the director tries to spruce up by adding some unsuspecting twists of betrayal, we wern not too impressed. I must admit that we were expecting a little more “action”. However, in spite of being somewhat contrived and predictable, we still felt that it provide an enjoyable hour and a half of escapism, which is basically why we go to the movies in the first place. We give it a weak 3-Stars.

SYNOPSIS: The storyline of this movie is one that has been repeated often. Chris Farraday, played by Mark Wahlberg, who turned straight after a long life of crime, is brought back into his old life of crime after his brother-in-law Andy, played by Caleb Landry Jones, botches a drug deal for a ruthless boss played by Giovanni Ribisi. Due to family ties and to settle Andy’s debt, Chris is forced back into doing what he did best - running contraband. He quickly assembles a crew with the help of his best friend, Sebastian, played by Ben Foster, for a smuggling run to Panama to bring back millions in counterfeit bills. Things quickly fall apart and with only hours to reach the cash, Chris must use his previous skills to navigate a treacherous criminal network of brutal drug lords, cops and hit men before his wife Kate, played by Kate Beckinsale, and sons get killed.

Journal Entry for Monday, Jan 16th

The Iron Lady

We both just love Meryl Streep and just couldn’t wait to see this movie. I think the last time we saw her was in her portrayal of Julia Child in the movie “Julia”, which we both loved. 

RELEASE: 2012; GENERE: Science-Fiction/Fantasy; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 45 mins; RATED: PG; STARRING: Meryl Streep; DIRECTED BY: Phyllida Lloyd;
REVIEW: Overall, the story conveys power and the price that one pays for power, and provides an insightful portrait of an extraordinary and complex woman. To a point, the film is informative and educational and if you really came to see Meryl Streep, what can one say. The woman is an unbelievable actress who can play any role thrown at her. I also felt that Jim Broadbent, who played her husband, gave a worthy performance of his own. Without these two outstanding performances, the film itself would probably go down as just another average biopic that could be easily be forgotten, however, I don’t think that will be the case. On Meryl Streep’s performance alone, we give this film 4 Stars.

SYNOPSIS: The film takes place over 24 hours in the life of Margaret Thatcher, and is narrated through a series of flashbacks, depicting an elderly Thatcher remembering moments that shaped her and the effect her political life has had on her, while clearing out her dead husband's belongings. The story portrays her gradual struggle with old age and changing times, and the lack of power that comes with both of these things. Through the scope of old age, and afflicted by dementia, Lady Thatcher looks back on defining moments of her personal and professional life. The present-day Thatcher reminisces on these events with her (dead) husband (Denis Thatcher portrayed by Jim Broadbent). Her dementia results in the past and present becoming permeable, and she is shown having difficulty distinguishing between the two. Eventually, In the end she is shown finally packing up her husbands belongings and telling him it's his time to go. Denis finally leaves her, and having dealt with her grief properly, she begins to get on with her life.

Journal Entry for Saturday, Jan 14th

Patriots Win Big! After a winning afternoon at poker and slots at the Green Valley Ranch casino, Connie and I drove to the “M” Resort to pick up two comp'd dinners to go from their Vig Deli to eat over the AFC East divisional game between the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos. And what a game it was – one down and two to go. The ‘Brady Bunch’ demolished the highly touted Tim Tebow and the Bronco’s with a resounding score of 45-10, breaking 5 NFL playoff records in the process. I think Brady’s five touchdown passes put an end to all the “Tebowmania”. For the first time all season, their defense actually looked good and the whole team played like a well oiled machine. Now let’s just hope they can repeat the process twice more to win the Super Bowl. Oh, I'm sorry, are we bragging? Hell yes!

Journal Entry for Wednesday, Jan 11th

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows We decided to go see another movie today, yea, that’s twice in one week.  We really wanted to see “The Iron Lady” with Meryl Streep that opens Friday, but decided to wait until next week when the crowds will be smaller. We ended up choosing Sherlock Holms: A Game of Shadows. Even though most of the reviews by critics have only been so-so, many of those who have seen it have generally liked it and recommended going. I never expect a sequel to be as good as the original, and as a result, approached it with a guarded optimism even though I really like Robert Downey, Jr. and liked the original. Long story short, disappointed. Even though it made more sense I the end, I thought movie’s storyline was generally confusing and made little sense. Understanding that these types of movies are made to be ‘fun’, Holmes’ ability to foresee all kinds of events goes way beyond reality. Though the use of back and forth close-ups and slow motion photography was at times effective, its overuse made the end result appear ‘jerky’ and difficult to follow. I did enjoy the sets and period photography. Most of the good comedy scenes were in the previews; to be honest, I was expecting more. If it wasn't for the fact that we only have to pay $4 to see a movie, we would have been even more disappointed. Our advice, wait for the DVD. We give it a weak 3-Stars.

Journal Entry for Monday, Jan 9th

War Horse Today we decided to see the new movie War Horse by Stephen Spielberg. The main backdrop for this movie is a sweeping canvas of rural England during the time of World War I. It begins with the friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. They are forcefully parted when his father ends up selling him to the army to save the family farm. The story then follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of everyone he meets until it reaches an emotional climax in the heart of No Man's Land. His journey provides a vivid and graphic depiction of the First World War. The movie is technically superb with some great cinema photography and a series of superb war scenes. In the end it becomes an emotional drama that tugs at your heartstrings. Even though it's long (at 2-1/2 hours) and the premise is fantasy, it is extremely well made with some superb acting. Connie really liked it and wanted to give it 5-stars; I felt that a weak 4-stars would be more accurate. Let’s compromise and give it 4-1/2 Stars. After the movie we had dinner at Ventano’s, one of our favorite Italian restaurants. Connie had the Chicken Francese, battered chicken breasts coated in egg batter & parmesan Parmesan, lightly sauteed & topped with a light lemon butter sauce. I had the Dinner Special, sea scallops and shrimp on a bed of linguini tossed in a spinach, sun dried tomatoes, and garlic cream sauce. Both were outstanding with enough left over for tomorrow night’s dinner.

Journal Entry for Sunday, Jan 8th

No Luck To do well in almost any tournament, four things need to happen. First, you need to be dealt some playable hands. Second, when you do get some playable cards you need to get a ‘flop’ that compliments or improves your hand. Third, you need to have enough people in the pot calling you with good, but lesser hands, so that you are able to make some money. Lastly, all this needs to happen before the ‘blinds’ eat up your starting chips. Unfortunately,  none of those things happened today. Oh well, better luck next time. Actually, a week from Saturday I am in another free roll ($50,000) tournament at the “M” with about 300 players.

Journal Entry for Saturday, Jan 7th

GVR’s $300,000 Free Roll What is a ‘free roll’ tournament? It is a no buy-in tournament that you get into by earning a set number of hours playing live poker; in this case you had to play a minimum of 50 hours at the table to get you into January's big tournament, where the top cash will be $40,000 for first place. Today, the first day of play, you had to get by 2,200 players to end up with the 400 players in tomorrow’s final round of play. The good news is that I made it to day two and a minimum guarantee of $200. On Sunday, you have to beat 350 players to get beyond the minimum payout. Here’s hoping! After the tournament, Connie and I drove over to check on Jim Herrings' house and then to the Red Rock Casino for two free lunch buffets. From there we stopped at the "M" Casino and picked up two free dinners to go at the Vig Deli on m poker comps.

Journal Entry for Tuesday, Jan 3rd

Movie – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo The movie, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is the first film in Columbia Pictures' three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson's literary blockbuster The Millennium Trilogy. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, the film is based on the first novel in the trilogy, which altogether have sold more than 50 million copies. Having just finished reading it, I couldn’t wait to see the movie, and I was not dissapointed. The commitment of Rooney Mara to this role was outstanding. Truly in my opinion, an Academy Award winning performance. I was also pleased at how well it paralleled the book. Even though there were several areas and storylines that were omitted, they actually had no real bearing on the overall story.  The basic storyline is about Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist that is freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman. As he watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him he is presented an unexpected offer to resurrect his name by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch is that he must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With no other real options, he accepts and eventually enlists the help of a multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, an investigator who is a vulnerable superhacker. A misunderstood genius with a dark past and cache of authority issues, there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. Even though this movie is nearly 3 hours in length, it moves along with a relatively quick pace, meaning that you really need to pay attention to everything that’s happening. With the warning that there are some graphic sex scenes and the fact that it is a little ‘dark’ in places, we give it 5-Stars.