May 2010 – Page 2

Las Aves Café’s Raspberry Martini

May 7, 2010May 27, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

When Las Aves used to be known as A Capella, we tagged the bar and restaurant as a perfectly clandestine location for an affair, a nefarious business meeting or a place to hatch plots. And we meant that in the best possible way — to paraphrase “Cheers,” sometimes you want to go where nobody knows your name. But Las Aves, which has taken over the space and remains a part of the Best Western near Cottage Hospital, is having none of that. Remodeled into something bright and airy, with no division between bar and restaurant, you will be noticed, even by people next door at the pool. However, you get to watch them too, so, hey, it ain’t all bad.

Owner Ivan Arroyo, who last worked at CafÉ Del Sol, bought the place only recently and has spent the last month getting ready for the soft opening earlier in April. They just opened and waited to see who would come in, he says. Then we turned up, begging for cocktails.

Give ’em Hell, Harry – Michael Caine takes on the yobs in revenge thriller Harry Brown

May 7, 2010May 27, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Michael Caine is out for vengeance against strung-out thieves, murderers and rapists in "Harry Brown." — Michael Caine is out for vengeance against strung-out thieves, murderers and rapists in “Harry Brown.”

Young gangs strung out on heroin, recording beatings, rape and murder on their cell phones, terrorizing entire housing estates — this is the world that “Harry Brown,” the movie by Daniel Barber and the character played by Michael Caine, lives in. It’s also a world created out of a year’s worth of horror stories from Britain’s tabloid press, and Harry Brown is just the man — and a typical tabloid reader — to sort things out.

“Harry Brown” has not so much divided critics in Britain, but more made it difficult for liberal critics to like the film without siding with right-wing tabloids like the Daily Mail. But this isn’t Britain, and “Harry Brown” should be taken with as much seriousness as any other pulpy revenge film. Hollywood has dished up some vigilante flicks in recent years — Jodie Foster in “The Brave One” may be one with a higher profile — but the zeitgeist isn’t right for it. Over in Britain, it feels like 1974 all over again.

Iron Man 2 – At the Drive-In, 2.0

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Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts, left, and Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark continue their off-kilter romance in "Iron Man 2." Paramount Pictures Photos — Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts, left, and Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark continue their off-kilter romance in “Iron Man 2.”
Paramount Pictures Photos

When “Iron Man 2” opens tonight, it will screen in the usual downtown and Goleta locations. However, there’s a third option. For the first time in 19 years, the Santa Barbara Drive-In opens back up to premiere the first of this summer’s blockbusters on what was and is once again the city’s largest screen.

As a result of a Facebook campaign and some wise investors, the 88-foot wide, three story-tall screen will once again be alive for double features, and a new generation can experience the magic of watching a film in a style that once was thought to be a dying venue nationwide.

Escaping When You Can’t – ‘Mid-August Lunch’ works well at a laid-back, improvised pace

May 7, 2010May 27, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Gianni Di Gregorio, foreground, and clockwise from his left: Valeria De Franciscis, Maria Cal?, Luigi Marchetti, Marina Cacciotti and Grazia Cesarini Sforza, star in "Mid-August Lunch." Courtesy photo — Gianni Di Gregorio, foreground, and clockwise from his left: Valeria De Franciscis, Maria Cal?, Luigi Marchetti, Marina Cacciotti and Grazia Cesarini Sforza, star in “Mid-August Lunch.”
Courtesy photo

Pranzo di Ferragosto, which has been translated into the title “Mid-August Lunch,” is the Italian holiday where almost everything shuts down, people leave the city and have a good meal. Imagine being too poor to leave and too devoted to an aging mother to do much of anything. That’s the setup in the short, minimal and enjoyable Italian film from director and writer Gianni Di Gregorio.

The story could not be farther from the gangster-driven “Gomorra” that he wrote with Maurizio Braucci, Matteo Garrone and others, but turns out to be based on his own time looking after his widowed mother. In debt and living at home with his mom, Gianni accepts a reduction in his tab by looking after the mother and aunt of his landlord. Sensing an opportunity, his doctor also pushes his mother onto him, and suddenly the stuffy Rome apartment is filled with four old ladies, one in her 90s, the others in their 80s. And they proceed to run him ragged, at first because they can’t get along, then later because they become close friends.

Selfish Improvement – Only star power saves ‘Multiple Sarcasms’ from dullsville

May 7, 2010May 27, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Timothy Hutton, left, and Laila Robins share a scene in the mid-life-self-discovery-themed rom-com "Multiple Sarcasms." Jessica Miglio photo — Timothy Hutton, left, and Laila Robins share a scene in the mid-life-self-discovery-themed rom-com “Multiple Sarcasms.”
Jessica Miglio photo

“Multiple Sarcasms” tips its hat early to the kind of film it wants to be when it reveals its protagonist, a depressed architect played by Timothy Hutton, has been going to see the film “Starting Over” several times. That 1979 Burt Reynolds-Jill Clayburgh-Candice Bergen romantic comedy was the kind of mainstream film that, by no means a classic, looks like Ingmar Bergman compared to the rom-coms that Hollywood now squeezes out.

A first feature written and directed by industry veteran Brooks Branch, “Multiple Sarcasms” sounds like a comedy from the title but is a drama interlaced with just enough comic moments to keep it interesting. For a bit.

Speaking of T.C. Boyle – The successful writer takes his turn at Speaking of Stories

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Can there be a fan of Speaking of Stories, a 14-year spoken word mainstay of Santa Barbara entertainment calendars, who isn’t a fan of T.C. Boyle? Since its earliest days, the short stories of our literary resident have been a constant, first as material read by actors, then read by the author himself. Actor Charles De L’Arbe reads Boyle’s story “My Pain Is Worse Than Your Pain” on Sunday, while Boyle appears Monday night to read his story “The Lie.”

Many contemporary authors read their stories out loud, either over the radio (NPR is a major pitstop) or as part of a book tour. But “Speaking of Stories,” directed by Maggie Mixsell, allows its readers a performance space.