Face/Off
Now that Britain has returned Hong Kong to China, perhaps we should get in on the giving spirit and return John Woo to Hong Kong. Those who care to remember will recall that Woo came to America riding on the ill wind of Tarantino’s film-dweeb adulation. But after all the hoopla and the big talk…
New music espresso
At Ferndale’s Xhedos Cafe, listening carefully matters.
Hercules
Pity the Southern Baptists. Not only is Disneyland now off limits, but one can only imagine the mewling and mauling that awaits Mom and Dad when all their kiddies’ friends are singing the praises of this nifty little confection. Hypocrisy always has its victims. Surely Disney will feel no pain. While the rest of its…
The Saint
The realpolitik of the “new” Russia, as orchestrated by ex-cadres turned freewheeling millionaire capitalists, seems well suited to the talents of one Simon Templar, aka The Saint, venerable spy-for-hire last seen in the late ’60s on the telly. Oily lothario Roger Moore parlayed his stint as Templar into an extended gig as the Big Daddy…
Spice World
For anyone who doubts that pop culture has begun to devour itself, there’s Spice World. A mere five years since this singing group was assembled, and a scant year and a half since the omnipresence of their insidiously catchy single “Wannabe,” the Spice Girls are making a stab at movie stardom in what is essentially…
The Tango Lesson
What is the approach to resolving one’s personal destiny, even in spite of nature’s calling? How does one follow when her life’s desire has been to lead? Such is the discourse set up by The Tango Lesson, Sally Potter’s new film about film, and its lead protagonist, filmmaker Sally Potter. This meta-flick finds Sally, a…
Young & Crazy
Attention, class! The question for today is: How can an American director, best known for intimate tales of wisecracking urban wanderers telling their stories as much with what they don’t say as what they do, craft a glacially meditative, gut-wrenching love letter of a rockumentary and disguise it as “the little film that could”? The…
Zero Effect
In the past few years, first films from young directors have tended to fall into one of two categories: a navel-gazing (usually somber) love story and/or family drama set in a specific social milieu, or a brashly confident crime-caper film full of plot twists and visual bravado. Zero Effect occupies the latter category, but while…
The touch of evil
What makes Fallen stand out in the growing subgenre of serial killer movies &emdash; cat-and-mouse thrillers which focus fetishistically on the killer’s modus operandi &emdash; is that it tries to address the very nature of evil. A moody, stylish and somber film that quietly makes its way under your skin, Fallen re-examines the idea behind…
Playing gender jeopardy
Like so many films made to espouse a particular sociopolitical agenda, Female Perversions could easily have been a dry feminist treatise, smugly preaching to the already converted. But director Susan Streitfeld, along with co-screenwriter Julie Hebert, has managed to take Dr. Louise J. Kaplan’s nonfiction book — which is less about sex than the rigid…
For the weedhead in you
Dave Chappelle, a master of the oblique reference, is damn near white peoples’ favorite black comic. His offbeat, weird style of two-liner comedy is a perfect primer for the X generation weaned on those critics of the pop cult scene, Beavis and Butt-head. Were Beavis and his boy pot smokers? It’s hard to say. But…
Hard Rain
You know that moviegoers are getting spoiled when natural disasters become viable box-office draws. Following on the trail of gems such as Twister, Backdraft and Volcano, Mikael Salomon’s Hard Rain juggles the biblical with the secular when rains beat the streets of Huntingburg into torrential submission. Tom (Christian Slater), a ludicrously sincere armored car courier,…
Wigged Out Wonders
When’s the last time a horror film, that octogenarian genre, really creeped you out? The good old days of terror are usually back in adolescence, whenever that might have been: from the ’30s (The Mummy) through the ’60s (Night of the Living Dead) and so on to Scream (1 and 2). But true horror fans…
Out of the past
Director Jonathan Nossiter’s debut film Sunday is so artful in its withholding of basic information that any straightforward telling of its story would be a disservice to the potential viewer. Nossiter and his co-scenarist James Lasdun have so carefully fragmented their narrative and laced it with indirection that what could have been a rather soapy…
Buddha’s little helper
In the last third of his career, filmmaker Martin Scorsese has used celluloid almost entirely for charting messianic figures and characters beset by wicked forces. From that standpoint, his new feature, Kundun, about the early life and exile of the 14th Dalai Lama, makes perfect karmic sense. Indeed, the life story of Tenzin Gyatso seems…
A Seedy Side of French Life
Like her only other film to receive any significant American distribution &emdash; Chocolat (1988), a meditative depiction of an 8-year-old French girl living in colonial Africa &emdash; Claire Denis’ Nenette et Boni is less a story than a series of incidents, a sketch of a particular time and place rendered with seemingly random strokes. The…
French Film Noir
It’s well known that the film noir is one of America’s most popular cinematic exports. What might not be so familiar to movie buffs is how noir has singly become an emblem for the disintegration of social norms and assumptions, even in the face of efforts to revive it. A Self-Made Hero (Un Héros Très…
Thawing frozen emotions
When an actor turns director, and then stays behind the camera, a strange thing often happens. Whether it comes consciously or unconsciously, the overall tone of the film manages to encapsulate his approach to acting. The Winter Guest draws its strengths from the same kind of brooding, inquisitive quietness that characterizes some of Alan Rickman’s…
Heart-hitter
With the force of an expert punch, The Boxer precisely (and bluntly) delivers its emotional story, effectively drawing the audience into a world where violence and hatred are ingrained into individuals and society. Just as Danny Flynn (Daniel Day-Lewis) is released from prison after a 14-year stint, a cease-fire is being negotiated to bring a…
The wolf moves to Paris
It’s clear from the opening moments of An American Werewolf in Paris — the camera pans from a full moon peering ominously through clouds, downward to caress the exterior of a rain-washed, gargoyle-encrusted Parisian church, then to the ground where a terrified man emerges from a manhole — that director Anthony Waller (Mute Witness) knows…
It’s literary cinema
For the everyday working person, the persistence of tedium from day to day can be a killer. Tedium displaces new experience. The practice of lived monotony is harsh, because it leads us to replace intuition with protocol, thus making us forget the simple joys of life’s unfolding. The fortunate among us recover our appreciation through…
War as comedy
Perhaps the most typically “Western” of a modern, fecund batch of Japanese writers, Haruki Murakami has jury-rigged a style from the subterranean preoccupations of Don DeLillo, the geography of catastrophic relationships laid bare by Raymond Carver, and the hellish, quasi-sci-fi specters of Stephen King. And yet, despite all his influences (which includes a pop-culture fetish;…
Made for pathos
Politics makes for strange bedfellows. But the union of politics and television ranks as one of the oddest — and most inevitable — couplings of the past half-century, drastically altering how political events are viewed. Two new films, Welcome to Sarajevo and Wag the Dog, deal very differently with the marriage of politics and television,…
Made for pathos
Politics makes for strange bedfellows. But the union of politics and television ranks as one of the oddest — and most inevitable — couplings of the past half-century, drastically altering how political events are viewed. Two new films, Welcome to Sarajevo and Wag the Dog, deal very differently with the marriage of politics and television,…
Anita’s Kitchen
A crowded lunch spot for Troy office workers, this friendly cafe offers good food, reasonable prices and large portions of both Middle Eastern and American foods.
The Lark
Begin your leisurely meal with hors d’oeuvres served from a rolling cart, followed by a choice of main course, soup and salad. This tile-lavished country inn with just a dozen tables is charming and the staff attentive, as well they should be, given the prices. Reservations are a must.
Fran O’Brien’s Maryland Crabhouse
The spiced crabs are served six to eight in an order, including potatoes, coleslaw or salad, and are shelled by diners using mallets atop paper-covered tables. A mess, but enjoyable. The menu also includes burgers, sandwiches and ribs for those who don’t want to go into combat for their meal.
Moose Preserve
Knotty pine walls, lots of duck prints and various preserved animal parts are on display. To eat, there’s emu, elk, buffalo, rabbit, duck, quail, wild boar, deer — virtually a forest full of critters — plus fried cheese sticks. Believe it or not, salads are some of the best menu items.
Carl’s Chop House
How long has this place been around? Since sirloin steak dinners were $1. Beef is still king at this huge downtown restaurant, which is truly a Detroit institution. In addition to slabs of beef, there are fish and seafood selections, and the classic roadhouse relish tray still comes to the table.
O’Blivion’s Corktown Cafe
It’s a great name, but that’s as far as it goes. O’Blivion’s takes bar food to new lows. The Greek salad is mostly iceberg lettuce, the “awesomeburgers” are not. Friendly service and close to Tiger Stadium, though.
Mack Avenue Diner
The virtual prototype of the friendly diner, with a cheery welcome from proprietors and staff, and a menu of down-to-earth dishes such as bean and chicken noodle soups, roast turkey, pastas and the house favorite, home fries with onions and sausage or bacon topped with cheese, known as the potato plate. As popular as it…
Ocean Grille
This spot for Birmingham locals is light and airy — except when it comes to the seafood. The chef tends to overwhelm the delicate seafood tastes with complex preparations and sauces. Dishes closer to home, such as wild mushroom bisque and lake perch piccata, are fine.
Plunkett’s Bistro-Bar
Twenty years after opening as Chez Vins, a small, romantic French restaurant, proprietors Karen and Michael Plunkett are still at it, albeit running the much livelier spot which evolved. In keeping with their border location, they opt for a menu which spans the globe, from small pizzas and grilled Italian sausage to cheese, fruit and…
Opus One
Etched glass and marble are lavished on downtown’s handsomest restaurant. Pure luxury all the way, with a completely upscale approach and a kitchen that makes virtually everything from scratch. The menu changes seasonally and is typified by such dishes as medallions of veal with Madeira sauce, rack of lamb, seafood en croute, and a pastry…
Don’s of Traverse City
A spin-off of the original Don’s in Traverse City, this wannabe ’50s diner manages to pull off its vintage look. Hand-patted burgers, shakes and malts are accompanied by Elvis on the jukebox.
Priya
Priya’s dishes from southern India, such as rice-lentil crepes, are found nowhere else in Michigan. More familiar dishes from other parts of India are on offer as well. Herbivores and carnivores will feel equally at home.
Peppina’s Ristorante
The venerable Downriver spot, still run by its founder, Mary Deardorff, has two eyecatching fireplaces, one in rose quartz, the other rough-cut amethyst, certainly a distinctive decor touch. Pastas, pizzas, veal and chicken dishes are consistently good, carefully made from the original recipes dating to 1953 when it all began. Big, bright, noisy.
Peacock
The unlikely location on a Dearborn side street somehow adds to the appeal of the Northern India curries, birianis and tandooris. Designations of spice levels on the menu can be trusted, ranging from mild to wild — which is where the Indian beer comes in handy. There’s a full bar, a rarity where local Indian…
Mini Restaurant
This “mini”-spot serves Vietnamese food at its best: a wonderful combination of contrasting textures and subtle tastes. If Chinese food is a symphony, Vietnamese is chamber music. Soups, such as vegetable congee, are highlights, or try the amazing variety of bean drinks and exotic fruit slushes.
Los Galanes
In addition to the expected enchiladas, tacos and burritos, this Mexican-style seafood bar serves such dishes as roasted baby goat, caldo de res (hearty beef and vegetable soup) and swordfish that will please those who want to avoid the empahsis on tortillas. Outdoor seating on the side street offers great people watching. Plus, all you…
Monterrey Cantina
The Tijuana cousins of the Mr. B’s family have many of the parent company’s signatures: young, friendly staffs, big portions, colorful settings. Pop-Mex favorites include burritos, quesadillas, tacos and enchiladas. It’s a bit rough around the edges, particularly in the cleanliness department, but a couple of Iguana margaritas and you probably won’t care.
Chung’s of Waterford
The suburban branch of the now-shuttered Cass Avenue restaurant has a much larger and more glamorous setting and an expanded menu accompanies the dimensions. The famous Chung eggroll filled with cabbage, shrimp, pork and bean sprouts is here, along with the Cantonese, Szechuan and Hunan dishes including stir-fried shrimp and broccoli, a vegetarian array called…
Under the Eagle
Solid Polish fare is served by a staff in native dress in a room filled with colorful folk art. Amenities are extremely modest, from plastic tablecloths to paper napkins, but the value is outstanding for plates brimming with kielbasa and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, stuffed cabbage, pierogi and blintzes.
The Earle
The vault-like Earle is an Ann Arbor legend, with its candlelit tables, imaginative kitchen and live jazz. Start in the elegant wine bar with its daily specials or check the 28-page wine list.
Bangkok Cuisine
Montree and Somnuk Arpachinda were pioneers in bringing Thai fare to the area, and they carry on at the colorful hideaway they opened in 1983. Beef, pork, chicken, vegetable and seafood entrees come in various, delicious, spicy styles Also, not a lot of Thai restaurants offer beer and wine–this one does.
Akasaka
The sushi bar is the heart of Tomiko DeMeere’s serene restaurant. The full array of Japanese dishes includes teriyakis, tempuras, noodles in broth and yakitori, with a gourmet dinner for two ($46) offering a chance to sample many dishes economically.
Franklin Street Restaurant
This downtown eatery serves up excellent and satisfying soul food in an exquisite setting. The food is plain, simple and good–everything tastes homemade. The peach cobbler is superb.
Caucus Club
Tradition, tradition. Time-honored dishes such as London broil, Dover sole, Caesar salad and sauteed perch, the kind of straightforward American fare that is so good when it is done correctly and so ordinary when it isn’t, survives here. The British club aura of the place goes well with the menu, and the bar turns out…
Wah Court
Go for dim sum, a lunchtime tradition like a buffet, but you’re stationary and the food moves. You’re flying half-blind most of the time, but that’s part of the fun. Fifty choices on weekdays, 20 more on weekends. Most choices are grease-intense; most contain meat or seafood.
El Comal
Elda Castellanos’ Central Amercian fare includes pupusas (tortillas filled with beans, cheese or pork or a mixture of all three) and chuchitos (miniature pork tamales), and is augmented with Mexican fare. Unpretentious setting and service.
Laikon Cafe
With its central bar under the stairway to its balcony, this is one of the more appealing spots in Greektown, where the menus can be depended upon to be virtually interchangeable. Lamb dishes, avgolemono soup, crispy squid, Greek salad and flaming cheese are staples here as they are elsewhere on the block.
