I have a major gripe about the restaurant industry. While there are some fantastic places with good food and good service (both are requirements), it seems that the general trend is for service levels to continually go down and food to be based on quantity rather than quality. What gives?
Pontiac’s Top 10 Restaurants
(from The Culture Trip)
Restaurant Specials in the Waterford, Mi area
(these are not regularly updated so don’t expect 100% accuracy)
LUCY
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Lucy – The “facts” from Wikipedia:
Lucy is a 2014 French action film directed, written and edited by Luc Besson, and produced by Besson and Europacorp. It was released on 25 July 2014.[2] The film was shot in Taipei, Paris and New York City. It stars Scarlett Johansson as the title character,[5] along with Morgan Freeman playing Professor Norman.
Lucy is a hard-partying, 25-year-old American woman living and studying in Taipei, Taiwan. She is tricked to work as a drug mule by her new boyfriend for his employer, a Korean gangster and drug lord named Mr. Jang. Lucy delivers a briefcase to Mr. Jang’s hotel room that is handcuffed to her wrist containing a highly valuable synthetic superdrug called CPH4 that can increase the user’s brain function capacity. The packaged drug is sewn into Lucy’s abdomen and that of others who will also transport the drug for sales in Europe. While in captivity, one of Lucy’s captors kicks her mercilessly in the stomach, causing the bag inside her to leak, releasing the brain-enhancing drug into her system. As a result, she begins acquiring increasingly powerful mental talents and enhanced physical capabilities, such as absorbing information instantaneously, telekinesis, mental time travel, and can choose not to feel pain or other discomforts, in addition to other abilities. With her superhuman powers growing, Lucy only has a short amount of time left to find the men responsible for her new-found powers and contacts a well-known scientist and doctor, Professor Norman, whose research may be the key to saving her.
Review:
The concept of the movie was great. Morgan Freeman, as always, a delight to watch in the movie. Scarlett, as per the script, became a walking talking computer that made Sheldon Cooper look like a love machine. While there was a lot of action in the movie as is typical for the director, it felt stiff and forced. The last 15 minutes of the movie were a disappointment and could have been made into an excellent 35 minutes if thought had been put into it.
The Leftovers
A new series on HBO, the Leftovers, had the potential to be an excellent show. The concept – 2% of the world’s population disappears on October 18th. No explanation, none. 3 years later, they still have no answer.
By the end of episode 1, I felt nothing more than down and depressed from the entire ambiance of the show and the characters themselves. They were all annoyed with each other, semi-suicidal in demeanor and boring. Sorry, this one’s a dud.
3/10
Transformers – Age of Extinction
Let’s begin with the positives. Mark Wahlberg was a great choice to replace Shia LeBoeuf. Mark is by far a better actor and has honed his skills in the action genre. His reactions are believable, accepting them. There was continuous action that made the almost 3 hour film fly by.
Now the negatives. Your could have called this movie anything BUT Transformers. Michael Bay disposed of existing mythology and came up with a completely new one. It was an utter fabrication so if you are expecting consistency and honoring story mythology, sorry.
Action: 7/10
Storyline: 2/10
Edge of Tomorrow
Bill Murray meet Tom Cruise. Groundhog Day resurrected as the Edge of tomorrow with twists galore. If you are looking for a deep, thought provoking movie, this is not for you. If you are looking for approximately 100 minutes of sheer action filled entertainment, look no further. Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt performed well together in this Sci-Fi Action film, based on trying to take back the planet from the alien Mimics who have certain abilities made apparent in the movie. The romance between the 2 characters was done subtly and with class.
I watched the 3D version and the effects were well done and certainly made me jump a few times. Sit back and enjoy.
The only negative is that instead of a triumphant Greek tragedy end they went with the Happy Hollywood end, a poor choice that slightly diminished my opinion of the film.
www.edgeoftomorrowmovie.com
www.imdb.com/title/tt1631867/
X – Men : Days of Future Passed
I went to watch the new X – Men movie, extremely well done. The franchise is finally back on track. The combination of the original cast and the young X – men cast was done with perfect balance. The action and story line were in a superb balance and the twists were done in a way that leaves you wanting more.
Well done !
Microsoft unveils the Surface Pro 3 (from www.zdnet.com)
Summary: Microsoft’s message is the Intel Core-based Surface Pro 3 will be ‘the tablet that can replace your laptop.(from www.zdnet.com)
Microsoft took the wraps off its third-generation Surface device on May 20 in New York City.
The device, dubbed the Surface Pro 3, is a 12-inch Intel Core i7-based device with a 2160 X 1440 resolution. It has a 3X2 aspect ratio, is .36 inches thick and weighs 800 grams (without the keyboard).
Microsoft Surface: What you need to know
Microsoft is marketing the Pro 3 as “the tablet that can replace your laptop.”
Microsoft has played up its first two generations of Surface as devices that bridge consumption and creation, and can work as both tablets and laptops. At today’s announcement, Surface chief Panos Panay made sure to drive home that message.
A pen also is a key element of Microsoft’s pitch for these next-generation devices. A button on the end of the pen allows users to open OneNote automatically with a press. The new kickstand on the device has a new “canvas mode” angle (of 150 degrees) that is meant to improve “lapability.” Microsoft is quoting battery life of “up to nine hours.”
There will be a docking station and new type covers in a variety of colors for the Surface 3. The track pads on the new keyboards are larger and better for scrolling, Panay said.
The Surface Pro 3 will come in three versions: Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7. They will be available for preorder starting on May 21 and will start at $799. Shipments commence on June 20.
Update: Here’s the full price list for the different Surface Pro 3 devices and associated peripherals. (Thanks @hoyty) The Core i3 version is the one that starts at $799 with 4 GB of RAM. The highest end Core i7 model with 8 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage is $1,949. The keyboards are still $129.99.
Godzilla (2014) (alert – includes spoilers)
Rating – 6.5 out of 10 [Includes spoilers]
While the movie held a lot of promise, it quickly became apparent that they missed the mark. Not as bad as the Matthew Broderick remake, but disappointing nonetheless. The trailers highlighted Brian Cranston in 45 % of the trailer yet (spoiler alert) 25 minutes into the movie, he’s dead and gone. The remainder of the movie is a cast of relatively unknown actors who showed little emotion or enthusiasm.
Godzilla itself was well done although he looks like he gained about 20% more weight over the years. Time to stop all the extra snacking, Gojira. The plot was tiresome, predictable and left you with a sense of “is that all?”.
Try again.