January 27 2003 Dinner and a Movie: <4. Review A Date By Wade and Mary Restaurant choice Suzuran Japanese Restaurant 1667 15th Ave (250) 564-0114 Type of cuisine: Japanese Entre price range: $10- $50 Reservations/Wait: Accepted / Short wait Seating capacity: 84 people Open Hours/Days: Monday-Friday; 11:30-2:30, 5:00-10:00 Saturday: 11:30-10:00 Sunday: Closed Movie choice The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Cast: Elijah Wood, lan McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Liv Tyler, Christopher Lee, John Rhys Davies. Type of movie: Action/Adventure, Drama, Science Fiction/Fantasy. Rating: 14 A Violence Running time: 3 hours and 4 min- utes Movie times: 8:15 pm Wade's Perspective Suzuran Japanese Restaurant is a smaller establishment that offers a nice Japanese theme with an open sushi bar, tables and three tatami rooms. The restrooms and tables appear clean and well maintained. Acceptable attire varies from jacket and tie to clean jeans and t-shirt. | was quite comfortable in dress pants and a nice shirt. The place seemed to encourage conversation and | did not have to talk over any loud music whatsoever. Unfortunately, at one point the chefs at the sushi bar decided to argue, which was slightly distracting. Also, it was not clear exactly who our waitress was, although all three ladies were quite friendly and helpful. The miso soup, ebi tempura and sushi rolls were presented in a pleasant fashion using authentic looking dishes and portion sizes were moderate. It soon become apparent that the sushi rolls had been rolled poorly as they seemed to want to... roll apart. As well, we were not given enough time to finish our appetizer before the entre arrived and this was awkward and overall a poor practice. Once the sushi hit the palette it was magical, the sushi tasted excellent. Overall | feel Suzuran is a trendy, tasty, little restaurant with a decent atmosphere and | would recommend it for a date or a friendly get together. | am a Lord of the Rings fan! Therefore | may be slightly biased towards liking theTwo Towers, the second installment in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The movie follows three separate storylines. The first is the journey of hobbits Frodo and Sam to Mordor where they hope to destroy the evil, one ring. The second follows the hobbits Meriy and Pippin and their encounters with Orcs and the tree like creatures the Ents. The third follows the Wizard Gandoif, Dwarf Gimili, Elf Legolas and Ranger Aragorn as they defend Helms Deep and the lands of Rohan against sin- ister Orcs. This is an amazing movie with a nice score, great special effects and breath taking locations. The detail of some of the props is amazing. New and old characters are developed!progress logically throughout the movie. What didn't | like? In the context of a date this movie is just to long. | would not rec- ommend this as a date movie unless you and your date are both die-hard LOTR fans. Definitely go see this with your friends or by yourself though. Mary’s Perspective For those who love sushi, listen up! Movie Reviews The recently opened Japanese/Sushi restaurant, Suzuran, still needs to work out it’s kinks. The atmosphere and decor is quite authentic and modem, although the spacing of the tables could be changed. | felt that | was at dinner with the couple next to us. The employees were helpful and friendly, but we did have three differ- ent waitresses. | do have a piece of advice for the sushi chefs behind the sushi bar, bicker behind closed doors. The menu has a wide selec- tion of entries, appys and drinks. They did forget a part of our dinner, but they promptly fixed the problem. The sushi was presented well, tasted great, but was poorly rolled. Due to the lack of dessert options, we fin- ished up and paid our bill. | admit that at first | did not enjoy The Fellowship of the Ring, but after watching it again and asking numer- ous questions about the characters, | really couldn't wait to see the sec- ond installment, The Two Towers. And all | have to say is, this movie was awesome! The only negative fact about this show is that you have to see the first one. The develop- ments of the characters were shown thoroughly and the transitions throughout the movie were timed very well. When | found myself beginning to wonder about the other characters, it would switch to them. The special effects were definitely top-of-the-line. It was a very long movie, so as long as your date has seen the first installment of this epic trilogy, | recommend it. If not, then go see it with friends. It is worth the money. | canit wait until next Christmas! Over The Edge Page 11 Movie Reviews: Gangs of New York Two Opinions By Guest reviewer William Hul “The blood stays on the blade,” Leonardo Dicaprio’s on-screen father tells his son as he goes off to fight a gang of men in tophats and skintight plaid pants, trying hopelessly to be deep and symbolic. “You'll understand someday.” Well, P've had several days to brood over it, and | still don’t get the better part of this steaming heap of crap. With poorly contrived type- cast characters, predictable dialogue, a hokey love story, and some of the most non- sensical “plot twists” imagin- able, the only pathos this By staff reviewer America was born in the streets. The story is set in lower Manhattan, the date, 1863. The two gangs at the heart of this film are the “Dead Rabbits’, these are the Irish folk, and the Native Americans”, the natives of New York (British/Dutch). The Five Points is a place of law- lessness, rampant political corruption and unrest. The Civil War is coming and the country is torn. For the towns- people of the Five Points, war This is the story of how the gangs got started in New York City in the time of Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed. At the start of the movie, the Rabbits leader is killed, and the gang destroyed. The head of the Natives makes a deal with cor- rupt Boss Tweed to provide muscle throughout New York, enforcing the Tweed Law. Leonardo DiCaprio plays young Amsterdam Vallon, an Irish immigrant who returns to the Five Points after fifteen years of reform school to seek revenge on the man who killed his father, William Cutting, also known as The Butcher (played by Daniel Day Lewis). Amsterdam knows that the only way to get close to Cutting is the become a part in his inner circle of friends. He is also drawn to Miss Jenny movie stirs up in you will be the mourning of a good eight bucks flushed down the toi- let. The only thing salvaging this film is an excellent perfor- mance by Daniel Day-Lewis. While the — character’s Brooklyn accent doesn’t suit his tophat-and-leotard appearance, he does an incredible job of portraying “Bill the Butcher’, the movie’s antagonist, carrying this movie to a whoppin’ two- of-five rating. 2 out of 5 Everdeane, played by Cameron Diaz, a mighty suc- cessful pickpocket of the Points. Jenny’s unknown past unexpectedly complicates Amsterdam’s plans. His fight begins for himself and the people of the Five Points and his struggle reaches its high during the Civil War Draft Riots of 1863, the most explosive incident of urban unrest that the America has ever seen. This movie is definitely one of the best films | have seen in a while. At an estimated bud- get of $90 million plus it should be! | must forewarn everyone though, it has many graphic scenes of gore, not like war gore but old school axe, club, and knife gore. I’m not one for cringing at the movies but this one had me a few times. So if you can get past all that, for sure go check it out it is totally one you should see on the big screen. The filming style is awesome, and the scenery is so cool it was filmed in Rome because New York does not look the same as it did back then. They haven't recon- structed a town like this since Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra! For Movie tickets and show times visit Famous Players.com!