Saturday I got lunch at Grindwittryz. It is a Hawaiian place on NE Alberta. There is neighborhood parking, but you might have to drive around a little. It is a small place. There are only 3 booths and some counter space. It is your typical Portland place. Cement floors and fairly modern decor. There are some Hawaiian decorations. Reggae music is playing. There is a big mural on one of the walls with the restaurant name and food items. It is pretty loud in there with everyone in such a small place. The service was good, but staff members were eating behind counter while waiting on customers. Some were just in the back by the kitchen. I got Kalua pig. It comes with rice and mac and cheese. There is A TON of meat. The meat had good flavor. It was sweet and savory. There were some tough pieces that I didn't eat. It was also pretty greasy. Well I'm not sure what they used to cook it but it tasted greasy. I didn't finish it. I was considering going back at some point. But then I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning from the meat. So I'm not going back and I don't recommend it. The best place I've found for Hawaiian food in Portland so far is Ate-Oh-Ate.
Monday: Stormy Weather (1943)
Bill is a famous black tap dancer. He is telling some children the story of his life. After serving in WWI he comes back wanting to be a performer. He meets Selina a beautiful black singer. They hit it off. But she goes on tour and he has a job cleaning boats. Bill works hard to get noticed for his dancing. He runs into Selina again and joins the show she's in. There are obstacles between their relationship and his success. So he has to go it on his own. I thought this movie was good. Some of the acting is a little off. One of the last dance numbers is done by the Nicholas Brothers. They are amazing. It was cool to see a 40s movie with a mostly black cast.
Tuesday: Come Live with Me (1941)
A Viennese refugee, Johnny, is seeing a married man. She is about to be deported. Johnny then meets Bill, a down on his luck writer. They work out a deal were they get married so she can stay in the country and she will give him money to live on. Johnny is waiting for her boyfriend to divorce his wife so they can get married. In the meantime Bill and Johnny get along. Bill wants something more. This movie was alright.
Wednesday: Rendevous (1935)
A former reporter, Bill, is set to go fight in WWI. Then he meets Joel. They hit it off and she uses family connections to get him reassigned. He is assigned to work with people who are trying to break German codes. Bill is an expert. He rather be on the front lines. But he is soon running the operation and helping the war effort in a major way. German spies in the US are trying to get their code. This movie was alright. It is actually more of a comedy. One thing that annoyed me was that Joel went from being an intelligent suffragette to a love sick idiot. Didn't intentionally watch three movies in a row with the main character named Bill.
Friday: Double Feature- Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022) and West Side Story (2021)
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania starts at a party for the hotel's anniversary. Dracula is going to announce his retirement and that his is giving the hotel to Mavis and Johnny. But when they find out about it before the announcement Dracula panics. He doesn't want Johnny ruining the hotel. So he makes up some law that only monsters can run the hotel. Disappointed Johnny wanders the castle. He talks with Van Helsing who tells him about his Monsterfication Ray. It will turn Johnny into a monster. He agrees to do it and becomes a monster. Dracula finds out and tries to fix it. He ends up turning himself and his friends human. The crystal in the ray gun breaks. Now they must travel to South America to find another crystal and turn themselves back. This movie was ok.
West Side Story is a remake. There are two rival gangs in the slums of New York. The Sharks are Puerto Rican immigrants. The Jets are poor white guys. As their neighborhoods are being taken down for new developments tensions rise. At a community dance Tony, a former Jet, meets Maria, the sister of the Sharks' leader. They fall hard for each other. When they are discovered it ignites a war between the Sharks and the Jets. I thought this movie was good. I have seen the original but it's been a long time. It was nice that in this version all the Puerto Rican characters are actually played by Latinx actors. Rita Moreno plays Valentina. She was the original Anita. She also produced this movie. It was cool to see her back. Being directed by Steven Spielberg it had some pretty epic shots. One that I really liked was of Tony with the camera looking down at him. He is standing on a large puddle that takes up the screen and multicolored lights are reflected in it. It was a great shot. I think they should have cast someone else at Tony. Ansel Elgort is only an ok singer. Everyone else is so good. So it falls short when the male lead isn't on the same level as everyone else.
Saturday: The Unforgivable (2021)
Ruth is released from prison after serving a 20 year sentence for killing a cop. She has to readjust to society. Ruth gets a job at a fish factory. She wants to find her little sister. Her sister was put in the system and adopted. So it's hard to find her. But Ruth is determined. This movie was alright. It had a good twist.
Sunday: Reminiscence (2021)
This movie is set in a dystopian world. Coastal cities have been flooded with water. It will only get worse. There is civil unrest. Nick runs a business where he can show people their memories. With the state of the world a lot of people are looking back. One day he gets a client named Mae. Nick likes her and reconnects with her outside of his work. They fall in love. Then Mae disappears. Nick is desperate to find her. Soon he finds out that she is not who he thought she was and was involved in some dangerous business. I thought this movie was alright. It was tech noir.
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