Restaurant Review: Pizza Nea

It's been quite some time since Claire Schafer and I tried out a new restaurant in the St. Anthony Main area where we both resign. Our latest choice was Pizza Nea. It's located on East Hennepin Avenue right across the street from Surdyk's. How convenient!

Date: February 9th, 2011
Time in: 5:30pm
Time out: 6:30pm

We got there just in time for Happy Hour. Half off wines and tap beers. There were only two tap beers to choose from, so I went with the Surly. Claire opted for some Prosecco. It's hard for me to turn down beer when I'm having pizza.

Appetizer: Bruschetta
Bruschetta is one of those appetizers that has very basic ingredients yet is made differently no matter where you go. I found the bruschetta at Pizza Nea to be very tomato heavy. The heaping pile of diced tomatoes sat on top of the mozzerella and covered the the entire piece of bread. I thought it was too much tomato, but Claire had no problems with the ratio of tomato to everything else on it. There were six pieces which was just perfect to split between the two of us.









Claire's pizza: Caprino e Treccione
Ingredients: goat cheese, artichokes, smoked mozzerella, sun-dried tomatoes














Paul's pizza: Salsicce
Ingredients: Spicy Italian sausage, roasted red pepper, cracked red pepper, fresh mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, and basil














Ambiance: Pizza Nea has a small dining area. Luckily there were only four other parties there, so it didn't seem loud or crowded. The pizza is made similar to the styles of Punch Pizza or Black Sheep Pizza. There was also quiet, peaceful background music as well.

Interesting fact: They have various red pizzas and white pizzas to choose from. Both of ours were from the "red pizzas" side of the menu. All pizzas can be made into calzones as well.

Overall: We both felt it was a great place to unwind and have a good dinner and catch-up. There wasn't the feeling of a busy, crowded, rushed atmosphere like some other trendier places have. Our waiter was very friendly and gave us various recommendations as it was our first time. I would definitely go back.

Rating: 4 out of 5

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS trailer

The trailer for X-Men: First Class was released today. It looks like it will be a great entry in the X-Men canon of movies. Hopefully it will be far better than the dreadful X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the disappointing X-Men: The Last Stand

James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, January Jones, and Kevin Bacon lead this big cast.

Due in theaters June 3, 2011

Movie Reviews: Exit Through the Gift Shop

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Director: Bansky
Starring: Thierry Guetta, Bansky

Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary following the world of street art and the graffiti artists that make up this culture. Thierry Guetta is a simple man. He's obsessed with filming all aspects of his life. He gets the idea to start following street artists and document their undercover approach to making art on public buildings.

Thierry Guetta meets and follows several artists like Invader, Shepard Fairey, and Borf. The more he follows these artists around the more intrigued by these individuals he is. He learns about Bansky and is destined to meet him. He has no idea about how to contact him or how to film him though. Bansky is a very secretive, seclusive British artist. Even though he is featured in the documentary, his image is blackd out and his voice is modified. Bansky arrives in L.A. to start an exhibition. Thierry meets up with Bansky through Fairey, and they form a bond together. Bansky agrees to let Thierry document his road to opening an exhibition under strict guidance. After the exhibition opens, Banksy asks Thierry to make a movie out of all of the footage that was shot.

SPOILER ALERT!!! Bansky is less than impressed with the movie Thierry ends up making. It is amateur at best due to the fact that Thierry really had no intention of ever making a movie out of the footage. Bansky turns the tables on Thierry. Bansky tells Thierry to try street art and that Bansky will document that journey.

The rest of the movie follows Thierry and his road to opening a massively popular exhibition making tons of money. Thierry was never an artist. He never took classes or spent time making art. He opens his first exhibition to over four thousand people and makes millions selling his art.

The movie succeeds at many levels. Documentaries can either tell you all of the facts and tell you the opinion you should be feeling. Other documentaries give you the information and let the viewer have their own opinion about it. Exit Through the Gift Shop is that kind of documentary There are theories that Thierry's exhibition was a huge hoax. Could one person randomly decide to create art, open an exhibit, and have the success that Thierry randomly had? Was the movie a ruse of Bansky as part of a bigger piece of art? What is art? Is art really in the eye of the beholder?

Movie Review: The Town

What happens when you fall in love with a man that just happened to rob your bank and hold you at gunpoint? That's just one of the many interesting ideas that happens in The Town. Ben Affleck directs, stars, and co-wrote the screenplay for The Town. It belongs in his set of Boston themed movies (Good Will Hunting, Gone Baby Gone). It seems he has found a niche he's good at.

The movie opens with suspenseful bank heist led by Doug (Affleck), James (Jeremy Renner), and some other hooligans. After they realize the silent alarm has been triggered, they take one of the workers, Claire (Rebecca Hall), for hostage while making her open the vault. Doug later runs into a vulnerable Claire at the laundramat and sparks heat up. Claire has no idea who Doug is, as the thieves wear creepy character masks to conceal their identity.

I don't want to give too much away as that might give up some of the suspense that the movie has going for it.

John Hamm plays the lead investigator that has been following Doug and his crew and will stop at nothing to bring them all down. Chris Cooper, Blake Lively, and the late Pete Postlethwaite have supporting roles as well.

The Town is a sharp, edge of your seat, action/mystery/thriller that has more character and brains behind it than you would assume. I found myself glued to it over my Sudoku puzzle. Needless to say, I never finished my puzzle that night.

4 out of 5 stars ****

Comfort Movies. What's yours?

I had a wonderful dinner with DeeAnn McArdle a few weeks back. DeeAnn writes the "Unleash Your Inner Foodie" blog that I guest-blog for each month. We decided that the blog I write for January was going to be on comfort movies. I posed a question to all of my Facebook friends about their choices for comfort movies. Turns out I got a lot of responses. Here is the blog I wrote for DeeAnn with the results and my ideas for comfort movies.

Here's the blog
http://unleashyourinnerfoodie.com/friday-night-at-the-movies/

Oscar Nominations and My Early Predictions

The Oscar nominations were announced today! It's a big day that I look forward to every year. I get so excited around awards season leading up to the Oscars. If I remember correctly, I've been watching the Oscars every year since 1993. I make it a point to see as many of the nominated movies as I can. A few years back, I won an Oscar contest at the White Bear Township movie theater. I think I won a few months worth of few movies.

Here are my early predictions AND who I would pick to win if it were up to me:
* will win
# my vote

Best Picture
127 Hours
The Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network *#
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Best Director
Darren Aronofsky--Black Swan
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen--True Grit
David Fincher--The Social Network *#
Tom Hooper--The King's Speech
David O. Russell--The Fighter

Best Acting in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem--Biutiful
Jeff Bridges--True Grit
Jesse Eisenberg--The Social Network
Colin Firth--The King's Speech *#
James Franco--127 Hours

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening--The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman--Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence--Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman--Black Swan *#
Michelle Williams--Blue Valentine

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale--The Fighter *#
John Hawkes--Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner--The Town
Mark Ruffalo--The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush--The King's Speech

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams--The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter--The King's Speech
Melissa Leo--The Fighter *#
Hailee Steinfeld--True Grit
Jackie Weaver--Animal Kingdom

Best Original Screenplay
Another Year--Mike Leigh
The Fighter--Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson.
Inception--Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right--Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg #
The King's Speech--David Seidler *

Best Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours--Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network--Aaron Sorkin *#
Toy Story 3--Michael Arndt
True Grit--Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone--Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Best Animated Motion Picture
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3 *#

Best Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland--Robert Stromberg,Karen O'Hara
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1--Stuart Craig,Stephenie McMillan

Inception--Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias and Doug Mowat #
The King's Speech--Eve Stewart, Judy Farr *
True Grit-- Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

Cinematography
Black Swan--Matthew Libatique #
Inception--Wally Pfister *
The King's Speech--Danny Cohen
The Social Network--Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit-- Roger Deakins

Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland--Colleen Atwood
I am Love--Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech--Jenny Beavan *#
The Tempest--Sandy Powell
True Grit--Mary Zophres

Foreign Language Film
Biutiful--Mexico
Dogtooth--Greece
In a Better World--Denmark
Incendies--Canada
Outside the Law--Algeria

Make-Up
Barney's Version--Adrien Morot
The Way Back-- Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
The Wolfman--Rick Baker and Dave Elsey *#

Best Original Score
How to Train Your Dragon--John Powell
Inception--Hans Zimmer
The King's Speech--Alexander Desplat
127 Hours--A.R. Rahman
The Social Network--Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross *#

Best Original Song
Country Strong--"Coming Home"
Tangled--"I See the Light"
127 Hours--"If I Rise"
Toy Story 3--"We Belong Together" *#

Best Film Editing
Black Swan--Andrew Weisblum
The Fighter--Pamela Martin
The King's Speech--Tariq Anwar
127 Hours--Jon Harris *#
The Social Network--Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Best Documentary
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo *#
Waste Land

Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warrior of Quigang

Best Short Film (Animated)
Day and Night #
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute *
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143

Sound Editing
Inception--Richard King *#
Toy Story 3--Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy--Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit--Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable--Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
Inception--Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick *#
The King's Speech--Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt--Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network--Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit--Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Hereafter
Inception *#
Iron Man 2


We still have a little over a month before the Oscars, so many predictions could change. The King's Speech could gain popularity and steal Best Picture away from The Social Network. My two biggest snubs are probably for Christopher Nolan for Best Director (Inception) and Ryan Gosling for Best Actor (Blue Valentine).

What was your favorite movie from 2010? My choice is The Social Network.

-P McG

Movie Weekend Recap: Are you going to stop talking?

So I guess when you really do set your mind to something, you really can accomplish it! Too bad I'm not talking about anything major in my life. I'm only referring to the fact I was 3 of 3 this weekend on seeing movies Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Good thing they were all really terrific movies.

FRIDAY: The King's Speech

SATURDAY: Rabbit Hole

SUNDAY: True Grit

I would like to pose this question to my readers. When is the right time to stop talking when you are at the movie theater? The growing trend lately is that you don't stop talking. People are whipping out their cell phones throughout the movie or answering calls or translating the movie for the person next to them that doesn't speak English. I'm not making that last part up either. When I saw Julie and Julia, this guy translated the whole movie to his wife because she didn't speak English. Of course, they just HAD to sit right behind me. How dare he interrupt my Meryl. BACK to the reason why I posted the question. I went and saw The King's Speech with Erik and Joyce. We happened to go Friday New Year's Eve at 1:20 at the AMC Rosedale. We get there about 15 minutes early to find out it must be Seniors Day Out or something. The theater was PACKED. Immediately, I began to panic because I clearly will not be sitting in the dead center. We ended up sitting way in the front in the second row. We got there early enough before any of the trailers started and it was just the trivia showing on screen. Joyce, Erik, and I were talking DURING THE TRIVIA to get interrupted by this:

Old Lady in the front row: Are you guys going to be talking like this during the movie?

Paul: Actually, no. Talking in theaters is one of my pet peeves.

Old Lady: Well...that's good. We already have bad seats and I don't want to have to put up with you talking

Erik: I didn't realize there was anything that we need to be watching right now

Old Lady: Well...can you at least start and practice being quiet?

I was so shocked at what happened I was speechless. I have NEVER been told to stop talking at a theater. BESIDES, it was the TRIVIA. I would understand if we were talking during the trailers. Who stays quiet during the trivia? The theater was bustling full of people trying to find seats and talking. However, Erik, Joyce, and I were the loud ones. Need I remind you, I don't talk during trailers or the movie. I do find that trivia or the AMC First Look at Ice Road Truckers (or whatever show is coming soon on cable) to be the time to converse with your friend. I should point out that right as the credits starting rolling, the old lady turned back to us and said "Can you tell him (she means me) that I'm sorry I was such I crab?" I acknowledge the fact that she apologized. Most people do not apologize even when they know they are in the wrong.

HERE'S THE RECAP

The King's Speech
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon
4 out of 5 stars ****




Rabbit Hole
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Weist, Sandra Oh
4 out of 5 stars ****




True Grit
Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper
4.5 out of 5 stars **** 1/2

'Tis the Season

'Tis the Season! No, I don't mean Christmas as that is already over. I mean, Awards Season! Yes, this is the time of the year where all of the "amazing" movies are coming out in order to be in the running for the Oscars. Sure enough, I already feel WAY behind. I acknowledge that the Oscars are months away, and I still have plenty of time. Even with that in mind, I still feel like I have barely seen any of the movies. Part of me always feels the need to see them opening weekend. If that has passed, I start to feel like I'm falling behind.

Movies I HAVE Seen

The Social Network

Potential Nominations: Picture, Director (Fincher), Actor (Eisenberg), Adapted Screenplay(Sorkin), Score, Cinematography, Art Direction

Black Swan
Potential Nominations: Picture, Director (Aronofsky), Actress (Portman), Supporting Actress (Kunis, Hershey), Score, Make-up, Costume, Cinematography, Art Direction

127 Hours
Potential Nominations: Picture, Director (Boyle), Actor (Franco), Score

The Kids Are All Right
Potential Nominations: Picture, Actress (Bening), Supporting Actress (Moore), Original Screenplay

Inception

Potential Nominations: Picture, Director (Nolan), visual effects, sound effects



Others I've Seen
Winter's Bone - Potential Picture, Actress (Lawrence)
Toy Story 3 - Potential Picture, Animated Movie

Love and Other Drugs--Won't be in the running, but it's up for some Golden Globes
How Do You Know-- TERRIBLE movie. Since it's a James L. Brooks movie, you would have thought it could have been in the running. Now that people have seen it, it's definitely not going to be in the running.

Movies I Still Need to See
True Grit
The Fighter
Rabbit Hole
The King's Speech
Get Low
Blue Valentine
The Town
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Even though there are strong contenders, it's too early to name my picks and predictions. I'm planning on seeing some more this week as I have Friday off and Sunday is my birthday. Hopefully I can knock out at least THREE this weekend!

-P McG

Christmas Gift Ideas for Movie Buffs

As many of you may know, I am a guest blogger for my friend, DeeAnn's foodie blog. She asked me to come up with a list of Christmas Gift Ideas for the Movie Buff. I came up with various box sets, essential DVDs, books about movies, and stocking stuffers.

If you have a movie buff in your life, take a look. There might be something that peaks your interest.


http://unleashyourinnerfoodie.com/blog/uncategorized/gift-ideas-for-the-movie-buff-in-your-life/

St .Anthony Main Crawl--Keegan's

Trip#2 Keegan's Irish Pub

Monday, December 6th

IN: 5:33

OUT: 6:52

Being at Keegan's took us right back to the trip Claire, Amy Gerlach, and I went to Ireland in 2008. Don't let Amy fool you, we actually saw a leprechaun in a pub in Dingle Peninsula.

DRINKS:

Paul: 2 pints of Guinness ($4 each during Happy Hour 4pm-7pm)

Claire: 2 Irish Whiskey and Ginger Ales

APPETIZER

St. Brigid's Chips

Nachos made with thick wedge cut fries instead of chips, topped with bacon, scallions, tomatoes and melted cheese. DELICIOUS! Can we say addicting? Don't let me turn this into my late night drunken/hungry/haven't eaten dinner choice.

MAIN COURSES
Paul: Bangers & Mash
Claire: Fish and Chips (advertised as "Best in the Twin Cities")

Paul: I first had Bangers & Mash in Dublin and really loved the dish. It's three sausages in a bed of mashed potatoes surrounded by gravy. There were caramelized onions on top as a garnish as well. These were very flavorful. The spicy sausage added great flavor to the potatoes and the gravy. I would definitely get these again. I can literally see myself getting this EVERY TIME.

Claire: Substituted a cup of potato leek soup instead of the chips, since she just had chips in the St.Brigid's Chips. A smart choice that I probably would not have been smart enough to make. Claire thought the breading was thick, but not too greasy. She highly enjoyed getting the soup. The potato leek actually had chunks of potatoes too!

AMBIANCE
We were delighted to hear live music throughout our meal. Two men were playing at a random table. The lighting was a little darker as well.

Be warned: They don't take American Express and our waitress was a little slow.
Overall: Highly enjoyable for a dinner after work. We both will definitely go back whether it's for dinner, drinks, or St. Patty's Day fun!