It is Labor Day and
the weather is lousy here in the northeast, so we figured we would go see
another movie. We headed off to the AMC Loews 84th Street on the Upper
West Side of Manhattan to see “The World’s End,” which had received a reasonably
positive review in the New York Times and a score of 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. To
the best of our memories, we had never been to the theater where it was playing,
which was recently renovated. They put in large, plush leather seats, and you
buy a ticket for a specific seat. But they are missing the other nice aspects
of the Lux Level found in the theaters in the Boston area.
This film was
apparently the third of three comedies starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost directed
by Edgar Wright, following the successes "Shaun of the Dead" (2004)
and "Hot Fuzz" (2007), neither of which we had seen. In the opening
moments, you learn that, twenty years earlier, five friends had attempted but
not quite completed a “pub crawl” of a dozen hometown establishments, the last
of which is named “The World’s End.” The five friends reunite at the urging of one
of them who is determined to try the drinking marathon again. It turns out that
reaching the pub “The World’s End” is the least of their worries.
I don’t want to give
away too much of the plot, but rereading A.O. Scott’s review in the New York
Times, I see that we had perhaps glossed over or not fully appreciated some of
his words. “… then the robots show up… I honestly don’t want to say too much
about the robots, because their arrival sends “The World’s End” spinning into
an absurdity that must be experienced fresh.”
Must it be experienced? Frankly, we think
we might have been better off without that particular experience.
Ah, but food is
always the antidote to a not-so-good movie, so we went to a restaurant called
Deli Kasbah that was just around the corner from the movie theater. When our
daughter Dina was in high school she had a good friend whose family lived very
close to this restaurant and we remember Dina often eating there with her
friend, but we had not been there in many years. It is a fairly serious meat
restaurant but they did have a very tasty plate of falafel and Israeli salads,
which I always enjoy.
If you or your
families are going back to work or school tomorrow, travel safely and enjoy!
Love,
Rebecca
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