ZAGAT SPECIALTY GUIDES
www.zagat.com
Tim and Nina Zagat have been facilitating the evaluation of New York City restaurants since 1979, first taking surveys of their friends’ likes and dislikes, then inviting the public to contribute their thoughts in the beloved Zagat guides. They’ve since branched out into other cities as well as specialty guides, including hotels, golf courses, and “dating (& dumping).” The company has just released New York City Nightlife 2011/12: Because It’s Always Happy Hour Somewhere, which examines more than one thousand bars, clubs, and lounges by appeal, décor, service, and price, and New York City Shopping 2012: From the Shopper’s Point of View, which rates more than twenty-three hundred retail stores by quality, display, service, and cost.
GIVEAWAY: We have one copy of each guide to give away for free. To be eligible to win, send your name, daytime phone number, and which guide you’d like to contest@twi-ny.com by Thursday, August 25, at 3:00 pm. If you want New York City Shopping, please include your favorite store, while if you want New York City Nightlife, please let us know your favorite bar or club. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; winners will be selected at random.
Eating, drinking, and going to the movies — three great things that go great together. In 2007, Dieter Kosslick, the Culinary Cineaste and director of the Berlin International Film Festival, introduced the series “Eat, Drink, See Movies” to the Berlinale, pairing films with specific meals. The German Slow Foodie has now put together a similar program for the Museum of Modern Art, teaming up with Gabriel Kreuther, executive chef of the Modern, to offer special drinks and dishes to accompany screenings of food-related films from MoMA’s vast library. First up is Stanley Tucci’s Big Night, screening tonight at 7:00, with Sepia Risotto with Gold Leaf added to the Modern’s menu. For the merlot-intensive Sideways (August 24 & 26), the Modern will be serving “Three Expressions of Pinot Noir, Paired with Charcuterie,” including Domaine Cornu “Les Barigards” with Vella Dry Jack Cheese, Becker Pinot Noir Estate with Iberico Ham, and Copain Gouttes d’Art with Quail Terrine. Alexander Payne’s fourth film, following the underseen Citizen Ruth, the excellent Election, and the overrated About Schmidt, is fabulously entertaining from start to finish, a smart, inventive, very funny dark comedy about friendship and love set in California wine country. Paul Giamatti stars as Miles, a schlumpy wine connoisseur who is having trouble getting over his divorce and the failure of his massive novel to get published. His best friend, Jack (Thomas Haden Church), is getting married, so the two head off on a road trip, with Miles looking forward to sampling fine wine, and Jack anticipating sampling fine women. While Jack finds what he is looking for in Stephanie (Sandra Oh, who was married to Payne at the time), Miles seems hell-bent on not allowing himself to enjoy life, even as a beautiful woman with a deep appreciation of the grape (the excellent Virginia Madsen in what should have been a career-redefining performance) shows an interest in him. You definitely do not have to be a wine drinker to fall in love with this marvelous movie, one of the best of 2004; it was nominated for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Madsen), and Best Supporting Actor (Haden Church), and screenwriters Jim Taylor and Payne won for Best Adapted Screenplay.
“You’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” Clint Eastwood created a cinematic legend, cool, calm Bay Area cop Harry Callahan, in Don Siegel’s genre redefining 1971 thriller, Dirty Harry. Callahan, confidence radiating out of every pore, has a penchant for getting himself into trouble, leaving mayhem and chaos behind him as he polices the mean streets of San Francisco. The first film of the series is by far the best of the bunch, as Harry is on the hunt for a crazed serial killer who goes by the name Scorpio (Andy Robinson). The underappreciated Harry Guardino is Callahan’s boss, Al Bressler, Reni Santoni plays Callahan’s rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez, and John “Dean Wormer” Vernon is the mayor who does not approve of Callahan’s rather violent tendencies. But the real star of the film might just be Harry’s .44 Magnum, “the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off.” Dirty Harry led to the sequels Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988), each one essentially at least one major step down in quality. We know what you’re thinking: In all this excitement, did he fire six shots, or only five? You can find out Monday night as Dirty Harry closes out the 2011 Bryant Park Summer Film Festival.
