A new Poke place in Syracuse makes me think of the great trip to Hawaii

You never know what will pop up in Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA. A pre-holiday stroll unveiled a new food joint over on the Canyon side of the hunger mall. Central New Yorkers can now indulge in the Poke cuisine, Mon. My dear wife Karen and George Three partook this past…

The Big Sick makes me feel good about romantic comedy

Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani really lived The Big Sick. And the writer and stand-up comic/actor had enough smarts – and guts – to take their how’d-we-meet story to paper together and allow producer Judd Apatow and director Michael Showalter put the touches on it for the big screen. Lucky us. This is an…

Everywhere Everywhere leaves me feeling nowhere

Another movie taken from the pages from a YA novel, is this romantic excursion Everything, Everything. I’ve stopped treading so lightly to these Young Adult fests, having been thoroughly pulled into the treatments of The Fault of Our Stars, Paper Towns and, episode by episode, the dystopian-ness of The Hunger Games and Divergent. So I…

Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn grab my guilty laughs in Snatched

You couldn’t help but root for Amy Schumer in her movie premiere from 2015, Trainwreck. Now that was a romantic comedy that showed off every bid of her wit and wisdom, as she wrote and starred as a woman who learned from life and about herself to grow into something special. The direction of prolific…

The Fate of the Furious is to keep our eyes popping, still

When a movie franchise reaches installment eight, fans are going to the theater either out of habit, fierce loyalty or morbid curiosity. Maybe even some fearful combination of all of the above. Have no fear, lovers of the whiz-bang that started way back in 2001 with The Fast and the Furious. Vin Diesel as the…

Cowboys Saloon straps on a satisfying feed bag

The atmosphere for dinner at Cowboys Saloon certainly was interesting when my dear wife Karen dropped in recently. There was a decent-sized crowd around 6 on a Friday night as we picked the spot that replaced Toby Keith’s joint to fill our tummies and the time before the night’s movie at Syracuse mega shopping, dining…

Denzel Washington casts an imposing figure in Fences, but Viola Davis won’t be overlooked

Denzel Washington slams grand at the center of August Wilson’s family tale Fences. Washington directed and stands tall (and wide) as Troy Maxson, the self-made leader of his gathering in the proud little brick house in a lower-class African American Pittsburgh neighborhood. Wilson adapted the screenplay from his Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that premiered in 1987…

CHIPS isn’t exactly TV nostalgia, but there’s still something funny about Dax Shephard

If you’re one of the many millions who’ve taken comfort in the motorcycle-riding savvy and people skills of Jon Baker and Frank Llewelyn Poncherello in the half-drama, half-comedy TV hour CHiPs that maneuvered its way into our social mosaic on NBC from 1977 to 1983 and through syndication and streaming seemingly thereafter, you may have…

No, I didn’t get an invite to this one

When we walked into the corridor to see Office Christmas Party at the Regal Cinemas’ franchise at Syracuse mega shopping, dining and entertaining complex Destiny USA, my dear wife Karen caught the photo-op backdrop for the movie. And told me to pose. Yes, I listen to these requests. No poster possibilities here. What’s is the…

Who’s the real outcast in Table 19, you’ll wonder

Oh, Eloise seems so put together as she makes her entrance way back there to sit with the other (very) strangers sitting around table in the way back in the reception of her best friend, whose brother is the best man. And also is the guy who dumped her two months ago. By text. Which…