Pacific Catch

We rarely go out to dinner, mainly because our dinners at home are lovely. We’re lucky enough to have our very own gourmet-cook-daughter prepare wonderful meals for us. So who could resist that? Nobody I know. But we wanted to catch one of the new movies, so it made sense just to go ahead and make a complete evening of it. Our favorite movie theater is the Camera 7 at the Pruneyard. And it just so happens there are several good restaurants there, so we decided to eat before the movie. Then, we discovered that there were actually two movies we wanted to see, The Descendents, with George Clooney and The Artist with unknown-to-us French actors. We contemplated which movie to see—Which one? Which one? Why not both? So we found a cozy table at Pacific Catch and had a couple of variations of salmon: one grilled and neatly placed on top of a salad, and the other, teriyaki style with snow peas. It was a great meal, although the ones at home are decidedly quieter with candlelight and soft music in the background. But as they say, variety is the spice of life.

Camera Cinemas

Then off to the cinema. We usually buy their “Club Card,” which entitles us to 10 movies at $60. Although that’s a lot to spend at once, $6 for each movie is quite a bargain in today’s world. The Camera 7 at the Pruneyard is part of the larger Camera Cinema group, so we can see movies close to home, or we can go into San Jose for a hot new release as well. Pretty convenient.We went into the #7 theater in the complex, which is around several corners at the end of a long hallway. That place was definitely designed by an a-maze-ing architect. Once inside the actual theater, it feels more like the stands at a football stadium—large and steep. You actually enter on the side down midway between the upper and lower sections, and then have to walk around in the dark as your eyes adjust, while everybody gawks at your clumsy seat selection process. When we arrived, people are mostly looking to see where Em decides to sit. I’m only 5’6 so wherever I sit is fine, but since he’s 6’5,  people cross their fingers hoping that he doesn’t land in front of them.

George is always good!

Our gamble on the Clooney flick paid off. He always does a nice job when playing the part of a down-to-earth, ordinary guy. But just between you and me, I think that’s what he really is, so the portrayal may be a bit of a snap for him.After The Descendents ended, we had 5 minutes to get to the next theater on our agenda, Salon #2. That one was back around the corner, through the maze and near the main entrance. We cut the credits short just to make sure, and made it with time to spare. There weren’t very many people attending—6 to be exact. I guess that’s no big surprise on a Thursday night at 9:30, so we had plenty of space to sprawl out and get comfortable. No one had their view of the screen blocked, that’s for sure.

The strong, silent types

The Artist is a black and white, silent movie, which these days is hard to sell since its harder to  promote the movie by word-of-mouth (so to speak). The old-style set the movie apart from others and coincidentally, set it up for an Oscar nomination. The movie was great. It’s hard to imagine how they did it without words, but it kept our attention for the entire time. In fact, we commented afterwards that we were surprised that neither of us got snoozy, being a little on the late side— finishing up about 11:30 ( 5 hours past our normal bed time—that too was a joke).

Posted on January 31, 2012

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