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If you'd like to submit your movie, restaurant, or bar review, please email me with the information given in the reviews below. Your first name will follow the review.

Movies

01/30/05 - Garden State (2004)

The back of the DVD case said that it was a "coming of age" flick or something like that. I would say it's more of an awakening. The audience can see the protagonist, Andrew Largeman - played by Zach Braff, who also wrote and directed the film, slowly shake off of the drug induced haze he'd been living in for the better part of his life. Now it makes sense to me why the movie seemed slow at the beginning - that's how "Large" felt about life. Braff, as a writer, very keenly works character development and history into the plot, explaining the relationships large has with his friends and family. His developing relationship with Sam is interesting to watch, as well as it's affect on him. I wouldn't go so far as to say that she was the sole reason for his change - getting off of that amount of prescription drugs is bound to affect you somehow, not to mention his mother's death. There were opportunities for this movie to make more dramatic turns, however Braff wisely kept to the character interaction plot line. Braff did an excellent job with this movie, not only as an actor, but as a director and writer as well. [Kimmie]

01/07/05 - Finding Neverland (2004)

I didn't pay much attention to the previews and what little I did see made me believe this would be a sappy blah movie. I was definitely pleasantly surprised. My first thought was that it seemed a lot like one of my all time favorite movies, Big Fish, with the way it placed the characters in imagined, story-like situations. This was, however, based on the real life of J.M. Barrie - the author of Peter Pan, with some artistic lisence of course. The child actors were amazing and the chemistry between all the actors made the film believable and touching. Although rated PG, this is not a film I'd recommend for younger children, as it deals with death and broken marriages, among other intense subjects. Good movie, and if you're like me, bring tissues. [Kimmie]

Restaurants/Bars

10/13/06 - Mangino's 9570 Burke Rd, Burke, VA 703-426-1777

Poker night. Earlier in the day I had flipped through a local mailing and saw the Mangino's menu. It had good variety, which is great for when you have a bunch of people coming over and want to please everyone, and ranged from $6 sandwich dinners to about $14 for "specialty" pizzas. Everyone was able to find something on the menu, if anything, it took a while because there was so much to choose from! We ordered - it was about five or six of us with a grand total of $70 and change (not including tip and tax). The food arrived a lot quicker than we anticipated, and no mistakes in the order. The driver was nice too, even agreeing to break some twenties so we had smaller change for poker. And the FOOD! - It was so good. I had the chicken portabello calzone, which was enough to feed two to three people. Jeromy's Cheesy Garlic Penne was just that, and so tasty, even later when it was cold. No one had any complaints about their food. If you despise garlic you might have problems with this place, but for good, small town pizzaria style with a wide menu and delivery, Mangino's is the best. I will definitely be ordering from there again! [Kimmie]

01/18/05 - Eleventh 1041 N. Highland St., Arlington 703-587-8922

I met up with two girlfriends for dinner and 1/2 price wine at Eleventh on a cold Tuesday night. It was a small place, loungy type seating with a long bar and some cocktail tables along one wall. I found my friends in the dimly lit room and sank into the cushy chair. We ordered an excellent bottle of Chardonnay (half price!) and a few appetizers. Our waitress was very nice and friendly and aptly recommended dishes for us based on our preferences. The food was very well prepared, delicious, and served in the style of a fancy gourmet restaurant, however the portions were tiny. After our first round of three appetizers, we opted to get two more and dessert. Finally, we were pleasantly full. Our total bill was about $70 for five appetizers, one dessert, and a half price bottle of wine. Good date spot, not good for large happy hours. I'd go back for drinks, but not a good place if you want to get food as well. [Kimmie]

Products, Etc.

10/13/06 - Campbell's Condensed Healthy Request Chicken Rice Soup

Sitting at work, trying to figure out what to eat for lunch. All I had were some cans of soup - a couple Campbell's, some organic stuff, and Progresso. I decided to read the labels to figure out which to eat and discovered something that threw me for a loop. Campbell's Condensed Healthy Request Chicken Rice soup has BEEF-somethingerother in it! Yea, probably not much, but why would chicken soup have anything beef in it to begin with?! As a non-beef-and-pork eater I was a bit horrified at the notion that one would have to read so far into a label to discover this CHICKEN soup had beef in it! So I sent them some "feedback" explaining that many people who eat chicken do not eat beef and my surprise at finding it as an ingredient. I got a quick response, which didn't answer my question of "why would you do that?", but thanked me for my feedback and something like "people like you are what make our soups great". The sent me $5 in coupons (I mentioned I had two cans of the soup I'd no longer eat because of the beef ingredient.) I'll be interested to see if they actually stop putting beef products in chicken soup tho'. [Kimmie]