“Chef” – Starting from scratch never tasted so good.

Have you ever read a book, gazed on a painting, or really listened to a song that made you rethink your priorities in life? I haven’t either, but “Chef” came really close. But not “close” in the way that made me feel like I’m on the wrong path in life, but “close” in the sense that I REALLY want to learn to cook like a boss.

I’ve always liked Jon Favreau, from “The Replacements” (what I consider to be the best sports movie of all time) to what he kicked off with the “Iron Man” films. He’s got a good head for comedy and his direction is pretty spot on. So when I heard about “Chef” a little while back (guilty for looking up what Robert Downey Jr. had in the chamber), I knew I’d have to check it out when it became available. Last night I sat down with my roommates and we set out on what has surely been the most mouth-watering hour and a half I’ve ever been a part of. Here’s the synopsis:

Really talented chef at a prestigious restaurant loses his job but decides money isn’t what’s important, it’s cooking for people. After much urging and pushing from his ex-wife, he decides to start a food truck business, where he can cook whatever he wants.

I feel that’s a little better than what IMDB has to offer, so forgive me for embellishing. Point is, we get to sit through this man’s (Jon Favreau himself) delicious journey through self-discovery, family, and what the most important things in life are.

The film is packed with some great talent, and they all share the spotlight equally well. Rounding out the cast we have Scarlett Johansson, John Leguizamo, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt, Robert Downey Jr., Sofia Vergara, and Bobby Cannavale. Take a step back for a moment and realize that this is an epic list. Lequizamo shines as Favreau’s good friend and chef-in-arms and really helps keep the mood up even in the few minutes where the film gets sad. The rest of the cast fits in perfectly and I couldn’t be happier with their performances, however the real heavy hitter here is Favreau. The last few films I’ve seen him in, he was portraying Tony Stark’s driver with a witty line here or there, so it was great to see him step off the sidelines and onto the field. He truly made this film a masterpiece.

Shout out to Roy Choi who taught Favreau how to make many of the dishes in the film.

Now onto what I was talking about in the beginning: his cooking. As I understand it, Favreau actually learned how to cook the dishes he’s seen making in the film, and just writing about them now is making me hate the chicken salad I packed for dinner. One of the simplest meals he makes in the film is a grilled cheese, and I’m pretty sure his version tasted better than most filet mignon’s I’ve had. After the credits started to roll I turned to my roommates (one of whom was already looking up how much food trucks cost) and suggested that we each pick out a simple recipe, and over the next few weeks experiment with it until we are able to create a masterpiece. They both seemed to agree and I’ve already started looking up ways to beef up the grilled cheese.

DIRECTOR’S CUT: I feel that films like this are a rarity now, where you not only enjoy what it’s about but are left wanting more out of your own life after viewing. Hats off to you, Mr. Favreau.

FLICKCHART RATING: 294/2200

“The Avengers” – Some Assembly Required

This movie was terribLY AWESOME! (You have to read that sentence as if you’re watching your favorite team score a touchdown, you’ll get it). Seriously though, with the exception of the upcoming “The Dark Knight Rises”, I dare someone to make a better superhero collaboration. At least until “The Avengers 2” comes out.

Ensemble films have always been my favorite types of films because it’s a bunch of great actors trying to outdo one another, whether out of douchebaggery or for the fun of it. The case with “The Avengers” however, is that it’s bunch of characters taking part in the competition of who’s the best. In fact that’s pretty much the premise of the movie. The trailers made it appear that this team has already been assembled and is now being called on to save the world, as if they’re being paid for this. But the actual plot is that Earth is threatened and the heroes must be gathered to become a part of the team. It goes without saying that everyone has a huge ego and is refusing to work with one another for various reasons, but are eventually forced to swallow their pride and take on the problem as one. The actors pull this off EXTREMELY well. I’d like to think that they wanted to be a part of something bigger and for the fans, rather than thinking they were doing this for a paycheck. I have no idea if I’m right but for the sake of argument let’s just say I am.

Joss Whedon was the man for the job when they were looking for a director. He’s been a comic book fanboy his whole life, and probably has some of the first editions of these guys locked away in a safe. It’s sad that Edward Norton wouldn’t reprise his role as the Hulk but sometimes Hollywood’s funny like that. Mark Ruffalo fills the rather large shoes, shirt, and pants and completely killed my skepticism. His story is even a continuation of Norton’s character, trying to repress “the other guy” from coming out by remaining calm and lots of yoga. Downey Jr. picks up right where “Iron Man 2” left off, still trying to get his name in the stars but with somewhat of a humanitarian view now, so I’m interested to see where this will go in “Iron Man 3”. His humor is just as on-point as ever, and he once again solidifies the fact that nobody else could have been Tony Stark. Chris Evans has shown his amazing range of talent with all of his roles, but his impersonation of Captain Steve Rogers is just perfect. Since he’s dealing with waking up 60 years after being a human popsicle he doesn’t have a whole lot going for him. That, and he still has to wear tights and his only weapon is a shield. Sounds like a lose-lose situation there but Evans really gets into the persona and makes the best of it. The movie “Thor” was good but definitely not my favorite of the Marvel heroes, so I was hoping for a bit more from Thor as a character, and Chris Hemsworth delivers. Seeing how the villain hits a little close to home for him he was given a much larger part this time around. He starts off wanting nothing to do with the Avenger Initiative because he wants to deal with the villain himself, but even demi-Gods need to realize that they need help every once in awhile. Rounding out the team are Black Widow and Hawkeye, played by Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner respectively. These two play assassins who have no super powers, they’re just really, really good at killing people. The movie hints at a past between the two but it doesn’t go into it, and sadly I don’t think we’ll be seeing any spin-offs about these two, but we may see them drifting into cameos for the future films. Going back to what I said about outdoing one another, I don’t feel that any of these great actors (and actress) did this at all. They all knew their boundaries as their characters and stayed with what was on the page. It’s really cool to watch Captain America tell Hulk to “Smash”, or Iron Man asking for backup. Just brings a real sense of the “team” to the big screen.

The only problem, and I do mean ONLY, that I had with the film was the lack of background for each character. I don’t know that this is something I can really fault anyone for, because the movie is already a whopping two and a half hours long, so trying to crush individual backstory into anyone’s screen time is just too difficult. Granted they probably ran off the assumption that if you’re seeing this you’ve probably seen all of the other films so you should know the backstory already, but I was hoping for just a little joke, or line here or there to make it that much more personal to each of the Avengers. No worries though, sequels to almost all of the heroes’ films have been greenlit and “The Avengers 2” is already being talked about by the studio heads. I say, keep ’em comin’.

DIRECTOR’S CUT: The movie currently holds the record for highest grossing opening weekend of all time. I kind of feel like that should be one of those “nuff said” moments.

FLICKCHART RATING: 31/1891 (Yeah, you read that right.)