Submitted by Sir Joshua, Jul 27, 2007 07:30

My hat off to the reviewer. His observation, 'Movies about food and wine Â-- such as "Big Night," "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman," "Sideways," "A Good Year," or even "Waitress" Â-- are getting to be for us what movies about artists and musicians were for our parents, and movies about aristocrats and the idle rich were for our grandparents...' is very interesting. 'Films are democraticizing or should I say reflecting the society in which we live. Where our grandparent's ideal may have been the aristocrats or rich society folk who were the 'bees knees' of the '20's and '30's - Europe had had a war and seem to projectile deposit these societal images on our consciousness. They were classy looking but like poor Claudet Colbert's 'Ninotchka' were maids or did menial jobs to exist (they may have been high born but they were gutsie) -even the fat old millionaire ladies of the Marks brothers comedies could punch bad guys in the nose - the American public just loved that. Then we entered the golden age of opera in films. Ah, to be an artist, whether you were the plumber who could belt out 'Nessun Dorma' and stun everyone else on the set, because while we're all in the gutter, some of us are looking at the stars... etc. (How else could you put Reesa Stevens in a movie...at least with a straight face?) Art and beauty could come from the lowest. An incident recently on the English version of 'So, you think you've got talent?' in which a fish monger who looked like a soccer hooligan showed up in a tux, was asked by Simon Cowell 'Why are you singing Puccini?' and he replied, 'Cause I always wanted to sing opera.' (in a painful cockney accent) And then went on to sing 'Nessun Dorma' and devistated everyone in the house. People just love this stuff !! The audience went wild - the guy sounded just like Pavarotti - and the judges had tears rolling down their cheeks. Anyway, this 'something from nothing' magic show is always a big hit. Interesting that now a days we're looking for pretty Hollywood items to give us great food. Chef's used to be hash slingers, now all of a sudden they are Molto Mario or Emeril !! The original was much more of a magic act when the great food came from more ordinary mortals. Interesting also that America is now considering benig a chief as a celestial manifestation of brilliance from an ordinary mortal...in other words, THIS COULD BE YOU ! After all, who can't break an egg? Hollywood is offering escapism with 'No Reservations' whereas the original film offered a comforting psychological unfolding of two souls who came together incidentally over food, but more accurately over love and offering this orphaned niece a home. Tinsel town is tinselly again. Some cats just can't change their spots. Catherine Zeta-Jones (some handle) was born pure plastic. She has great looks but the depth of a petri dish. Aaron Eckert came to the industry certainly as an individual face but is getting honed down to Hollywood pretty because obviously pretty is what sells. I think I'll stick with the original.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.