It may be a Jewish cliche, but going out to a movie and eating Chinese food is a pretty good way to get out of the house on Christmas. Particularly as a movie I wanted to see was playing at a movie theatre I like, which happens to be in the same shopping center as a Chinese restaurant I like.
The movie theatre in question is the Cinema Arts Theatre in Fairfax, one of the few independent movie theatres around here (or around anywhere, I suppose). I like it because: a) they tend to have an interesting mix of movies, with both art house movies and more mainstream fare, 2) it's not quite as pricy as most of the other theatres around (admittedly, just a dollar or so less, but still) and 3) they don't show ads.
As for the movie, I saw Juno, which had gotten good reviews and had an appealing trailer. This story of a pregnant teenager and the family who will adopt her baby was the sort of quirky comedy I often like and, indeed, I thought it was well done. Ellen Page struck the right note as the title character, who is mature enough to know what she isn't mature enough to deal with. The slangy dialogue was a bit overdone (are any real teenagers ever that snappy?) and I didn't care much for the soundtrack, but this was a warm and witty movie. Well worth seeing.
The Chinese food was mildly disappointing as China Star no longer does scallion pancakes. And they were out of another dish I wanted. It was still okay, but not noticeably better than any of the other places in the area.
Copyright 2007 Miriam H. Nadel