Movie Review

Bill Murray and Rashida Jones make great pair in On the Rocks

Writer/director Sofia Coppola has established a name for herself over the past 20 years by making films that appeal to both mainstream and cinephile audiences. She often uses the trappings of everyday cinema to deliver stories that upend the expectations set by your typical movies.

That’s definitely the case with On the Rocks, which takes a somewhat banal story about a seemingly lifeless marriage and turns it on its head. Laura (Rashida Jones) is an author who’s stuck in a rut thanks to having to take care of her two kids, often without the presence of her husband, Dean (Marlon Wayans), whose business requires him to travel frequently.

A series of events that has Laura questioning Dean’s fidelity lead her to confide in her father, Felix (Bill Murray). Felix, whose track record on monogamy is horrendous, jumps at the chance to try to expose Dean, hiring a private eye and dragging Laura along on missions to track his movements.

Were this another film, whether or not Dean was cheating on Laura would be the end-all, be-all of the plot, but Coppola is interested in different things than that. In fact, the film is much more about Laura and Felix’s relationship than it is about that of Laura and Dean. Though the film doesn’t give much detail, it’s clear that Felix has always been more about words than action.

Nearly every person the two of them run into throughout the course of the film is someone Felix already knows or someone he is able to charm within a matter of seconds. And Laura’s reactions to those interactions indicate that this pattern is exhausting for her, as it allows him to get away with things for which most other people would be held accountable.

Coppola has a sharp eye for detail, layering in small moments that add up to something bigger. The moments with Laura and Dean’s kids are not important plotwise, but they enrich the meaning of both main relationships. Likewise, repeated one-sided conversations with another mother, Vanessa (Jenny Slate), as they wait to either drop off or pick up their kids at school give further insight into Laura’s state of mind.

As she demonstrated in Lost in Translation, Coppola knows just the right way to use the appealing-yet-noxious personality of Murray. As he’s shown for 40 years, from Caddyshack to Ghostbusters to What About Bob? to Groundhog Day to The Royal Tenenbaums, few actors have the ability to attract and repel at the same time as Murray does. Felix is a perfect complement to all of those other roles.

Jones has such a brightness about her that it’s a wonder she hasn’t been given more opportunities to show her talents on film. While she’s a mainstay on television, her film roles are few and far apart, with supporting roles in I Love You, Man and The Social Network as her most high-profile parts prior to this. She holds her own against Murray; the film wouldn’t work nearly as well without her performance.

The story of On the Rocks is interesting, but it’s the actors who really make it sing. While not transcendent like her earlier collaboration with Murray, this film demonstrates that Coppola remains one of the best directors working today.

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On the Rocks will play at Inwood Cinema starting on October 2. It will debut on Apple TV+ on October 23.

Marlon Wayans and Rashida Jones in On the Rocks.

Marlon Wayans and Rashida Jones in On the Rocks

Photo courtesy of Apple

Marlon Wayans and Rashida Jones in On the Rocks.

Vegan News

New Dallas vegan ghost kitchen debuts with irresistible comfort food

primavega vegan chicken pot pie

Primavega

Vegan pot pie from Primavega.

A new ghost kitchen has debuted in Dallas, specializing in highly craveable comfort food: Called Primavega Restaurant, it's located at Commerce Fork Food, the big ghost kitchen facility near Trinity Groves at 921 E. Commerce St., where it's doing vegan renditions of ribs, tacos, biscuits & gravy, and more.

Primavega is from Alan Farris, a lifelong cook who began experimenting with vegan recipes when he changed to a vegan diet about a decade ago.

"I've wanted to have a vegan restaurant for a long time, as a way to give back to the community," Farris says. "And I felt like there was a niche for this kind of cuisine that wasn't being filled."

This is especially true since the closure in August of Spiral Diner, which specialized in diner food like burgers and nachos.

"I designed most of the menu, based mostly on what I like to eat," Farris says. "It's mostly comfort food but with a healthier emphasis. I like comfort food anything: pasta, tacos, pizzas, as well as Asian food."

His menu includes:

biscuits & gravy
biscuits sandwiches with Beyond breakfast sausage and Just Egg
breakfast plate, with sausage, vegan bacon, scrambled Just Egg, home fries, and a biscuit
tacos, on house-made corn tortillas, filled with seasoned chopped walnut and portobello mushroom, topped with potato-carrot nacho cheese, salsa, sour cream, and shredded spinach
eggplant parmesan, with breaded and fried eggplant topped with Miyokos mozzarella, marinara, and cashew parmesan, served with a salad of cranberry, walnut, spinach, cashew parmesan and balsamic
Chicken pot pie, featuring a housemade crust, filled with chick'n, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, carrots, and green beans, topped with a giant biscuit

He does a homey entree plate with mashed potatoes & gravy and choice of green beans or corn on the cob, using meats by acclaimed Dallas-based Boneless Butcher, either steak or ribs.

He also does two versions of sushi, topped with seared, marinated eggplant or else seared, marinated trumpet mushrooms.

Prices start at $13 and top out at $22 for the steak dinner. He's open 11 am-8:30 on weekdays and late hours on weekends, until 11:30 pm.

Commerce is home at any one time to nearly two dozen concepts, but Primavega is currently the only one that's vegan.

"It was a good way to start because the overhead is lower than opening your own place," Farris says. "But if all goes well, I hope to open a brick-and-mortar in early 2023."

Real-world events make the message of Call Jane all the more relevant

Real-world events make the message of Call Jane all the more relevant

Photo by Wilson Webb / courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Elizabeth Banks in Call Jane

The overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court has sent shockwaves through much of American society, including Hollywood. For years since the initial 1973 decision legalizing abortion, the issue has remained a part of many stories in movies and on TV, especially as conservative states started to enact more and more restrictions on when and where a woman could get the procedure.

When the cast and crew of Call Jane started making their film in 2021, they likely thought they were just showing an interesting chapter in history and underscoring the importance of a woman’s right to choose. Instead, they find themselves inadvertently smack dab in the renewed debate over abortion, and perhaps demonstrating that history is repeating itself.

Elizabeth Banks in Call Jane

Photo by Wilson Webb / courtesy of Roadside Attractions

Elizabeth Banks in Call Jane

The film is a fictional story about Joy (Elizabeth Banks), a middle-class woman in 1968 Chicago who has a husband, Will (Chris Messina), and a teenage daughter, Charlotte (Grace Edwards). She’s also pregnant, but she has a heart condition that necessitates terminating the pregnancy to save her life. When the (all-male) board at her local hospital denies her request for an emergency abortion, she starts searching out other options.

After being advised of a number of poor-to-terrible choices, she finds a flier with a message to “Call Jane” if you’re pregnant and anxious. That leads her to a relatively safe place to get the procedure done illegally, one organized by a group of activist women headed by Virginia (Sigourney Weaver). Soon, Joy finds herself drawn into being part of the group, a role that becomes increasingly larger the more she learns about the women who need its services.

Directed by Phyllis Nagy and written by Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi, the film is a surface-level examination of the abortion issue, but still an effective one. The shocking initial choices Joy faces – convincing psychiatrists that she is suicidal or “accidentally” falling down a staircase to induce a miscarriage – are now ones that may be a reality again for many women, giving the film even more heft than it already had.

The film is at its best when Joy is with the organizing group, as it depicts a diverse group of women – including a nun! – who are all there for one purpose: To help other women. The group has its disagreements, like what type of women should get priority treatment, but the dedication as a whole to the larger cause has a hopeful vibe despite the obstacles they collectively face.

The story falters a bit when it focuses on Joy’s home life. She explains her time away from home as her taking art classes, an excuse that’s laughable given the hours she spends with the group. The filmmakers try to create drama with Will complaining about the lack of home-cooked meals, Charlotte always on the verge of discovering her mom’s secret, and their neighbor Lana (Kate Mara) paying a bit too much attention to Will, but none of it lands compared with the main story.

Banks has tended to be a comedic actor in her 20+ year career, so it takes a bit of time to accept her as the buttoned-down character she’s supposed to be. But once Joy joins the group, Banks’ performance blossoms, especially in scenes with Weaver. Weaver is a grounding force for the film as a whole, feeling exactly like the type of woman who could lead a rebel group like this.

Call Jane is not a firebrand of a film, likely because the filmmakers didn’t know it needed to be. But its release at this particular moment in time can still be interpreted as a call for those who believe in its message to not give up the fight, even if right now the world seems to be against them.

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Call Jane opens in theaters on October 28.

BBQ News

Dallas chef Kent Rathbun partners on innovative restaurant on the Katy Trail

kent rathbun

Courtesy photo

These burnt ends are on the menu at Katy Trail Station.

Dallas diners have a surprising new place to find chef Kent Rathbun: on the Katy Trail.

The acclaimed chef is holding court at a new concept called the Katy Trail Station, located in an offbeat segment on the northern edge of of the popular jogging/bicycling path. The address is 4825 Cole Ave., at Monticello, right at the 122 KT mark and a few feet south of Javier’s.

The restaurant is an unusual partnership between Rathbun and Prescott Realty Group, who wanted to bring something new for neighbors and visitors of the Katy Trail. Rathbun describes it as "a place for people to take a little break from their run or walk."

It'll open softly on October 28.

It consists of a 300-foot trailer tacked onto the back of a parking garage (owned by Prescott Realty), plus an expansive umbrella-covered patio with seating for about 30.

They'll serve breakfast and lunch, with a menu that includes:

breakfast tacos with choices from cheese, potatoes, sausage, brisket, and pork
pastries and biscuit sandwiches
fruits and parfaits
Lavazza coffee, including cold brew and nitro
Wagyu beef burgers
cilantro jalapeño grilled chicken sandwiches
pulled pork sandwiches
barbecued brisket
pecan smoked pork ribs
sides and salads

Beverages will incorporate a variety of sports drinks and flavored waters and sodas for those running and walking on the trail.

Initially, they'll be open weekends only from 11 am-4 pm, but plan to open daily from 7 am to late dinner, with an extension of the lunch menu as well as grilled steaks and seafood items. They also hope to offer catering to area businesses, and host catered parties on a soon-to-be-built deck.

Prescott Realty, which has a track record of doing interesting urban projects such as SMU Boulevard and University Crossing., owns the building at 3100 Monticello Ave. and saw a gap to be filled, says Prescott CEO Jud Pankey who approached the award-winning Rathbun about the concept.

"We looked up and saw Katy Trail and Glencoe Park across 75, but no place for breakfast, lunch, or coffee," he says. "Two Sisters Catering had shut down, and other restaurants in the area like Javier's and Chelsea Corner weren't open."

"We wanted to figure out something that would be good for building tenants and neighbors, and also for people using Katy Trail," he says. "The garage that comes with the building backs right up to the Katy Trail, so we turned it into a platform for Kent’s trailer."

Rathbun already co-owns Shinsei, Lovers Seafood & Market, and the recently-opened Dea along with his wife Tracy and partner Lynae Fearing. During the pandemic, he launched Catering by Chef Kent Rathbun and his Curbside BBQ venture, which surfaces at the Lovers Seafood parking lot at weekends. He's also set up his trailer at 4825 Cole monthly during the summer to do a test run. A portion of the current BBQ menu will be included at the Katy Trail Station.

The restaurant is part of a pilot program Pankey forged with the Dallas City Council and the Park Board to build a deck that would lead into the park. They'll donate a percentage of sales to the Friends of Katy Trail and the White Rock Conservancy.

“We're grateful to council members Paul Ridley and Paula Blackmon for their help," Pankey says. "Anybody that operates this has got to be able to give money back to the park. We could do it at other parks and generate lot of revenue."

"It's been a labor of love but I also want to be able to go down there and get a breakfast taco and a coffee," he says.

uptown openings