Movie Review: "Kick-Ass"

This is going to be a shortish movie review. I was really intrigued by "Kick-Ass" but never went in the theaters, and frankly, now that I've seen it, I'm really glad I didn't spend theater bucks to see this movie. It's not bad, but it's just not great either. It's maybe a 3 star film, but possibly 2.5.

What really surprised me was how violent it was. I was expecting a sort of updated "Mystery Men", but that's not what this movie is. Instead, it's almost 2 movies that eventually cross paths. There's the somehwat humorous story line involving the hero, Kick-Ass and then a much darker story line involving Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and Hit Girl. They cross a few times and then finally big time at the end.

There are some humorous parts in this movie, but overall it came up short of being what I would classify as an absolute must see. You might like it, you might not, I guess it's up to you if you want to watch it.

Quick Lasagna Recipe

I'm not at the point yet in my cooking where I can make up my own recipes, but I am at the point where I can take a recipe and adapt it to our family's pallet, or at least to fit what my wife and I like. My kids are picky eaters, so I never know what they are going to like.

Tonight, that was the case with the Not-sagna Pasta Toss Recipe from Rachel Ray. We have tried this a couple of times before and we found it average. However, over the past year or so I have managed to adapt a marinara sauce recipe from Tyler Florence that we now really like. I can't find the link to the Tyler Florence original, but I like my adaptation better, so I'll give you that recipe.

Ok, so here is the quick lasagna I made tonight, using the concepts I learned from Rachel Ray's recipe.

Marinara Sauce:

Ingredients:
1 28 oz. can crushed Italian style tomatoes
1 small yellow onion
4-6 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like garlic)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 Bay Leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Heat the onions and garlic with the olive oil until the onions become translucent looking. Add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, sugar and bay leaves and let simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Brown some Italian Sausage and after the marinara has simmered for 15-20 minutes add the browned Italian Sausage. Continue to stir and let simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

Note: This marinara sauce is on the savory side with a little heat, not much, but a little. Cut back on the red pepper and pepper if you prefer a sweeter sauce. You can also leave out some of the oregano.

Noodles:

Ingredients:
13.25 oz box of rotini noodles (though any short noodle would work)
1 and 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Boil the pasta in salted water until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles but save 1/2 - 2/3 cup of the salted pasta water. In a mixing bowl, mix the ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese with the pasta water. Add the pasta and stir to combine.

Combine the noodle/cheese mixture with 3/4 of the marinara sauce/Italian Sausage mixture. Mix thoroughly and then top with the remaining sauce/sausage. Serve with Parmesan cheese on top.

I served this with some Parmesan Garlic Bread. Basically any type of french bread, butter it, top it with Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning and fresh grated Parmesan Cheese. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees then broil it for 2-3 minutes. Very good, very easy.

This whole meal took me about 45 minutes to make tonight...much better than the 2-3 hours it takes me to make real lasagna. This had much of the goodness of lasagna without all the work. If your family likes lasagna, I really think you'll like this recipe.

A Double Review

"Eureka, Season 4": I decided to do a 2 series review because both of these great series are on season 4...so if you haven't watched seasons 1-3 you probably don't care much about season 4. "Eureka" season 4 continues the goodness of the first 3 seasons, though for a while I was concerned. The writers made a pretty substantial change this season, and I wasn't sure how it would play out. But, in the end, I really liked it, as I have really liked the 3 prior seasons of this SyFy show. Sheriff Jack Carter continues to be one of my favorite characters on TV. This is another 5 star series...maybe trending towards 4.5.

"Psych", Season 4: I'm not sure why this picture didn't turn out the same size as the picture for "Eureka." Anyway, I've said it before and I'll say it again. "Psych" is the best show on television, and it continues to be through season 4. Our heroes, Shawn and Gus are back for more crime solving hilarity with Shawn's dad, Detectives Lassiter and O'Hara and Police Chief Vick. The writing for this show is some of the most original out there.

For 3 seasons, the writers of this show have had a very reliable formula consisting of a murder, wise-cracking crime solving from the Shawn, the ultra observant fake psychic, and usually some last minute mentoring from Shawn's dad that helps Shawn tie it all together. Well, in season 4, they buck that formula in a couple of episodes, and it worked in all but one case.

This show is great...5 stars. With guest stars like Cary Elwes, Judd Nelson, Jeri Ryan and Ally Sheedy, how can it not be great. Also, you have to listen for the references to "The Mentalist", which is CBS's attempt at a serious version of "Psych". I'm going to be DVR'ing as many of the season 5 episodes as I can in preparation for the final 7 episodes of season 5 which start in November. Hopefully over the next 2 months I can see the first 9 episodes of season 5 which I missed while watching season 4, because, well, I love this show.