Pizza, Ping Pong, and Pandora

Well, Happy Merry Whatever You Celebrate — it doesn’t totally matter, because this time of year’s meant to slow down and love on the people closest to you. For some, it’s a time to reflect — how will the following year be different? None of this is going anywhere. Just wanted to wish you all happy holidays and say thanks for getting me into this little adventure, Danny On The Run. I appreciate you.

This weekend is another one-off sort of weekend, thus making these no longer one-offs but just part of the cycle that is DOTR. Being that I had a four-day weekend due to Christmas and all that, I chose to take advantage of it.

First up, this movie I knew nothing about except 30 seconds of a trailer — something about ping pong and this guy’s rise to glory or something like that, and it had Gwyneth Paltrow in it: Marty Supreme. The movie takes place in 1950s New York, following a Jewish kid and his pursuit of being the world champion of table tennis. This isn’t your normal rags-to-riches sort of story, but really a lesson in what matters most in life — and sometimes what matters most is right in front of you.

I went in thinking this was going to be a 90-minute run, give or take — but nope. This was a full-on 2 hour and 30 minute deal, and very nicely paced, I might add. I have zero critiques for the movie, actually. I think my only critique is for Regal and not highlighting well enough that this was a Descriptive Video showing — meaning actions get narrated for the visually impaired. It didn’t really detract from the movie itself and only bugged me a couple times. Maybe if they had hired Morgan Freeman or Michael Caine to do the narration, it would’ve worked.

Chris is out of town again — hence last weekend being extended unexpectedly. I thought he was out for the full few weeks, and then he called me saying he was in town and, well, as he put it, he “missed out on the movie but made it for the carbs.” Anyways, he’s for sure out all weekend this time, so I’m hanging out with his dad — also my buddy — because he just sort of gets me. Rich. We saw Avatar: Fire and Ash this weekend.

Didn’t know what to expect, honestly. The trailers looked a lot like the others — big forest, blue people, floating islands. I was mostly just curious to see where James Cameron takes it. I didn’t go in with a checklist, just wanted to see what this one had going on.

Anyways, we went to go see Avatar: Fire and Ash in IMAX RealD 3D (they just keep adding on to the names) at the Regal in Sherman Oaks — they just opened (or reopened) like a month ago. Auditoriums 1 and 2 both got a full overhaul, and we were in 2. I took the 3D glasses as a souvenir. Figured they wouldn’t miss them.

Honestly, they look cool. I wouldn’t buy a pair of 3D sunglasses, but I might buy sunglasses that look like them.

Wearing them reminded me of that Always Sunny bit with Charlie Day walking around in 3D glasses saying he wanted to see the real world in 3D — but it wasn’t working, because he was still seeing things in whatever dimension we’re currently in. Completely absurd. Loved it.

The quality was wild. Crystal clear picture. Like, freakishly sharp. I don’t know if it was the RealD setup or just James Cameron doing his thing, but it was cleaner than anything I’ve seen in IMAX outside of maybe Captain America: Brave New World at The Chinese Theater.

Fire and Ash picks up years after Way of Water, with the Na’vi facing a new threat that forces old enemies to align and ancient traditions to be tossed aside. Avatar 3 has a runtime of 3 hours and 15 minutes, which I was hesitant about, but holy crap — the pacing was unreal. Action stacked on action, with barely a break. Just a couple breathers between acts — and Cameron always runs more than three acts anyway — but even the slow bits carried weight. Honestly, the only lull was maybe right at the end… but no spoilers.

Way better than Avatar 2. This one hits like Avatar 1 did. Same vibe. Same scale. I’ve really never seen anything like it. Zero critiques. Partway through, I had one of those James Cameron-style reminders — just that raw passion for creating and storytelling. It hit me why I wanted to learn 3D animation in the first place, specifically for gaming. Can you imagine building your own world? Like, everything — the scale, the emotion, the sound, the way the light hits an object, even a leaf. All of it. Just unreal.

After the movie we hit Pizza Wagon of Brooklyn over on Ventura in Sherman Oaks. Classic New York-style slice — they grab it off the tray and toss it through the toaster oven real quick. Same with the garlic breadsticks, which were insane. Definitely top three NY pizza joints in LA, easy.

Then we swung by Blinkies. Rich hadn’t been, but Chris and I had a couple times, so I figured I’d introduce him. I grabbed a Cookie Monster donut, Rich went with the classic chocolate raised. Blinkies delivered as expected. The south SFV can be a bit dry with the donut scene.

And that was the run. Long runtimes, sure — but both movies had killer pacing. Solid weekend.