CAPTAIN PHILLIPS AND SAMMY

On Sunday I reviewed Gravity and gave it high honor.  Captain Phllips, in many ways, repeats and exceeds:

• Gripping thriller.
• Like Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks should get the nomination for Best Actor, and, probably will gain his third Best Actor Oscar.
• Barhad Abdi (to the left above) could well earn a supporting actor nomination (interestingly enough, all four featured Somali pirates were Somalians living in Minnesota, and this is their first movie)
• Max Martini (below) did a fine job as the Navy Seal commander.  You've seen him in Contact and Saving Private Ryan, and TV's 24.  He was the right person to play this key role at the climax, and deserves some kind of mini-recognition.

• Rotten Tomatoes gives Captain Phillips high scores:
• Reviewers  95%
• Audience   91%
• There will be no sequel

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Normally, you would get the story from the American captive point of view.  This time, you also appreciate the stress facing terrorists, and why they do what they do.  Sort of what Republicans in the House are doing:  they have no choice but to kidnap hostages for ransom.

Then, brother Dan and I went to Sammy's for international fusion tapas:

The food was great!  I noticed there is a wide variety of eating places in Las Vegas that we don't have in Hawaii.  Upcoming is my posting of the top ten hotel restaurants in the world, and can you believe that CNN Travel lists three in that list from Las Vegas?  Las Vegas might well overtake Spain for cuisine excellence.

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Typhoon Nari plowed through the Philippines and is now still powerful at 105 MPH in the South China Sea, soon to strengthen into a Category 3, and head for Hue, Vietnam.

While the Atlantic, Gulf and East Pacific are quiet this year, another looming problem, Tropical Storm Wipha, is heading for Japan:

Wipha will become a Typhoon tomorrow, and eventually strengthen into a Category 3.  However, most projections show Wipha easing east sand largely sparing Japan.  However, several computer models show the eye of Wipha flying right over Tokyo and Fukushima.

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