Oldboy
Oldboy Studio: Tartan Films Rated: R Website: http://films.tartanfilmsusa.com/oldboy/ Release Date: 2005-06-10 Cast: Choi Min-Sik, Ji-tae Yu, Bo-Kyeong Kim, Ji Dae-han, Yoo Ji-tae Director: Chan Wook Park Screenwriter: Hwang Jo-yun WorkNameSort: Oldboy Our Rating: 4.00 As seen at the 2005 Florida Film Festival, this South Korean shocker takes unabashed glee in heaping abuses upon Oh Dae-Su…
Place:Slingapour’s
A club experience without the club attitude. The dance floor fills up for local and national acts and weekend DJs. There are indoor and outdoor bars, leather couches and a full menu, including sushi.
Place:Enzian Theater
Not a bar, but more than a movie theater, the Enzian is in a class by itself. The attraction is the lineup of indie and offbeat flicks, combined with an impressive menu and a full beer and wine list. You never have to leave your seat to get another drink; they bring it to you.
Devaney’s Sports Pub
You might stumble upon some UCF team spirit here, as Devaney’s is popular among college students for its affordable pub grub and beer. Devaney’s Too/Smokin’ Devaney’s is a couple of doors down.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mr. and Mrs. Smith Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.mrandmrssmithmovie.com/ Release Date: 2005-06-10 Cast: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Adam Brody, Vince Vaughn, Angela Bassett Director: Doug Liman Screenwriter: Simon Kinberg, Jez Butterworth WorkNameSort: Mr. and Mrs. Smith Our Rating: 1.00 Less a movie than a filmed pitch – “They’re married, they’re both spies,…
Place:The Social
The well-loved and historic downtown live music venue gives Tuesdays over to the progressive hip-hop ‘Phat-N-Jazzyâ?� night. The rest of the week finds a diverse slate of top touring national and local bands. The vibe is as thick as the brick interior.
Place:The Haven
Living up to its name, this east Winter Park bar is a refuge for metalheads and other assorted rockers. Though the music can be hard and loud, the staff and crowd are friendly.
Bull and Bush
It’s like this chummy boozerama was swept up from Old Blighty by a freak tornado and deposited mere feet from the T.G. Lee Dairy. Park your carcass on an upholstered stool in a room that’s mostly given over to darts and hit the tap lineup of 11 imported beers.
The Honeymooners
The Honeymooners Studio: Paramount Pictures Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.honeymoonersmovie.com/ Release Date: 2005-06-10 Cast: Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps, Gabrielle Union, Regina Hall, Eric Stoltz Director: John Schultz Music Score: Richard Gibbs WorkNameSort: Honeymooners, The Our Rating: 1.50 An Afro-centric update of the Greatest Sitcom Ever isn’t necessarily an asinine idea ‘ it could be a…
Place:Tabu
Tabu has settled into its identity as downtown’s premier dance club, with only a touch of VIP spirit (upstairs, with bottle service).
PlaceName:The Hideaway
Here’s a hangout that reeks of deep-fried hospitality. Watch every last Dolphins game and belly up to the bar for some of the best burgers, beer specials and bartenders in town. The jukebox has something for everyone, and they serve food until late.
Place:Stardust Video & Cof
It’s a coffeehouse, but Stardust sneaked an amazing selection of imported beers into the cooler (and a few wines onto the shelf). It’s like hanging out at home sampling beer from countries you can’t pronounce, if your living room were full of hipsterific kids cruising each other.
Cinderella Man
Cinderella Man Studio: Universal Pictures Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.cinderellamanmovie.com/index.php Release Date: 2005-06-03 Cast: Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Bruce McGill, Ariel Waller, Paddy Considine Director: Ron Howard Screenwriter: Cliff Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard Music Score: Thomas Newman WorkNameSort: Cinderella Man Our Rating: 3.00 As Depression-era sports stories go, Seabiscuit is looking better all the time.…
Place:Tanqueray’s
Drinkers find their way to downtown’s only underground bar for the alcohol and the atmosphere, both of which are still present in abundance in the space that once housed a bank vault. Best part: You have to walk down a real flight of steps to get there.
Place:Muldoon’s Saloon
Bras and panties strung up on the walls let you know there’s plenty of Warrant and Poison in the jukebox; bands with cheesy names take the stage on weekends. Don’t come to hear sissified indie rock or to sip girly drinks.
23
Upscale and upstairs, 23’s brick-walled, hardwood-floored, curvy-bar concept pulls out all the ornate finery available to grant the high-end post-martini crowd a means of getting drunk downtown. It’s rumored to be courting a ‘not 21, but 23-ishâ?� clientele.
Lords of Dogtown
Lords of Dogtown Studio: Columbia Pictures Rated: PG-13 Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/lordsofdogtown/index.html Release Date: 2005-06-03 Cast: Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch, John Robinson, Johnny Knoxville, Victor Rasuk Director: Catherine Hardwicke Screenwriter: Stacy Peralta Music Score: Mark Mothersbaugh WorkNameSort: Lords of Dogtown Our Rating: 3.00 Heath Ledger may be the Val Kilmer of his generation. Under a hand-wrung mop…
Place:Waitiki
The pleasant Hawaiian theme is abundantly present, right down to the menu, but Wall Street cruisers are typically scouting for booze and ass, not a unique bar. In that light, Waitiki complements the sushi-heavy menu of the Globe across the way.
PlaceName:Orlando Ale House
Popular and crowded, this chain is T.G.I. Friday’s with better beer, a bigger bar, tons of TVs and a couple of pool tables. It’s close to Full Sail Real World Education, so expect to overhear intense conversations about knob-twisting.
AWRY ANXIETY
High Tension Studio: Lions Gate Films Rated: R Website: http://www.hightensionmovie.com/ Release Date: 2005-06-10 Cast: Cecile de France, Maiwenn Le Besco, Maiwenn Nahon, Philippe Nahon, Frank Khalfoun Director: Alexandre Aja Screenwriter: Gregory Levasseur, Aja Levasseur, Alexandre Aja WorkNameSort: High Tension Our Rating: 1.00 With a central thesis that lesbian desire leads directly to the slaughter of…
Place:Wall Street Cantina
It’s full of friendly faces, decent Tex-Mex dishes, good drinks at prices that won’t break the bank and live music. The Cantina’s noisy outside seating area is excellent for people-watching, especially if you grab a table close to Orange Avenue.
DRINK!
After 30 years, Park Plaza still ranks among the swankier places in town, though some of the upholstery has seen better days. Sip fine spirits ‘ aperitifs to cordials ‘ as well as whiskey, wine and beer in the open air, watching life go by on the avenue.
RUMBA FISH
Mad Hot Ballroom Studio: Paramount Classics Rated: PG Website: http://www.paramountclassics.com/madhot/ Release Date: 2005-06-10 Director: Marilyn Agrelo Screenwriter: Amy Sewell WorkNameSort: Mad Hot Ballroom Our Rating: 3.50 Decades after Harold Hill told of trouble in River City, there’s a renewed drive to find wholesome activities that can keep our kids off the streets. In today’s New…
903 Mills Market
Is it a deli? Grocery store? Bar? Grab a draft beer or a glass (or bottle) of wine, take a seat outside and be one of the friendly people in this newly fashionable neighborhood. Some nights you’ll hear live music.
Place:Red Fox Lounge
The seedy bar attached to the Mount Vernon Inn has an identity all its own, thanks in no small part to the musical duo Mark and Lorna. The longtime lounge act keeps ’em coming (and drinking) with its standing synthesizer and pop standards.
Place:Burton’s Bar and Gri
If you bought a bar in 1975 and stored it in a hermetically sealed container, then unwrapped it 30 years later, it would probably look a lot like Burton’s Frosted Mug. A lot of people consider Burton’s a dive bar, probably because everything else in Thornton Park is now ‘upscale.â?� But Burton’s isn’t a dive…
Place:Colonial Lanes
The infamous ‘sunkenâ?� bar isn’t the only disorienting facet of this pin-knockers’ haven. Any given night could find rowdy yuppies singing karaoke, hipsters working through a cheap bucket of beer or working-class regulars wondering what the hell is happening to their bar.
Place:Spatz of Winter Park
Spatz is a spacious and often smoky Winter Park pool hall best known for stiff drinks and an endless supply of popcorn. It offers food, but we usually stick to the booze.
The Globe
27 Wall Street Plaza, 32801; (407) 849-1515 It has to be tough being a bar located where the legendary and much-missed Go Lounge once stood. But, as far as Wall Street establishments go, this is our favorite. An attentive staff, good drinks and sweet-potato fries help sate the munchies. An excellent choice for an after-work…
Johnny’s Fillin’ Sta
Johnny’s appeal does not end with its burgers. We’re not talking about the cold beer, or the billiards tables that keep regulars coming back. It’s the atmosphere ‘ accessible and friendly.
Place:Tom and Jerry’s Loun
A small and smoky-as-hell staple of the drinking scene for decades, Tom and Jerry’s is where to find truck drivers partying with the Winter Park elite. Bartenders fitted in tuxedo vests serve beer, wine and liquor, and they’ll heat up a delicious frozen pizza if you ask.
Place:Independent Bar
A sunken dance floor and a bank of video monitors dominate this hang for devotees of synth-heavy sounds. Front and back bars dispense a selection of liquors; drafts can go as low as 50 cents on Sundays. All music is spun by sought-after DJs.
PlaceName:Lou’s Lounge
When people who live near this east-of-downtown institution get thirsty, they head to Lou’s for cheap beer, strong drinks and a jukebox packed with classic rock. There’s a stage, but live music detracts from the issue at hand ‘ cheap beer and strong drinks.
THE ALLEY
Right off the main drag in Sanford sits a bar where the atmosphere is as warm and inviting as the food they’ve got stewing in the crock pot. The attentive service, ample selection of beers and homespun décor give The Alley its friendly, comfortable feel. Enjoy blues bands and Southern cooking on the weekends and…
Place:Lizzy McCormack’s
Lizzy’s adds a real-pub feel to the avenue with dark woodwork, polished brass and staff whose accents aren’t Southern. The drink list includes single-malt scotch, Irish whiskey and draft beer.
Place:The Parliament House
There’s something for everyone at the world’s largest gay resort. The P-House is an oversized tribute to bacchanalia, boasting numerous bars, an action-filled dance floor, a pool, a theater, a Western bar and quality cruising.
Place:Tin Lizzie Tavern
There’s plenty of room to move around in this beer-and-wine joint, but the action is confined to the front, which gives the place a cramped/cozy feel. Settle in for the standard brews and wines, and rock and blues standards by lone guys with guitars on the weekends.
Place:Loaded Hog
A casual, cozy bar in often-uncozy downtown, the Loaded Hog is usually crowded with regulars. Grab a stool and join the conversation.
Place:The Peacock Room
Whether you pick from the long (and expensive) martini menu or grab a cheap beer, you’re going to feel comfortable. The art on the walls and the always-interesting music in the tiny performance room make it a hipster hangout.
Place:Wolfy’s on the River
Sitting right on the shores of the sleepy St. Johns River, Wolfy’s plays its beachy Key West theme to the hilt, yet the vibe is still comfortable without being overbearing. There are plenty of spots inside to enjoy a shot and the live music, as well as a smattering of outdoor tables to sip on…
TWICE AS NICE
In Your Honor Label: RCA Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: In Your Honor Former Nirvana drummer and current Foo Fighter commandant Dave Grohl is one of the busiest men in show biz, and apparently he likes it that way. From heavy metal reunion projects like Probot to slamming sideman spots with Garbage and Queens of the Stone…
PlaceName:The Monkey Bar
This pleasant post-work bar in Wall Street Plaza sits upstairs, above the Waitiki Retro Tiki Lounge. The two share a menu and some décor, but the Monkey’s balcony overlooks Heritage Square, with plush couches to take in the view.
Place:Pulse
An upscale gay bar, Pulse is separated into three distinct rooms ‘ a white lounge that changes colors, a middle room for dancing and a darker-than-dark back bar for shows. Word-of-mouth promotion has made it unstoppable.
Place:House of Blues, Blue
HOB is one of the best spots at Downtown Disney to relax with a cold one ‘ and we don’t mean the restaurant or the music hall, though they’re both fine places. But there’s no cover charge involved for either the Front Porch, where you can usually find a local musician playing, or the Blues…
Man-Made
Man-Made Label: Merge Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Man-Made Scotland’s Teenage Fanclub are veterans of “pop” music not popular since the mid-1960s. You know the type: three-part harmonies, breezy, catchy melodies, flashing moments that make listeners think of the Beatles, Byrds, Big Star and countless bands birthed to different decades but all playing with one eye on…
Place:One Eyed Jack’s
One Eyed Jack’s and its neighbor, the Loaded Hog, are cut from the same cloth ‘ a heavy-drinking, loud-music kind of fabric that makes you want to stay up way too late and gives you a pounding headache the next morning ‘ in a good way.
PlaceName:Wally’s — Mill’s Av
For a half-century, Wally’s has been an escape for the washed-out and those intrigued by slumming it. But there’s charm inside these smoke-stained walls ‘ overpoured drinks dull the senses, naked women stare out from the peeling wallpaper, the guy next to you passes gas and laughs.
Place:Florida Tap Room
The smell of stale beer and yeast hits you at the door, but the laid-back MetroWest bar features beers that are inexpensive and tasty, served by friendly bartenders. Pints on tap do not top the $3.50 mark, and mixed drinks are reasonable as well. There are comfortable couches, big televisions for sports lovers and a…
Live in USA
Live in USA Label: Tofu Records DVD Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: Live in USA For almost 15 years, this arena-rock band has been one of the 800-pound gorillas of the Japanese music scene, selling out huge venues across the country. Ever heard of ’em? Unless you’re an anime fan or some unreconstructed Nipponophile, probably not. Which…
Place:Scruffy Murphy’s Iri
We’ve stopped counting how many **Orlando Weekly** ‘meetingsâ?� have been held at the unofficial **Orlando Weekly** ‘annex.â?� Scruffy’s is a throwback to a time when downtown was a little seedier, a touch more dangerous and certainly less gentrified. We like that. Scarred wood on the floor, names carved into the tables, a bar staff with…
Place:Big Daddy’s Bar and
You’d expect a ‘smoker-friendlyâ?� neighborhood bar that looks like Big Daddy’s to stick to the three basic beer groups ‘ Miller, Bud, Coors ‘ but you’d be wrong. The place actually boasts 33 beers on tap and more than 100 bottled brands. Karaoke every night of the week is the main draw.
Place:Reilly’s Lantern Pub
You’d expect a bar in a tiny, tourist-oriented shopping strip near Universal to be an anonymous watering hole for park-weary dads staying with their kids at one of the hotels across the street. And though its exterior is thoroughly uninviting, the inside of Reilly’s Lantern Pub has the dark, worn-in feel of a neighborhood pub.…
I Thought I Was Over That: Rare, Remixed and B-Sides
I Thought I Was Over That: Rare, Remixed and B-Sides Label: Morr Rated: NONE WorkNameSort: I Thought I Was Over That: Rare, Remixed and B-Sides Undertaking remix duties for the title track from Faking the Books, the well-regarded 2004 LP from electronic/organic hybrid enthusiasts Lali Puna, could be quite a gamble. However, Dntel’s winning multiple…
Place:SKY60
With lots of flowing white linen, balcony views and super-hip DJ tunes, SKY60 attracts a diverse and appealing clientele. Drinks are fairly priced and the pseudo-cabanas are fun to cluster in with a small group.
Place:Copper Rocket Pub
A choice spot to grab a Tucher, put coins in the mighty fine jukebox and enjoy a game of pool. The Rocket is all of this and more, with a selection of live music that extends into the occasional non-rock formats (bluegrass!).
PlaceName:The Thirsty Fish
Located on the piazza of Universal Orlando’s Portofino Bay Hotel, the Thirsty Fish offers one of the most breathtaking views in town. If you’re staying at the hotel, it’s the perfect place for a quick beer, a cigar and some refuge from all the loud, annoying tourists. It’s also a great change of scenery for…
ASK ADRIAN
Question: What makes a Vidalia onion different from other onions? Considering that we’re in the midst of the sweet Vidalia season, it’s a good time to ask. Simply speaking, what makes Vidalias different from other onions is the ratio of sugar to acid. Whereas most onions have a sugar content of about 7 percent and…
LET THERE BE RAGA
(Here are reviews of the four features in the 11th annual South Asian Film Festival, screening this weekend at Maitland’s Enzian Theater.) Bhavum (Emotions of Being) 11:15 a.m. Saturday, June 11 It’s easy to scoff at the knee-jerk impulse to explain and/or classify all foreign films in Western terms … until you see a film…
My mutha the car
According to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale inventor Dennis Bellehumeur has received a patent for a car steering wheel that prevents drunk drivers from taking to the road. The wheel contains a skin sensor that checks the alcohol level in a person’s blood, then prevents the car from starting if said…
WIND IN HER SAILS
Hearing an 11-year-old give his interpretation of an impressionistic painting is an enlightening experience. That the painting was done by his mother, Mount Dora artist Regina Smith, makes it all the more interesting – as is watching the two of them work together to set up an exhibit in an alcove of the Orlando Museum…
SHELL GAME?
A few months before Orlando’s 2005-2006 budget process formally begins, the Dyer administration faces a $27 million deficit. Since the city’s required by law to balance its budget, something’s gotta give. Or does it? On May 6, police union chairman Sam Hoffman fired off a letter to city commissioners accusing Mayor Buddy Dyer of lying…
Down with Deep Throat and Fringe foibles
If you’re like us – and we know that you know you are, whether you know it or not – you’ve been positively glued to your favorite cable news channel during in the glorious unmasking of one W. Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat. As wee lads and lassies in J-school lo those many years ago,…
MASKED BALLS
MAY 31, 3:16 A.M.: Latasha S. and her co-worker, Alexis D., were working the night shift at a 7-Eleven in the 4300 block of North Pine Hills Road. Outside, the night was dark, but inside, fluorescent lights were as bright as a light saber. The aroma of slowly rotating hot dogs, brewed coffee and other…
And how true
And how true Thank you for Billy Manes’ article [“Where’s the sex?”, June 2]. It seems as if the entire Gay Days event has morphed into a way to convince passersby that all of the drug-induced, binge-drinking anonymous sexual encounters are not true; that it is just a part of some right-wing agenda to condemn…
Bright Eyes at Hard Rock and Catching up is hard to do
I was thoroughly unexcited about going to see Bright Eyes at Hard Rock Live, but consoled myself with the knowledge that The Faint would deliver a typically electrifying set, so I begrudgingly bid adieu to my family to drag my ass out to a rock show when I would rather have been at home. Of…
EXTROVERTED EXPRESSION
Regina Spektor moved from Moscow to New York in 1989. She took piano lessons in her homeland, then she pragmatically practiced her fingering on windowsills in the Bronx until her family could afford another instrument. While attending classes at SUNY’s Conservatory of Music, Spektor released two jazzy independent albums. Strokes singer Julian Casablancas discovered Spektor…
DAYS OF SUNDER
“That figures,” figures my friend Anna from the passenger seat, brow furrowed. “I go out with my gayest friend on what is conceivably the gayest day of the year, and we’re going where? The least gay event imaginable?” “That’s the point,” I pretend to be the type of person that has a point, all smirky…
SPARKLE PLENTY
An undercover sheriff’s deputy (whose name was not disclosed in a May news report) filed a lawsuit recently against the Florida Hospital in Orlando because, he said, when he went for a shot of pain medication in his hip in October 2000, he was injected instead with what appeared to be cosmetic makeup glitter. The…
