• WOLFGANG (film review by Mark R. Leeper)

    From Mark Leeper@21:1/5 to All on Sun Oct 31 07:24:26 2021
    WOLFGANG is a basically a biography of celebrity chef Wolfgang
    Puck, as well as a look at how he transformed the restaurant
    industry. (This is also another film of food porn.) Some of what
    is said seems to contradict what had been his story up to now. For
    example, his abusive stepfather had been described as his mother's
    second husband; in fact, she was unmarried when Wolfgang was born
    and the stepfather was her first husband.

    In the 1970s, being a chef was a blue-collar job. The owner of a
    restaurant might be known, but not the chef. Food in the United
    States was fairly terrible (think TV dinners). Puck changed that.
    For example, he apparently invented the Asian chicken salad. He
    also started the whole celebrity chef/food show culture. As he
    laments early in the film over a small watermelon, the world is
    speeding up for him.

    How did he do this? After being a chef in France, Puck came to Los
    Angeles to Ma Maison, which had a terrible reputation. He worked
    to get fresher and higher ingredients, and also looked for new ways
    to prepare them. The film reveals more of the stress between Puck
    and Ma Maison owner Patrick Terrail (who claims Ma Maison's rise to
    success was his doing, rather than Pucks).

    Puck left Ma Maison over this conflict and opened Spago's in Los
    Angeles. Spago's was the first serious restaurant to have an open
    kitchen. Spago's customers were notable people in the film
    industry, and Spago's also seated them based on status. After
    Spago's in Los Angeles came media appearances, more restaurants,
    packaged food, and so on. It is almost a cliche that he wants to
    spend more time with his family, but that seems to turn into more
    time teaching his son Byron to be a chef. (What about his other
    sons? This seems more predicated on spending time with his family professionally than as family.)

    The film ends with a bunch of platitudes: follow your dreams, do
    what you love, etc. Puck says that success in the restaurant
    business is just, "You start with the best product and then you
    don't screw it up." And rather than people who said he wanted to
    change jobs because the grass is greener on the other side of the
    fence, he observes, "The grass is greener where you water it the
    most."

    Released 06/25/21 on Disney+. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11146690/reference</A>

    What others are saying:
    <A HREF=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolfgang_2021>

    --
    Mark R. Leeper

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From artyw2@yahoo.com@21:1/5 to Mark Leeper on Tue Nov 16 07:44:22 2021
    On Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 8:24:28 AM UTC-6, Mark Leeper wrote:
    WOLFGANG is a basically a biography of celebrity chef Wolfgang
    Puck, as well as a look at how he transformed the restaurant
    industry. (This is also another film of food porn.) Some of what
    is said seems to contradict what had been his story up to now. For
    example, his abusive stepfather had been described as his mother's
    second husband; in fact, she was unmarried when Wolfgang was born
    and the stepfather was her first husband.

    In the 1970s, being a chef was a blue-collar job. The owner of a
    restaurant might be known, but not the chef. Food in the United
    States was fairly terrible (think TV dinners). Puck changed that.
    For example, he apparently invented the Asian chicken salad. He
    also started the whole celebrity chef/food show culture. As he
    laments early in the film over a small watermelon, the world is
    speeding up for him.

    How did he do this? After being a chef in France, Puck came to Los
    Angeles to Ma Maison, which had a terrible reputation. He worked
    to get fresher and higher ingredients, and also looked for new ways
    to prepare them. The film reveals more of the stress between Puck
    and Ma Maison owner Patrick Terrail (who claims Ma Maison's rise to
    success was his doing, rather than Pucks).

    Puck left Ma Maison over this conflict and opened Spago's in Los
    Angeles. Spago's was the first serious restaurant to have an open
    kitchen. Spago's customers were notable people in the film
    industry, and Spago's also seated them based on status. After
    Spago's in Los Angeles came media appearances, more restaurants,
    packaged food, and so on. It is almost a cliche that he wants to
    spend more time with his family, but that seems to turn into more
    time teaching his son Byron to be a chef. (What about his other
    sons? This seems more predicated on spending time with his family professionally than as family.)

    The film ends with a bunch of platitudes: follow your dreams, do
    what you love, etc. Puck says that success in the restaurant
    business is just, "You start with the best product and then you
    don't screw it up." And rather than people who said he wanted to
    change jobs because the grass is greener on the other side of the
    fence, he observes, "The grass is greener where you water it the
    most."

    Released 06/25/21 on Disney+. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11146690/reference</A>

    What others are saying:
    <A HREF=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolfgang_2021>

    --
    Mark R. Leeper

    Oh Wolfgang PUCK. So it may have celery, but not Salieri.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jim Bozley@21:1/5 to artyw2@yahoo.com on Tue Nov 16 08:49:15 2021
    On Tuesday, 16 November 2021 at 10:44:24 UTC-5, artyw2@yahoo.com wrote:
    On Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 8:24:28 AM UTC-6, Mark Leeper wrote:
    WOLFGANG is a basically a biography of celebrity chef Wolfgang
    Puck, as well as a look at how he transformed the restaurant
    industry. (This is also another film of food porn.) Some of what
    is said seems to contradict what had been his story up to now. For
    example, his abusive stepfather had been described as his mother's
    second husband; in fact, she was unmarried when Wolfgang was born
    and the stepfather was her first husband.

    In the 1970s, being a chef was a blue-collar job. The owner of a
    restaurant might be known, but not the chef. Food in the United
    States was fairly terrible (think TV dinners). Puck changed that.
    For example, he apparently invented the Asian chicken salad. He
    also started the whole celebrity chef/food show culture. As he
    laments early in the film over a small watermelon, the world is
    speeding up for him.

    How did he do this? After being a chef in France, Puck came to Los
    Angeles to Ma Maison, which had a terrible reputation. He worked
    to get fresher and higher ingredients, and also looked for new ways
    to prepare them. The film reveals more of the stress between Puck
    and Ma Maison owner Patrick Terrail (who claims Ma Maison's rise to
    success was his doing, rather than Pucks).

    Puck left Ma Maison over this conflict and opened Spago's in Los
    Angeles. Spago's was the first serious restaurant to have an open
    kitchen. Spago's customers were notable people in the film
    industry, and Spago's also seated them based on status. After
    Spago's in Los Angeles came media appearances, more restaurants,
    packaged food, and so on. It is almost a cliche that he wants to
    spend more time with his family, but that seems to turn into more
    time teaching his son Byron to be a chef. (What about his other
    sons? This seems more predicated on spending time with his family professionally than as family.)

    The film ends with a bunch of platitudes: follow your dreams, do
    what you love, etc. Puck says that success in the restaurant
    business is just, "You start with the best product and then you
    don't screw it up." And rather than people who said he wanted to
    change jobs because the grass is greener on the other side of the
    fence, he observes, "The grass is greener where you water it the
    most."

    Released 06/25/21 on Disney+. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

    Film Credits:
    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11146690/reference</A>

    What others are saying:
    <A HREF=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolfgang_2021>

    --
    Mark R. Leeper
    Oh Wolfgang PUCK. So it may have celery, but not Salieri.

    ...or too may nuts, not too many notes...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)