100 Foot Journey Review

Do no skip this journey....

100 Foot Journey Review – I love food (halal ones) and my Amma was an amazing cook. Unfortunately I didn’t pick up her talent and after watching this movie I feel like kicking myself for not spending enough time in the kitchen except for when looking for food! Bluek

The veterans and the newbies. 

The Kadam family ran a decent food place in their native India until an election chaos forced them to leave their country behind and start over again in England. Hassan (Manish Dayal) losses his mother during the mayhem and their lives doesn’t quite suit the London way. Once again the family pack their bags and head to France. As fate would have it, the family van break fails and leaves them stranded in a small town called St Antonin. Lucky for them, Marguerite (as very Winona Ryder looking Charlotte Le Bon) offers the family some assistance. While passing by the town, Papa (Om Puri) takes note of an abandon eatery. He invest on the place, opening up Maison Mumbai just 100 foot opposite a Michelin certified French restaurant managed by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) where Marguerite works as sous chef. Being a ‘true French snob’, Madame Mallory goes all the way out to shut down her new rival. Thus begin their French and Indian cooking challenge. Meanwhile, Hassan becomes interested in French cuisine and tries to win Madame Mallory’s heart with Marguerite’s tips. As time passes by, Madame Mallory could not deny the natural gift Hassan possess as a cook. She takes him under her wings and within a short time after his arrival; her restaurant receives another Michelin star. Hassan then soars into Paris culinary craze. However, deep inside he feels he is losing touch with his identity. Will Hassan stay on as France’s top chef or return to his root?   

Indeed you will! 

Where do I begin? The lovely French town? The beautiful cast? The brilliant music? The tasty food preparation/presentation? The splendid storyline? If I could describe this movie thru food…no dish can be compared to the lovely taste of this picture. It has all the right ingredients-pun intended. St. Antonin is wonderfully captured while Paris glows with her fast paced life. The cast consisting of Oscar winner Helen Mirren and Bollywood old timer, Om Puri is a delight to watch acting like rebellious teenagers against each other but later turn into almost ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’. While Charlotte and Manish pairing makes me wonder how cute their kid will look like if they ‘procreate’. Hehehe…If you thought Slumdog Millionaire’s Bollywood inspired music was brilliant, 100 Foot Journey fusion of Indian and French music is even marvellous. What else can you expect when you have Maestro AR Rahman in charge ey? His excellent music composition is matched by the way the outstanding camera work was used to capture the way food is prepared. Even the simple omelette making would get you salivating. Only thing missing was is the technology to smell the food or else one might just drool inside the cinema.

Super Producer with her Super Cast! 

Maestro and another Producer! 

There might be many type of food all around the world but to me Indian food is a class of its own. Nobody can dabble with spices, flavours and colours like the way an Indian does. Call me biased but one would agree if they ever get to try an authentic Indian cooking. Even a simple dish will taste out of this world because of the effort put into preparing it. This movie made me proud of my time-honoured culture and value those who still hold on the traditional way of cooking. Food is indeed memory and it will always take you home.  I’ve never been happy to write a review about a movie like this flick and totally love the after taste still.

Talk about the French-Indian connection! Yummy! :) 

P/s - Merci and Nandri  Churp Churp for the preview tickets! 

Lucy Review

Don't mess with Scar Jo yo! 

Lucy Review – Scar Jo upgrades from being a voice of an operating system in ‘Her’ into a kick arse super human being using 100% of her brain capacity.

Lucy with vengence! 

The flick starts off by showing Lucy (Scar Jo) being a party animal in Taiwan. She hooks up with a dude who forces her to deliver a suit case to one Mr. Jang (Choi Min-Sik). Lucy ends up being forced to smuggle latest synthetic drug (planted into her body) to Europe. The pack leaks and her body start to absorb the chemicals. Within short period of time, Lucy begins to experience rapid changes in her body. Among others, she could control human’s movement, moving things with her mind. She seeks help from Professor Norman (Morgan Freeman) and tries to explain her situation while being hunted by Jang and his mans. With the clock ticking and level of Lucy’s brain volume almost reaching the maximum usage; will she be able to turn the table around?  

Can Prof Norman help Lucy? 

I’m not really a fan of Scar Jo but she managed to grab my attention with her acting ability this time. The movie was simply riding on her shoulder and she did a good job. From kicking arse to showing emotional reaction, she was spot on. Unfortunately the rest of the cast were just seat fillers, even Morgan Freeman was reduced into a narrator more than an actor in this picture. As for the special effects, I liked the ‘National Geogphaphic’ kinda explanation merged when Prof Norman was giving his human evolution lecture. Other than that, trying to grasp the gist of this film was kinda too much for me so just layan lah.

Scanning thru signal////

Plot for this motion picture is along the same genre as Matrix, Limitless, Transcendence, three of which movies am still trying to make sense off. Perhaps because my brain ability to comprehend such subject is quite vague. I just tried to understand what I could and leave the rest for the brainiest to figure it out. Anyways, I will leave you with this….

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves." Thomas Edison

P/s - Thank you Churp Churp for the preview tickets! 

Expendables 3 Review

Thank God for panaromic view camera! 

Expendables 3 Review – The oldies are back with new blood to boot. Izit good enough or should The Expendables become The Disposables?

New and old but mostly same old....

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his ‘brothers’ are back on a new mission. Their government connection now is Drummer (Harrison Ford) who assigns the team to capture Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). Ross accepts the task thinking that Stonebanks is a new emerging baddie only to find out later that he was one of the oldies. After their earlier secret ambush goes wrong, Ross becomes worried about his ‘ageing’ brothers and hires some new blood. Together with the latest recruit, he manages to capture Stonebanks. However before Ross could deliver Stonebanks to Drummer, the crooks escape and turns the tide around. Ross is given 48 hours before the newbies becomes history. How will Ross make up for his mistake? Who can he get help from? Jing’a ling! Jing’a ling…

Can they last or get lost? 

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Kellan Lutz, Kelsey Grammer…and that’s just like 80% of the cast…there are even more but unfortunately didn’t help much to match with the awesomeness of the first flick. Now it just feels like Sly is giving the veterans some acting jobs while the new ones are screen testing for their debut. Storyline was never part of the franchise so there’s not much to mention about the lack thereof in this instalment as well. Even the firepower is lacking this time. The witty lines have also dropped compared to before. Replacing Bruce with Harrison just made me feel even older while Antonio seems to have swapped ‘potty mouth’ with ‘Donkey’ from Shrek talking his ass-pun intended off. The new kids in the block are so forgettable that you may not miss them if they didn’t make it to the next sequel. Can you feel my frustration? The only saving grace (if any) would be casting Mel as the villain (after the fugly looking Van Damme in EX2). Mel succeeds to portray his offensive side  before he was taken to ‘The Hague’.

Will this plane fly again in another sequel? 

Dear Sly, please come back with a better cast…here are some suggestion…Sean Penn, Nicholas Cage and since women are allowed now…how about hiring Angelina Jolie? Drop Harrison before he dies on the set and kill the audience with his dead-pan delivery. Also special request to include another Asian who won’t be ridiculed for his height. We do have tall man in Asia ok. And by Asian I mean other than Chinese actors…you do know that India is also part of Asia right? So how about including Kamal Hassan or Rajinikanth into the cast? You might just capture the Indian market and make more money there. Just saying. Till then…please enjoy the making money out of this almost stinker of a follow up flick.

Weeeeehoooooooooo!!! Thank you Churp Churp!!! 

P/s - Thank you Churp Churp for the #Churpremiere ticket and singlet!!! 

Into The Storm Review

Ring the alarm!!! 

Into The Storm Review – Freak storm wreaks havoc in a small town.

Can they outrun the storm? 

Storm chaser, Pete (Matt Walsh) and his crew have been on the look-out for storm all around town and stumbles upon the biggest tornado to ever hit a small town. Just as the Silverton High School students were about to graduate, the deadly cyclones clones-pun intended itself into a mega twister ever. Pete is convinced that this will be his big pay day and follows the wind while everybody else is looking for shelter. Little did anybody know that this storm will change not only the town but lives of some of its resident. Will the people survive or get sucked into the storm?

Get ready to record! 

Notice my short description about the movie? Well that’s because there’s nothing much to tell except for the storm. The main focus is the storm and you will be satisfied if you are into storm. Some of the special effects looked amateurish while some look too overwhelming. The holes in the stories are bigger than the eye of the storm itself.  What more can I say?

Not your ordinary storm! 

Watch it if you never saw Twister made about 15 years ago. Other than that…it’s just your typical disaster movie. 

P/s - Thanks Churp Churp for the preview tickets! 

Guardians Of The Galaxy Review

Intergalactic heroes?  

Guardians Of The Galaxy Review – Zoe Saldana this time as a green kaler alien and Bradley Cooper as a talking racoon? Ok am sold! 

No ordinary orb

We get to see how young Peter Quill aka Star-Lord (a very yummy looking Chris Pratt) was kidnap by one of the Ravagers, Yondu (Michael Rooker). Peter grows up into being one of the outlaws. He bumps into Korath (Djimon Hounsou), a hunter assigned by Ronan (Lee Pace) to retrieve the orb. Peter manages to escape from Korath and tries to sell the orb behind Yondu’s back. Failing to do so he next meets Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel). The whole troop ends up in jail after getting caught where they meet Drax (Dave Bautista). They find out that the orb holds power beyond their imagination and form an unlikely alliance of misfits known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. Together they must a find a way to prevent the orb from falling into the hands of anyone with their own agenda. With such different background between these five (5) ‘species’, will they find the right balance and understanding with fate of the Universe on their shoulder? 

Talk about over the top get up! 

Chris Pratt is having a great 2014 with two of his flicks getting rave review (The Lego movie and this) and he deserves it. After contributing his voice in The Lego Movie, this time we get to watch him in action. He carries Peter Quill quite well and I can’t wait so far he will go as Star-Lord. Despite not being on screen, Bradley Cooper voicing Rocket was a delight to watch just like Groot as well. In the meantime, the only female in the group, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) was deadly with her moves. While most of the main characters relatively plays supporting roles in previous movies. It was a nice change to see well-known actors such as Glenn Close, Benicio Del Toro and Djimon Hounsou playing minor but important parts.  My slight complain would be casting Lee Pace as the baddie Ronan, although his voice matched the villain character, his physical appearance however didn’t jell well. As for the special effects, storyline, music, funny lines, ‘metaphor’ and what not, this movie was a pleasure compared to Marvel’s bigger budget The Avengers. 

Bandits turned heroes! 

I’m not a big fan of comics so I had no idea about this band of Guardians and what an awesome surprise it was. Heck…if you ask me, I would say I enjoyed Guardians much better than Ironman and his posies. My friend and I together with the rest of us in the cinema were laughing our butts off. The sillier the scene, the funnier the lines, the more laugh was filling the hall. I almost didn’t have any complain for this movie and look forward to how else The Guardians of the Galaxy are going to protect the Universe!  

22 Jump Street Review

The boys are back! 

22 Jump Street Review – I remember drooling over Johnny Deep watching the TV series and now have another reason to drool all over again watching Channing playing an undercover cop.

It's Schmidt, Dickson & Jenko bitches!!! 

At the end of the 21 Jump Street, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) tells Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) that their next assignment is to infiltrate a local college. This time they have to find the supplier of a drug called ‘WHYPHY’ (pronounced as ‘Wi-Fi’). During the ‘undercover assignment’ both Schmidt and Jenko makes friends with different set of students. Jenko develops a bro-mance with Zook (Wyatt Russell) while Schmidt hooks up with Maya (Amber Stevens). This newfound friendship kinda hurts Schmidt’s and Jenko’s existing ‘relationship’. Will they find their way back and solve the case or drift further apart?

Schmidt and his ehem...lady friend..

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill have come a long way since their debut. They may not make Oscar worthy movies but have created their own fan base. It would be nice to see if they could take on serious role later in their career but for now being Schmidt and Jenko works well with them. The rest of the cast, Ice Cube plays an extra role in this flick which will get you laughing even harder despite his anger management issue. New characters are introduced to run along the storyline. Some are important, some not so. The college life, the beach, the party and the big bust will get you into the movie in no time.

Summer break fun! 

The first instalment was a risk taken by the people involved in the project to revive TV’s most loved cop-series. The risk must have well paid because they are back with this sequel. Overall not a bad attempt with jokes thrown here and there. The plus point of the movie is the excellent chemistry between Channing and Jonah. It does sometimes goes beyond comfortable point when they get to ‘Brokeback Mountain’ mode. Luckily they know where to stop.  Storyline is pretty much a no-brainer because it is fun-watch type of flick. If you are looking for real serious cop movie, you better invest your money else-where. Otherwise, you can giggle yourself silly at the funny antics and laugh out loud lines. 

P/s - Thank you Churp2 for the #Churpremiere tickets.