Skyve Elemetary Bistro & Bar

Skype Elementary Bistro & Bar:An interesting evolution of Table 66. Much larger, airier and more chic decor. They are now a full day dining with Breakfast, Brunch, Lunch, Tea and Dinner. However, the menus for each are mutually exclusive. Came down for the Brekky/Brunch. The sous-vide eggs benedict was good; came with a portobello mushroom, bread, corn and tomatoes. Quite good, price-compatible, but still lose out to Hediard's egg Benedictine. The mini beef burger was passable as was the Croque Madame. The pizza looks good though. A carafe of bubbly berries was refreshingly cool and apt for brekky. Unfortunately, no desserts for brekky/brunch (see above) and no oysters except for dinner (6-10pm)  or unless pre-ordered. Bar snacks starts at 5pm and is at a separate corner. I can accept the house rules, but the lack of all day desserts is disappointing. Freshness of desserts is easily maintained throughout the day; perhaps they need a dedicated dessert chef.  There is an entire potential market to tap on with desserts especially since they are now a whole day dining establishment with an idyllic urban setting.

Verdict: Will come back again, cos I really did like Table 66, but the house rules kinda suck and the brekky/brunch is not fabulous.


Skyve Elementary Bistro & Bar
10 Winstedt Road
Block E, #01-17

Contact: 6225 6690; email: enquiry@skyve.sg

Breakfast: from 8.30am; Dinner: 6-10pm
Most days open till midnight except Sunday till 11pm.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Guy Ritchie's sequel is gonna make money. It's an entertaining albeit slightly draggy romp with Robert Downey Jr as his usual charismatic self that is getting repetitive. They overplayed the autistic savant bit too much, me thinks. He and Jude Law has a brotastic chemistry, but what a waste of Noomi Rapace! What a step down from Lisbeth this is for her. Though at least there was the dependently funny Stephen Fry in this. Guy Ritchie does action choreography really well and his fight scenes are really entertaining, particularly the German gun fight sequence in the forest. Well-shot! Hans Zimmer's score was appropriate  but not terribly memorable. BBC's "Sherlock" is a more highly recommended viewing!

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol [IMAX]

Better than 2, not as good as 1 or 3. Tom Cruise is again his charismatic self and carries the movie successfully on his shoulder; I don't see Jeremy Renner taking over this Franchise. Brad Bird did a great job directing and his action choreography was outstanding, particularly the Dubai sequence (from start to end) and the carpark sequence. Paula Patton in a green dress coming out of a BMW is no (NO) match for Maggie Q in a red dress blowing up a Lamborghini. 2 standouts: Simon Pegg and Michael Giacchino; the former has a wickedly brilliant comic touch and the latter composed a brilliantly wicked soundtrack. The IMAX shot footages was gorgeous! If only the whole movie was in IMAX!! Abrams continue to cast his ex-stars in a minor but pivotal role, but Josh Holloway, like Keri Russel before him, had limited screen time. But also like Felicity, Sawyer nails it! And...wtf?!?! where's my "The Dark Knight Rises" prologue...grrr!!! IMAX not really necessary.

Crazy Christmas 2011

What a sad shade of the original Dim Sum Dollies (R) (yes, they are copyrighted now). Unfunny, unoriginal and uninspired, and forgettable songs (from Glee's play book that's way way too poor). Laughs were thin and forced, with poor directing and bad lighting. A slight glimpse of their former glory was during the bunny skit, but sadly they missed the chance to segue into a rabbit-dragon joke. Instead, we got a hokkien Santa. Sigh. Even Kumar seemed embarrassed to be in this show. Granted, perhaps the lack of energy is partially due to tragic loss of RJ Rosales and the unfortunate relapse for Emma Yong (will next year's in memoriam be for her? let's hope not...). Anybody else caught the sold-out-ness of it all? Underneath the sly governmental snarkiness is a production that reeks of propaganda. Pity...

New Year's Eve

This must have been loose change for many of the major league Oscar winners and nominees in the movie, which is more chocked-ful of TV actors than movie starts. Unfortunately, the star power in this show is unable to lift it out of its dreary story-telling and run-of-the-mill plotting. It's sad when the funniest thing(s) in the show are the blooper reel at the end and actors re-enacting their funnier TV characters. The only part that really stood-out was a good piece of misdirection involving Josh Duhamel's character. Even the music by Jon Bon Jovi and Lea Michele is as uninspiring as the love life of their characters. Though one thing for sure, NYC still seems like the place to be for NYE! Maybe it's time to re-visit New York.

L’Artiste (The Artist) @ Alliance Francaise

As part of: Société Générale Private Banking First Rendezvous With French Cinema

What a stunning, beautiful film. Michel Hazanavicius has created a magnificent hommage to the silent era that is sure to be nominated for all the major awards come Oscar 2012! Not a surprise, since this movie grabs you from the beginning as you observe the fall of the silent era, as embodied by the wonderful Jean Dujardin, and the rise of the talkies, as emblazoned by gorgeous Berenice Bejo. Dujardin is undoubtedly the star of the show (other than Uggy!), and is so deserving of the accolades thus far; to me, he is now definitely the front runner for Best Actor. Bejo was luminesce and should also be nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The American actors were also great in their roles and were definitely good fit in this silent flick, where either exaggerated characterizations and large movements, or stoic types with strong features, are to be expected. As said, this film will get nominated for a slew of awards, but other than Best Actor, I don't see it getting Big Prize. Hazanavicius is visionary, but let's take a look at the other contestants first shall we? Maybe it will be one of those rare occurrences where Best Picture and Best Director are not from the same movie. Lastly, if only this movie was played with a live orchestra, what an experience it would have had been! The score is, like Uggy, the unsung actor that lifts this picture up to greatness.

The Muppets [Digital]

What a winner!!! Well done Jason Segal! A nostalgic comedy that is chockful of laughers. Literally every 5 mins was a laugh out loud moment. The plot was simple,  impropable, irreverent, tongue-in-cheek and meta. Amy Adams was a delight in a role reminiscence of her breakout Enchanted. The slew of cameos were  hilarious and the guest stars absolutely inspired!!! Particularly Miss Piggy's assistant and Walter's human ego. Perfect!! For anybody who knew the muppets just vaguely or intimately, this show is great entertainment. Did not even feel long! Btw, love the Toy Story short too!! But seriously, shameless Disney plugging throughout man!! 

Brawn Steakhouse

What a bad experience!! Firstly, the reservation was booked four days ago...this will be important later on. Upon arrival at 7.30pm on a Sat, the restaurant was quite empty. Okie, granted it's in the CBD, so perhaps its main bulk of business is during the weekdays. There were only three servers (including the ?manager). We were seated promptly, but no menu was given until 5 mins after the water was served. Menu given with no explanation whatsoever - come on! What about some description of the the famed Black Cherry Wood grill, etc. How to distinguish itself as an upmarket place? Anyways, guess what? There was no stock of the much-ballyhooed  21-days aged dried ribeye/sirloin!!! Sheesh...a) they could not have told us that upon reservation? Speaking of which, no one called to confirm seating; b) they should have at least mentioned that during the menu-presentation. Sigh. The bread was hard and stale. Escargot was bland and tasted like it was boiled in water before serving (drizzled with oil and garlic); the mushroom soup was acceptable just a tad salty; the roasted bone marrow was not too bad, but the marrow could have been just a bit more "roasted". The wait for the beef was another 15-20mins. During which, the restaurant was playing Top 40s!?!?! My 220g fillet mignon arrived. And 2-3mins later...its sauce sauntered along, together with the sautee mushroom sides and gratin. Now, at least the beef was good. The Black Cherry Wood was deserving of its praise. The juice and flavour was all sealed within the beef, with a hint of sweetness/charred-ness on the outside. By itself, the beef was perhaps 6.5/10. I had the red wine reduction and duck liver sauce which cost more (the sauces are not gratis), and that elevated the beef to perhaps 7.5/10. The mushroom was normal, and the gratin was too hard, and not creamy enough. Then came dessert. Poor service in taking orders for the desserts too, and again they failed to mention which were not available until after the guest has ordered. Sigh. A least this time round, the 15mins wait for the Tarte Fine (apple tarte a la mode) was worth it. Easily the best dish of the night. Oh!!! There's no wine list here!!! Sacrilegious! Something to do with the meat being halal etc etc!! Can you imagine??!?! The wine list came from the Japanese Restaurant next door...

Verdict: Won't be coming back here again, unless someone is buying me the age-dried ribeye.

Brawn Steakhouse
8A Marina Boulevard
#01-01 Marina Bay Link Mall
Singapore 018984

tel: 6634 8060

Opening Hours
Mon - Sat: 12 - 2.30pm; 6 - 10pm

Restless

Gus van Sant's latest is not a blockbuster or oscar-bait, and really not even particularly even or good, but it manages to be sweet without being sappy or overwrought. The main fault must lie in the clunky script by Jason Lew which is hamfisted and all over the place , which is essentially, I feel, all about how do deal with grief and death; how do you say goodbye if the person had already left you. The saving grace of the show lies in the amazing and quirky chemistry between the 2 young stars. Henry Hopper and Mia Wasikowska are amazing together. Both are innately charming, charismatic and they imbue the stereotypical characters with an easy likability that connects with the audience. The music by Danny Elfman was folksy and whimsical which suits the overall mood of this show.