Gangster Squad

An occasionally fun but mainly narratively incoherent mess that grossly under utilises the stars attached to it. A mish-mash mess of genres from neo-noir to crime heist to romance; at times it felt like 2 to 3 separate stories running together. The ridiculously suave Ryan Gosling and incredibly gorgeous Emma Stone are both wasted here with roles that are thankless and flat. Sean Penn basically chews every scene he is in, and Josh Brolin is a one-note hero. A lot of the blame can be pinpointed to the messy, incoherent script by Will Beall. Reuben Flesicher did a competent job directing with some good shots and effective use of slow-mo, but his pacing and framing can use more work. I don't think the Chinatown reshoot can be blamed for this but the gratuitous use of violence is really unnecessary. Classic case of great stars, poor script. LA Confidential was a way better depiction p Mickey Cohen and 40s LA Mob.

Silver Linings Playbook

Another triumph by David O. Russell. An atypical black rom-com with a really strong core cast to carry and deliver the emotional heft as adapted by Russell from Michael Quick's novel. Dark comedic laughs peppered a heavier subplot of mental illnesses, familial love and support, and how two damaged souls can find redemption between each other. Bradley Cooper gives the performance of his career, but amongst all the other heavyweights he's actually the weakest. His blue eyes played a more effective role here than their usual aesthetic purposes and helped to relay his character's confusion and hopelessness. However, he was not in character at all times, and sometimes he slipped. Other times he seemed more to be just shouting rather than manic. Nonetheless, well done Will Tippin! Jennifer Lawrence, on the other hand, is amazing. The film really got so much better when she was introduced. Her eyes convey so much more than Cooper's. She acts with her whole body and emotions are translated across her face, her body language, her eyes and her voice. That is what makes her fascinating to watch. But can she break out of this mould that has landed her two Oscar nominations? Lawrence and Cooper's chemistry was also very visceral and palpable. Their mutual attraction was clear and without it this rom-com would have fallen flat. Robert De Niro has finally stopped blind walking through his roles and showed us again why he used to be an Oscar winner; Jacki Weaver also gave an emotionally nuanced performance as the heart and emotional core of this dysfunctional family. Even Chris Tucker in minute amount was refreshing. Russell's directing is ace with its messiness and chaos punctured by moments of calms and long take, except for the over-frequent use of the spin-the-camera-around-the-actors ruse. He takes his time to introduce the characters and brings us into the headspace of these mentally ill characters and let us connect with all them. Allowing the audience the emotional connection that draws them into the relationship(s). But all without slowing the pace or barely any redundancy. Danny Elfman's music was typical and quirky and very apt for the story. This was a fascinating showcase as to how to make a simple storyline interesting: good director with a great cast!

MAD (Modern Asian Dining)

New dining concept place at The Grandstand. Owned by Tung Lok and in collaboration with Dick Lee. Hence the name "MAD". And truly, the interior is eclectic as is the music (curated by Mr Lee) which I must admit is my kind of mood/60s/retro canto/English tunes (and any place that chooses Sia's "Breathe" has taste!). Downstairs is the cafe and bakery, upstairs is the restaurant and bar, and shop. At the restaurant, black walls and ceilings with disco lights and colourful accessories. The menu is presented on an iPad and orders are done by yourself and transmitted directly to the main server. Even when a dish is out of stock they will prompt you. Innovative. The menu itself is also eclectic. Dim sum (by Tung Lok which I never had a good impression of; standard selections), limited boring Tapas choices, paella and fried rice and hor fun, with back ribs and steaks. Truly something for somebody. The 腐皮卷 was crispy but a big too big to properly appreciate the prawns and beancurd skin; the 叉烧包 is average, too doughy and not enough meat; and the 凤爪 was too heavily/intensely marinated with black bean paste and the taste was just too strong. The squid ink paella had a waiting time of 20-30 minutes and was big enough for 2-3 persons. It was a tad too salty, a bit too generous with the squid ink instead of just coating the rice, and expensive at $55 when there were not much other ingredients/seafood other than squid. At least the rice itself was well done. Even the tapas dishes were a tad expensive. Spoke too soon about the music. It devolved into Pop kitsch in between while eating my paella, but thankfully was short lived. Two things bad about the iPad system is that I cannot call for service/bill nor customise my order, ie ask for more xxx, less ###; case in point, tried to add egg white to my almond cream. Such a chore, when it's usually a simple order of "杏仁茶加蛋白" in a proper Cantonese restaurant. Here was in English and to 2 staffs and even after that I still wondered whether they got what I meant. Service was adequate and polite but needs prompting (water not filled, dishes not cleared, plates not changed). At least the senior ones were better the young boys. One young waiter actually brought a cold dessert to me and said it was my "hot" almond cream...*facepalm*. Anyways, the actual dessert came and the egg white was still gelatinous on the surface. Pity...a Tung Lok chain that cannot do a proper cantonese dessert.

Verdict: Will come back but not really for the food, more for a chillax place with friends for dim sum/light bites and drinks.

Wreck It Ralph

An entertaining kiddie animation that has some laughs for adults, tugs on the tear ducts and a slightly unexpected twist. It was just a tad too long. Other than a fun first third where we are introduced to the video game world and was quite a tickle to see these video game characters interact with each other "socially", the next two thirds was a bright, confectionary explosion of sweet, saccharine fun that was clearly targeted at children. Although some candy-naming laughs and an off kilter romance helped to ease the adult-audience's senses. Jane Lynch absolutely nailed her voice part and so did John C Reily. Reily's totally earnest everyday man's voice really helped to sell to emotional core of the story. I hope this is the future direction John Lasseter is bringing Disney animation towards. Oh don't miss the short animation at the start of the movie. "Paper man" is almost similar to the great Pixar shorts of all. Sweet love story without words but with an added dose of Disney magic. And just a little something at the very end. 3D may actually be quite fun for this...pity.

Killing Them Softly

A stylish, arty neo-noir film that appears to be about the life of hitmen but is really more an allegorical representation of America and its economy, the economic crisis and Capitalism. And just in case you don't really get it, writer/director Andrew Dominik intersperse the film throughout with snippets of Bush and Obama's speeches and hammered it in with that wonderfully acted final scene. Dominik seemed to be artistically influenced by Wong Kar Wai, Quentin Tarantino and Nicholas Winding Refn, what with the slow-mo, shadowy lightings, wisps of smoke and grass-tinged songs underscoring dramatic scenes. Brad Pitt gave a finely nuanced performance that although not showy was captivating. Richard Jenkins is always nice to watch especially playing the nonchalant and resigned bureaucrat (the people?); James Gandolfini seemed like a washed-up version of his Soprano's Tony and his scenes tended to give a glimpse of normality to these crime men. Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn round up the competent the cast.

Omakase Burger

A new burger joint at The Grandstand (formerly known as Turf City) that has been getting raves from the general press (never absolutely trustworthy). So the good thing is that this place has free parking. Lots of it. The place itself is spacious and very nicely done up with really chi chi lights, open ceilings and wooden chairs. Burger selections was basic: cheeseburger and its variations (with bacons, onions, etc). You can have it double too if you want. Price was not cheap at about $13.50 for a basic "omakase" cheeseburger (itself a misnomer...nothing "omakase" about it at all). You can add bout $2 more to add fries and a soda. There are french fries, sweet potato fries, the ubiquitous truffles fries, cheese fries and onion rings to choose from. Sodas are served in fancy, pretentious 250ml old-time bottles with a Bodum glass. (note: it is less than a standard can). The wait for the burger was about 10 minutes, which was not too bad given it is made to order (supposedly medium-doneness unless otherwise specified). I had the Omakase Burger which was small. Think MacD's Big Mac size. The beef was tender and juicy but lacked bite and beefiness. The juice was overwhelming such that the bottom bun became soggy. The patty lacked form and crumbled easily, and was definitely not medium-rare. The sweet potato fries was not bad. They had a nice crisp outer layer and was again, served in a Bodum glass. Unfortunately, this fancy way of presentation resulted in the bottom fries being soggy. It seemed to me that the price I pay is not worth the quality of the burger I get and that the consumers are instead paying for the fancy schmancy design and utensils.

Verdict: Will only come back if a) I'm at The Grandstand AND b) Valentino is closed AND c) I don't feel like eating anything else there.

Amour

Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner is a fantastic, emotional and hauntingly beautiful depressing triumph. A horrific love story that was so harrowingly and nakedly presented that it touched the soul deep and raw. Utmost kudos and respect to Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant who without them, even with Haneke's superb script and directing, this movie would have been nothing. In particular, Riva was astounding! Her portrayal of Anne is so utterly convincing , I could feel her pain, her shame, her love her pride and her despair. Trintignant was brilliant in his stoic and ultimately desperate role. His paradoxical feelings of love translates through his face and actions (and inactions). Haneke chose no music and every scene was shot long and wide. The audience are forced to be part of the scene and the onscreen action, and not as an independent observer. This was underscored in the first scene and is crucial to the film's experiential success. As was the lack of a score/soundtrack throughout, which just leaves us with haunting images that scars our memories (similarly, Life itself does not have a omnipresent OST). Ultimately, Haneke's simple script was brought to life by his brilliant directing and the two astounding and breath-taking stars.