Inside Llewyn Davis

Another typical Coen Brothers production, which as always is usually not everybody's cup of tea. Sadly it got shutout in the Oscars except for a nod for cinematography, despite winning the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival (but, yes, the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel was really a standout). Nonetheless, this was an intimate character study of one man's week-long journey in understanding and discovering himself. Where characterisation takes a back seat to plot narrative.

Oscar Isaac was a revelation, embodying his character's desperation to get out of his current situation for which he (may or may not) had a part in putting himself there. As he plods through the week and the hand that fate dealt him, one can't help but relate to having a similar kind of week where everything seemed to be just going against you. And that is his journey that we are witnessing. A man, possibly at one of his lowest point, always making the wrong decisions and plagues by the constant doubt of "What if?". How his story end we won't know for the Coens, wisely, chose to have the story end as it started. That kind of brave ending allows the audience to ruminate and contemplate and reflect both on Llewyn and on themselves.

Carey Mulligan and John Goodman stood out amongst the supporting cast. Mulligan, who was initially unrecognisable, gave her character just the slightest inflection such that we know she is not as hard-hearted as her mouth suggest; Goodman, on the other hand, was a hoot and scene stealer in his brief interlude on a very strange road-trip.

Most of the songs were sung live, and kudos to T Bone Burnett (he's everywhere these days! Nashville and True Detective) as the show's Music Producer.

The Coen Brothers can be depended on giving unique films that are not of the Hollywood rut. As a comedy this is way smarter than American Hustle or The Wolf of Wolf Street but smarts does not necessarily translate to financial bonanza. Their directing here was simple and un-showy, but coupled with Delbonnel's gorgeous cinematography, gives an intimate sense of their protagonist's journey. Even the narrative structure boosted the desperate, repetitive nature of Llewyn Davis' life like how he pioneer-ed couch-surfing.

And that cat! Reminds me of Haruki Murakami and his novels which is what this movie seems to emulate.

True Detective

Episode 1, "The Long Bright Dark": 2014 may be remembered as the year TV landscape changed, although some may argue that the change started in 2013 with Netflix's House of Cards or even 2011 with American Horror Story. Notwithstanding, 2014 may be the year that the mini-series, anthology-format of story-telling really comes to the fore, and it all started with HBO and Nic Pizzolatto's modern-retro gothi-noir. Written solely by Pizzolatto and directed throughout its 8-episodes first season by Cary Joji Fukunaga who gave us one of the best adaptation of Jane Eyre and introduced the world to the fabulous Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender, we have a sumptuously gorgeous series, that is written with meticulous care and detail, and acted with the intensity and brilliance that is so rare. Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are spell-binding. Their characters could not be more opposite, but yet both actors imbued such complexity and intensity into their roles that it is almost impossible to not want to get to know these two fellows more. Kudos to Pizzolatto and Fukunaga for giving us a first episode that not only relied on exposition to set the ground, but also gave us a hook to bite into. And this hook is two-pronged. Not only do I want to find out more about the Hannibal-ish crime(s), but I want to even find out more about these two men. Their past, their present, their future. What happened to them to change them? Especially McConaughey who was rather annoying with the psycho-babble (an effective tool by Pizzolatto to alienate his character even subconsciously in the audience) but then became this rough talking town drunken philosopher. We have 1995, set in a gorgeous late-autumn kind of palette. and we have 2010 which initially was as stark but slowly faded into a more summer-ish, high-noon kind of colour tone. The beauty of having a self-contained anthology format is that we can lose of the filler stuffs and the time in between can be spent on slow, deliberate moments, enhancing the details and adding layers. T Bone Burnett is the show's composer and his scoring was spot on. Adding tension and suspense, but without the melodramatics. "True Detective" gives us a series that is written by only one writer and directed throughout by only one director, ensuring narrative and visual cohesiveness throughout the season. Factoring in the two lead actors who are clearly in a class of their own here: the intense McConaughey and the solid Harrelson, you get an arrestingly gorgeous, smartly written, retro-modern gothic-noir appointment TV.

Episode 2, "Seeing Things": The crime continues to unwind slowly as Fukunaga and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw fill the screen with luscious wide-angled landscapes. The music by T Bone Burnett continues to give an atmospheric twinge to the series. On the relationship front, we begin to see the start of the conflicts that may have torn the two men apart, although the words that come out of McConaughey's mouth is starting to sound a bit overly pretentious (time to tune it down Pizzolatto), it's lucky McConaughey is able to drawl them words out believably. The acting is still ace, and this episode, Michelle Monaghan also starts to stand out. However, on the 2012-front, not much updates there, although McConaughey's backstory got some fleshing out. This would have made a good binge watch.

Episode 3, "The Locked Room": The words coming out of McConaughey's mouth, especially the future him one, is getting more and more pretentious and annoying. At this stage, Harrelson's character actually seems more complex and complicated despite (or because of) all his flaws, and this episode, Harrelson really nailed his scenes. The murder case continues on and that is actually developing rather nicely. At least Pizzolatto and Fukunaga got us hooked to tune in again for the next episode to see what happened.

Episode 4, "Who Goes There": A good episode that is just filler. Kind of oxymoronic. We get a bit more character development and backstory (and backstory of the backstory), and thankfully very minimal pretentious lines from Pizzolatto. The last 10 minutes or so had really good directing from Fukunaga, and after these couple of weeks/months or riding the McConnassaince, I am ready to say that, yes he has improved a lot but he's really not that great with only a couple of repertoires that he uses again and again, at least in here.

Episode 5, "The Secret Fate Of All Life": Like most shows, the half-way mark is when things get flipped around and it is no difference here. For one, the format gets shaken up a bit. We leave 1995 behind and looks like the story is going to focus on to 2002 and 2012. Still 2002 seems more interesting because 2012, McConaughey is just so annoying with all his pseudo-psycho/science philosophy. Pizzolatto needs to be reined in. At least we are getting somewhere with the 2012 detectives, and what they are up to. Fukunaga really knows how to amp up the atmosphere.

Sabah Kuo Man Fish Paste Noodles 沙巴国民鱼滑面

Disclaimer: I've known Chef Andy since Ikyu opened, and he was my usual omakase chef when I used to go down to Ikyu quite frequently since it was near my place of work. 

This place opened in Bedok in July 2013. The chef, Andy, used to work as a sushi chef at Ikyu but has left to bring in this almost 40-years old Sabah institution to Singapore. It serves good old fashion noodles with a wide variety of simply honest, hearty, old-fashion and delicious sides.

The noodles were generous, either mee kia or mee pok, and served either dry or soup. I had both noodles in the dry version and the sauce was a tasty mushroom-based meaty stock. The mee kia was more Q and would be good for da bao, whereas the mee pok was smoother and better suited for in-house eating. Andy shared that the noodles were from the famous Yong Siak Road which explained the high quality. He could not bring in the original hand-made noodles because of Singapore's restrictions. Pity.

The fish balls were made entirely of mackerel fish with some herbs (?coriander) within, without any flour or starch, etc, and they were genuinely springy and tasty, although I am not a fan of the herbal after-taste. The beef stew was excellent! Tender chunks of beef briskets with tendons that almost melt in your mouth. This is a rare find these days where briskets are under-stewed and tendons a rarity at most "beef brisket noodles" stores. The slice beef soup paled in comparison to the other two aforementioned dishes, but it was still good tender slices of beef that was clearly cooked in the hot soup since it still retained the slight pink colour.

The other stars in this down-to-earth place are the roast pork and pan-fried fish cake. The roast pork puts most other places to shame. Just the right amount of fats in the top layer that was capped off with a golden-ochre crispy skin and seasoned with a tinge of salt, it was fantastic with the chili.

Speaking of the chili, it is also made in-house, and boy, is it spicy. With a tang of vinegar or lime, the chili complements the fish ball, raw beef and roast pork excellently, but maybe not so the beef stew.

Anyways, the last big star belongs to the pan-fried fish cake. 100% mackerel fish and pan-fried till just right such that the outer layer is crispy but the inner layer still has the springy texture of the fish. It reminds me of the famous parang fish fish cake from the famous Chinatown Yong Tau Foo store. The fish cake was served with its own chili, a sweeter version, then helped to bring out the flavours, and thankfully, the coriander taste here was a lot less.

The food was simple but wonderfully tasty and everything was very, very affordable! It was so good, or I was so hungry, that I forgot to take pictures for most of them. Darn it!

Verdict: Will definitely come again, and more frequently so, if I stay in the East.

Masa: Steak and Hamburg

A little Japanese meat place in Robertson Quay that serves a very fine hamburg steak. Possibly one of the better ones in Singapore. Served sizzling hot on a mini hot plate and on a bed of sautéed onions the hamburg steak was soft and juicy with just enough pinkness in the centre to retain the beefiness. Served with a side of chips, 1 small broccoli and a cherry tomato which were mainly after-thoughts. The starter of yukke Masa style was delicious. The sweetness of raw beef with the slight tang of raw egg yolk and the fragrance of mildly roasted sesame seeds was a delight. Similarly the hot bowl garlic beef fried rice was wonderfully fragrant with generous amount of sliced beef and garlic and mixed long/short-grain rice. Not terribly expensive for the hamburg, but the other beef seemed a bit pricey.

Verdict: Good beef hangout that is atypical of the usual steakhouse.

Take Me Out

Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning, Pulitzer-nominated black comedy comes to Singapore. And it is rather surprising considering. Yes, there are homosexual themes and gratuitous male frontal nudity, but there was nothing overtly sexual involved. So, we should be thankful for small things that it even made it to our shores. But then again, the lacked of advertising may also have contributed to the barely half-full theatre on a Friday night. Pity. The other half of the theatre was missing out on a play that is still relevant to our times, even more so in Singapore, despite it being first staged in 2002. 

Superficially, this penis-fest - as the producer, Tim Garner, himself describes it - utilises baseball as a metaphor for Life and Religion, and Homosexuality as a surrogate for all social inequality; but on a deeper layer, it explores themes of bigotry, friendship and society's responsibility for its basest members. With an international cast, this rojak (is it a Singapore-production? Or a NZ production?) production had good actors (standouts included Hayden Tee, Chris Bucko, Tim Garner and Kynan Francis) and a good director (Peter Lucas). However, it was let down by poor lighting and, possibly, a lack of orchestrations (didn't Andrew Llyod Webber win a Drama Desk for this?). Lead actor, Juan Jackson, is a fine example of the male specimen, but at certain scenes his connection with his character's seemed very tenuous. The conundrum and emotional conflict that he should be experiencing was absent. Hayden Tee brought the most consistent laughters in his un-self-conscious, cheekily closeted flamboyance role. The words of Greenberg was smart and witty, double entendres aplenty but yet sharp, piercing and honest at times.  

Understanding a bit about baseball and the mentality of sports fans will definitely enhance the enjoyment of the play, but it's not really necessary. However, the total alienation of this particular sport to an average Singaporean may also have contributed to the poor attendance. Sure, the male nudity is there to titillate. but other than a small minority of the LGBT community, and an even smaller group of straight people, I doubt it really is that much of a draw (from a financial point of view).

The Wolf Of Wall Street

Artwork by:  Danish Ahmad

Martin Scorsese's latest epic is a 3-hour long comedic satire on (American) greed that is filled with sex, drugs, profanities, and more sex, but at least we get a fantastic Leonardo diCaprio, and a very adventurous Scorsese. Pity that it's censored (I think) in homophobic Singapore!

However, it also gives us one of Leonardo diCaprio's - Sorcese's muse - best performances since The Aviator and Revolutionary Road, and at times it seems to be an extension of his role in Django Unchained. It looks like diCaprio may have found himself a type for which he could really excel in: the exaggerated, larger-than-life, alpha-male. Although these kind of role is unlikely to give him the Oscar that he so craves.

In addition, in this film, we also get one of Scorcese's most adventurous directing ever. The camera swoops, swirls, swipes and the pacing is actually not too bad for a 179 minutes movie. It only felt draggy towards the end, last 30 minutes, and this is a great compliment to the skill of the director. It was wise of him to choose to make this more a comedy rather than a serious drama; with the laughters and absurdities as befitting a satire, the audience gets more easily distracted. Hence too the gratuitous nudity as well as the multiple drug-infused moments. But the downside is that, there is perhaps one too many broad comedy moments - slapstick schticks - that was too long. No surprise that almost all those scenes contained Jonah Hill in them (more on him later).

Terence Winter screenplay will too get a nomination come Oscar time, but as an adapted screenplay it lags behind John Ridley's 12 Years A Slave as it ultimately lacked heart. The monologues that diCaprio give were good, well written, but it was more effective because of diCaprio's delivery and Scorcese's directing than Winter's words. Also, the plot itself lost focus and got too saddled with the debauchery. The evolution of diCaprio's protagonist from the wide-eyed country boy to the foul-mouth, multi-addict, stockbroker just happened after a smoke in the back? Neither was there much actual depiction of the crime he was charged with. Perhaps that was also Scorcese's fault.

As aforementioned, diCaprio gave a great performance. You believed him as the naive young man that he is, and you believed him as the debauched, addicted, horn dog; you laugh at him, you pity him, you believe him and you envy him. Without a doubt, he is willing to go-ugly for a scene, and his comedic timing is actually quite good. Even in the dramatic moments, diCaprio has finally gotten the hang of expressing through subtlety. Scorcese really does bring out the best in him. At times he even reminds me of a young Jack Nicholson.

Jonah Hill is an annoyance. Throughout the film. I guess you really got to be a fan of his and his genre of comedy - broad, loud and borderline slapstick. In really small doses, he is tolerable, but when his scenes get extended, with way too much improvisations, it was painful and the movie just abruptly changed gear.

A brief word on Matthew McConaughey. Spotting likely his Dallas Buyers' Club weight-loss, McConaughey is on a career-renaissance. His brief spot is actually one of the most memorable scene of the movie. And no, there isn't any sex or toplessness scene involved. Only he could make that scene as effective as it is. (Can't wait for Dallas Buyers' Club)

Kyle Chandler is sure getting a lot of these small bit roles in big movie eh? At least he is still reliable and always give a good performance. Hope he breaks out soon!

Enjoy this movie as the twisted, cautionary morality satire on Greed that it is, but taking it more than that and you will see the flaws. One of the better films of 2013/14 and may just get a nomination for Best Film but more likely based on pedigree than pure substance.

Intelligence

Disclaimer: I have never watched Chuck before, although I do know of the similarities between these two shows. The clear draw of Intelligence would be in the main cast that they had assembled: Josh Holloway and Meghan Ory.

Pilot: A fairly interesting new addition by CBS to the multitude of procedurals that are out now, and this is clearly not going in the same comedic vein as Chuck did with a similar concept. Like all pilots, this one was exposition heavy, not only because the creators and producers have created a "new superpower" and now got to clearly define its powers and limits, but also because the setting is unique: US Cyber Command (and yes, it is a real thing). But as with all series these days, even procedurals, there has got to be an over-arching mythology that keeps its core audience reined in, and here we have "What happened to Amelia?". Welcome back to the small screen Sawyer! We have missed your smirks, thankfully this time round Josh Holloway is squaring off with an equally snarky and sassy Meghan Ory. These two have much better chemistry than Sawyer and Kate, and this first 42 minutes have clearly set their relationship boundaries and given them both a simple complexity in characterisation that should nicely continue on. Here's hoping that these two are more like Elementary's Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, or Sleepy Hollow's Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie, than one of the many recent failed pairings which got so boring quickly (here's looking at you The Blacklist). Marg Helgenberger's role is a lot like her ex-colleague Laurence Fishburne's in Hannibal, in that they both are superiors to the series' protagonist and serve as exposition and narrative tool with possibly some secret lurking in the back, waiting to pop up during Sweeps. And like Hannibal, there is a fair bit of FX-heavy evidence rendering, though here, Hugh Dancy triumph over Holloway in the acting department. The actual storyline in the pilot is predictable and derivative, so the story has got to get a lot better. Even the ending was expected. That has got to improve to keep the audience tuned in. As for procedurals go, this has the potential to be more fun like Alias than straight-laced and boring, IMO, like Persons of Interest.

Episode 2, "Red X": Now that was fast! Way to hook the audience but sadly the ending just missed the mark. Did not expect to actually see Gabriel's wife in the second act, much less so have Gabriel meet her face-to-face. And then that outcome...let's just say without a body, I think Zuleikha Robinson will still make more appearances in the future. If that is the end of the "mythology" then the creators got to quickly come up with another good one. Although it seems this may just all me a ploy that Lillian is orchestrating. Let's hope the next episode can hook us in some more, because just relying on the chemistry between the two leads, and gratuitous Sawyer topless scenes, are not enough to sustain a loyal audience. Elementary has its Moriarty and Sleepy Hollow has Katrina. Also, the scenes where Gabriel is using his "superpowers" are ridiculous with everybody standing around, and so far there is nothing really "super" about his "superpowers". A hacker could do most of what he has done so far.

Episode 3, "Mei Chen Returns": The exposition-credits are here to start. How annoying. The main attraction so far remains the chemistry between Ory and Holloway, but that can only last so far as the plot continues to evolve and other sources of drama intervenes. The wife-thingy could had been so much more, even if she remained dead, there could have been so much more drama to be had from a widower's grief, but instead, with just a few words from Red Riding Hood and the Axe-man is back in the game.

Episode 4 - 6: These few episodes have confirmed that the show is riding on the chemistry of its two leads, and I sure hope they keep it platonic. They have to re-introduce the wife again. Helgenberger is getting interesting, and there seems to be a trace of the start of some sort of intelligence arc as the show finds it footing.