August: Osage County

Some plays make great movies, and some plays just make good movies. This black comedy falls more into the latter like Roman Polanski's Carnage, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole and John Patrick Shanley's Doubt. Tracy Lett's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning story is definitely the strong point here, but like all the previously mentioned plays-turned-movies, the acting are the aces here, and with a large cast like this almost everybody had their moments. Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, besides being the biggest names here, also gave the best performances of the ensemble with Roberts a particular stand out. She definitely has been missed.

John Wells was an able director but perhaps a bit too safe and restrained. That said, not even Polanski could get Carnage to Oscar glory. However, Wells was at times too predictable and mildly overly melodramatic in his scenes.

Tracy Letts adapted his own award-winning play for the big screen and, having not seen the original play itself, I would not be surprised if there were changes made. However, what I see on the big screen is a richly dark family comedy that spoke of an estranged family with each member bearing a secret that all just comes tumbling out in one cathartic exodus. The reveals not only peels off layers of each character but also illuminate the themes of blame, self-responsibility, karma and, in a morbid sort of way, love. Throughout all that, there were many moments of comedic gems which really incited genuine laughters and smiles. But I think like most great plays, in the translation to the silver screen some form of intimacy and immediacy is lost in the words. And with big stars, we tend to over focus on the physical performances rather than the power of the words. As such, sometimes, the material gets overshadowed. Oh, and that epilogue is totally extraneous.

Streep gets another Oscar nomination for her role here as the matriarch of the family and I sincerely thinks she deserves it a lot more than Sandra Bullock for Gravity. Although, there are times when Ms. Streep begins to slightly overact and her accents slips up. Her dining table scene may be the most showy, but it is her quietly powerful swing-scene with her daughters and her final scene with Johanna that shows her brilliance.

Roberts has been missed, and it is easy to forget that she too has an Oscar for Erin Brockovich, and is not just the Pretty Woman. And here, she reminds us why she got an Oscar. She is at times fiercely independent and protective, and at moments silently fragile and vulnerable. Throughout the whole time we get a sense that she is a woman torn between family and self, love and responsibility. Her exasperation at things beyond her control tears her apart, and Roberts portrayed all these very convincingly. Unfortunately for her, the competition for this year's Best Supporting Actress is just too strong, but her nomination reminds us again of her true ability.

Briefly, Juliette Lewis was perfectly cast as the youngest, slightly more flighty daughter, however her beau in the show, Dermot Mulroney is typecast and rather boring. Julienne Nicholson was also excellent as the straight-woman to her other two sisters, and with Masters of Sex on her resume too, she is turning in very fine work these days. Her beau Benedict Cumberbatch, unlike Mulroney, was totally acting against type, all hunched up, mousey and stuttering, but pity his role was not really significant. Then we have the two older folks: the very excellent Margo Martindale and Chris Cooper. Martindale should deserve a nomination too alongside Roberts. She was a woman of restrained strength with her own secrets to bear. With Cooper, their last scene together was a heartache. Lastly, Abigail Breslin was kind of wasted to act as the broody, insolent, rebellious teenager, and Ewan McGregor barely had much of a time to develop an interesting backstory or category.

This show will be remembered as the one where Meryl Streep screams at Julia Roberts and Roberts jumps Streep. A dark family dramedy that was generally very well acted and in the end may give you pause to examine your own relationships with your family. One very memorable line early in the show, and I paraphrase from memory goes: "If we were able to see the future, we would probably not get out of bed."

Her

All the hype about Scarlett Johansson is totally justified. Spike Jonze has given us a not-really-that-original-in-concept, post-modern love story that genuinely made me laugh out loud a few times, and smile a couple more, but nonetheless had a depressing undercurrent throughout as a commentary/satire on our current society and the route that it is heading towards.

The script is one of the more original ones this year and is a clear frontrunner for winning the Best Original Screenplay (although I have yet to watch Nebraska). It posits a question: what will happen if the technology that we interact with everyday, interacts back with us? It seems like an idea that Isaac Asmiov would have toyed with, but here we get Jonze's take.

The biggest challenge here will be how to keep the audience engaged when essentially this movie about one man talking to himself? And here was how Jonze scored a coup de grace by casting Johansson as the voice of the AI and Joaquin Phoenix as the lonely man. Johansson's smokey, raspy voice may be the best voice-acting since ever. She made the OS seemed so real. The passion, the self-doubt, the warmth, the curiosity...it's no wonder Phoenix's character would fall in love with her. But then again, his character just so happened to be in the right emotional spot for such an occurrence to occur.

However, on a deeper level, it could also be seen as a chauvinistic movie with the females being more aggressive and the reason why man (?Man) built AIs in the first place. *spoilers* Olivia Wilde's character scares off Phoenix because she does not want to waste her time; the ?receptionist in Phoenix's office is a man who is dating a seemingly more powerful female lawyer; Amy Adam as Phoenix's friend gets left alone because her husband could not control her, and she designs games about being the stereotypical "Perfect Mom"; even Phoenix's ex-wife as played by Rooney Mara is shown to be a rather passive-aggressive manipulative bitch that seemed to be responsible for the divorce.*end spoilers*. It could also be turned around and say that it was a pro-feminist movie with women being superior or better than man.

Phoenix was a good match for the role. He inhabited the loneliness of his character and as he begins to fall in love, we see him come out of the shell that he had hidden himself in. But we always get the sense that he never really stepped fully out. Jonze needed a believable lead actor for whom the audience can relate to, and with that moustache Phoenix was not as easily recognisable and so more relatable. He always looked so alone and apart from everybody even when he was in the same room. His clothes by Opening Ceremony definitely made him stood out, although he kept wearing the same, distinctive pieces again and again, and it got rather annoying for continuity purposes. Unless Jonze is trying to make a statement out of it. That moustache really does age him like how it aged Watson on Sherlock.

Jonze directing was simple in its subtle complexity. The mixing of up locations: California and Shanghai to give us a sense of interconnectivity. Perhaps in the future we could really go from east-to-west through a tube. The stylised palettes to reflect the mood of his lead protagonist. Bright and sunny when he's in love, dark and grey when he's not. The gorgeous futuristic sets also deserve a praise (and an Oscar nomination), as does the hauntingly beautiful song "The Moon Song" (also a Best Original Song nominee) as sung by Johansson in the movie, and Karen O. over the end credits.

A smart, witty script that was brought alive by two actors, and explored an interesting concept that raises many questions, through a simple boy-meet-girl love story for the post-modern times.

Looking

Disclaimer: I don't watch Girls.

Episode 1, "Looking For Now": A look into the modern day singles in San Francisco filled with pop-culture references and lexicons like "OKCupid", "Facebook" and "Instagram". They being gay is absolutely irrelevant. As a series premiere episode, this was unique in that we just drop straight into their lives. There were no exposition-heavy introductions to load us down. Jonathan Groff is a pleasant character surrogate to this world, and his sweet, innocent baby-face makes us easy to feel for him and his quest for love. The other two leads Frankie J. Alvarez and Murray Bartlett are at the moment not interesting enough yet especially when their narrative threads are so predictable and cliche.

Episode 2, "Looking For Uncut": The instagram filter like look continues as we proceed to be the fly-on-the-wall of these 3 men. Groff swings from irritatingly naive to winsomely innocent. But at the end of it all, nothing really much happens. No big revelations or epiphanies, but just 3 friends chugging along life and finding their way around it.

Episode 3, "Looking at Your Browser History": An improvement in quality in terms of characterisation and plot development. A much better thematic backbone about looking for your own identity. Each of the 3 main casts finally get some sort of conflict that they need to overcome, although Groff, as the lead character, just seems to be still looking for love. Well. Russell Tovey is in the house, and adding a British star is always fun and Lauren Weedman is the true breakout here. She has been given best lines/moments of the episodes she's in and she has been consistently funny too.

Dallas Buyers Club

Disclaimer: By now, a number of award-shows have already been out and both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto have been sweeping them up. Inadvertently, expectations would be high, especially for McConaughey who is riding high on the McConnaissance.

This movie suffers from what I have now christened as The Iron Lady syndrome: a so-so movie that was bolstered by its star(s). In this case, we have a poor-to-mediocre movie with two great, nominee-worthy performances by its actors, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, but only Leto truly deserves the statue come Oscar night.

Based on a screenplay by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack, and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, DBC is a documentary-like presentation of one man's life that was schizophrenic in style, tone and identity. Borrowing from the movie, it felt like a Neanderthal seeing a transgender for the first time and not knowing to call the lady a Fella or call the chap a Miss. 

The movie cannot decide if it wants to be a dramatic or historical biography of Ron Woodroof. We got scenes that exploit homophobia and scenes of shameless Oscar-baiting despair, fear and lost; but we also have moments that tease of drama and emotions that were brought up then rapidly swept right away. All these and not counting some of Borten's and Wallack's clunky dialogue (Best Original Screenplay?!).

Then we also have Vallée's directing that was filled with clumsy metaphors, amateurish symbolism and foreshadowing, and bad continuity/editing (look at Gravity to see how clumsy imageries can at least be gorgeous depicted and shot). Characters have a tendency to pop up out of nowhere, and within moments forgotten. 

You sit through this movie trying to decide what kind of guy they want us to see, and it is all thanks to McConaughey's startling portrayal that we could even sit through all 116 minutes of it.

That brings us to the stars of the show. 

The charismatic McConaughey gave his career-best performance to date. No doubt about it. He has managed to give us layers within layers of this complicated person despite the poor characterisation on paper. However, despite his dedication to the craft and shedding all those musculature, his performance lacked the nuance that would have otherwise made it stoodout. There were still moments where he was still the same-old McConaughey of years ago - except a lot thinner. Partially it was also Vallée's fault for not giving him enough screen time to emote his drama. Just as we are about to hit a dramatic climax, we are cut off to the next scene. Also, McConaughey needs to take lessons from Claire Danes when it comes to the ugly cry-face (come on...some chin quivering, dude!). As such, although he is deserving of his nominations and the accolades, but when it comes down to "Best Actor", based on the nominees list, Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) is still the one. 

Jared Leto, on the other hand, was simply amazing. He was the emotional heart of the show. With one particular scene, which again just came out of nowhere, he was utterly heartbreaking in its ethereal despair, loneliness, fear and pain (that scene was reminiscence of Anne Hatheway's award-winning I Dream A Dream in Les Miserables). The rest of the time, Leto was simultaneously funny and sad. The withering looks of sardonic pleasure were spot on, as were the downcast eyes of regret and self-pity. His character's emotional arc was more fleshed out, but his relationships with the other main characters were at best sketchy.

Lastly, a word about Jennifer Garner. No offence to her, but I remembered what I used to think of her back in her Alias days. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is Sydney Bristow. She still does that. However, the greatest fault here is that her character is absolutely useless and unnecessary from a narrative point of view. And unfortunately, Garner made it more so. 

Oh, and Denis O'Hare was a delightful snake.

In the end, you endure the movie for the ground-breaking, star-making turns of its two male actors and perhaps learn a bit more about a slice of history (and America's hypocrisy). But if you are looking for a great movie about the AIDS epidemic or the LGBT community, this is not it. Watch the play The Normal Heart instead.

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.