Teppei

There will be no pictures in this post because, simply, NOTHING was worth the effort. 

This place is the dictionary definition of over-rated. I'm only here because a friend could not make it at the last minute and I hijacked his spot.

The nicest thing I can say is that you get what you pay for. $50 gives you a $50 standard. But truth be told, it felt more like $30. 

If I were the one footing the bill - I was just an invited guest - I would have left 30 minutes in. The whole dining experienced stretched from first seating 6.30pm all the way into the second seating (poor folks waiting outside). 

The fishes were atrocious! Every single fish was not fresh. The portions are minuscule (that's okie for the price) but the control of the sauces and taste overwhelmed everything. For a Japanese restaurant you were not tasting the raw ingredients but the sauce. Cheap sauce. Can't even call it pseudo-French! What a waste of fish and beef. 

Chef has no control of his staffs. There was absolutely no control of timing. Slow, uneven serving. Food was left out too long before serving and not even under a heater or on a warmer. There was no skill in sushi making whatsoever. The sushi rice may be from Nigata but it sure does not reflect it.

The open kitchen is an embarrassment. If you want to do an open concept you jolly well be aware that everybody is scrutinising. 

Service was beyond bad. Forgot a portion of soup and just walked off. Did not inform the guest at all but told the sous chef and he begun to prepare another. My neighbour is a non-beef eater but his fried rice came with beef. No recognition by the staff on the faux pas nor an apology. 

I don't really care about the ambience. A hole in the wall concept is fine. Unique too, but the constant movement of staffs behind you and asking to be excused is an interruption to a dining experienced. Your food had better be damn good to compensate.

Verdict: Absolutely never again. 

The Fault In Our Stars

Disclaimer: I read the book about 3 - 4 months before watching the movie, and it made me cry. Despite all its cliché-ness and predictability (other than who dies first...but you know someone is going to die), the tears just kept flowing. Kudos to John Green for capturing the emotions of first love, love and lost, and putting them into words.

A cheesy, romantic film that unabashedly tugs at the heartstrings and milk the tear ducts, but despite its 125 minutes duration, it still falls short of the emotional impact and heave that John Green's novel had. Shailene Woodley anchored the film beautifully and she is the real reason to catch this (other than for the book itself).

Director Josh Boone and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber compacted the storyline to focus only on Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters. Everybody else, except Mrs. Lancaster, became periphery. As such, the focus was more on the romance rather than the Romance (with a capital R).

However, a positive and unexpected outcome of this treatment of the novel was that the relationship between Hazel and her mum felt more authentic then that between Hazel and Gus. We do not really see the ups and downs of Hazel and Gus' relationship, so the emotional impact of the ending was not as powerful as depicted by Green.

Shailene Woodley was spot on as Hazel. The smart alecky girl that is pretty but not in a conventional way. Her line deliveries carried the sarcasm and wit one would expect of her character, as does the way her face just lights up genuinely as she fell in love. Woodley came onto the scene almost at the same time as Jennifer Lawrence and they both got noticed straightaway, but Lawrence is now America's newest sweetheart whereas Woodley is playing catch-up. But, watch out for her.

Ansel Elgort as Augustus was sadly, not the right fit for Woodley. They had their moments of chemistry, and Elgort also had his moments, but he was not consistent. Too often he fell flat, and ended up being smug rather than endearingly goofy. Although he did displayed more talent towards comedy than drama.

Laura Dern was great as Mrs Lancaster, and her chemistry with Woodley was simply the best thing about the movie. That felt real and genuine. Perhaps it arose from her stint on HBO's Enlightened.

The soundtrack was a highlight too if that is any consolation.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

A feel good, family movie that is more heavily skewed towards the children rather than tweens or above. Less exciting and less dramatic than the first instalment, but still a decent cartoon.

Writer-Director Dean DeBlois did a commendable job but the directing here was rather messy with the action-choreography seemingly too rushed. Many scenes borrowed heavily from other sci-fi geek moments which made this movie seemed less original that it was meant to be.

Although I did not watch it in 3D, I believed that there were a few scenes which would have definitely showed-off the technology. However, they were a lot less frequent than in the first movie.

Even from a story point of view, DeBlois' foreshadowings were way too heavy-handed. Perhaps it would be suited for the target audience of under-10s, but the adults in the audience would surely be groaning inwardly. Even the emotional centre was dealt simply and too casually, such that where there should be emotional fallout in the audience just fell kind of flat.

The best relationship depicted was between boy and pet.

I love Cate Blanchett, but her voice-acting here was extremely distracting. She affected a strange Aussie tilted, pseudo-Viking-that-sounds-Scottish accent that was not constant. It just kept jumping around.

The best aspect of the movie was Roger Deakins' cinematography (Visual Consultant). Some scenes were just so gorgeously depicted.

Coming Home 归来

 

Zhang Yimou and Gong Li reunite after many years to bring us another love story that is simple and cliche in its narrative but emotionally challenging for its stars and audience.

Zhang's directing is secure and steady, bringing the story along at a comfortable pace. Brilliantly setting the backbone of the protagonists' love that would establish the heartache that follows. But, this film also explored the complexity of the love between parent(s) and child, state and self, country and family.

Thankfully, the political overtures faded to the background from the Second Act. Although it was interesting to see that slice of Chinese history. Kudos to Zhang for bringing that onto the big screen.

Gong Li is as usual mesmerising. Even in the drab clothes that she was dressed in, her eyes shone through with every flickering emotions that Zhang wrought her through.  One particular scene stood out for without words, a whole gamut of emotions raced through Gong's eyes and face. From fear to trepidation, anticipation to denial, love to disgust.

Chen Daoming played the male lead, and although his role was less showy, he still managed to convincingly showcased the undeniable love that he had for the woman that he loved.

The story by Yan Geling is a familiar one. Cliche but heartbreakingly so. Unfortunately, some of that cliche-ness was not handled as well by Zhang which led to some unintentional (?) comedic moments. Light-hearted, but jarring.

That final scene was such a bittersweet moment. Especially if you understood the meaning of the Chinese name: "焉識" litterally means "how to reconise". 

Edge of Tomorrow [IMAX/3D]

This is Source Code on a summer blockbuster/Tom Cruise budget but without the smarts nor the heart mainly because its scope is too wide and its stake too grand.

The problem with time-looping sci-fi features is that they tend to be too repetitive and that weighs down the pacing. Directing and editing then becomes crucial in keeping the pacing and the audience's attention, but that unfortunately is not as consistent.

Furthermore, time-looping is a double-edged sword. In Source Code it was used effectively in essentially a linear manner; but Edge of Tomorrow pushes the realistic boundaries more and explored the branches of time, however, that led to redundancy of all the other failed routes which then really gave the audience nothing to be invested in.

Similarly, once Edge started exploring the branches, all intelligence and logic just flew out of the window. The screenplay became confused, schizophrenic and illogical. Contrivances are the norm and characters make decisions willy nilly. You know you are in trouble with logic once a glaring contrivance appear within 10 minutes of the opening credit. Some of them are just too glaring and stupid to be ignored totally while trying to enjoy the movie.

Director Doug Liman did a good job in the first Act. His choreography for the beach battle was excellent: intense without being messy. However, as the show progressed, he got as lazy as his screenwriters, and that final battle scene was just so bizarre and rushed.

Cruise was actually rather good here. It cannot be denied that Cruise is a good actor, and in here, both his boyish charisma and manly determination gets their fair showing. And his metamorphosis was believable. Unfortunately, it was his lack of chemistry with Blunt that stood out more.

Emily Blunt too is a great actress, but in Edge she only had one facet: cold-hard bitch. The brief moments of emotional depth was written so tackily and out of place that it just did not feel in character. She was mainly utilised as a plot device from the start to the very end. Pity.

There were some moments when 3D was used effectively, however by and large, neither 3D or IMAX really enhanced the movie. Although praise must go to the design of the aliens. It was a smart move by Liman to keep them hidden initially.

Grace of Monaco

Surprisingly, Grace of Monaco arrived at our shores just a few days after its premiere (finally!) at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and after sitting through the 103 minutes film I can understand why it did not garner the accolades that one would expect out of its pedigree. You know there is a problem when the most emotionally resonant moment in the film is when Maria Callas sings "O mio babbino caro".

Olivier Dahan is a good director with a very distinctive voice and vision, and he can get some of the best acting out of his stars - he did give us the award-winning performance of Marion Cotillard in 2007's La Vie En Rose. However, like that movie, this biopic of Princess Grace Kelly lacked depth, which fortunate for Cotillard there was breadth for her to sink into as she explored the psyche of Edith Piaf.

Dahan was failed by Arash Amel's script. Choosing to focus only on a moment in Kelly's life is not wrong but the execution of it was fatally flawed as it did not really allow much character growth. Sure, there is character development and change, but there is no real growth per se. Furthermore, the plotting of the whole narrative made it look as if Kelly herself single-handedly saved Monaco. Even without knowing the exact history, that seemed beyond the realm of plausibility. Well, she did have a bit of help from the Church. The screenplay was essentially so thin and insubstantial that padding was inevitable.

Dahan's penchant for long shots were also shown off here. Sure, that long shot moment in La Vie En Rose may have been the moment that cemented Cotillard's Oscar, but in Grace of Monaco most of them unfortunately could not recapture the powerful moment and it ended up being more unnecessary than useful. The best (long) shot was the opening sequence. That was splendidly done. The slow tease of the camera following the back of this star who seemed so graceful, elegant, and so well-liked by the crew before the reveal that it was actually a Princess. That shot established more character than most of the movie.

That whole montage moment was too jarring. Suddenly the tone shifted (and this was possibly what a Weinstein cut would have looked like) and we had a Evita-Rocky-Pretty Woman mash up.

Then we have Nicole Kidman. Throughout the movie, one word kept coming to mind: resplendent. She was utterly resplendent throughout the movie, and that, unfortunately was a major distraction.

Somehow, when Dahan chose to focus on her closed up she shone more and brighter as an actress, as Grace Kelly. Sadly, Kidman's forehead is the reason why her close-ups are more effective. Whether it had been botox-ed or just pulled back really tightly by her hairstylist, it was too stiff to the point of distraction. You can actually track the passage of time (filming wise) via two distinctive characteristics: the appearance of her glabellar frown lines as well as the evolution of her hair colour from Kelly's blonde to Kidman's natural strawberry shade (which suited her more).

But kudos to Kidman's hair, make-up and costume team. mShe was utterly resplendent (yes, that word again) - those amazing jewels from Cartier definitely helped too.

If Dahan had managed to film Kidman's climatic monologue as a long shot, that could had been Kidman's moment. She did have some strong moments within the show but her acting was not constantly at a high standard. The accent that she chose to adopt for Kelly was also a distraction. Sometimes, beauty can indeed be a boon.

Tim Roth had no chemistry with Kidman so it was hard to buy into their relationship, but his character was so poorly written that I can't totally blame hi. Frank Lagella was practically just another curmudgeonly old man, practically doing it in his sleep. Paz Vega role is too small but it was her lip syncing to Callas that had the most impact, so there was that. Sir Derek Jacobi did steal his scenes though.

In the end, one wonders if Weinstein's cut would have been better. That man knows how to cater to the audience/voters.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

For all his alleged legal woes, Bryan Singer sure does know how to steer this franchise continuing on the excellent ground work that Matthew Vaughn laid for X-Men: First Class and dovetailing into the Singer's own X1 and X2 (X3: The Last Stand is best to be forgotten). This was a comic book superhero movie made by a fan for the fans. But, having said that, it is not without his faults, but thankfully, what it lacked was entirely replaced by the serious amount of gravitas and star wattage that this ensemble has. And this is where this franchise will always rule over the Marvel and Avengers: Vaughn totally struck gold when he cast Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence. Paired up together with the indomitable Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, and throwing Peter Dinklage into the mix. The acting here elevates the movie beyond your standard popcorn summer fare (see Godzilla for a perfect contrast!).

Bryan Singer managed to capture the 70s era rather well with good authenticity and situational humour, and I liked how he found a way to bring a 21st Century fad - filming with your smartphone - into the 70s. That was a smart directorial choice. The pacing of the movie went along quite well and smoothly with only very occasional lagging, but that was saved by the phenomenal cast. Who can't see Stewart or McKellen read a phonebook for a few short minutes? Or Lawrence battling with self-doubt? Or Fassbender smouldering across McAvoy? In addition, a note must be made of the very excellent cold opening by Singer. That opening was stellar and had everything you would want from a comic-book superhero movie, and clearly set the story, the impetus and the ultimate motive for our heroes; and also grip the attention of the audience allowing them to know what was ultimately at stake (and how our heroes are desperately losing a battle).

Nonetheless. the story by Simon Kinberg, Vaughn and Jane Goldman, with screenplay by Kinberg, was also riddled with plot holes and illogical behaviours. However, Singer smartly overloaded your senses with visual effects and drama such that they just skim pass with nary a notice. Having praised this franchise over Avengers, this is where they will get knocked down a couple of pegs. Joss Whedon nailed the script. The banter and the dialogue here was boring, served no other purposes other than advancing the narrative, and bordering on pokey.

But after this, Whedon must definitely be feeling the pressure. Especially in one aspect that got my fellow audience applauding. How is he going to nail Quiksilver?? Evan Peters (of American Horror Story) simply stole the whole scene he was in. From what we have glimpsed of Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, those are going to be difficult shoes to fill. Pity that Singer and co. did not manage to include Scarlet Witch in, so for that, Elizabeth Olsen will be saved from comparison. Perhaps Whedon might be better off focusing on her rather than her brother in Avengers 2: Age of Ultron.

Hugh Jackman was the weakest link of the main cast. He's lucky he had already been established as the embodiment of Wolverine, so he just had to swagger a bit, growl and fight to advance the story.

The main stars are the three from First Class - Fassbender, McAvoy and Lawrence. Lawrence reminded me of her character from American Hustle, but she was so much better here than when she was Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games). There's no doubt that Lawrence is a great actress, and she brought a vulnerability to Mystique that gave that character layers. Even underneath all the make-up and contact lens, she exuded self-doubt and conflict. Similarly, Fassbender managed to uncover a humanity beneath the veneer of superiority to justify Magneto's actions which actually makes his cause sympathetic and his behaviour possibly acceptable. Then we have McAvoy (that hair is way too distracting!) who had a different path - finding the humanity and hope that he once had when everything else around him had been destroyed.

Peter Dinklage - Tyrion Lannister - was also perfectly cast Dr Trask. Easily commanding his scenes, but sadly he did not have much interaction with the rest of the cast.

Of the old cast, other than Stewart and McKellen, only Ellen Page and Shawn Ashborne had slightly bigger roles. But the cameos from the rest sprinkled throughout were definitely worth it! (Spoilers Anything with Famke Janssen is instantly a lot better! End Spoilers)

John Ottman's score was appropriate but not a standout, and Newton Thomas Sigel's lensing had produced some gorgeous shots, but also none too outstanding.

Stay to the very end for the end credits for the next chapter of the franchise!