Bourne Legacy: still the Bourne formula

I started off not really liking the Bourne stories. I always thought the name was bit sissy. However, few movies down, I am a Matt Damon fan. And in the last outing, Bourne Ultimatum, I found myself cheering for Bourne. Ah well, they refuse to let the premise dies, and therefore, supposedly continuing the legacy.

Watching Bourne Legacy is like watching Bourne Identity again. Same in most ways, different in some, it is basically set on the same universe, sort of a spin-off from Bourne. Bourne did not appeared in any scene (except in news), but the movie happens because of what happen with Bourne. Now, that is a nice idea.


Like Bourne, Aaron Cross is also product of a top secret government project. Because of Bourne expose in Ultimatum, the rest of the super soldier project were at risk of suffering similar fate. Therefore, to safe keep the secret, the top rank official had to pull the plug, and therefore erase the whole thing. That includes killing every agent and scientist involved. Cross survived and in the process, rescue one of the scientist and travel around the globe to sort of stabilize the enhancement they improve on his body and mind. Now, do you see the resemblance of Bourne Identity? Secret super soldier agent, double cross by the employer, surviving.



The pace of the story is good. It may not have the physical intensity, the suspense is still gratifying. Seeing how Cross outsmart the government is somehow nice. Not much of fight scene, but the mental suspense would keep you on your seat. Pacing is good, though draggy in certain stretch. Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross? Ever since Hurt Locker, he played his card well. He portray Cross well, someone who was forced to the corner, to survive on his own wits. Rachael Weisz. Elegant. Chemistry. No complain in that department. So, does the movie shine? Not exactly. As much as the pacing is good, nothing much happen in the movie except seeing the pair escape from the house, airport, factory in Philippines, and last motorcycle chase. That basically summarize everything. As much the acting is solid, the character was not properly develop except only one scene where Cross showed his own obituary where you can sense his sadness. Then again, this movie, like Bourne Identity, serve more of a prologue to the rest of Cross movies.

ratings: 3 poink!
comments: there should be sequels. And I do like Aaron Cross name better than Bourne.

Taste Good: suprisingly nice noodle!

 My third post of the day. So will try to make this short. Was driving around in New Town, Kampar to look for a good family Sunday dinner, and found this joint, Taste Good. This used to be My Dream so obviously the dream did not last long. Just beside the main road, behind Ochado, and next to the new Domino pizza, you would not miss this place.

Deco: modern, love it. Service is nice. They even have their own orange uniform. Good!


The menu: essentially this is a Chinese noodle fare. Even the chinese name meant King of Fried Noodle. And the writing on the door showed Buntong fried noodle.  To be fair, have not tried Buntong fried noodle and did not know they were famous in the first place. Service is fast, with a smile as well. They trained their staff well. There is even a big LCD TV inside so  it is simply cozy to eat and watch TV at the same time.


The food. That is the most important thing. Living up to their name sake, the fried noodle is really nice. I ordered fried meehoon with kueitiao (RM 6.90) and it was simply "cun"! Cooked with such " wok-hei" it should be eaten hot, otherwise it would be too oily. It reminded me of the Hainan fried noodle when I was a kid, and this, definitely is really good. It do mimic the road side stall style but of the better ones.




The soup noodle on the other hand, is average at best. Dad took the curry beehoon (RM 5.50). Somehow when the bowl came, the beehoon probably had been left too long and became soggy. So the noodle swelled to twice the original size. The curry is actually nice, which is a pity how the dish turn out. The curry mee is lacking stuff though. Mostly served with chicken meat, I preferred my curry mee with more stuff such as taufupok, chasiew, cockles and stuffs. You get the idea. Mum ordered chicken horfun (RM 5.50) which is actually quite good. The soup is one of the nicer ones with tinge of prawn taste. The only draw back is the soup is too sweet. Do not know how it turn out that way. Pity though, the soup could be a winner. Lastly, Colleen ordered laksa (RM 2.90). The size is small, even for my wife who is a small eater by the way. It actually taste quite okay, except that it was, again, too sweet. Too sweet for me or my wife liking....too bad. Again, it could be a winner. There are some simple western dish and bread as well, but not sure whether they are worth it though.

Overall, the fried noodle alone is worth the visit. The rest, well, is average and worth to try though.

ratings: 3 poink! (1 out of 3 is super nice)
comments: road side "tai-cao" style food in a cafe environment and price.

Taste Good
2234, Jalan Batu Sinar,
Bandar Baru Kampar,
Kampar
05-4661266

Sin HupKee: decent Chinese fare

the crowd on a weekday

This will be a fast review. Why? Although so many people and bloggers have good words on this place, I was bit on the ambivalent side. Do not be confused though, the food is actually rather nice and decent.

Ask around, in Jln Leong Sin Nam, on the side road from Central coffee shop, you would find Sin Hup Kee in the middle of the shop lots. It used to be a single shop lot, but since business is booming, now they actually expanded into the next shop lot. The crowd would tell you the food would not disappoint. Even on a weekday, the place is so crowded.

3 yolk steamed egg

salted fish with "falam"

On the menu is the normal chinese dish, so there is basically no menu at all. The price is rather on the economical side, so prepare to spend bout RM10 per person depending on what one order.

kangkong

The dish do come super fast, so for one so hungry as me, this is joy to my tummy. Now lets see... the 3 yolk steamed egg is smooth, one of the better ones. Recommended by some of the blogger and yes, I do agree to their taste buds as well. Next, the salted fish in a pot with "falam"....now, that is my favourite dish anywhere, and I felt they had not done the dish justice. The falam lacks the fat, making the whole dish rather dry. The kangkong is, well, rarely people would spoil the dish, so they do not disappoint in this area. The marmite pork ribs is rather tasty, though I prefer my ribs to have bit of fat. Hey, I just realize they are trying to be healthy, but hey,  if I want healthy, I would just cook at home.

marmite pork ribs

I can understand why some people would have high regards of this place. The food is decent, service is fast, the place is clean. However, some of the dishes is good, some are fair, some lacks the ummph. Do come and try, you may disagree with me.

ratings: 3 poink! (extra poink for being super fast)
comments: still cant dethrone Sun Mapoh which is as fast, and the food is consistently good, though the place felt rather old.


Sin Hup Kee,
Jalan Leong Sin Nam, Ipoh

Ray of Hope: sometimes, it is more than food

 I first heard of Ray of Hope from my grandaunt, I was surprised. Then with some search on the internet; I am further impressed with the settings; with CIMB and Hong Leong bank on board, this place should be a gem.

cheese tarts: simple and nice

The place, however, is not easy to find. Even with the map; and GPS coordinate, it is still hidden. Therefore, do some googling before embarking to find this place. One of the easier way is from Aeon (JJ) to Bercham; you would definitely bound to come pass this place. If you are coming from Bercham, it is hidden behind WongKam food court, go beyond the residential area, heading towards Ipoh Garden, one will pass by some shop lots beside 2 big fields, this cafe is tucked in the corner. However, they are only open from 0900 to late tea time so make sure do not come here for dinner.

Thai fried rice: not so thai though

Something about Ray of Hope. It is essentially a foundation to train less fortunate group. In one of the section had been renovated to serve as a cafe. As far as I know, there is a small bakery beside the cafe as well. The trainee will serve as waiter and waitress beside helping out in the kitchen. So do not be surprise when they actually come to serve you and take your orders. And they are friendly too!

The deco is homely, simplistic and that works well. Service may not be as fast, but it is the heart that matter most. The smile they show is straight from the heart; and that itself, should make the trip here worth it.

cheese baked rice

The menu is essentially western and local. The usual western fare of chicken chop and pasta is there. I manage to come on 2 different occasions and if strictly speaking on food; they fare from good, decent to much room to improve. The western dish is okay, I guess. One of the one we tried was cheese bake rice, which is not so much cheese flavoured. It tasted more like nasi pattaya. The cheese taste was bit too subtle for me. Then again, cheese bake rice is not a true western fare either. The local dish is better on average. The other day, I tried their nasi lemak with rendang ayam (RM5.50), and frankly, that was one of the better rendang I tasted. It suit the nasi lemak well. My friend Ngou tried seafood crispy egg noodle (RM5.00) and his comment was good. Tried their Thai fried rice however it tasted more like nasi goreng kampung though. Then again, it is still nice though.

The dessert is more consistent I guess. The cheese tart are quite good as dessert or even starters. Last but not least is their bakery product. Not exactly the best but definitely decent, and nice.

Overall, if good food is all that you are looking for, then maybe there are many more cafe who serve better food. But then again, if you want good food served and cook with a heart, there is no better place than here.



ratings: 3 poink! (considering the food, and the nice place; if considering the whole concept, the place do deserve a higher ratings)
comments: It is the experience that counts. Food sometimes, is secondary.

Cafe Ray of Hope
26, Persiaran Bercham Selatan 31,
Taman Sri Kurau, Ipoh
05-5488796

Hantu Gangster: polished but artificial

I may be very bias with Namewee's movie. I actually like Nasi Lemak 2.0. I followed his songs before Negarakuku. I emphatise with him when he go and give Tenaga Nasional staff a headache. And naturally, people would make comparison between Nasi Lemak 2.0 with Hantu Gangster....

The story? Namewee had gone patriotic. The Malay, Chinese and Indian gangs used to be good friends.Their respective leaders were suppose to be "brothers". That was before one of the Malay gangster, Ewan plotted and murder all the 3 leaders. The 2nd generation began to fight among themselves, thus upsetting the unity among races. Namewee is a street thief, and while he stole a ring belong to the Malay leader, manage to see the ghosts of the 3 leaders. So, naturally the ghosts forced him to help uncover Ewan's plot and restore the unity among the 3 gangs.

Despite sounding okay on paper, the story really come across forced. It sounded like a Merdeka film (which coincide with August anyway). The unity among the 3 races sounded cheesy, but work on certain extent (what happen to "lain-lain" on the ethnicity list?). And they keep reminding us that this gangs started to look after the welfare of the people and only now, people lost their meaning and become monsters. Even the end credit song remind us that gangster is suppose to be good. Come on, gone is the era of Young and Dangerous. In a movie to remind us to be nice to each other of different skin colour, and yet it glorify gangster(despite reminding us of true meaning of Geehin and Haisan era); I just do not buy it. And the way unity message is preached across? It was even worse the a Jack Neo movie. There were moral message of unity every corner especially when the 3 ghosts appeared together. Spending 1 half hour preaching the same message is too much.


The jokes? Probably most people entering the cinema expecting to laugh their butts off like Nasi Lemak. But, alas, the jokes are not as funny. Even some of the jokes are repeated from Nasi Lemak. It may meant to be a Namewee trademark (ie the broken Chinese English subs which sounded still funny, but the head shaking chap is not), but most do not come in as funny the second round. However, the opening sequence is good enough to tickle anyone. The songs are okay, and boy, do I miss the songs from Nasi Lemak. Those songs are enough to tickle me. The songs here are well produced, but lack the funny moments.Having said that, the end credit rap song is really well done.

So, am I saying it is a bad movie? Not really. Namewee did improved a LOT in film-making. This movie is more refined; better directed; and well produced. Only some minor editing issue (which I suspect was censor problem instead) sort of caused some disjointed flow of the story. Good job! The main saving grace is the acting. Some really solid work from everyone, especially Farid Kamil as Ewan. Mind you, Namewee is NOT the only main star in the show; seems everyone get a fair airtime. It is still great to see so many big names collaborating. The best part is, their guest appearance do not appeared forced. Even Amber Chia's role sort of suit the story (unlike in some movie, the role is sort of created for the star to make guest appearance).



Overall? If I did not ever watch Nasi Lemak, Hantu Gangster would be more enjoyable. However, since I did watch it before, this film come across still lacking and bit forced no matter how refine it is comparatively.

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: Namewee lost his rebel identity, and worse, appeared to lost the ability to laugh at ourselves. Despite that, I would still pay to watch his next film. Happy merdeka!