47 Ronin: Looks authentic, but still yet to impress

I had never watched the original 47 Ronin. Being a story loosely based from the Japanese classic, there are lots and lots of creative liberty taken in this remake. I do not mind, in fact am interested since I am always fascinated with the Samurai culture, and Runonin Kenshin being one of my favourite manga of all time.



In this 47 Ronin, it is a simple story of honour and revenge. Being in the Shogun Tokugawa era, honour means everything. Lord Asano from the city of Ako is witched to harm another guest lord, and therefore sentenced to death by seppuku. The samurai under him, now being masterless, lead their lives in disgrace, and are known as ronin. After imprisoned for 10 year, the leader of the ronin, Oishi (really? that seems to be the original name, so no comment there), lead the remaining ronin for revenge and attempt to assasinate Lord Kira. Keanu Reeves stars as a half breed, basically mixture of Caucasian and Japanese bloodline, who is initially trained in some secret demi-God diety cult, and supposedly trained by the legendary Tengu (they do look bit human-like for a Tengu). Escape from the cult, Kai was taken in by Lord Asano but was treated as an outcast due to his mixed bloodline. Kai joined the fight for revenge and therefore completed the group of ronin.




There is a great deal to make the whole story believable. The sets, the architecture looks really authentic. Even certain custom appeared real. I am no Japanese to verify the authenticity of all the small matters, but they do look nice to a non-Jap. All these works well, until they speak in English. The whole show is in English, even when the Japanese characters speak to each other. It felt bit odd; even when I started to get used to it by the middle of the show, the dialogues are really cheesy at times, and full of all those zen-like sayings that are always stereotypical to Asian. It did not help when the Japanese character speak English, and although it is a good effort, they seems to struggle a bit. (or is it me, when most of them have lots of facial movement when they speak)


The action is fair, not great. In the poster, there are few character that I expect would bring lots of action but did not appear so. Even the witch played by RInro Kikuchi failed to come across as fearful. The dragon which she turned into in the last battle is rather cute than scary. In the end, the show lacks direction. It was not a fully action movie (action is so-so), not a fully CGI movie (just bit here and there), not a hero movie (the honour and revenge is shadowed by the cheesy dialogue), and neither a love romantic show (come on, how could the love story with cheesy lines be believable).

I felt rather disappointed, I did had some expectation for this show. After all the effort and work done on creating feudal Japan, the show is rather a poor result.

ratings: 2 poink!
comments: at least, this is way better than Man of Taichi.

Hobbit 2: Desolation of Smaug: tad too long, but not lost its charm

It is inevitable to compare Hobbit trilogy (which in fact, is just based on one single book rather than 3 books) to Lord of the Rings (a true trilogy). After all, they are authored by the same author. But in actual fact, it is unfair since LOTR is much more adult theme, and Hobbit is a children book. The story and the development of the whole series did felt like an adaptation of a children book. Sad to say, I would not take The Hobbit seriously compare to LOTR, since the main characters are all dwarves (and one hobbit), and the main villain is just one single dragon (way puny compare to the army of Sauron). Despite all these, I still enjoy the second movie, Desolation of Smaug.

I kind of forgotten how the first movie ended, but the story remain the same, Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves enlisted the help of Bilbo Bagins to reenter Erebor to steal the Arkenstone from the dragon Smaug. Erebor used to be the kingdom of dwarves before the dragon invaded the place and basically chase all the dwarves away (or eaten most of them). In this movie, they continued their journey, captured by wood elves, escapes, enter Lake town before entering Lonely Mountain. The group manage to enter Erebor, but in the process awaken the dragon Smaug (do dragon even hibernate?) The attempt to kill the dragon fails, and the dragon left in the end of the movie to destroy Laketown, thinking the people of Laketown is conspiring with the dwarves. Given some artistic interpretation, there are some new side story which did not exist in the book. Gandalf ventures off to discover the evil plan of Sauron, who is now strengthening his army of orcs. There is another poor attempt at love story between a dwarf and a elf which is totally NOT believable, and look totally silly. Girls would cheer the return of Legolas, which is also not featured in the book; but bringing him back is a good idea, since he still pack a punch, and fight with such grace. However, pitting him in the love triangle between the dwarf and elf is again, ridiculous.

Enough regarding the acting; everyone manage to hold their scene together. The action is great, the CGI is awesome. All the fight scenes involving elves are awesome, how the behead the orcs, and how they use arrow and bow in battle is simply captivating to watch. So, did the movie work well? yes, and no. Second movie in a trilogy always have this curse being the risk of people forgetting the setup of the first, and lack the closure of the third last movie. Desolation of Smaug suffers the same fate, however, still retain its charm as a fun adventure story. It still lack the depth and the seriousness of LOTR, but being a children and family adventure, it fulfills its task. Look past the few silly mistakes (elf and dwarve love story?), and we did enjoy the movie. It is still too long, running approximately 2 hours 45 minutes, with few sequences could be omitted all together.

Do watch it if you enjoy the first movie, The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey. If you are a LOTR fan, do watch it for old time sake and you still enjoy it. Otherwise, do watch it for the great cinematography plus watching Legolas fighting.

ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: lower poink due to the ridiculous side story of dwarf falling in love with an wood elf. However, the third final movie would be a blast, since the a great war, the battle of 5 armies will be featured there.

Hallo Angkor!

Just came back less than a month ago, Siem Reap is still fresh on our mind. Initially I planned it to be a trip for larger group but since no one was able to make it, I just visited Cambodia with Colleen. Therefore, for anyone who want to follow my itinerary, the budget could be lessen with a group of 4 (since the tuk-tuk cost could be shared and many other cost could be lessen by bargaining in big group).

The whole trip is meant for a short weekend trip; there are many guides that suggested at least a week, given that 3 days are allocated for temples. However, for those who are from Asian background, too many days spent at the temple would lead to "temple burn-out" and I would recommend probably 3-4 days in Siem Reap would suffice and would not be too rush. As usual, this is a DIY trip without any guides, and I am using Rough Guide For Cambodia as my guidebook which helps a lot especially in the temples.

Day 1: arrived in Siem Reap early in the morning. Our hotel, Golden Butterfly had a tuk-tuk waiting for us on arrival. They tried their best to prepare our room even before the usual check-in time at noon. Loved their hospitality and their professionalism. With the RM80+ (including tax) for each room, the price included free airport transfer (one way), free bicycle, free welcome drink and tit bits, and free one hour massage.

Since we waited for the room, we just strolled along town and made it to Angkor Artisan which is just round the corner. We did not actually visit the workshop (free tour) but we made it for the free transfer to Silk Farm at 0930. The tour itself is free, do not be obliged to buy anything, but any purchase will mean a lot to them. The tour is very informative, especially to those who had no idea how silk is produced. Comparing to the bigger silk production line (I had the opportunity to visit the silk factory in Shanghai), this felt more like a smaller scale industry but still manage to captivate my attention none the less.

After checking in, we had our lunch in The Passage near Pub Street area. For our first lunch, we had to try the local delicacy (not the crickets yet), which is the Khmer curry and amok, both served with rice. Expect the dish to be cooked heavily with coconut milk but not as spicy as the Thai counterparts.

We still manage to catch our afternoon nap (in fact, daily afternoon nap), and wake up in time for dinner. The programme for the night is Phare Circus, which is actually a acrobat show by NGO which support development of art among the poor. The act for the night is Chills, which incorporate a supernatural storyline into the acrobat acts. The stunts itself is not flawless, but you can feel the enthusiasm and how much the show meant to each participants. So much so despite certain flaws during the show, they still manage to get a standing ovation at the end.

Day 2: this is our temple day. As usual, book a tuk-tuk for the day, and off we go for the sunrise at Angkor Wat. To be truthful, the sunrise is overrated; the crowd is huge, and the sunrise scene is nothing to shout about. The usual reflection of Angkor Wat with overshadowed sky could easily be capture at 8am just by dialling negative compensation on the exposure on any camera. No need to wake up at 4 just for this. Angkor Wat is just one of the many temple in Angkor Archaeological park.We took the petit (small) circle trip but made a extra trip to another famous temple further away. The sequence we took was sunrise at Angkor Wat (with the free cake from our hotel), then drive all the way to Banteay Srei (the carving is more delicate but the journey is not worth the time on a day trip). We manage to stop at Landmine museum, again, it is a small exhibition, but good to educate us on the danger on landmines which still lurks around Cambodia. One would see why Cambodia was victimised all these years, not just from Khmer Rouge but also from bigger powers such as US during the Vietnam War. We continued our temple hunting to Banteay Kdei (more ruins), Ta Phrom (the tree invading the temple, from Tomb Raider), Ta Kheong, Bayon and few others including Terrace of the King, Terrace of Elephants. If I were to do it again, I would give Banteay Srei a miss, and concentrated on Bayon and Ta Phrom first. With our sequence, though we manage to evade big crowds, but by the time we hit Bayon which is actually one of Colleen's favourite, we are too tired.

After refreshing nap, and a nice dinner nearby our hotel, we discover that the street stall or smaller shop (without apparent names) served meals as nice as the one in Pub Street but at a fraction of the price. Expect USD1-2 for a nice dinner, 3 for a really good one. At night we manage to go for Beatocello performance which is a free cello performance by Dr Richner Beat, a swiss peadiatrician who is giving free treatment for children and mothers in Jayavarman VII hospital. Again, for his undying commitment and effort all these years, he deserved the standing ovation from the crowd in the end.

Day 3: this is our free and easy day. We took our time to wake up, and have a nice breakfast before moving to Kampung Phluk, which is a floating village in Ton Le Sap lake. Watch as how the community leave in the village which is flooded during the rainy season. Although it is still voyeuristic in nature, but it is a real eye opener as to how community can survive in extreme environment.

We did some of our shopping in the old market in the afternoon and the remaining in the night market but with bargaining, the price did not differ much. We had a nice dinner in Temple Balcony which came with a free Apsara Dance the whole night. Talk about bargain!

Day 4: woke up early for our flight back to Malaysia.

In the end, we spent RM 2100 for everything, for both of us inclusive of flight, hotel and journey from Ipoh-LCCT. Our flight was not the cheapest but fair at RM900+ for 2, inclusive of baggage (minus the food since it is a short flight), the hotel is approximately RM80 per day (inclusive of tax), but we paid way less since we utilize our Agoda points. The other way to cut cost is to drive all the way to LCCT and park slightly further which cost me RM55 for the 3 day +.

rating: 3 half poink!
comments: good for 3-4 days trip. relaxing. cheap food, stay and beer. just the right ingredient for a nice weekend getaway.

Hunger Games 2 Catching Fire: worthy sequel

I learnt that it is progressively difficult for me to watch a midnight show. Having a few glass of beers during dinner make it worse. To top it up, having Chinese tea in supper guaranteed an effective diuretics in which I may as well camped in the toilet. But all these did not prevent me from enjoying Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire. However, the version I saw in the local cinema looked bit blurred and did not appeared as digital 2D; I just felt cheated.


Catching Fire is a worthy sequel from the first movie. I still am a strong proponent that this may emulate Battle Royale's idea, a manga/ novel franchise from Japan; but the story and the execution of the movie did proves that it has a strong story on its own. The movie did not waste anytime for recap and to introduce again the background of Panem, but throw us straight where the first movie left us. This is meant for those who had watched the first movie, so I strongly suggest those who had not watch the first, refrained from going to this movie yet. Anyway, following Katniss and Peeta's victory in the last Hunger Games, it did not change the world of Panem. District 12 still lives in poverty, and the people are rebelling. They look upon Katniss as a beacon of hope, a sign of survival against all odd. President Snow, in his move to rid of Katniss and Peeta, organize the quarter quell, basically the all star Hunger Games, the tribute were chosen from the previous pool of victors, which meant Katniss have no choice but to reenter the arena of Hunger Games. Throw in the usual traps and ever changing environment, this version seems to be more lethal. The games actually make the Survival show looks so sissy. However, in contrast to the first one, there is many more allies who seems to be protecting them. Without revealing too much, we all would know that Katniss will survive and the show ended with a cliffhanger, involving some rebellion towards the government.

The acting is top class. Jennifer Lawrence gave a flawless depiction of Katniss with the right amount of vulnerability and also strong will. Hutcherson, however, had limited screen time, making Peeta appeared more like a supporting character. The rest of the supporting cast were great in their role, the chemistry was undeniably great. Do not expect lots of actions comparatively to a summer action movie, the Hunger Games has a more layered meaning than mindless gun-sword-bomb blowing sequences.


The show was deeply entertaining. As other second movie in any trilogy/ franchise, it served more like a build up towards the final showdown. It may not work well as a stand alone movie, but in the combination of the first movie, now, I am looking forward for the adaptation of the third book.


Ratings: 4 poink!
comments: Colleen said the book is equally good. Hmmm.. I wonder if they would make an adaptation from the Battle Royale as well.

Thor The Dark World: roller coaster ride with mix of fantasy and Sci-Fi

I did not enjoy the first Thor movie. Heck, I even did not know much of Thor comic except that he hold Mjolnir, the hammer. Give me X Men anytime or maybe The Avengers. However, the fact that Marvel Studio is much improved over the last few movies is a promising fact. The trailer looks promising as well. Therefore, I would not want to miss Thor: The Dark World.

a two face Elf: he looks like villain from Star Trek

Most of the original cast returns for this sequel. Chris Hemsworth, with his deep voice, looks really good as Thor. He began to be synonymous with Thor as Robert Downey Jr with Iron Man. He did look more comfortable in The Dark World as well. Natalie Portman resumed her role as Jane Foster, although her chemistry with Thor is still lacking, but fairly acceptable in this movie compare to the first. Expect the rest of the cast such as Anthony Hopkins as Odin and the earlier controversial Idris Elba as Heimdall. Each of them play their role well and hold the screen on their own. The one most impressive character has to be Tom Hiddleston as Loki. He may made Loki into one of my favourite villain after Joker. Not the fact that he is evil, Loki is never evil; after all, Loki is the God of Mischief, but the fact of his manipulative ways and distortion of the truth remains unbeatable.

The main attraction of the whole movie is the CGI, but for any of summer blockbuster (though it is October even in US), it is the norm rather than the exception. Expect the awesome Asgard brought to life or the incredible space ship chase.

elves in space armor: how cool is that?!

The story is simple. Cliche, actually, with a "important" element that the villain is looking for which will destroy the world as we know it. The villain will somehow manage to get the weapon and by some method the good guys save the day. Here in this movie, the Dark Elf ( now we sound like Tolkien) forge a weapon, Aether which can bring ultimate darkness to all the 9 worlds. Asgardian manage to wrestle the weapon in a war long long time ago. The weapon remained hidden for centuries until Jane Foster found it. Dark Elves awaken from their long slumber and chase after the weapon. Thor enlisted Loki help to fight off the elves but did not succeed. Without revealing too much, it is suffice to say that finally both Thor and Jane saved the world. There are some twist involving Loki but many can see it coming. The sound of Elves makes it look like Mid Earth from all the Tolkien based fantasy story. The elves even have pointy ears, but they are not as nice as the woodies cousins. The weapons they hold looks like laser guns and even the staff used by Asgardians army looks like the light saber from Star Wars. The way Dark Elves travel in their hidden ship and the huge battle armada looks like an episode from Star Trek. It ended up as a mix and mash of elements, but it did work well. In the end, it felt like a roller coaster ride, fun and fast, with not much room to breathe. The script was nicely done with just the right amount of humour, the whole movie felt quirky instead of funny though.

Loki, looking as cool as ever, even in pri

Overall, it is a very very enjoyable movie. But, as with the rest of the Marvel Studio movies so far, it is not memorable as yet. It is a correct move in the correct direction though.

ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: wait for the teaser scene after the credits, it is a teaser for Infinity Gauntlet. Apparently there is another teaser after the whole credits but we missed that one.

Lu Shi Fu: nothing to shout about except the comfort

Braised pork or the variant with taufu or chicken seems to be popular among our southern neighbour Singaporeans; but somehow did not manage to find its niche in central area like Ipoh or Kampar. However, it is still possible to find rather good braised pork in some stalls, especially some notable food court.

6 in 1 set meal

Lu Shi Fu, as the name suggested, is supposedly to be the master of its trade. Situated in Bercham Glamour Square, it is in the corner of the complex beside what used to be WongKam food court. The same complex  hosts the laser tag game centre in its building.

From the outside, the restaurant looks rather welcoming and clean. Decorated with lanterns which gave the far eastern feel, and with multiple warm colours, eating here is rather very comfortable. Coupled with the ever attentive staff, and nicely air conditioned ventilation; no wonder even students come here for lunch. It is supposedly open everyday in lunch and dinner time, resting only on Tuesday.

The menu is essentially braised pork and different variant of it. Think of the braised sauce with taufu, chicken, duck and egg. For the more adventurous, try braised pork intestine. Eat it with rice or porridge. When my order came, they even served it on top of a burning (literally) small wok to keep the heat. That is rather thoughtful of them. The portion is rather small for me but then again, it may be suffice for someone who ate less. The price is not too expensive, surprisingly, given the comfortable surroundings. Expect RM4 onwards for the basic braised dishes. Braised pork served with egg, taufu and rice costs RM6.80. My selection was a 6 in 1 combo with braised pork, intestine, chicken, duck, taufu, egg served with rice which costs RM 9.90. It did appeared nice on the menu but just expect 2-3 piece of each. The braised sauce is not the best I had in Ipoh/ Kampar. The pork is not bad, with the correct proportion of fat and meat. The chicken and duck are rather average, expect the usual chicken/ duck rice with braised sauce kind of taste. The intestine is OK, but the egg is evidently not "braised" long enough, and the taste rather bland.

Overall, the taste is really average with nothing memorable. However, dining here is really comfortable and with the ample parking, making this place still a fair choice to dine in.

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: nothing to shout about. except the comfort, and the ample easy parking space.

Lu Shi Fu
Plot 16G, Glamour Square
Commercial Centre
Taman Bercham Jaya
Ipoh

Detective Dee: Rise of The Sea Dragon: poor imitation of Sherlock Holmes

The first Detective Dee was good, with heavy weight actors Andy Lau carrying the whole movie and Tony Leung as the villain. However, Tsui Hark is known more for average movies this decade rather than hitting home with great works. His movies usually started off with lots of hype, rumoured to have lots of style, but in the end, ended up with lots of disappointments with lack of substance. Rise of The Sea Dragon, sad to say, leans more on the style over substance category.

Serving as a prequel to lots of other Detective Dee stories, it introduce Dee as a young government official, tasked to investigate the case of suspected sea dragon destroying the whole of war fleet. Throw in some red herring, a swamp creatures, and a plot to overthrow the government. And as usual, Dee saves the day.


Nothing much to comment about the acting. The young actors can barely carry the role, most of them look too young for their respective roles. Angelababy is purely a vase here. No acting required. Just act sad, in need of a hero to rescue here.

The special effect, referring to the CGI, is sadly, really laughable; at one stage, it looks cartoonish. Luckily the story did not depend heavily on CGI, or else the movie would sink like the whole armada in the opening scene. Tsui Hark should stick back to what he do best. That is why the fighting scenes, although defying gravity illogically, appeared stylish and entertaining.


The story, borrows heavily on the recent remake of Sherlock Holmes, be it BBC's Sherlock or US's Elementary or Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. Dee is smart in deducing crimes with just barely a small clue. Near impossible, and rather improbable and far fetch. Throw in Watson as the trusty sidekick who do all the running. In come Lestrade who is the official in charge of the case. Luckily the "Lestrade" here is able to hold on his own and even save Dee in certain scenes. The whole story is sort of solving a case that kept the audience guessing. But once the culprit and his scheme is revealed, nothing much is left. Surely the fighting scenes may be the saving grace for the whole movie, but at the end, everything felt too long. 2 hours plus is really too long for a simple story like this with not much substance in the midst.

At the end, despite enjoying Holmes, this felt more like a poor imitation. There are even many scenes borrowed from other movies. The over used slo-mo made famous from Matrix, and even the fish jumping out of water and over the head scene from Free Willy. Compare to the first Dee movie, this prequel hardly made much impersonation.

ratings: 2 half poink!
comments: like eating a cream puff, except without the cream in the middle. So, it is just left with air and a puff on the outside. All style but no substance.