Ah Beng: 3 Wishes: simply fall short

I went into the cinema with great hopes. You see, I listen to MyFM nearly every morning. I enjoyed the AhBeng skit everyday by Jack Lim and his gang. And when Ah Beng debut in silver screen in WooHoo, it actually worked so well, and it was really funny. I even enjoyed the AhBeng sitcom over Astro. So when Ah Beng got his own movie, I was excited.

Ah Beng the Movie: 3 Wishes is what the title suggest. I have 3 wishes as well.

Wish 1. I wish the story would not be so cheesy. The story (spoiler) is simple. Ah Beng's father, gave God of Fortune some offering, and in return was granted 3 wishes. Being the first wish, he wish to see his son when he grew up, which in turn is the whole premise of the whole adventure of Ah Beng and his gang. Trying to save Salt fish Lian who suffers from serious illness, they enter a talent show to win money for her treatment.

Story did seems to work on paper, but that is the problem. It did not work on screen. Father went to future and discover the son is a loser. Not new. Guilty about his action which led to his wife poor outcome. Not new either. Friend dying from leukemia... tat is so cheesy, from some Korean drama. And tat is the type of script I would write...hmmm... which I did write for Christmas play may years back.

Wish 2: I wish the jokes were funnier. There was some genuine jokes scattered around. But that is just about it. Too few good jokes. Some of the humour came across forced. Made on a lower budget, Nasi Lemak is way much more funnier, because it dare to laugh at movie themselves. The saving grace is the acting from the cast is rather good, given the many times they worked together both in the big and small screen, including the radio. The script is the problem, there was so many empty moments whereby one can hear the cockroach stroll in the cinema. That I also blame the editing where by the empty moments were without any action nor music.

Wish 3: I simply wish the show could be better. This is not an excuse. We know that the director was changed from the last few movies from Astro/ MyFM. But given the really neatly done WooHoo, moving Big Day, this really pale in comparison. And given that the last 2 local movie I had watched, the funny Nasi Lemak 2.0 and artistic Relationship Status which I expect was done on a lower budget, this really disappoint in a way.

Too many unnecessary things in the movie. Even the car chase which the movie boast of, is totally unneeded and did not do anything to the storyline. Just be true to the movie, no need to attempt so many things, and probably it could be better.

ratings: 2 half poink!

comments: I was really expecting a lot. At the end, it ended up like a really long TakNak (no smoking) campaign ad. Since this is the CNY season, I guess we should be forgiving lot and still go and support this local effort

Relationship Status: watching a theater play on big screenscreen

Here is the irony of it all. I just watched a movie on facebook (not Social Network though), and here I am blogging about it, which eventually will end up as a status update in my facebook updates. The good news is that this proves that I am from this generation, not losers or kids (eg. MySpace)

It is not easy to get my wife to watch a local movie. Especially it is not a comedy. Especially it is sort of an art film. But I was more than glad to catch Relationship Status.

The story is rather simple, or at least in the beginning. Gavin Yap is a writer for a magazine, given a column and tasked with writing about social network ie facebook. He began with a writers block but the story slowly played out on how facebook changes relationship. Characters from all around began to interwoven with each other and somehow, related to each other at one point of the story or other. No spoiler here but all is about relationship, and how facebook shape them, and in turn affect their lives. As advertised, each small story is based on one of the relationship status of facebook (and that is how the name of the movie originate), such as single, divorced, married, and my fav, it is complicated. My favourite story is about how Susan Lankaster tried to close her dead husband Facebook account. A simple gesture yet so much emotion involved. The most touching scene is a simple dining table with her only at one side with the other side empty. Equally touching is also multiple betrayal tale spread along the story.

The performance is solid. And the whole movie felt like an European film rather local, just because the English they speak is too perfect for Malaysian. Acting is not a problem since most of them perform in theater anyway. And that is how the whole movie plays out. It is like watching theater play on silver screen. There is no scene more than 3 persons. Nothing actually happens much in the screen, but all the story is dialogue revealed.

The movie is not without its fault. Some of the scene is too draggy. I know that a long pause at time is needed to bring out the emotion but too long become draggy. The pregnant tummy do look fake, but it did not change anything. And do not try watching this without a good command of English. No subs, and all the story is conversation based. It was funny that a few Chinese girls said at the end of the movie: " ooo, actually her (susan lankaster) husband had died"..... it was reveal early in the film, but was mention in conversation. Aiiiii......

ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: not everyone cup of tea, but definitely mine. Being only 13 people in the cinema, I am thankful that there is less distraction and disturbance.

Gunung Rapat Fried Noodle: another hidden gem

It had been customary to find food for supper in Gunung Rapat. And sometimes, one would find a gem hidden. Operating only at night, there is this roadside stall that sells fried noodles. Just opposite Gunung Rapat wet market is this stall operated by a lady. The stall had a few tables for those who prefer to eat here in the corridors of the nearby shops.

The menu is simple, any kind of fried noodle can be ordered. From mee, beehoon, looseefun to kueitiao. The style of cooking range from the normal kapdai (with pork and eggs) or prawn with cockles. I did not ask whether there is watdanho or not though. Beside the shop there is also another stall selling panmee as well and drinks so there are other choices as well.

Now, the lady work fast, but if there is lots of customers one still need to wait as well. Business is always brisk, there are numerous time we came at 10pm and the lady told us they are sold out. Wow. We had been here few times, and so far, this had one of the top spot for nite eating. The fried kueitiao was just nice. The taste and texture is undeniably good. The fried beehoon was equally good though I prefer it to be bit more dry. Taste is standard and did not disappoint. One of the other nite, we order loseefun instead and true enough, it is good. I still prefer it to be more spicy though. The dishes is all good, but I always prefer my fried noodle to be bit more dry. The result is also had adequate "wok-hei" to go with it, though I had seen other stalls did better. Pricing is reasonable bout RM 3-4 per dish. The winning point is the lady always ask me whether I wanted to add pork oil inside or not. (chuyaozha) Silly, the answer is always YES! It will bring the fried noodle to another level. Superb!

This still is one of our fav stall to go to. And so far, it did not disappoint.

ratings: 3.5 poink

comments: when you are hungry, you tend to find the food more delicious. so i may be deluded and you may otherwise disagree with me.Then again, I always find fried noodle with pork oil irresistibly delicious.

Elvis Cafe: do not judge a book by its cover, instead by the customer

Before the movie, we decided to go around JJ/ Tesco area to look for food. Nothing actually interest us, and finally when we decided to go to Pasta House, we discover it is close. Disappointing, but in one of the corner, we eyed that there are few newly open restaurant. One that caught our attention was Elvis Cafe.

Situated in Ipoh Garden South, near the old Pasta House/ MP Steamboat, this new cafe is sort of decorated in black and white theme. Very clean, and the tables are spaciously arranged. Very nice environment indeed. The one thing that bother us was there was no other customers. Were we too early? Or the joint is too new? Our hungry tummy got better than our brain, and we were rushing for movie, so be it.

The menu is really limited with few (really few) western chops, chips and steak, majority of the menu is what you would find in the mamak stall. Noodles, rice, prathas etc. Not so appetizing. I really hope they improve their menu soon.

We order some local food. But the wait was ridiculous. You see there was no customer in the restaurant, but it took a solid 20 minutes to prepare roti pratha (RM 6.90 with curry chicken). To their defense, the roti was good, but the consistency is really really like the frozen type. Highly suspicious. The curry that came with it was good as well, but only with few piece of chicken breast meat. The curry is so little that it looks more like garnishing on the plate. My double indo-mee special (RM 4.70) on the other hand is good. But come on, it is just indo mee with a piece of sausage and egg. If anyone can screw that up, they could just give up cooking entirely.

In the end, it was a sub-par enjoyment. There are multiple rooms for improvement, but given the history of restaurant in this area, they really need to buckle up if they want to stay in biz. Even pasta house which was not too bad need to close shop.

ratings: 2 poink!

comments: funny they name the shop Elvis when the only one thing related is a T-shirt with Elvis on it.

Elvis Cafe

29, Jalan Medan Ipoh 10

Bandar Baru Medan

31400 Ipoh, Perak

Sherlock Holmes 2: Games of Shadow: : cerebral yet highly entertaining

When they first made the remake of Sherlock Holmes, I was highly skeptical. I was a fan of Holmes since my early school days, and nearly finish reading all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book. And it was for the similar reason how my internet nic originate. However I dislike how they twisted Holmes in the first movie, it is difficult to hate how Downey Jr and Jue Law's portrayal of the famous detective. And though it is confusing at times, I got used to Guy Ritchie's style of direction which seems to work in this movie. At the end, I enjoyed the first movie much. And knowing that in the end of first movie, the name Moriarty appeared which definitely will lead to the appearance of the infamous arch nemesis of Holmes.

Now, Games of Shadow premise is simple. There is lots of bombing around in Europe, Holmes investigate and all clues lead to Moriarty. Without giving away the plot much, the whole story get Holmes and Watson traveling to uncover more clues and trying to find evidence to prove Moriarty's crime. The problem is, Moriarty is highly intelligent, as good as Holmes. To cut the story short, Irene Adler die at the front of the movie, much to the delight of most movie's reviewers but I was hoping she stay on. And the end of the movie emulate how Moriarty meet his end in the book, right in the waterfall. And, much to my joy, Mycroft Holmes made his appearance, though I did find the casting bit inaccurate. But, his aloofness is fairly spot on.

Action sequence is really similar to the first movie, how Holmes anticipate battle moves, the slow mo scenes in the midst of fast pacing bullets flying sequence. It sort of work for me. And the director remember, sometimes, less is more. Instead of bombarding the whole movie with action, it is correctly place. This, after all is not MI, so instead stick back to the dialogue and the cerebral thrill instead. And the highlight of the movie, the chess games in the end is thrilling in another way. Ah... that brings us to the script. Brilliantly funny. Not cheesy at all. Although I still prefer some subs, sometimes the conversation is way too fast with the pseudo-English accent.

Finally, what make the movie works is Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law. Perfectly cast and thank goodness they remained for the second movie. This will go down in the text book depicting what is the definition of bro-mance. The chemistry beats all the cheesy winter love comedy.

In the end, good movie, one really have to pay attention to enjoy the movie, because the details is sort of needed to make sense of the movie. Probably bit more cerebral compare to my recent enjoyment of MI4.

ratings: 4 poink!

comments: I was always bias once it involves Holmes, because he hold a soft spot in my heart. And being a chess player myself makes the end game a real threat. But what make the movie works is the 2 leads.