Now You See Me: its like... MAGIC

Once in a while, you will find a gem. In a movie. The type of movie which will keep you guessing, keep you on the edge of the seat. Now You See Me is that realm. The less said about the movie is better.

The story, is simple. It revolved around the 4 Horsemen, 4 magician, illusionist, performing their ultimate trick. In their last trick in their show, guess what, they manage to rob a bank. And that is all revealed in the movie trailer which got us interested in this less promoted film. What followed is other performances and how they brilliantly incorporated robbery into their trick during their performance. They end up being Robin Hood and giving away all the money they rob. How did they do it? More importantly, why they do it. Hot on their tail is the FBI team and Interpol. 

The chemistry between the 4 Horsemen is great. Woody Harrelson is funny, Jesse Eisenberg is really stylish, Isla Fisher is pretty standing on her own against the boys, and Dave Franco, is just sweet. The lines are funny, brilliant. The action remain cerebral with everyone guessing who is the actual culprit. Essentially a heist film in the footstep of Ocean 11, there is a lot of cat and mouse chase. The main twist remains who is the real culprit. There are lots lots of red herrings thrown in, some may not make many sense but it is not easy to guess the ending. Yup, the revelation in the end is a good twist enough to make it to any N Shyamalan movie. All in all, everything work real well for the movie.


As I exit the cinema, I just wish I am a magician too.

ratings: 4 poink! (and that is a rare 4 for a long time!)
comments: magic is never this cool!

All In Cafe: nice western surprise

mash potato (RM4.80)

 There are too many cafe/ kopitiam around with pseudo western dishes which basically are just steak and pasta. However, once in a while we did found some restaurant which are slightly above the rest with slightly more authentic western dishes. We went around Greentown business centre for dinner before a movie and bump into this new restaurant: All in Cafe. Now, the name was not very original. And with the track records of restaurant around in this area, most of them would not last very long. Somehow, this area is rather jinx for eating place. Then again, most of the shops in the past were just mediocre at best.

carbonara pasta with mussel (RM12.80)

Just go around the square, the row of shops behind Astro, one will bump into a unremarkable signboard. The shop was rather quiet when we went in. The place is minimally decorated. Mind you, I am all in (pun intended) for minimalist design but this deco is rather bland, with just black ceiling and wooden bench. And the bench is rather stiff and not comfortable at all. Service is good, but then again, we are the only table occupied so would not expect much competition for attention.

The menu is essentially western choices, with the normal steak, chops, burgers and pasta. The selection is slightly more than the usual kopitiam but still less compare to places like Hot Jack. Although we were the only table, the food is rather slow. So while we waited patiently, we had a bad feeling....

mozzarella grilled chicken (RM19.80)

Boy, were we so wrong. The food is good. The mash potato is clearly was factory made not the one made from fresh potato but the gravy is so nice with a tinge of herbs. The grilled chicken with mozzarella is brilliant. The meat is juicy, not too oily. Cheese just melted and blended in with the meat. Was it the best? Not so, but memorable still. Colleen had high praise for the french fries which came together as side dish. With bit of spice and salt, the fries is just nice, not so oily but crunch-ly deep fried. Mine was the cabonara pasta with mussel. No choices of pasta there except spaghetti but it was alright for me. The pasta is not too creamy which some of the cook may go overboard with. Pasta with too much cream, while is delicious, will leave the stomach feeling uncomfortably full for a long time.  The mussel brought just the right amount of seafood freshness to the dish.

Well, despite on all the shortcoming, we still enjoy the food and felt it was worth the wait. We still felt it did not dethrone the top western restaurant for us, but it was a good start.

ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: considering the uncomfortable bench, slow service, and not so cheap price.... I would still visit for the good food.

Star Trek Into Darkness: sometimes reboot make sense

Confession time. And I am expecting a lot of Trek fan to hate me. I always thought Star Trek is the sissy version of Star Wars. Come on, I was a kid when I saw all the men in tight fitting shirt going where no man had gone before. I was too young to understand the drama behind it. The Next Generation was good, it even  leave me with a good impression of Captain Picard and his crew. But still did not manage to change my impression of Kirk and Spock. However, the last reboot with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto did bring some fresh air into the premise.


Star Trek Into Darkness is the second installment in the reboot to make Star Trek more contemporary. The story had more guts and grit to it. Less sissy of course. The main story started with the main villain Khan waging war on the confederation, terrorist style, killing many Star fleet captain. Kirk and his gang embark on a mission to chase and hunt down the villain. In the process, they undercover a darker conspiracy to start a war with Klingon and the villain turn to ally for a while. In the end, we know that all the crew will survive (it is sort of prequel to the series after all) and the bad guy was defeated.


The cast? I always have thought that William Shatner has left a difficult shoes for Chris Pine to fill. I have to keep on reminding myself this is the younger version and more reckless as well. Fair, but still not a perfect match. Zachary Quinto on the other hand; I had learned to love to hate him during his Syler days in Heroes. He IS the younger version of Spock. Benedict Cumberbatch was the main reason why we came and watch the show. My wife will definitely kill me if I say anything bad about him. Come on, Sherlock as the bad guy? Nice! He play his character well, ruthless, and yet stylish in the process. The rest of the crew provide just the right chemistry to the equation, making it a fun time to watch everyone in action.


The script was good enough without too many philosophical talk from Spock. The action is good enough as well without any memorable starship battle or fights. However, I still do feel the film was lacking something. I felt it tried hard to be everything. Sometimes it work, sometimes not. It did felt more like a suspense sci-fi in the beginning, disaster film in the middle and more like a TV series towards the end. Then again, what do I know, I do not like Star Trek in the first place.


We did left the cinema feeling good. Probably 1 month down, I would forgot the whole film like how i still could not recall what happen in the first film. The only thing I would recall probably is how Cumberbatch bring a new level of style into being a villain.

ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: I still find their uniform sissy. Why they never consider white like storm trooper or red like the imperial guard or better still, black like Darth Vader....

Oz: not the magical land, but unique nonetheless

I seems to be starting my post nowadays with bit of confession or disclaimer. Probably the defensive part of me is rather evident but I kept on reminding myself that what taste good to me might not be edible to other, and what I think is bad might interest others. One's man roast pork might be other man...well, come on, who would not like roast pork.

pork schnitzel 

So, today I would confess that I had not been to Australia, so I would not know whether when one would claim they serve Aussie dish, would it be genuine or just utilizing the name Lynas wave. Anyway, it seems that Ipoh resident is getting lucky, beside the usual Far Eastern cuisine or northen Indian delicacies, now we have the down under. Oz is situated in Medan Ipoh, the new place in town which packed lots and lots of new restaurant. And probably this is the place with the highest density of Japanese restaurant. It is just 2 doors away from Spice of Penang which I reviewed weeks ago. The same place as Michaelangelo pizza and opposite to Sushi Zento. To those who are still lost, just look for Tesco Ipoh Garden, head towards Bercham direction, and look for Redcom computer shop.

roast chicken

I had to say, the decorations are rather nice. I cant say authentic but it did give me a bit of home feel. The mural on the wall with a bit of aborigine touch is rather genius. Service as compare to other new restaurant is fast and welcoming, with the waiter all wearing cowboy hat. Hmmmm... felt more like western rather than down south.

The menu is essentially western with lots of dishes with meat base. Do not expect to come here to order chakueitiao with the normal pork chop. That, you can get it next door. The dishes also come with Australian city names to make it felt authentic. Whether the food is close to the original taste, I would not know. The pricing is very reasonable with the burger and pie starting from RM 9.90. Nowadays, it is rare to find any dish in western restaurant starting below RM10.

chicken and mushroom pie

I ordered the pork schnitzel (RM14), and it did not disappoint. It was bit on the dry side, but the taste is fair. I would prefer the meat to be more juicy, then again, this is not roast pork but schnitzel. Colleen ordered roast chicken (RM16.50). The portion is rather big, considering there are other side dishes as well. It definitely taste better than the generic Kenny Rogers, but not brilliant though. The side dishes of mash potatoes was above average though. Mum in law ordered Sydney chicken and mushroom pie (RM9.90). This, to me was the best among the 3 dishes we ordered. The pot pie was fluffy, and not too heavy. The filling is generous and the taste is just nice without getting too heavy too. The taste of all 3 is not the conventional western or pseudo western one may find in other kopitiam style joints. And that is unique.

Overall, we all enjoyed our dinner, this is definitely something to try without burning a hole in the pocket. It did score high in uniqueness, but not without its room for improvement.

ratings: 3 half poink!
comments: higher ratings due to the only place which serve Aussie dish here, but for western cuisine, both Colleen and me still would say Hot Jack anytime.

Oz
26, Jalan Medan Ipoh
Medan Ipoh Bestari.